29 : 07 : 22 : Weekly Debrief

London – Progressive beauty company Haeckels has unveiled a rebranding and new company strategy focused on four product and experience pillars: skincare, home and personal fragrance, and Haeckels Lab – a new series of clinically backed skincare designed around the microbiome. In particular, the company is championing Bio-positive Beauty with circular, biodegradable packaging innovations, alongside efforts to combat waste and transform end-of-life cycles for products.

Haeckels Home will provide seasonally changing and refillable home fragrance and candles designed around hyper-local supply chains, while Haeckels Skin will centre on compostable ocean-first skincare. Launching in August, Haeckels Fragrance will unite location-specific scents with personal experiences, while its Lab, launching in September, hints at a more bespoke skincare offer.

‘It isn't in our DNA to stand still,’ says Charlie Vickery, managing director. ‘With the new Haeckels, we again rip up the rulebook to present the new natural. Created by a local team of designers, scientists, creatives and industry outsiders, this new Haeckels brings pioneering science-backed technology and materials to a newly awakened consumer without sacrificing aesthetics.’

Here, Vickery highlights key themes from our latest Beauty & Wellness macrotrend Accredited Beauty, in which we forecast a future of beauty underscored by science, bio-technology and product certification.

Asia – The Moxy Hotel, an offshoot of The Marriott group, is gamifying the hospitality experience in an effort to draw in younger consumers and make hotel stays more enjoyable. Available at 12 of its hotels in the Asia Pacific region, Moxy Hotel is introducing an augmented reality (AR) experience called Moxy Universe, Play Beyond! – which transforms the hotel into a phygital playground. The AR initiative will be available until the end of this year.

To access the experience, guests scan a QR code with their smartphones, unlocking a number of interactive challenges across the hotel. Before checking in, visitors can also personalise a digital avatar with a variety of hairstyles, outfits, and accessories. The avatars are then activated via a smartphone camera, letting users take photographs that combine computer-generated overlays with the backdrop of the hotel. This campaign is likely to land well with the consumers in this region, with countries such as China and Japan leading the way in the sector’s global popularity.

As the hospitality industry bounces back from the pandemic, The Moxy Hotel is aiming to create more memorable stays that can be readily captured and shared on social media. By levelling up its services to create a gamified guest experience, the hotel is tapping into the rise of E-tourism.