LSN : Daily Signals : 15 : 05 : 23

Postmates celebrates Asian American lunchbox meals

Postmates, US

US – Food delivery service Postmates’ new advertising campaign addresses the stress felt by Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) children when carrying their lunchboxes to school by flipping the narrative on its head. The School Lunch programme, which marks Asian-Pacific American Heritage month in May, was created in collaboration with some of Los Angeles’ best AAPI chefs who drew on their childhood memories to proudly prepare their favourite meals.

The ad stars actress Greta Lee, who appears in an animated form and tells the story of her mother packing traditional Korean foods in her school lunchbox that would invite mockery from her classmates. She recalls it as a great source of anxiety for her – often resulting in her throwing her lunches away. Fast forward to today and Lee expresses gratitude for the meals her mother would painstakingly make for her, wishing she had appreciated it more as a child.

Korean American restaurant Yangban in Los Angeles has created a kimchi pozole dish that will be available exclusively through the Postmates app throughout May. Postmates will also donate to the national coalition to Stop AAPI hate. As discussed in our Activism Eating Market, food activists are creating opportunities to connect communities and Postmates’ new campaign brings to the fore the diversity of food culture in the US.

Strategic opportunity

Marginalised communities are proudly embracing their cultures, no longer feeling the shame they endured as children. Brands that create opportunities to celebrate these experiences will form genuine connections with new audiences

Browser extension replaces royal gossip with Indigenous stories

Pīkari Mai, US

New Zealand – Irritated by the saturation of royal news on media outlets, Māori artist Hāmiora (Sam) Bailey has developed a browser plug-in that replaces British royal news with articles celebrating Indigenous people.

The extensive coverage of royal gossip and King Charles’s coronation can cause frustration and upset some residents of former British colonies, such as New Zealand. Pīkari Mai was created as a response – to allow people to ‘switch off the toff’, identifying and blocking royal news and swapping it for stories written by, for and about Indigenous people.

To snooze from royal news, internet users can download the desktop-only browser plug-in. Pīkari Mai will automatically spot relevant articles and display pixelated Kaitiaki characters, guardians in Māori, and a link to a piece written by an indigenous writer. ‘I want to give my koroua, my grandparents or my elders, and Indigenous nationhood as big a platform as the crown gets – and why not?’ explains Bailey, stressing the importance of holding space for celebrating untold Indigenous stories.

Strategic opportunity

Reflect on the voices, occasions or holidays you spotlight and promote as a business. How are you championing underserved communities? Are you allocating airtime to untold stories?

Co-founder Chris Sanderson to speak at British Luxury Summit

London – Walpole’s British Luxury Summit 2023 will take place on Monday 15 May at The Londoner in Leicester Square, with over 300 guests and speakers in attendance. This year’s event will focus on understanding the new realities of luxury and therefore the luxury consumer. Global economic challenges, fierce competition and sophisticated consumers are changing the luxury landscape, and the summit hopes to address the bold new strategies required of industry players to tackle these issues head on.

Among this year’s distinguished speakers is The Future Laboratory co-founder Chris Sanderson. Chris will share insights from our recently published retail macrotrend report, EQ-Commerce, through the lens of luxury. It has never been more important to understand the future of the customer experience. As the evolution of the luxury market during the Transformative Twenties gains pace, Chris will examine how to build intelligence and empathy into the luxury experience.

Our team will be covering the summit across The Future Laboratory’s social media channels throughout the day. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to keep up with the latest insights. And if you want to learn more about the new EQ-Commerce macrotrend, members of LS:N Global can download the full report here. Our acclaimed presenters are also available to deliver the macrotrend direct to your team with an engaging in-house or virtual presentation. Get in touch to book yours today.

Chris Sanderson at Trend Briefing 2022, UK

Uncover more of the latest luxury sector insights

Along with EQ-Commerce, our Guilded Luxury macrotrend report investigates how luxury brands are developing strategies to build long-lasting and enriching relationships with their clientele

Stat: Most US and British consumers think brands are raising prices due to greedflation

Raf Studio for Glass magazine, China

US, UK – A survey by Attest of a representative sample of 2,000 US-based consumers and 1,000 UK-based consumers in February 2023 revealed that 80% of Americans and 79% of Britons are convinced that brands are using inflation as an excuse to increase prices. As various businesses reached record profits thanks to growing sales, including energy providers and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, consumers’ grocery and other bills have increased – an imbalance that has led to suspicion of ‘greedflation’.

In reality, food and drink firms such as Nestlé and Unilever have raised their prices but their sales volumes have also decreased – by 2.6% in the fourth quarter for the Swiss company in its 2022 half-year sales report and 3.6% for Unilever in its 2022 fourth quarter. Costs related to ingredients, packaging, labour and transport also remain high for CPGs. Even though their margins are smaller, they must adapt pricing to retain their customers. Attest claims grocery has the lowest brand loyalty, with more than seven in 10 respondents saying they buy other products to save money.

In our Cost of Living Crisis series, we look at how organisations and brands, including in the food and drink industry, are flexing their business operations to cater for customers with decreasing spending power.

Strategic opportunity

Consider how to improve transparency on the reasoning behind your higher pricing in your marketing and CRM strategies to retain loyal customers who can and will become more and more suspicious