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Peach Fuzz named Pantone’s colour of the year for 2024

Color of the Year 2024, Pantone, US

Global – Global colour authority Pantone has selected Peach Fuzz as its Color of the Year for 2024. This follows Viva Magenta in 2023, Veri Peri in 2022 and Ultimate Gray and Illuminating in 2021.

Described as a warm, cosy shade, Peach Fuzz represents a desire for togetherness and evokes a sense of tenderness and care. Pantone highlights this choice as a fresh approach to softness, with the hue being subtly sensual and suggestive of good taste. Peach Fuzz aims to create a multi-sensory experience, engaging taste, sight, touch and scent.

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director at Pantone Color Institute, told Designboom: ‘In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a colour radiant with warmth and modern elegance – a shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.’

In our Seductive Opulence design direction, we revealed how with wellness taking centre stage, more brands are attempting to captivate discerning consumers with seductive imagery and calming colour choices, showcasing the psychological impact colours play on emotions and perceptions.

Strategic opportunity

Consider experimenting with Pantone’s Peach Fuzz by combining and contrasting it with deep tones to create a more visually provoking aesthetic that entices the senses and narrates deeper stories

House of Hackney appoints nature guardian

House of Hackney, UK

UK – London-based interiors company House of Hackney became the second UK company to appoint a human ‘nature guardian’ to its board in December 2023, giving the guardian a formal vote on corporate decisions that might affect sustainability.

House of Hackney follows in the footsteps of eco-beauty brand, Faith In Nature, which pioneered the concept in 2022. Brontie Ansell, a senior lecturer in law at Essex Law School and director of community interest company Lawyers for Nature, was appointed as the brand’s first nature guardian. Now, Ansell will take on the role of nature guardian for House of Hackney too.

'The guardian will have access to a network of experts who will advise on specialist topics, and if we choose not to take their advice, we’re actually bound to give a reason publicly as to why we haven’t,’ House of Hackney’s co-founder Frieda Gormley told Positive News. ‘This is very much about accountability.’

On LS:N Global we began tracking the emergence of elected Nature Stakeholders at the end of 2022. As companies increasingly look to define corporate purpose beyond profit, appointing a nature guardian is a valuable way to avoid greenwashing and invest in sustainable practices.

Strategic opportunity

If appointing an external nature guardian isn’t feasible for your company right now, consider looking for training – Faith in Nature’s open-source guide is a good place to start – to qualify a current employee to take on the role and provide a voice for the environment

Fashion brand Alohas turns bad publicity into viral video

Alohas, Spain

Spain – Sustainable fashion brand Alohas has cleverly turned what started as a PR mishap into a viral marketing campaign.

When in 2021, model Kaia Gerber was asked what she was wearing during an interview, she accidentally misnamed the shoe brand, stating her boots were from By Far, when they were, in reality, from Alohas.

In response, the Barcelona-based footwear brand launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign in November 2023. ‘Back in 2021, mistakes were made,’ the video says. ‘But don’t feel bad for us, we’re over it now. To make amends, we designed the Kaia boots.’

The brand said it would only drop the exclusive pair named after the model if Kaia herself responded, calling on fans to share the post and tag Gerber. Six days later, the activation bared its fruits and Alohas revealed the Kaia boot. As for the video, it received over 600,000 views on Instagram.

Rather than sweeping the incident under the carpet, Alohas acted as an Elastic Brand by using humour and user-generated content to build brand recognition and loyalty.

Strategic opportunity

Taking inspiration from Alohas’ approach, consider how you could boost engagement in your next campaign. Can you build anticipation and ask your audience to ‘unlock’ your next launch? How can you make it interactive and organic?

Stat: Pinterest predicts 2024 will be all about racquet culture

Recess, US

Global – Pinterest, with its 482m monthly users, unveiled the anticipated trends for 2024 across beauty, fashion and more in a report in December 2023. Drawing insights from user-generated search algorithms, Pinterest used its rich user data to spotlight upcoming trends and celebrated the release of its 2024 predictions with the opening of its first-ever pop-up store in New York and an online shop, Pinterest Predicts Shop, featuring curated products linked to the identified trends. More than 50% of Pinterest users consider the platform to be a shopping destination.

Among the anticipated trends for Gen Z and Millennials, badminton takes the spotlight. The report states: ‘Searches for everything from ‘badminton outfit’ to ‘playing badminton aesthetic’ will be big in the year ahead.’ The data confirms that keywords such as badminton outfits (+80%), badminton racquets (+80%), badminton bags (+105%), badminton shoes (+50%), and playing badminton aesthetic (+45%) have seen a significant surge in searches.

In addition, searches related to combat sports such as karate kumite (+190%), kickboxing aesthetic (+265%), mixed martial arts training (+200%), shadow boxing workout (+60%) and jiu-jitsu (+30%) are predicted to be the ultimate stress relievers for Millennials and Gen Z in 2024.

Pinterest confirms the rise of tenniscore and racquet sports lifestyle that we previously forecast in Racquet Culture Redefined back in August 2023.

Strategic opportunity

From fashion to luxury, consider developing products and services that cater for the rising interest in racquet sports. This could include specialist sportswear, equipment and accessories, and re-imagined hospitality services in tennis, badminton and pickleball clubs, among others