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Samsung targets Gen Z with socially optimised phone

AWESOME is for Everyone, Samsung, Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam

Global – The technology giant’s global campaign, Awesome is for Everyone, was created to promote its new A Series phone.

Created by Wieden & Kennedy, the 48-second video highlights the device’s impressive screen, camera and battery life, and features cameos from content-creators including Madrona Redhawk, Yvng Homie and DJ Rangster. To promote the A Series phone to a wider and younger audience, and to ensure 'no Gen Z eyeball is spared', Awesome is for Everyone will be bolstered by 300 social assets that will be used across a variety of social platforms, featuring meme-like content, trippy visuals and layered filters.

Tapping into the creative spirit of Generation Z, the series aims to encourage people who enjoy watching influencers to participate in creating videos of their own, reiterating the strapline 'Awesome screen, awesome camera, long-lasting battery life' across the colourful campaign.

As we explore in our microtrend on Everyteen TV, young people are increasingly creating hyper-real forms of entertainment in a fight back against highly curated media.

New Story unveils first 3D-printed homes

3D-printed community by New Story, ÉCHALE and ICON, Mexico. Photography by Joshua Perez

Mexico – Housing non-profit organisation New Story has launched the world’s first 3D-printed neighbourhood, now under construction in southern Mexico.

Created in partnership with construction technologies company ICON and non-profit-making partner ÉCHALE, each house is a 500-square-feet, single-storey building complete with two bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms. The project is aimed at families living in extreme poverty, with 50 homes in the works that will allow families to live with a zero-interest and a zero-profit mortgage, costing about £16 per month ($20, €19) for seven years. According to New Story, a recent survey of Mexican citizens found that 74% of families said they felt unsafe in their current living conditions. By targeting these individuals, New Story hopes to offer a better quality of life to Mexican families and support the overall neighbourhood.

With economic growth proving to be largely unsustainable, initiatives like New Story’s 3D-printed housing represent an effort by brands and institutions to use technology to better support overlooked communities. For more, read our Post-growth Society macrotrend.

Ohi is offering sustainable same-day delivery

US – Allowing small businesses to compete with Amazon and other retail giants, the new service is offering ultra-fast, low-emissions delivery.

Ohi is targeting the increasingly fast-paced e-commerce demands of urban consumers by offering micro-warehouses in unused retail spaces or offices in cities, beginning in New York and Los Angeles. The service integrates analytics software to allow brands to predict product demand and allow each warehouse to be stocked in advance and avoid the high costs of next-day distribution by air.

As well as providing a logistically sustainable service, Ohi has also added recyclable paper bags, offering an eco-friendly packaging option. With a vision to inspire the future of delivery and warehousing, Ben Jones, CEO of Ohi, says: ‘By getting inventory into cities, we are avoiding the need to take traditional delivery trucks to do routes dropping off parcels. We’re using Postmates and other last-mile carriers that primarily have people on bikes or on foot to deliver the parcels instead.’

As we explore in our Eco-logistics microtrend, companies like Ohi are innovating to offer more sustainable solutions and work towards reducing their environmental impact.

Ohi, New York

Stat: Boomer women feel ignored by the beauty industry

A US survey by AARP delving into women's refections on age, beauty and the media shows that 89% of women say beauty and personal grooming are at least somewhat important to them. Yet, despite a large interest in beauty among female consumers, brands could be doing a lot more to cater for the Baby Boomer audience in particular, with 53% of Boomer women saying they feel ignored by the beauty and personal grooming industry.

Among those surveyed by AARP, 58% report they are 'more likely to purchase products from brands that use women who look like me in their advertising'. The survey finds that a majority of women (60%) are embracing the concept of ageing, saying they are beautiful at any age (61%). And when it comes to the definition of beauty, respondents noted characteristics beyond appearance. In fact, the top three answers were kindness, morals/character and values, and personality.

As explored in our Flat Age Women Market, Baby Boomer women are creating a new lexicon around ageing and beauty, seeking positivity over an obsession with preserving youth.