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Heineken UK and Stonegate Group address loneliness with Pub Alone campaign

Pub Alone Campaign by MiXR and Heineken, UK

UK – Pub company Stonegate Group and Heineken UK have teamed up to create Pub Alone, a holiday campaign to help tackle loneliness by creating spaces for connection in British pubs.

The campaign is centred on Stonegate’s MiXR app, which offers exclusive rewards, free drinks and a festive advent calendar, designed to bring people together and reduce loneliness.

An accompanying short film riffs on the festive film Home Alone, depicting a man briefly enjoying being alone in a pub before realising he is lonely and missing his friends. Pub Alone aims to spark meaningful conversations on loneliness and encourages people of all legal drinking ages to come together, fostering a community spirit synonymous with the British pub.

Stonegate Group will also donate £75,000 ($94,890, €89,986) to Marmalade Trust, the UK’s leading loneliness charity, as part of the campaign.

Our Generations Now and Next macrotrend report explored how the loneliness epidemic is impacting different generations and how people of all ages are seeking meaningful connections and offline socialisation.

Strategic opportunity

Consider how your brand can leverage digital tools or emotive campaigns to create and encourage spaces and experiences that unite customers, positioning your brand as socially responsible whilst helping to alleviate loneliness

Coconut Cult gets a surreal makeover to match its radical mission

Coconut Cult, brand identity by &Walsh, US

US – Probiotic brand Coconut Cult is redefining the food-as-medicine movement with its fermented coconut yoghurt, celebrated for its unique taste and gut-friendly ingredients. Popular on TikTok, the brand offers an organic, dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free product — albeit at a premium price — drawing health-conscious consumers with its bold flavour and wellness benefits.

As Coconut Cult expands its offerings, it partnered with New York creative agency &Walsh to refine its playful yet fragmented brand identity. Inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky’s surreal 1973 film The Holy Mountain, the redesign blends quirky charm with a unified aesthetic. ‘We sought to preserve the brand's lo-fi, creative energy while avoiding any sense of corporatisation,’ explains Jessica Walsh, founder of &Walsh.

The result is a cohesive visual system that highlights a bold wordmark and eccentric illustrations, helping Coconut Cult capture new audiences while staying true to its unapologetically weird, gut health-focused ethos. This rebranding aligns with our Frivolous Foods design direction, which spotlighted food and drink companies embracing nostalgia and escapism in branding.

Strategic opportunity

Playful storytelling and unified branding can transform niche products into cult favourites; embrace bold, authentic visuals to catch the eye of new customers while preserving your brand’s unique ethos

Foresight Friday: Simar Deol, foresight analyst

AI imagery by The Future Laboratory, UK

Every Friday, the Future Laboratory team offers an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, foresight analyst Simar Deol looks at different strategies brands are adopting to court Gen Z.

: At 260 years old, luxury brand Baccarat is embracing a fresh perspective, branching into wax, porcelain, lacquer and leather creations. The brand is capturing Gen Z’s attention with perfumes and heart-shaped crystal designs, while relocating its Manhattan flagship from upscale Madison Avenue to the trendy Meatpacking District. We’ll have to wait to see if the brand’s efforts in courting Gen Z pay off.

: Talking of Gen Z: the cohort’s favourite pop star, Tyla, has collaborated with Stanley 1913 Cup – the giant water bottle company that has become synonymous with wellness culture on TikTok. Playing on Tyla’s iconic song, Water, the campaign visuals are quirky, fun and aesthetically pleasing – showcasing how brands embracing timely pop-culture moments can produce successful results.

: TikTok is introducing new limitations for teenagers, aiming to restrict access to beauty filters that significantly change their facial features. In the coming weeks, users under 18 will no longer be able to apply filters that smooth skin, adjust skin tone or enhance features such as lips and eyes. These updates address rising concerns over social media’s impact on the self-esteem and body image of younger audiences, a topic we explore in Teens, Tech and Tapping Out.

Quote of the week

‘Our brand is widely known for our innovation, originality and ability to move at the speed of culture; collaborating with Tyla is an authentic extension for Stanley 1913’

Graham Nearn, chief brand officer, Stanley 1913

Stat: South Korea’s content industry hits new high

NOAV cosmetics, South Korea, East Asia

South Korea – South Korea’s content industry hit a new high in 2022, with exports soaring to £10.4bn ($13.2bn, €12.5bn) as ‘hallyu’ – Korean culture encompassing music (K-pop), tv dramas (K-dramas), films, fashion, beauty and cuisine – gained unprecedented global traction.

According to the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, industry revenue jumped from £72bn ($92bn, €87bn) in 2020 to £85bn ($108bn, €103bn) in 2022, while global hallyu fans reached 225m in 2023, a 24-fold increase over a decade (source: Korea Herald).

To sustain this momentum, the government is increasing support for the content industry, including the allocation of a record-breaking £566m ($717m, €680m) in government subsidies and tax credits.

Initiatives include expanding South Korean cultural hubs such as the Korean Cultural Center New York, launching the Hallyu Act to support the industry and related sectors and bolstering tourism, fashion and food exports linked to the phenomenon.

In State of Luxury: South Korea we unpacked how the country’s soft power is taking the world by storm as a dynamic and thriving place of creativity in the luxury sector and beyond.

Strategic opportunity

Partner with South Korean influencers, artists and brands to tap into hallyu’s global popularity. Create authentic, culturally relevant campaigns that resonate with diverse audiences and drive deeper engagement with your brand across international markets