LSN : News : Foresight Friday: Olivia Houghton, deputy creative foresight editor

The Salvation Army introduces easy donations for hotel guests in Brazil

Salvation Hanger campaign by WMcCann for The Salvation Army, São Paulo, Brazil

Brazil – WMcCann has partnered with The Salvation Army to revamp traditional donation methods, making it convenient and easy to pass on clothes. The Salvation Hanger initiative, launched in São Paulo, simplifies the donation process for Sheraton Hotels & Resorts guests, encouraging them to give away excess clothing to those in need.

Guests at participating Sheraton hotels will find hangers with QR codes in their rooms. Upon scanning the codes, guests can access information about the initiative and are invited to donate spare clothes. This approach leverages tech to make the donation process seamless and engaging, effectively turning hotel stays into opportunities for charitable contributions.

The Salvation Hanger initiative exemplifies how brands can integrate social responsibility into everyday experiences, making it easier for people to participate in charitable activities. By utilising QR codes and hotel amenities, the campaign innovatively bridges the gap between convenience and altruism. It reflects a growing trend where brands are expected to contribute positively to society and act as Civic Brands.

Strategic opportunity

Businesses, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors, can seamlessly integrate donation mechanisms into the consumer experience, helping make charity engaging and accessible

Charlotte Tilbury Beauty’s Future of Fragrance Experience opens in East London

Charlotte Tilbury Beauty's Future of Fragrance Experience, UK

UK – StudioXAG has teamed up with Charlotte Tilbury to launch the Future of Fragrance experience, an immersive pop-up event showcasing the brand's new Collection of Emotions frange.

Backed by 40 years of research and neuroscience, the collection harnesses the power of AI to configure ingredient combinations and fragrance notes to evoke specific emotions, such as serenity or happiness. The immersive pop-up takes visitors on a multisensory journey through the product range, with each of the six rooms representing a scent. The rooms are immersed in colours inspired by healing crystals and filled with props that nod to the theme of the scent. Representing the way the fragrance makes you feel, StudioXAG have created a series of moments to trigger the same emotional response.

Hosted at London's Protein Studios, the hyper-physical experience invites guests to be guided through the rooms by a recording of founder Charlotte Tilbury’s voice. In our Synaesthesia Scents report, we explored how fragrance and audio have shared terminology – accords, notes – that make them a close pairing, elevating scent from an aesthetic pleasure to a multi-dimensional consumer experience.

Strategic opportunity

Experiment with cross-sensory marketing campaigns or product activations that combine sound, texture, sight and scent to create multisensory storytelling experiences

Foresight Friday: Olivia Houghton, deputy creative foresight editor

Carolina Carballo for The Future Laboratory

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, deputy creative foresight editor Olivia Houghton explores the intricacies of today’s heterosexual dating landscape.

: Navigating the current dating scene can feel like traversing a maze. Girl on Couch is ‘looking for a man in finance, trust fund, 6’5, blue eyes’, and so are the thousands of other women who have shared their renditions of the song on TikTok. But many are also embracing a 'boysober' mindset, prioritising personal growth over romantic pursuits — a development that Bumble's recent campaign appears to have missed.

: Last month, Bumble underwent a rebrand aimed at attracting those fatigued by the dating scene. The company launched billboard ads featuring messages including ‘You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer’ and ‘Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.’ The tone of these ads failed to resonate with audiences. Manèle El Zoghlami, cultural and trend analyst, noted on Linkedin the widespread dissatisfaction among women. ‘In an era where women are painfully aware of the patriarchy's omnipresence, and where femicide at the hands of men is still alarmingly common, many women are pausing to reevaluate what they want out of their relationships with men.’

: Elsewhere, Hinge, which boasts the tagline 'designed to be deleted', introduced a feature to encourage proactive matching over idle usage or zombie scrolling. ‘Your turn limits’ will prevent users from liking anyone new if they have eight or more unanswered messages. However, the app may have overlooked a key reason for dissatisfaction. Currently, users must pay a minimum of £9.99 ($13, €12) to access people most their type, or more for what they describe as 'enhanced recommendations'. This limitation, or 'premiumisation of love', might be hindering users' success and preventing them from achieving Hinge's ultimate goal: deleting the app.

LS:N Global will continue to monitor this market as values and preferences evolve, alongside the development and accessibility of solution-oriented tools.

Quote of the Week

'The vow of celibacy has been reclaimed as a means to regain agency and power, serving as a conversation starter on social media for women to discuss with each other and themselves what they actually want from their romantic relationships'

Manèle El Zoghlami, cultural and trend analyst

Stat: Indian tourists plan European getaways with new visas

Diet Paratha for Vogue India, photography by Rishi Raj, India

India – For Indians planning their next trip, Europe seems to be the destination of choice. A recent study by Policybazaar.com has revealed that 82% of Indian respondents a want to visit France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

Some Indian passport holders now have the option to obtain long-term, multiple-entry visas to the 26 Schengen countries, which are valid for two years and could be extended to five years. Manas Kapoor, business head of travel insurance at Policybazaar, noted a growing trend for long-term travel insurance policies in anticipation of new visa regulations. In parallel, the number of Indians taking more than three trips per year increased by 25% between 2019 and 2023, reports Outlook Traveller. This is based on MakeMyTrips’s first India Travel Trends report, which collected data from more than 100m active users, highlighting the changing preferences of Indian tourists.

For more updates on emerging tourism markets and consumer insights, visit our Travel topic on LS:N Global.

Strategic opportunity

How can your business create tailored travel packages to cater to this consumer demographic? Consider designing customised itineraries and services for Indian tourists – curate unique experiences, cater to diverse age groups and simplify the travel process for them