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Portuguese grocery retailer Pingo Doce is demonstrating how hyperlocal community engagement can be deployed at scale through its Bairro Feliz (Happy Neighborhood) initiative. Now in its fifth year, the program enables each of the chain’s 450+ stores to support local causes with microgrants of up to EUR 1,000. The initiative takes an entirely participatory approach: community members submit project proposals, and shoppers vote for their preferred causes using plastic tokens they receive with purchases: one token for every EUR 10 spent. 

The campaign showcases how national retailers can maintain authentic connections with local communities no matter how many locations they operate. Since launching in 2019, Bairro Feliz has funded nearly 1,500 community projects, with causes varying by neighborhood based on local needs and priorities. Requests that have been fulfilled include musical instruments for a community center’s programs for kids, a vital signs monitor for volunteer firefighters and a campaign to neuter and spay stray dogs and cats.

Effectively turning routine grocery shopping into an act of community building, Bairro Feliz and similar programs elsewhere offer valuable lessons for companies looking to move beyond traditional corporate giving: by fragmenting their social impact budget into hyperlocal microgrants and empowering customers to direct those funds, brands can foster deeper community ties and ensure their social initiatives remain relevant to each location they serve.

Originally created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Bluesky is a decentralized microblogging app that lets users curate their own algorithms with custom feeds (now firmly on Zuck’s must-copy list). Growth was steady but slow, sparking doubts: would it flop like Koo or could it be a viable alternative to X? Fast forward to today: in just two weeks, Bluesky’s user base soared to 19M+ as people fled X for calmer skies following the US election. The platform has become a refuge from Musk’s increasingly polarizing space (soon to be state media?), where political content feels unavoidable.

In 2025, could Bluesky dethrone X and solve misinformation and cyberviolence? Spoiler: nope. But its rise shows one thing: users crave better social spaces. 💬✨ Think: places to connect, debate (without toxicity), and explore identities. So, how can brands and platforms join this Elon-free movement?

✋ Take a stand: Follow The Guardian’s lead and say goodbye to X.

💡 Be inspired: Bluesky’s anti-toxicity tools and no-gen-AI-training pledge are setting new benchmarks.

🔗 Get together: Bluesky might not win on its own, but apps like Openvibe, which merges Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads, demonstrate the power of combining decentralization and aggregation.

Japanese video game maker Sega is rebooting the pager for today’s kids, but with a twist. Slated for launch in December 2024, Emojam is a WiFi-enabled messaging device that lets users chat with registered friends exclusively in emojis. It offers over 1,100 original emojis, with an Emoji Lab feature that can combine two emojis into a new one. Each message can contain a string of up to ten emojis, and the device supports one-on-one messaging as well as group chats for up to five participants.

To ensure a safe experience for kids, the product’s friend registration system requires two devices to physically touch before users can start chatting. This prevents strangers from being able to contact younger users, bypassing a major risk on most social platforms. Sega also hopes emoji-only conversations will limit kids’ exposure to harmful or hurtful speech. Emojam is priced at JPY 7,150 (USD 45), and Sega might launch the product internationally if it takes off in Japan.

Over half (54%) of parents across the UK, US, India, Germany and Australia regret giving smartphones to their children. Those seeking a healthier relationship with technology regularly turn to dumb devices, both for themselves and their loved ones. By stripping Emojam to one core functionality, Sega allows kids to sidestep the downsides of social media without disconnecting from their friends. Additionally, its text-free interface makes for a fun and creative way to communicate — one that’s second nature for an emoji-native generation.

Singles’ Day has become a calendar moment synonymous with mega sales, but PUMA India and Bumble celebrated the occasion by going back to the day’s matchmaking origins. On November 10th, the two brands joined forces to host a singles-only running event in Bangalore for young adults aged 21-35. The event aimed to provide an alternative way for singles to connect in person ahead of Singles’ Day on November 11th. Starting at Nexus Koramangala Mall, the 3 km run ended with a social mixer. 

The internet might have made it easier for people to meet, but genuine connections remain elusive. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the dating scene — 80% of Millennials and 79% of Gen Zs in the US say they have dating app burnout, primarily because they’re not making good connections, are being disappointed or feeling rejected. Singles looking to take a break from the algorithms now look to the real world for serendipitous encounters. Run clubs are turning into defacto dating pools, and remember the viral pineapple phenomenon in Spanish supermarkets? Brands have also taken notice: dating app Pique hosted a real-world ‘singles wall’ in Brooklyn, while Tinder partnered with Runna to launch a run club in London.

Bumble and PUMA India are addressing that IRL desire while tapping into another consumer shift: a growing love for alfresco activities. Following an initial pandemic-fueled boom, the popularity of the outdoors is here to stay — Chinese urbanites are picking up cycling for scenic countryside escapes, and running is the fastest-growing sporting activity in India. A study by Bumble in India supports this trend when it comes to dating — 72% of Indians are open to sports-themed dates, while 44% see a lack of interest in sports as a potential dealbreaker.

Beyond the context of romance, how might your brand help people foster new relationships IRL? Could the great outdoors or physical activity serve as a catalyst?

With iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, Apple introduced the Apple Intelligence suite, which boasts notification summaries, email shortcuts and photo editing tools designed to “simplify and accelerate everyday tasks.” While the aim is to streamline, Apple’s AI-powered summaries have become as much of a punchline as a productivity boost. Unlike rivals Google and Samsung, which fairly consistently deliver refined, time-saving AI, Apple’s small-scale LLM seems prone to delightful misunderstandings 🤭

Take @AndrewSchmidtFC’s experience: a notification from his mom about a challenging hike was summarized as an attempted suicide — causing a moment of shock, followed by hilarity and over 13 million impressions on X. It doesn’t take much searching to uncover countless other examples of users being met not with essential updates, but with misinterpretations that swing from amusing to absurd.

As entertaining as those fails are, Apple’s AI isn’t just a comedy of errors. The summary feature is generally useful when digesting longer texts; it’s the brief messages that are more likely to trip up the system. And while the new tools might fall short of high expectations set by Apple’s marketing department, they also underscore that progress doesn’t happen at a steady, linear pace. Alongside unfathomable leaps and bounds, there can be baby steps, missteps and the occasional face-plant — even for a behemoth like Apple. So, whether your own company is dabbling with or diving into AI, be prepared to pick yourself up and dust yourself off ;-)

A new online game is helping people master pronoun usage for transgender and non-binary individuals. Just launched to kick off Transgender Awareness Week in the Netherlands, Pro-Now provides a safe environment to practice gender-affirming language by way of a memory game. Through four progressively challenging levels, users are introduced to eight recurring characters — all actual members of the queer community — and complete fill-in-the-blanks that require remembering and correctly applying various pronouns in everyday sentences. The game’s structure trains pronoun muscles while removing worries about messing up during real-world interactions.

Pro-Now addresses a growing need as people encounter more diverse gender expressions — whether among family and friends, colleagues and clients, or their broader community. While many genuinely want to be supportive, they may still struggle with the mechanics of using correct pronouns. By providing a space where people can make mistakes without feeling awkward or causing harm, Pro-Now bridges the gap between good intentions and ingrained habits. One to bring to your own neck of the woods? Or could your brand build or sponsor a similarly fun and friendly tool to transform other social challenges into approachable learning experiences?

Following an earlier campaign in July 2024, fast fashion brand Mango is presenting its current crop of sportswear for teens using AI models. Set in a dance studio as well as outdoors, the lookbook images are marked as generated by AI. The move is part of Mango’s self-described “earn lever,” aiming to add value through better use of tech and data management.

The upsides for Mango are clear: creating AI images, once technology and processes are up and running, is quicker and cheaper than hiring human talent — saving not just on models but also on bookers, photographers, make-up artists, set designers, runners... In theory, AI models also make it easier to show clothes on a more diverse cast of people. So far, Mango seems to be skipping the opportunity to explore a range of sizes and ethnicities, sticking instead to a traditionally waifish, light-skinned young woman.

AI models aren’t just a natural fit for large (fast) fashion brands, though. Gen AI could be a significant driver of efficiency and creativity for smaller labels, too — sustainable knitwear brand Sheep Inc, for example, started experimenting with artificially generated models and backgrounds in 2023.

In an interview with Country and Town House last year, co-founder Edzard van der Wyck explained the benefits for Sheep Inc: “AI offered us an innovative, energy-efficient way to create a campaign with high production values without leaving a trail of carbon and waste behind. It’s been a real game changer for us, as it means we can combine detailed product photography with computer generated design, to create stunning visuals that showcase our products and world view in a much richer manner. It has also allowed us to make the sheep themselves central to our campaign without animal welfare issues.” Hard to argue with that ;-)

As age-based segmentation becomes less relevant for predicting consumer preferences and behaviors, brands are getting increasingly playful in how they engage with audiences young and old. Rather than focusing on perceived generational divides, they‘re creating products and experiences that resonate across age groups while challenging outdated assumptions about how people should behave at different life stages.

A few recent examples of brands embracing the shift:

🎢 Swedish amusement park Liseberg assembled a team of octogenarians to break the world record for the highest average age on a roller coaster, achieving an 80.1-year average and generating close to a million TikTok views.

🧸 Major toy manufacturers, including Mattel, Lego and Hasbro, are actively developing products for “kidults,” with adult toy sales surpassing those of preschoolers in H1 2024. Adult customers in the US spent nearly USD 7 billion on toys in the year leading up to July 2024.

🎮 IKEA tapped 76-year-old Twitch streamer Cath Bowie as the face of its BRÄNNBOLL gaming collection, recognizing that seven million UK gamers are over 55 and 49% of British gamers are female. Bowie says it was “love at first sight” when she was introduced to Fortnite and now streams daily.

🐟 Pepperidge Farm playfully rebranded Goldfish crackers as “Chilean Sea Bass” in a limited campaign that acknowledged adults’ continued enjoyment of the childhood snack, giving them permission to embrace their inner snacker without feeling like they’re raiding their kids’ lunch boxes.

🧶 With age-related stereotypes continuing to unravel, how can your brand lead the way through a more nuanced reality, where interests and behavioral patterns and interests transcend generational boundaries?

Gymshark is addressing a significant but often barrier for Black people aiming to get into the habit of getting physically active: hair. The athletic apparel brand recently opened Twist ’n’ Sets, a pop-up salon and hair supplies shop in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood, after research revealed that 45% of Black women avoid exercise to keep their hairstyles intact. The space offered complimentary hair treatments, styling advice and products from black-owned hair brands like Ruka Hair and TreasureTress, alongside Gymshark’s own sweat-wicking headband designed for curly and coily hair.

While a temporary installation can’t solve systemic inequities in fitness spaces, the initiative demonstrates how brands can take meaningful action by engaging with a specific demographic’s needs. Rather than sidestepping a complex issue, Gymshark created a practical solution that simultaneously validates the experiences of Black women and provides pragmatic support. The pop-up also serves as a blueprint for how other brands — within and beyond the fitness space — can make their communities more inclusive by focusing on overlooked barriers.

As clean technology faces renewed political headwinds, heat pump maker Quilt is taking an unconventional approach to building consumer advocacy. The California startup, which caught our attention earlier this year with its design-forward heating and cooling units, just launched a capsule collection of retro-style branded apparel, including sweatshirts, pants, socks and hats.

The move represents a savvy pivot in how climate-tech companies engage with end users. While heat pumps have traditionally been viewed as utilitarian background infrastructure — equipment is often selected by HVAC contractors rather than homeowners, so incumbent manufacturers historically focused on trade relationships — Quilt is positioning its products as consumer-facing lifestyle choices worthy of declaration. The apparel line transforms an invisible home upgrade into a visible statement of values, tapping into the rise of ”climate dads” and others eager to advocate for clean energy solutions.

The timing is particularly pointed given the uncertain future of clean energy incentives. With Donald Trump vowing to dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits and rebates in his second term — in line with populist politicians in other parts of the world — companies like Quilt are racing to build mainstream momentum for heat pump adoption while government support remains. By making climate action fun, communal and identity-driven rather than merely sensible and ”the right thing to do,” brands can ensure that sustainable choices maintain their appeal even as policy tailwinds shift.

Last month, Mars released a global study by Ipsos on pet ownership, surveying 20,000+ pet parents across 20 countries and delving into the lives of pet parents and the flourishing pet economy. A few key insights:

📈 Pet ownership surge: 56% of people now call themselves pet parents, 47% of whom are first-timers

❤️ Pets first: For 37% of pet parents, their furry friend ranks as the most important aspect of their lives, offering unconditional love, a sense of family, fun and stress relief

🐱 Cat vs. 🐶 dog: Cat ownership is more common than dog ownership globally, with more men (52% male vs 48% female) owning cats

🌱 Sustainability: 45% prioritize it when choosing pet food

This isn’t just about a pet food maker like Mars, as the brand puts it, “embedding pet parent centricity into [its] DNA to transform the experience and build lifelong relationships with the 455 million pets and pet parents.” Brands across the board are recognizing this USD 500 billion opportunity and introducing everything from pet-friendly fitness classes to Whopper-flavored biscuits.

Why now? While pets are part of the family for people of all ages, significant numbers of both millennials and Gen Z are choosing pet ownership over parenthood. Since pets are a proven gateway to consumers’ hearts, brands can win loyalty by tapping into that profound human-animal connection. How could you create genuinely pet-friendly products and experiences? Or engage pet lovers and non-pet lovers alike? For inspiration, check out Seoul’s neighborhood paw patrol and Montreal’s free dog behavior workshop.

With the design for its 2024-25 shirts, Rio de Janeiro-based soccer club Vasco da Gama is spotlighting its anti-racist heritage. When the jerseys come in contact with sweat or water, they reveal excerpts from a landmark 1924 letter in which the club’s then-president José Augusto Prestes took a bold stand against racism and classism in Brazilian soccer.

Known as the Resposta Histórica, the letter was written after a newly formed league demanded Vasco exclude 12 working-class Black and mixed-race players from its championship-winning team — a demand the club firmly rejected, choosing instead to withdraw from the league entirely.

The jersey’s reveal mechanism creates a powerful connection between the physical effort of today’s players and fans — soaked in sweat after a game or a hot day in Rio — and the club’s century-old commitment to equality and inclusion. As soccer continues to grapple with racism globally, Vasco da Gama's innovative design serves as both a celebration of a specific club’s progressive legacy and a reminder that the fight for equity in sports remains ongoing.

Recognizing the growing popularity of allotments and other back-to-the-land aspirations, plus the possibilities created by remote working, Japan’s and farm Co., Ltd. just launched ‘and farm Kleingarten.’ The concept combines a shared vacation home with a farming experience — think timeshares with individual vegetable gardens. For a fixed monthly fee, city dwellers can slow down and enjoy life in the countryside for up to four consecutive days at a time.

and farm Kleingarten is designed with a focus on natural materials, blending Nordic design with Japanese minimalism to create a ‘Japandi’ style. The accommodation is fully furnished and equipped, with solid Wi-Fi for those who want to work remotely. Members have access to farm tools for working on their personal 30-square-meter vegetable plots, and workshops are available to those without prior gardening experience. For an additional fee, members’ allotments are tended to in their absence, with the option of having harvests home-delivered.

By adopting vacant houses and abandoned farmland on the outskirts of Nirasaki City, Yamanashi Prefecture, the concept not only provides users with an affordable second-home experience but also helps revitalize a rural area by fostering a new community of regular visitors. and farm Kleingarten soft-launched in October 2024. Monthly fees are JPY 55,000 (USD 360/EUR 335) for weekday stays, or JPY 88,000 to include weekend and holiday bookings, too.

While Calm’s 30-second US election ad went viral, we got a look at the state of mental health in another region via GIG’s 2024 Wellbeing Report. Saudi-based insurance group GIG commissioned YouGov to survey people in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, and here's what they said:

📊 65% faced mental health challenges last year, with 34% reporting anxiety and 23% depression
🔍 62% self-diagnosed their issues
💬 While 63% say seeking help is stigma-free, 35% don’t know where to go for support
⚠️ Top stressors? Financial concerns (43%) and future worries (35%)

The mental health crisis won’t disappear in 2025. Support gaps are widening in many parts of the world, and people will welcome brands that step in to help. Two objectives for your organization to focus on:

🏬 Increased accessibility: Could you boost access and lower barriers to psychological services? Consider Dubai’s shopping malls offering on-site, walk-in centers for psychiatry and counseling

🛋️ Early intervention: What if you could help people find comfort and support before they reach a breaking point? Take inspiration from Zimbabwe’s Friendship Bench, where people can chat openly with trained community members

Transforming the simple act of returning a shopping basket into a tool for engagement, WWF Japan recently launched a ‘Shopping Basket Voting’ initiative. The idea is to let shoppers vote on sustainability initiatives by returning their baskets to designated ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ areas in response to specific questions from retailers. For example, whether people support adding doors to coolers to save energy, or removing plastic trays from meat packaging.

The concept addresses a critical challenge: while Japanese consumers want to live more sustainably, 50% find sustainable options too expensive, 38% don’t know what actions to take, and 28% believe their individual actions don’t matter. Implementing a voting mechanism creates a low-effort way for shoppers to influence a store’s practices. And it’s a cost-effective method for retailers to gauge customer support for sustainability investments, helping them make informed decisions and ensure buy-in.

There’s a powerful nudging effect at play here, too. The visible accumulation of shopping carts in voting areas creates social proof, potentially influencing other shoppers’ behavior and creating a collective sense of impact. The binary choice simplifies decision-making, while the public nature of voting creates accountability for retailers to act on the results.

Shopping Basket Voting was developed in partnership with The University of Shiga Prefecture. Following a pilot a grocery store in Tokyo, WWF Japan has made the system’s design and implementation guidelines freely available through its website.