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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.

The creator economy is reaching new heights, with nearly two-thirds (65%) of consumers now purchasing products and services from creator-founded companies. That's according to creator agency Billion Dollar Boy, which recently polled 4,000 people across the US and UK.

According to that research — keeping in mind that the company stands to benefit from a buoyant creator economy — creator entrepreneurs are slightly outpacing traditional brands on consumer preference, with 27% of shoppers more likely to buy from creators or influencers, compared to 24% who expressed a preference for established companies. Buying behavior is particularly pronounced among younger demographics, with 91% of consumers aged 16-24 having purchased creator-founded products.

Behind this shift lies a mix of motivations. While 35% of shoppers say they want to support small and emerging businesses, nearly a third believe the products on offer are actually superior in quality. Other reasons: trusting influencers over traditional brands, feeling like part of a community, wanting to get in on a trending product and being a loyal follower of a creator.

So, what are people buying? Personal care/beauty leads the category mix, with 40% of consumers having purchased a creator-founded skincare, make-up or haircare product. Food and drink is next at 21%, followed by fashion at 17%. The phenomenon is notably stronger in the US, where 71% of consumers have bought from creators, compared to 58% in the UK.

Brazilian beauty giant Natura has unveiled its first-ever sonic identity, created by capturing and transforming the electrical pulses of Amazon rainforest trees into melody. Developed in partnership with Africa Creative and sound design studio Soundthinkers, the initiative leverages proprietary technology to translate bioelectric signals of native trees into a distinctive audio signature that will be used across the brand's communications.

The process involved sticking sensors on trees to record their electrical signals, which were then analyzed across parameters like tempo, tonality and timbre. The resulting soundmark aims to reflect Natura's commitment to biodiversity — the brand is a founding member of the Union for Ethical BioTrade — and to 'Bem Estar' (wellbeing) while forging a deeper sensory connection with its audience. For other brands looking to strengthen their sustainability messaging, the project shows how innovation can align environmental commitments with consumer touchpoints in ways that feel both tangible and emotionally resonant.

In April 2024, German supermarket chain REWE opened its first 100% vegan store. Now, the brand has shared its findings after six months of operations. The small store (212 square meters/2282 square feet) serves an average of 5,500 customers weekly and offers over 2,700 vegan products — nearly double the plant-based selection found in regular REWE locations. 

So, what are people buying? The ten most popular products include chocolate croissants, franzbrötchen (a regional variation on cinnamon rolls), freshly prepared coconut-almond spreads, cucumbers, bananas, oat-based soft-serve ice cream and deli sandwiches featuring schnitzel alternatives and smoked tofu. While REWE hasn't yet announced plans to roll out additional vegan shops and the store's location near Berlin's Warschauer Bridge, with high foot traffic from nearby offices and public transit, is likely crucial to its viability, the pilot store's early success offers valuable insights for retailers considering plant-based concepts.

Unlike REWE's conventional stores, where flexitarians drive plant-based sales as part of mixed shopping baskets, the 'voll pflanzich' location attracts those seeking an all-plant-based shopping experience. Customers have indicated that they enjoy the convenience of not having to read labels to check if a product is vegan, and the store's management has been quick to add new products like a line of tofu seasoning and a potato-based milk alternative. And as the popular pastries and soft-serve ice cream confirm, affordable treats (chocolate croissants are EUR 0.99, franzbrötchen are EUR 1.09) are dependable drivers of customer traffic ;-) 

Many of your stakeholders — from customers to factory workers — are feeling more fearful and vulnerable. The 11th Future Risks Report by Ipsos and AXA surveyed 19,000 people and 3,000 experts worldwide, revealing an escalating mood of anxiety. The cause? A relentless polycrisis 🌪️

According to the data, 90% of people sense a surge in crises, while 91% feel the pressure is hitting harder every day. Vulnerability is at an all-time high: of the 25 risks studied, 22 have record levels of concern. Climate-driven issues might top the list of worries, but AI risks are also on the radar, and societal and political anxieties are surging. Misinformation is now among the most feared threats 🤯

In a move that adds depth and meaning to in-flight dining, Turkish Airlines recently began serving bread made with wheat sourced from Taş Tepeler in Southeastern Anatolia, one of the first regions where humans cultivated grain and baked bread some 12,000 years ago. The initiative connects directly to the airline's sponsorship of archaeological excavations at Taş Tepeler, where findings indicate early agricultural communities transitioned from gathering wild seeds to establishing the foundations of farming.

The small, warm loaves are served to business class passengers on overseas flights departing from Istanbul and come in cloth bags explaining their origin. In doing so, Turkish Airlines transforms a typically forgettable aspect of airline catering into a tangible marker of Turkey's role as a cradle of human civilization. The carrier's (re)introduction of 'the world's oldest bread' taps into an enduring consumer desire for products with genuine heritage and still-made-here appeal. The initiative goes beyond simply celebrating Anatolia's agricultural legacy — through its support of the Taş Tepeler excavations, Turkish Airlines demonstrates how brands can both honor and nurture the places they call home.

Dutch Design Week 2024, Northern Europe’s largest design event, lit up the stage with Europe’s freshest creators. Here’s a peek at top student concepts sparking change:

🧘 NOISE takes mindfulness beyond mobile apps with a tactile, audio-visual device by Benedikt Herzau. 🇩🇪 Winner of the UX Design Award Gold 2024, it’s a soothing escape from digital chaos.

🧵 Screen time has dulled kids’ fine motor skills, but Anna-Maria Nilsson 🇸🇪 weaves a solution with KLURA — a math-meets-embroidery tool to revive dexterity and creativity.

🍆 Sex-toy shopping gets a stigma-free twist with Sander van der Lecq’s 🇳🇱 conceptual store for easytoys_nl, where imagination flows freely.

🦜 Mundo Pemón, a VR tour by Ana Lorena Lodeiros, 🇨🇭 invites users to explore Venezuela’s Canaima region and Pemon culture, raising Indigenous awareness through immersive storytelling.

🧴 Addressing the Sephora kids debate, Nataly Sijtsma 🇳🇱 introduces SkinTwin, duo skincare packs for kids and caregivers that build healthy habits and bonding time.

💧 The Reef by Anton Vervoort 🇧🇪 leverages the filtering power of Dreissena polymorpha mussels to tackle agricultural water pollution. Winner of the national James Dyson Award.

Are your brand’s pain points ready for a student-inspired fix? Explore these projects and more by DDW creators to shape the future of design 🔮

Bridging a gap in women’s healthcare in the Middle East and North Africa, Cairo-based Motherbeing has launched Daleela, an AI-powered health assistant that addresses the often-overlooked needs of Arabic-speaking women. The app provides culturally-sensitive information about sexual and reproductive health through a secure, anonymous platform — tackling social barriers that have historically limited access to essential resources.

What sets Daleela apart is its targeted approach to democratizing healthcare knowledge. The AI assistant draws from its own database of expert-verified information, delivering personalized guidance while maintaining strict user privacy. The core features are free, with additional premium content available for subscribers, including educational videos, articles and podcasts.

While Daleela can’t provide medical diagnoses, the app demonstrates how (generative) AI can be deployed to serve communities that face specific cultural and structural hurdles in accessing information — whether in healthcare or other domains. The launch comes as femtech is gaining momentum, with more startups focusing on developing region-specific solutions rather than one-size-fits-all approaches to women’s health.

WWF's Living Planet Report 2024 sounds the alarm: average wildlife population sizes have plunged by 73% (!) since 1970, with the steepest declines in Latin America & Caribbean (95%), Africa (76%), Asia-Pacific (60%) and freshwater ecosystems (85%). Ecosystems are nearing their tipping points, from the Amazon’s rapid dieback to coral reefs’ decline.

For 2025, it’s time to take off the carbon tunnel glasses and bring biodiversity into focus. This week’s UN biodiversity conference in Colombia urges brands to act, too!

💡 Ask yourself: how is your brand contributing to biodiversity loss? What can you do to safeguard and regenerate nature? Amid rising climate adaptation demands, consider how you’ll reshape your processes and priorities with biodiversity — and its (mainly Indigenous) guardians — in mind.

ByteDance's publishing arm is making a strategic move into print books, capitalizing on the explosive growth of #BookTok, TikTok's bibliophile community. The Chinese tech giant's 8th Note Press, which launched as a digital-only publisher in 2023, announced a partnership with independent New York-based publisher Zando to bring physical editions to US bookstores starting in 2025.

The expansion comes as TikTok continues to drive unprecedented growth in print book sales. According to the New York Times, print sales for authors with large BookTok followings reached 41 million units in 2024 to date, representing a 23% increase compared to the same period last year. That growth significantly outpaces the broader adult fiction market, which was only up by 6%.

The pivot to print acknowledges a crucial dynamic of BookTok culture: influencers prefer physical books they can display on their shelves and hold up in videos. 8th Note Press and Zando aim to publish 10-15 titles annually, focusing on genres that resonate with millennial and Gen Z readers, like romance, 'romantasy' and young adult fiction — and on topics that align with whatever is (about to be) trending on TikTok.

A new startup is tackling the environmental impact of disposable earplugs with a mycelium-based alternative. GOB has developed what it claims is the world's first plastic-free, compostable earplug. The need for a sustainable alternative is more pressing than one might imagine: manufacturers currently produce around 40 billion single-use earplugs annually, enough to circle the Earth nearly 100 times if laid end-to-end.

Beyond addressing the problem of plastic waste, GOB's mycelium earplugs also focus on health issues associated with traditional earplugs. Made of PVC foam, these may contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals, while vinyl chloride, a precursor to PVC, is a known carcinogenic. GOB, meanwhile, uses mycelium foam created by Ecovative's Forager, which can grow 3 million square feet of material a year on one acre of land.

According to GOB, the performance of its product matches or exceeds that of traditional foam plugs: AirMycelium foam provides balanced acoustic dampening while maintaining sound clarity. The material also has memory foam-like properties, conforming to a user's ear shape without causing discomfort. When the earplugs reach end-of-life, they're 100% home-compostable and break down into soil nutrients — a stark contrast to conventional PVC-based alternatives. The company is currently accepting pre-orders, with shipments expected to begin in early 2025.