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Old money style
Old money style has been a pre-occupation behind the recent fascination with quiet luxury a la Zegna and Loro Piana.
The fascination with old money style isn’t new. Streetwear brands and hip-hop culture borrowed from preppy style over the years. Brands like Stüssy, A Bathing Ape, Phat Farm and Sean Jean had pieces that aped preppiness – a second old money style. Prior to Phat Farm, Ralph Lauren had trodden the same path and it inspired ‘Dad style’ in Japan.
Barbour jackets moved off the grouse moors and on to the backs of yuppies in the 1980s and 1990s UK – an urban preoccupation that is still maintained today.
Normcore is the practice of wearing great fashion basics that aren’t heavily branded. More related content can be found here and here.
Beauty
L’Oréal sales growth curbed by muted recovery in China | FT – not terribly surprising given the surge in local premium personal care brands and the guo chao phenomenon
Wrinkles, and why they terrify my generation | FT – the linkage between women’s health and beauty
Branding
Starbucks’ 2011 Rebrand | Brandsonify – I still drink from a venti mug with the old brand on it, I didn’t realise that the rebrand was that long ago
China
China to tighten its state secrets law in biggest revision in a decade | South China Morning Post
Design
Decoding NATO Military Symbology: The Universal Language of Defense | Ryan McBeth
Economics
Harry Farrell and Abraham Newman on the weaponisation of the global financial and trade system highlighted in their book Underground Empire. If I had one criticism it would be viewing this purely as an American trait. A classic example would be Chinese policies (cyber-sovereignty, shadow trade sanctions, coerced technology transfer), Russian food terrorism or EU sanctions on Russia.
Energy
Hertz Tesla Rental Fleet Costs Company On Depreciation, Repairs – poor industrial design on electric vehicles is losing the customer / business case to transition for a net zero future.
FMCG
Surge in Unilever’s deodorant sales after workers return to office | Unilever | The Guardian – 15% increase in sales – Unilever said the shift away from home working and expansion in Latin America had helped offset heavy competition from expensive new brands in the US such as Native and Dr Squatch.
Japan’s most popular MSG maker had to battle some nasty rumors 100 years ago | Sora News 24
Health
Review: Katalyst’s Electric Suit Shocks Your Muscles for More Gains – Robb Report
Hong Kong
The Books I Helped Rescue From China’s Repression – WSJ – Hong Kong’s vanishing publishing houses.
Luxury
Moncler Group revenues rise 16% on DTC sales | Vogue Business
European regulator approves Farfetch deal for YNAP, Richemont says | Reuters
Marketing
WhatsApp Flows 101: An Introduction – opportunity for greater personalisation of communications.
Accenture to Acquire ConcentricLife to Bolster its Healthcare Marketing and Communications Capabilities for the Life Sciences Industry | Accenture – I previously worked for Concentric on the US and global launch of Wegovy and on a campaign for animal flea treatment Bravecto.
Nike Partners With Dove to Help Build Body Confidence in Girls — NIKE, Inc.
Media
Global TV media costs surge almost a third post-pandemic | WARC | The Feed this is more in line with other media formats and this high profile article Rising costs mean TV’s payback advantage is now in question | Marketing Week looks at odds with reality.
Online
Google paid $26.3bn for search default deals in 2021, executive testifies | FT – billon dollar moat. Distribution fees have been widespread for decades and was the key drivers of bloatware on PCs. See also Inside Google’s Plan to Stop Apple From Getting Serious About Search – The New York Times
Security
GPS ‘spoofing’ thickens the fog of war – POLITICO
Britain is ignoring the real Chinese AI threat | Telegraph Online
Quantum Dice launches world’s fastest QRNG Quantum Random Number Generator | EE News Europe
Software
Bill Gates feels Generative AI has plateaued, says GPT-5 will not be any better | Technology News – The Indian Express – Gates also predicted that in the next two to five years, the accuracy of AI software will witness a considerable increase along with a reduction in cost. This will lead to the creation of new and reliable applications. Interestingly, he also said that he anticipates a stagnation in development initially. The billionaire said that, with GPT-4, the company has reached a limit, and he does not feel that GPT-5 will be better than its predecessor.
Technology
Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Elite X chip looks to break Intel’s PC dominance | Axios
Web of no web
Bosch to sell off three smart building products businesses | EE News Europe
3 ways we’ve used Google Maps to support people across Asia Pacific