Issue #105

Welcome to your weekly dose of TooXToo, this week featuring Dyson’s wireless headphones, High Snobeity’s NFT studio, Ecover’s refillery, and L’oréal’s new EEG headsets…

Dyson’s wireless headphones

Dyson have re-imagined the function of headphones by creating a new air-purifying version that are designed to clean air on-the-go…

These headphones are Dyson’s first wearable product designed on offer – they are called the ‘Dyson Zone’ and allow noise-cancelling and immersive listening, as well as providing clean air for those that wear them. This product marks Dyson’s first steps into the world of wearable and audio technology…

The Dyson Zone has been in the making for a while- over a decade actually, after extensive research into air quality and development, which outlined that an estimated nine in ten people around the world breathe air that exceeds pollutant limits.

Jake Dyson, the Chief engineer explained: “Air pollution is a global problem – it affects us everywhere we go (…) In our homes, at school, at work and as we travel, whether on foot on a bike or by public or private transport. The Dyson Zone purifies the air you breathe on the move.”

After multiple prototypes of the headphones, Dyson designed the Dyson Zone inspired by the design of a horse’s saddle. The headbands central area is cushioned and aims to dissipate the weight applied evenly, in the same way a saddle curves over the spine of a horse.

Dyson is infamous for innovation, and this latest tech-venture is no exception, though you will have to wait until the Autumn to get your hands on them…

High Snobeity’s NFT studio

Cultural pioneers High Snobeity are adding another dimension to their business, a technological one. This creative agency and publishers will be launching their own NFT space which will facilitate other brands to operate within the digital realm.

The last couple of years has seen a plethora of fashion and luxury brands unveil NFT collections or announce Meta-partnerships- though they don’t always have the in-house tools, or skills to curate their own digital assets. High Snobeity’s NFT studio will offer a new opportunity to its creative partners to help them develop these digital capabilities themselves.

The Editor in Chief of Highsnobeity, Thom Bettridge discussing the digital venture, commented: “Our lives take place digitally now, and we see that many of our most loyal readers are early adopters in this new space. We want to build new infrastructures for interacting with our community, and our NFT projects will serve as a platform for this.”

Not only will the NFT Studio develop and produce its own NFT and Web3 products, but it will also offer valuable insights into the space- acting as the meta-cultural consultant for luxury and lifestyle brands.

Ecover’s refillery

Time for a brand pop up that inspired us this month… Enter Recover’s “refillery”. Ecover took over a redundant petrol station last week in London on Borough Road to educate its consumers on the impact of plastic waste.

From March 23rd to March 24^th, Ecover invited its visitors to stop by to refill any Ecover household goods and enjoy a complimentary hot drink, all whilst learning about the perks and ease of a (waste free) refill lifestyle.

This pop up not only featured multiple refill stations providing consumers with top ups of their Ecover Laundry Liquid and Ecover Washing-up Liquid, but also a ‘Refill Lounge’ – a space to educate visitors about the fight against plastic waste. As well as this, an eye-catching wall-hanging plant installation featuring living terrariums with self-watering ecosystems - the perfect illustration of the power of reusing plastic.

Visitors travelling via eco-friendly vehicles also had the opportunity to recharge, with electric bicycle and scooter charging stations on site. Ecover hopes that by showing how we can introduce eco-friendly ways of living into our everyday routines, that they can lead the fight against plastic waste and help their consumers to do the same.

Plastic can last a lifetime, yet 300 million tonnes of it is thrown away every year. This statistic needs combatting and to get consumers on side the changes required need to be made easy, and convenient – if being eco-friendly is more accessible the fight against plastic is made more appealing.

Ecover’s pop up is one to take inspiration from – in this space they educated, engaged, and facilitated its users to create a positive impact by creating an environment that was unique, interactive, and incredibly though-provoking.

L’Oreal’s new EEG headset

L’oréal have collaborated with French brand Emotiv to tap into the power of scent and understand it’s impact on our emotions. L’oreal hope that their new EEG headset will streamline the process of choosing a fragrance for their consumer – a process that can often be overwhelming.

Neurotech operators  EMOTIV, have helped L’oréal offer their customers a new way to select perfumes. Currently only at their flagship Yves Saint Laurent stores, customers can wear an EEG headset that records electrical activity from all cortical lobes of the brain. Using the information from the headset, a YSL consultant can then guide the consumer through various fragrance families, tracking their neural responses to different smells to hone in on the scent that's best suited to their emotions.

Stephan Bezy, International General Manager at Yves Saint Laurent Beauté has enthused about the new technology that will deepen their personal approach to the luxury beauty space: "Through this immersive system, we were able to get 95% of people the right fragrance personalised to their needs and desires, which is enormously higher than without this technology. It's a huge first step in this category. Once we know which scents make people feel happy, energised, or other emotions, we can customise fragrances even more."

Soon, consumers all over the world will be able to request a fragrance match facilitated by these headsets as YSL's EEG-enhanced consultations will begin to roll out in multiple countries later this year and in 2023.

A retail experience that is multi-sensory and immersive is what the present and future consumer will be enticed by; brands that are able to incorporate services that can make the consumer journey greater curated, personalised, and elevated will be successful as a result looking ahead.