Here’s some marketing news that you might have missed this week on The Saturday Brief. It looks like there are quite a few pieces centred around skincare this week in Singapore, with some tech news coming globally!

1. Does Tigerair’s New Logo Resemble Scoot’s?
Marketing Interactive
Tigerair unveiled its new branding earlier this week. Marketing Interactive thinks it looks a little too close to Scoot’s, with good reason. With both airlines being affiliates to Singapore Airlines, I wonder what is the strategic purpose of maintaining two different budget airlines? I would have wanted to write a post about the new brand, but I just didn’t manage to find the time. Perhaps next week!

2. Laneige Goes On Social Media Push
Marketing Interactive
Laneige has appointed Blugrapes as its new social media agency after a closed pitch. With the skincare market favouring Korean and Japanese brands these days, it would be interesting to see what Laneige pushes out in the coming months!

3. Japan’s Kanebo recalls cosmetics over skin stain fears
ChannelNewsAsia
Speaking of skincare, Japanese Kanebo has recalled 54 skin whitening products over fears that a compound in its products, 4HPB, would cause “white stains” on your skin. Some of the products recalled are also being sold in Singapore but has not been related to any complaints locally.

4. Shiseido Launches Ibuki
The Moodie Report
If this is old news for The Moodie Report, having reported this last month, it’s new news for Singapore. Shiseido launched its Ibuki skincare range this past week here on our island with a flipbook campaign. Ibuki, literally meaning “New Breath” is aimed at the elusive young audience of 25-34 year old millenials.

Coincidentally, a Japanese-associated product is just what we recommended for Shiseido in our Final Year Project, what with the Asian trend of skincare favouring products that are made and formulated for Asian skin. Glad to see that they took our advice! (teehee!)

5. Almost every major consumer electronics manufacturer is now working on a smart watch
Quartz
Everyone is talking about smart watches nowadays, with Sony having released its version of the future last week. Companies are rushing to jump onto the bandwagon that got started on a rumour that Apple is producing its version of an iWatch. Since we know that Apple is never one to pioneer a new device, but follows up with innovative ways of using existing technology, it would be interesting to see how all these unfolds when Apple announces its line-up of new products this Fall.

6. Apple Fashions a New Position for CEO of Yves St Laurent as it Eyes Wearable Future
Brand Channel
This is pretty interesting news: A fashion house CEO as VP in a Tech company. This probably gives us a hint as to what Apple has in store as its next big thing. I think it will definitely be wearables as everyone is guessing, but somehow I think it might not be an iWatch that everyone is expecting. I, for one, would be disappointed if it were a mere watch…

7. How Instagram’s CEO Kevin Systrom Is Making Good On Facebook’s Billion-Dollar Bet
Fast Company
This interview with CEO Kevin Systrom gives us an idea of what he thinks about how Instagram should monetize itself. I am glad that he is not trying to force banners or paywalls on our throats like say, YouTube or Facebook. The idea of having ads enhance the user experience is a great one. Have a read.

8. Motorola Unveils Patriotic Ad For MOTO X Smartphone Just In Time For Independence Day
Fast Company
As we all know, it’s Independence Day over in the United States. Motorola has rolled out its first ad campaign since being acquired by Google, and it appeals to the patriotism of Americans, urging them to “buy local” with the tag line, “Designed by You. Assembled in the USA”. This highlights the background of both Google and Motorola being U.S.-made companies. Would patriotism work in the smartphone market though, with Apple and Samsung being the two perennial giants?

9. Nike Celebrates 25 Years of Just Do It
Brand Channel
It is quite something for a slogan to last for 25 years. This is especially true for apparel, where fashions come and go like the win. That’s why it’s a particular coup for Nike to have clung on to its slogan for so long. It is, of course, world famous. And it doesn’t seem like it is going anywhere.

10. When You Talk To A Lamp Post And It Talks Back: Smart Cities Get Playful
FastCo Create
Finally, I leave you an interesting article from FastCo Create about smart cities. The Hello Lamp Post project allows anyone to talk to urban objects in Bristol through SMS. This is possibly a peek into how cities of the future could be like, when such technology is applied at a wider scale. Would you want to talk to your lamp post?