Every era has its vices. Crowd’s Olivia Anderson looks at how one cigarette brand is breaking tobacco’s taboo in a bid to bring cigarettes back to the masses… 

Cigarettes – one of the most heavily policed products in culture today. Until recently, the cigarette industry seemed to be ceding its ‘share of lung’ to a slew of newer tobacco-free products like vapes and ZYN pouches. But as indie sleaze creeps back into our cultural lexicon and the debauchery of the Roaring Twenties threatens to materialise, we’re seeing smoking in a new light. One brand in particular is cashing in on it. Hestia spotlights smoking’s cultural cachet by connecting smoking to respected tradition and cultural heritage, all with an irreverent twist.

Code 1: Time-Honoured Americanness

Hestia Tobacco positions smoking as an integral part of Americanness. Visuals call upon iconoclasts of American culture – Superman, Abraham Lincoln – which tether the brand to an established vision of Americanness, instantiating it as part of the nation’s ethos. The brand consistently foregrounds the phrase ‘American Farmer Grown’, which roots the product in the land itself. Hestia’s website features quotes from famed American figures from Lana Del Rey to Abe Lincoln – “so we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies / and we walked off to look for America”. The linguistic work quotes such as this one from Paul Simon does is to code smoking as intrinsic to the American spirit, conjuring a specific image of vintage Americana by recalling the language and imagery of storied eras of the nation’s history. This is similarly reinforced by visuals depicting blue jeans, symbolic of the American ideals of hard work and freedom.

By capitalizing on semiotic cues of classic American-ness, Hestia presents their product as a natural – if not integral part of their cultural identity.  

Code 2: Ancient Ritual

Hestia also draw on folklore and tradition to position themselves as the protectors of the true American legacy: “Tobacco is indigenous to the Americas, and has been a part of the history and culture of this land since the dawn of time”. Intertwining tobacco with America’s own origin story draws on ancient ritual and ideas of heritage to convey respect – even reverence – for Hestia’s product. The name Hestia derives from the Greek goddess of the hearth – this evokes the heart of the home, a site intimately connected to ideas of ritual, tradition, custom. The brand’s signature orange tones are earthy, warm and natural – a far cry from to the artificial, overbright shades we associate with vapes. They’re leaning into naturalness, ancient custom and the idea that tobacco is inextricable from the earth itself, attuned to nature’s seasons and processes. As Hestia themselves declare – “Hestia cigarettes are ritual and tradition in your hand”.

Foregrounding the tobacco plants and their raw, ‘naked’, ‘wild’ nature forges a primordial connection to the land itself, effectively doubling down on the ancestral practices underscoring Hestia’s product.  

Code 3: Irreverent Craft

Hestia positions itself as a scrappy challenger to Big Tobacco by doubling down on ideas of craft and artisanship. Paradoxically, one of the ways they do this is by using the visual language of a political campaign – a not-so-subtle nod to the politically charged cult of Big Tobacco. The brand’s visuals lean heavily on the imagery associated with political campaigns – badges and banners bear slogans like ‘Smoke Hestia 2024’ and ‘God Hates Vapes’. Hestia also foreground their deep understanding of the cultivation of tobacco, from crop to cig, ‘from seed to smoke’: “to have the knowledge to plant, prune, harvest and cure tobacco remains an art form passed down through generations”.

Constructing their product as an ‘art form’ invokes the idea of craft, positioning Hestia as artisanal, undeniably of nature, far from the mass-produced essence of Big Tobacco.

Conclusion

Hestia is breaking the mould of tobacco brands, evoking its cigarettes as natural, artisanal and intrinsic to American identity. Smoking Hestia tobacco is positioned as an ancient – almost sacrosanct – ritual, carefully crafted and infused with heritage. Hestia’s semiotics do important work in lessening the harmful, taboo aspects of smoking and grounding it in nature, tradition and – above all – storied Americanness.

If you’d like to learn more about how we use semiotics to reach real cultural insights, get in touch at: hello@crowdDNA.com 

Tech can feel like it’s replacing us. Crowd’s Zoe Papakonstantino looks at how one phone brand signals wanting to enhance humanity instead… 

From AI chatbots that can simulate meaningful relationships, to algorithms that know our taste better than we do, technology is fast reshaping roles previously reserved for humans.  But not all technology aims to replicate what’s human…  

Instead, emergently in consumer tech there are products that aim to redefine the relationship between human and tech; to assail fears of being replaced through signalling that they can give us more agency to enhance our abilities and experiences. In short? To make tech less out-source, more resource.  

One such brand is Nothing, confidently taking an elusive and non-descript name, cueing a lack of form or emptiness. It requires us (the humans) to give it meaning. Here we look at semiotic queues – how Nothing looks, what it says – to analyse how Nothing takes up a position in this shift to a more collaborative and empathetic relationship between humans and their technology. 

Code 1: Extraordinary Transparency  

Cutting-edge tech is an exciting part of Nothings’ product proposition, but by establishing transparency and humanity in its branding, its users feel familiarity (not fear or intimidation) towards it. 

We see images of animals holding up Nothing products, and this suggests worship and positions it as a powerful resource yet still part of nature. On an even friendlier note, technical diagrams – like blueprints or instruction manuals – suggests the brand wants you to develop an in-depth understanding of its products. Meanwhile, revealing people (and animals) beneath translucent packaging symbolises transparency, signalling that consumers’ participation is key to unlocking the power of Nothing’s tech. This provides a sense of reassurance or comfort, coding Nothing again as tech that should be familiar to its user. 

These semiotic cues of power and transparency combine to present Nothing as a powerful tool with beyond-human capabilities. 

Code 2: Curious Discovery 

In redirecting its innovation away from power and dominance, to one of curious discovery, Nothing communicates that its powerful products are built to enhance, rather than replace human experience. 

Nothing signals this by blurring the lines between human and mechanical. We see this in the suggestions of a cyborg-like relationship between the tech and human: a person in white and turquoise dress, calling doctors to mind, while stark white lighting feels sterile and scientific. Phone cameras held over the eye position the device as an extension of the senses – and resembles looking through a magnifying glass, evoking curiosity or discovery.  

Words and images codes this product as fun and intuitive: “play date”; “bringing joy back into the everyday”; and the fish-eye lens and exaggerated expressions adds a self-aware silliness to editorial visuals. Nothing establishes a co-creative bond between living things and its technology by coding its products as tools for curious discovery. 

Code 3: Inclusive Nostalgia 

Tech as superior and exclusive (whether Tesla or the Tech Titans and their rockets) isn’t a good look right now, and Nothing clearly sets itself apart from this by coding its products as familiar, authentic, and inclusive.  

We see saturated, grainy visuals reminiscent of old film photographs and they evoke warm feelings of nostalgia, while thin serif fonts are quiet, unfussy and easy to read. This makes Nothing relatable, inclusive and accessible, especially when the campaigns feature diverse models. The Nothing products are intended for all.  

Meanwhile, there’s another clear line drawn between Nothing and dominant tech brands, who rely on conventionally masculine, dark, and impersonal visuals to create distance and establish power over the viewer. Instead, here are people with their backs turned to the camera or looking away, and with candid and unthreatening expressions. While images of doe-eyed individuals captured from above evoke a sense of innocence. Showing this vulnerability humanises the brand and shifts the power from brand to consumer. 

Conclusion 

All together, these semiotic signals of vulnerability, inclusivity, and authenticity code Nothing’s tech as human-first – and dare we say, even taking us back to a time when we felt optimistic about what tech can do for us (rather than fearful).  

Through visuals and language, Nothing portrays itself as a brand that is here to enhance the human experiences and bring us joy and fulfilment. They encourage us to form a new, human-centred relationship with tech by prioritising our needs for accessibility, collaboration, and curiosity. 

If you’d like to learn more about how we use semiotics to reach real cultural insights, get in touch at: hello@crowdDNA.com 

Modern dating can feel toxic. Crowd’s Celine Longden-Naufal looks at how one dating app is reshaping this culture by embracing the semiotics of openness…

We know today’s daters are tired of the ‘self-imposed pressure for conventional labels’ (Tinder, 2023) and many seek the freedom to define their own relationships. They are wanting an invitation to self exploration and freedom to seek out a bit more of what they fancy.

And this more intentional approach to romantic life is reshaping dating culture – and of course, dating apps. It can even be a direct antidote to the downsides of dating app culture (ie the 35 percent who experience unwanted sexual images, or the 80 percent exposed to emotional burnout, Pew 2020; Singles Report 2023). 

While it’s something that Tinder and Hinge have recognised by adding open relationships to profile options, dating app Feeld is leading the way (not least by referring to daters as ‘humans’). Below is our semiotic analysis of the Feeld brand to show what this reshaped dating culture looks and sounds like…

Heightened Intimacy 

Visuals of gentle skin-to-skin embrace suggests touch is used as a means of intimate discovery, and a level of trust and support. Warm colour palettes and references to physical softness (foliage and nature, hazy images) creates an approachable space. Meanwhile, imagery of people smiling and mutually embracing each other evokes a feeling of closeness and deep connection. By coding Feeld as facilitating intimate depth that goes beyond carnal lust, dating culture can explore the possibilities of more meaningful relationships.

Authentic Connections

Introducing a new wave of daters who are ‘experimental’, Feeld signals a dating culture that’s abandoning tradition. While other mainstream apps use the term ‘preferences’, that can often make dating feel like you’re headhunting a mate, Feeld instead uses the term ‘desires’ . This reestablishes the priority of pleasure and joy in dating. We’re also seeing unposed visuals of diverse couples passionately and full heartedly engaging with each other in private spaces, as well as documentation of personal stories, evoking a feeling of trust and honesty not only between connections, but among a like minded community. In all, Feeld is a safe place to explore an inclusive and authentic approach to dating.

Encouraged Exploration

The app positions itself as always in a “dialogue” with its users. It uses open language with a comforting tone of voice when addressing ‘taboo topics’, similar to a teacher-like quality of benevolent guidance, enlightening daters about the spectrum of intimacy. We also see visuals that evoke a feeling of being welcomed –  boards that encourage users to “come on in” resemble signage we’d see outside of spaces of hospitality, ensuring that there’s a place at the table for everyone to explore and to truly “Find Your People”.

Through very careful and thoughtful use of imagery and words, Feeld reveals a whole-hearted commitment to showing how using dating apps can be a safe, inclusive and most importantly, joyful, experience. In this light, it’s doing even more than reshaping dating culture, it’s showing how we can reshape how we connect as humans.

If you’d like to learn more about how we use semiotics to reach real cultural insights, get in touch at: hello@crowdDNA.com

Crowd DNA’s Dr Jennifer Simon celebrates all the good news about AI at the MRS Semiotics and Cultural Insights Conference

Commercial Semiotics, like other industries, is experiencing trends toward automation – with similar hopes and trepidations. So when I was asked to speak at the MRS Semiotics and Cultural Insights Conference 2024, I wanted to focus on how we determine the optimal balance between human and AI involvement – the good signs, as it were. 

The three following themes here were my introduction at the event to how semiotics and AI can begin to unlock new dimensions in research, creativity, and – most crucially – customer understanding:

Leveraging AI: Enhancing our rigour and breadth of our Storytelling and Analysis

While commercial semiotics is an established and rigorous methodology, AI supported semiotics can provide added robustness to our approach. By increasing the amount of source material we analyse, it gives us hundreds of visual and textual evidence across categories – to further validate, enhance and innovate aspects of our storytelling and analysis for even richer insights. 

Demystifying AI: Bridging the Knowledge Gap and Establishing a Common Understanding 

In the market research industry in general, as with semiotics, there needs to be education on what AI is exactly to demystify it, as we don’t have a common understanding of it. We at Crowd DNA and the wider Strat7 Group have developed an AI working group where we provide cross agency show and tells and internal webinars to sensitise team members to what generative AI is, its capabilities and limitations. 

A partnership. Our Human Expertise and Technological innovation 

Semiotics can be enhanced with AI, but human creativity and insights is still very critical – especially when advising clients on business decisions and providing strategic and credible recommendations and outputs. 

Undoubtedly, AI is beginning to reshape how we work as Semioticians. And at Crowd DNA, it is part of our offering and we aspire to use it to give better, more scope to our outputs (whether that means strategists have time freed up for more creative tasks, or clients use it to analyse vast amounts of data efficiently). We know there’s lots of areas of integration between semiotics and AI that are just beginning to be explored…

The MRS Semiotics and Cultural Insights Conference 2024 is on 1st February 2024. For more information go to https://www.mrs.org.uk/.

If you’d like to learn more about how we use semiotics to reach real cultural insights, or more about our AI solutions – powered by strat7.ai – please get in touch: hello@crowdDNA.com

In a new series, Crowd DNA uses semiotics to decode colour trends and unpack cultural shifts in the process…

At Crowd, we use semiotics as one of our tools, showing where signs and symbols – like words, visual icons, packaging, or logos – are a shortcut for brands to reveal their message or impact behaviour. 

Colour of course carries plenty of meaning, but that changes (and often very fast) alongside lived experiences. In this new series, we take a look at the semiotics of colour, and where culture is flipping its use on its head. 

First up, what lies beneath the sunny, happy-go-lucky exterior of Gen Z yellow? We use semiotics to chart the evolution of a colour ascribed to Gen Z – a yellow that suits the brash, outspoken kids on the block – and how it mirrors what has mattered to this group during the last five years…

In Gen Z yellow, we explore: 

Semiotic analysis can help brands understand culture and keep ahead of cultural change, and we hope our Colour Me series will help you in  choosing more impactful colours.

If you’d like to learn more about how we use semiotics to reach real cultural insights, please get in touch: hello@crowdDNA.com

In a chaotic cultural landscape, Crowd’s Rachel Rapp and Amy Nicholson present three mindsets that create opportunity in uncertainty…

The last few years have been turbulent across the globe. From climate paralysis and political fatigue, to the cost-of-living crisis and the impact of AI, chaos has become the new normal. Finding what’s good in permacrisis – Collins’s Dictionary word of the year, 2022 – can feel overwhelming.

Luckily, at Crowd DNA, we’re partial to a bit of chaos. As our fundamental human needs shift in response to uncertainty, how we interact with brands also changes, and we think that creates opportunity. Using trends analysis, semiotics and conversations with our KIN network, we’ve identified three mindsets that brands can adopt to make sense of the mayhem. These are: hand holding, distracting, or embracing uncertainty. 

You can get a taste of how to execute against each mindset below. It’s our introduction to how brands can show up for consumers in these incalculable times. There are certainly more mindsets out there to be defined – but we hope these begin to inspire you to think about what’s right for your brand. 

Three Mindsets To Meet Shifting Human Behaviour In Uncertain Times

1. Hand Holding 

Hand holding plays into our human needs for comfort and security. The trick is to offer reassurance and stability by grounding your brand’s touch points with scenes of everyday reality, universal experiences and simple language. While we typically see hand holding in fintech, banking and insurance (industries that are looking to support consumers during the cost-of-living crisis), we’re now seeing brands from other categories presenting themselves as reassuring and stable, too.

Hand Holding: How To…

_Dial up references to familiar rituals. We see this mindset in the Food Love Stories campaign from UK supermarket chain Tesco, emphasising everyday realities – eg a family barbecue. Meanwhile, at London Fashion Week, Burberry took over a London cafe to serve up comfort food (a surprising collision of egg and chips and designer fashion). Both brands are speaking to the need for security through relatability. 

_Incorporate community values and the idea of coming together. The Levi’s 2023 campaign was about people gathering at a funeral in their trusty 501 jeans, with themes of togetherness, support, and to give a sense of belonging.

_Offer a casual, friendly tone of voice. Ganni’s use of informal emoticons suggests a relatable, peer-to-peer relationship with consumers, while Ikea’s language of togetherness creates a sense of camaraderie that cultivates trust and connection.

2. Distraction 

There’s often a craving for distraction from the uncertainty, and brands can offer this with momentary escape. Playing with time – harking back to simpler eras, using nostalgia, or transporting us toward a brighter future – are key tropes within this mindset. After all, an escape from the present is the ultimate distraction from uncertain times. 

Distraction: How To…

_Emphasise intentionally retro aesthetics and allude to nostalgia. The latest design for toaster pastries, Pop-Tarts, is a nostalgia trip back to their iconic 1960s packaging, allowing consumers to be distracted from uncertain times with comforting memories of the past.

_Tap into the surreal. The wellbeing supplement brand, Dirtea, evokes dreamscape imagery that defies reality with a product that actually levitates and positions itself as a portal to a utopian world that distracts from the uncertain present by letting consumers escape.

_Reference futurism through digitised worlds. Coca Cola has catapulted us to the year 3000 with their new release that allows a taste of the future, created using AI, all while using 2023’s Colour of the Year: Digital Lavender. This emphasis on futurist realities invites us to disengage from the present moment.

3. Embracing

This is where brands are really getting stuck into the mess by either doubling down on difficult topics, or making light of uncertainty with relatable humour. Here, we see brands lean into the chaos, by being on the consumer’s side as they find light in the darkness. And, in the more extreme examples, challenging the status quo by forcing the audience to confront an uncomfortable and uncertain future. 

Embracing: How To…

_Get people laughing by playing with the bizarre. Heinz has released its first global ad campaign in 150 years celebrating ‘irrational love’ for the brand, like the idea of putting ketchup on ice-cream, or Heinz tattoos. Elsewhere, product comparison website, Compare The Market uses a witty tone of voice to parody the temperamental British weather. Both are finding humour in the unpredictable.

_Lean into the confrontational and uncomfortable. Balenciaga’s Mud S/S 2023 showcased a dirty, post-apocalyptic world, while Isamaya Beauty has recently presented an extreme otherworldly makeup style. These encourage us to rethink our current way of living by physically immersing us in the darker side of uncertainty.

_Reframe the narrative around uncertainty. The travel planner service, Journee Trips, plays with the language of excitement and mystery to maximise the idea of discovery and adventure; celebrating not knowing your destination until you reach the airport.

Which uncertainty mindset best fits your brand? Or do you tap into another mindset altogether during these turbulent times? To find out more about the opportunities within chaos, please get in touch.

Plant-based foods are now tasty to all – even avid meat-eaters. Crowd DNA’s Céline Longden-Naufal decodes how this happens by countering veganism’s sombre reputation with playful pleasure…

An avid meat eater chooses a beefless burger. A shopper picks Beyond Meat sausages with no thought to animal welfare. Or a vegan dish is ordered by someone who has no rules about what they can or can’t eat. For those who enjoy plant based not as a strict choice, or a way of life, how do these products appeal to this less rigid person?

As part of our regular cultural decode series, we analyse how La Vie (a plant-based bacon and lardon alternative product) does this by fostering a more playful and approachable attitude to plant-based diets. We look at how it engages with the flexible consumer, to “unite everyone at the same table, no matter their dietary preferences,” as La Vie co-founder Nicholas Schweitzer puts it. And how this hybrid market is being created without severing the important ties to the environmental considerations and ethics that are the historic (and still beating) heart of the veganism movement.

1. Plant-based as playful pleasure

La Vie’s use of bright, clashing block colours to amplify the hand-drawn illustrations of anthropomorphised characters recall children’s cartoons, coding the plant-based world as bringing a child-like wonder to what has traditionally been seen as a sombre subject. This marries well with a cheeky and down-to-earth tone of voice (eg “Made from plants, not from ass!”) that suggests engagement with a grown-up audience, communicating an adult playfulness. It sparks our childhood imaginative freedom and puts it through the lens of age appropriate wit. Meanwhile, the dynamism and eccentricity of those cartoons elevates the plant-based ethos in more energetic and stimulating ways – all in all, La Vie is positioned as an uplifting and pleasurable indulgence for all ages.

2. Plant-based as light-heartedly rebellious 

While the switch to plant-based diets are usually stemmed from deep-rooted ethical, health and environmental issues, these are often fuelled by aggression and bleakness. La Vie’s use of relevant puns (eg “Bacon that doesn’t make the planet sizzle”) brings light and humour to important issues around sustainability and health.  Playing with brand’s cultural stereotype to push plant-based products – like “Ze award-winning French plant-based bacon now available in Sonzburries” – also codes this space as pushing boundaries without taking itself too seriously. We often see in millennial humour used to convey realism with topics that are considered serious. Imagery of counterculture symbols (eg planet earth giving the peace sign) connotes a 1970s hippie aesthetic, coding plant-based as being an optimistic steward of the environment and ethics, rather than the bringer of doom and gloom.

3. Plant-based as approachable and flexible 

Traditionally, vegans have been the primary focus for plant-based products where the vegan credentials of a product took priority over being a tasty. The visuals of dishes that incorporate non-vegan components (eg eggs) code plant-based lifestyles as expansive and adaptable. Imagery of full, brightly colourful dishes and glistening ingredients resemble the images we see on diner menus that are known for rich foods, and suggests that plant-based lifestyles can also be tantalising and indulgent. Meanwhile, with breakfast being an integral part of family life, utilising this uniting symbol of a comforting routine evokes approachability. And the use of familiar pop culture references (eg “On Mondays we wear pink” – from Mean Girls) and inclusive language (eg “For meat lovers and vegans”) makes this space accessible for everyone. 

Plant-based brands are continuously striving for new and creative ways to entice consumers to veganism without losing their traditional customers. Introducing a whimsical playfulness and light-hearted activism rather than the historical scare-mongering tactics allows others to ease into plant-based options without eating it with a side order of guilt.

La Vie champions these shifts without compromising on indulgence and taste to transport consumers to a novel yet familiar plant-based world. It allows them to rethink their engagement with health and planet without leaving a bad taste in their mouth. 

Need help on food brand placement? Get in touch at: hello@crowdDNA.com

How does a healthcare brand gain the trust of women who feel that the system is failing them? Crowd DNA’s Sundari Sheldon decodes what happens when you put women at the center of it…

As ‘Femtech’ and the female wellness market is booming, it’s helping to expose the failings in how healthcare has been delivered to women. It’s often a fragmented system, where women’s body parts are treated by different doctors, ignoring that gynecology, mental health and wellness are part of ‘whole’ health. Further, gender concepts are complex, and of course, no two journeys are the same. 

Taking an intersectional approach to individualized personal care for women is a necessity to land well with the consumers of today.

As part of our regular cultural decode series, Semiotics At Crowd, we’re looking at tia and how this company is leading in the representation of women’s wellness. Tia – from the Spanish for ‘aunt’ – is a US wellness hub that integrates gynecology, primary care, and mental wellbeing: a holistic service from puberty to menopause (and the majority of its offerings are covered by most insurance plans).

The brand is focused on intersectional wellness as “the modern medical home for women”. And it utilizes a unique brand strategy to reflect how it’s open to the complexities of women’s experience. Below, we’ve used tia to explore three new key codes of ‘modern medical’ wellness that are shining through in women’s health. 

1. Wellness as individualized personal care 

Faceless, unidentifiable illustrations throughout tia’s online presence are a focus on ‘you’. Literally, as a design concept, with faceless drawings, you become the focal point. In contrast to the unrelatable use of perfectly placed models with often cheesy expressions, by using anonymous illustrations it enables onlookers to fit themselves into tia’s wellness approach.

Tia’s focus on the individual also comes through visually with components like illustrations of tia’s services circling around around the word “you”, and consistent language that highlights their mission of putting the individual needs of each consumer first, for example “Your health is an open conversation. Our providers decide what’s safe. You decide what’s best.”

2. Wellness as true, genuine representation 

Tia’s use of a muted palette speaks to diversity, and the pops of color highlight their vibrant – some could claim revolutionary – message. The team bios and photos are posted in black and white with pops of color in the background. Elsewhere only parts of illustrations are colorful as a contrast to the mostly beige background of their website pages and clinic interior designs. Where there is a colorful background, a beige font is used. Additionally, tia signals diverse body shapes by using softer shapes for their illustrations of women. The message is that tia wants true, genuine representation with their approach to health. 

3. Wellness as an intersectional offering

Intersectionality is a crucial lens through which to view wellness today. Tia reflects that by acknowledging that there must be fluidity in treating the various wellness needs of their patients. The use of messy brush strokes (in contrast to fine lines) represents that things are more fluid now – especially in regard to gender expression.

Their non-aggressive and smooth lines serve as a representation of the fluidity offered by their individualized care. Additionally, their signature pink dot is a testament to not only their friendly font and color choice, but it’s about their inclusive and well ’rounded’ approach to healthcare.

Overall, tia is redefining what women’s wellness means in modern times – the semiotic codes connect it to individualized personal care, diversity, and intersectionality. The company is drawing a line in the sand from traditional approaches to health and wellness, and redefining what the future will look like: on one level, the gynecologist for the self-care generation (a recent ad campaign: “Finally, Healthcare That Hears You” timed to clinic openings in Manhattan and Brooklyn). And also we can look at its visual identity as a how-to guide to coding safe space for women.

Need help talking women wellness? Get in touch at: hello@crowdDNA.com