Heineken is bringing the luxury of freshly poured beer into the home – without the hassle of having to brew it. But can a focus on modern sophistication and slick, simple design win over an audience accustomed to heritage and provenance?

Whether coffee or chocolate, pizza or pencils, connoisseurship has become a pastime for the masses. But if anyone can become a connoisseur of anything, will the concept lose its mystique?

Beauty brands are adapting to a new consumer psyche of technology, ethics and wellness while crafting a deeper narrative about what beauty might mean for 21st century consumption where doing good, looking good and feeling good all play a role.

Birchbox is a high end beauty e-tailer which dispatches samples to subscribers for a monthly fee. We consider their innovative product service system in the light of changing definitions of luxury and fluctuating consumer trends.

For today's youth, neo-tribalism is the new clique. Leaving blind conformity behind, these fast-moving, flexible cultures are a cocktail of affiliations and references, always shifting and reforming. But if everyone can be whoever they like, how do you know who’s in or out?

Will L'Oréal’s new volume-boosting 'Miss Manga' mascara – designed to recreate the Japanese ‘anime eyes’ look – appeal to Western women? And how will real anime fans react to the appropriation of their subculture?

How can other brands use fan culture to inspire new products and refresh tired markets? The newTrue Bloodmakeup range takes inspiration from popular culture to grab consumer attention and bring a captive audience closer to things they love.

As beauty brands connect more with their consumers, Beauty For All is L’Oréal’s attempt to make itself more accessible by turning away from a super glam aesthetic. But do we really want brands to abandon unobtainable glamour for more humble, emotive and ‘real’ visual tropes?