Live To Tell | April 26, 2019

Talk About It

Fantastic: Arby’s Website Traffic For $6 Hawaii Deal

Arby’s fans were out in full force recently as the brand offered fans a day trip to Hawaii for just $6 in promotion of its new King’s Hawaiian Sandwich line. The outlandish stunt achieved the desired effect and generated significant buzz: the chain racked up a reported 250,000 site visits, 15,000 responses and said tickets sold out in “microseconds.” Arby’s will be taking 10 lucky winners to eat sandwiches by the sea for six hours on April 27.

Celebrity: Another Bold Claim by Elon Musk

Despite a noted history of aggressive predictions and missed deadlines, Elon Musk is at it again. At an investor event this week, the Tesla CEO announced that he expects the company to operate self-driving taxis by next year. These robo-taxis would not only be able to compete with the likes of Uber and Lyft, Musk explained; they’d be an excellent revenue opportunity for Tesla owners when they aren't using their vehicles. To punctuate the announcement, Musk was quoted as saying, "It's financially insane to buy anything other than a Tesla. [Owning another vehicle] will be like owning a horse in three years."

Cash Money: Beyond Meat Plans to Raise Over $183 Million in IPO

As consumer demand for meatless options continues to heat up, California-based alternative protein company Beyond Meat plans to raise $183.8 million through its initial public offering, with shares reportedly expected to go between $19 and $21 each. With nearly 40 percent of Americans saying they’re making an effort to eat more plant-based options, brands are increasingly turning to alternatives like Beyond Meat to harness the latest trend in a changing marketplace. Investors appear to be betting on its staying power, too.

Forward Thinking: Amazon, Google Launch Music Services Exclusively for Smart Speakers

Last week, Amazon and Google each made moves to stymie Spotify and Apple’s dominance in the music streaming space by launching ad-supported music streaming apps exclusively for their respective smart speaker devices. If Amazon and Google are successful in retaining a higher proportion of music consumption on their platforms via smart speaker by providing a simpler listening experience, they will not only be able to collect valuable user data but also incentivize smart speaker owners to listen exclusively through their services.

Friend or Foe: Instagram Dictating Restaurant Design

From rainbow bagels to Unicorn frappucinos, brands have gone to great lengths to create Instagram-worthy products. Due to Instagram’s ability to drive engagement, restaurant operators are intentionally designing their spaces to attract the social media platform's users. While colorful tiles and fun wallpaper patterns are a surefire way to attract Instagram users to a space, should brands be wary of investing too heavily into creating a customer experience solely geared toward social media?

Heating Up

There’s a lot to be learned from how former football and current business pro Gary Brackett has overcome adversity. Inspired by the Super Bowl champion’s journey through hardship to reach the pinnacle of athletic achievement and then go on to open his own business, Stacked Pickle, Nick Powills sees Brackett’s story as evidence that life’s struggles can and should be used as fuel to succeed.