Live To Tell | May 10, 2019

Talk About It

Fantastic: Cheez-It Sends Fans on Treasure Hunt to Promote New Snack

Cheez-It is unveiling a new snack called Snap’d—a thin, crispy, cheese-filled take on its classic snack cracker—and is sending fans on a treasure hunt to promote its release. To support messaging that Snap’d snacks are flying off grocery store shelves at a record pace, Cheez-It hid a year’s supply of Snap’d in a bunker somewhere in the U.S.; the first person who follows the clues the brand releases on Twitter to the bunker’s location receives its contents. Happy hunting!

Celebrity: Whitney Wolfe Herd on Bumble’s Many Ventures

Have you ever wondered what a typical day is like at any of the companies behind the world’s most popular dating apps? In a recent New York Times profile, Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd shed some light on the topic; as it turns out, there’s a lot more to it than letting an algorithm play matchmaker. The 29-year-old CEO is managing a slew of ventures, including apps for friend finding in Bumble BFF and for networking in Bumble Bizz, as well as a handful of newer businesses like a print magazine, an investment fund, a film fund, a skin care line and a restaurant concept. You could almost call her as busy as a bee. Get it?

Cash Money: $2.3 Billion in Free Advertising… And it Wasn’t Even a Starbucks Cup

While most people knew Starbucks had a strong global presence, last Sunday was the first time it became clear that presence includes medieval dragon land, too. By now, we’re sure you’ve heard a modern disposable coffee cup accidentally made its way into a Game of Thrones episode. What you may not have heard yet, though, is arguably even more unbelievable: the accidental product placement earned Starbucks an estimated $2.3 billion in free advertising, and the cup in question, it turns out, wasn’t even a Starbucks cup.

Forward Thinking: Nike Turns to Tech to Help Customers Find Their Perfect Shoe Size

Always the innovator, Nike is rolling out new in-app software that will allow customers to scan their feet to determine their perfect shoe size. The feature picks up 13 different measurements via smartphone camera, then uses an algorithm to recommend the best fit for the shoe that a customer is shopping for. Nike is betting on the technology lowering return rates, helping with inventory planning and playing a role in future product development.

Friend or Foe: Zillow and Redfin as Homebuyers

The future of real estate just got a whole lot more complicated. An industry that has largely remained untouched by the advent of technology is impenetrable no longer; e-commerce has begun its infiltration. Silicon Valley tech companies like Zillow and Redfin are now offering instant home-buying features with a goal of bringing efficiency and convenience to real estate sales. While these goals sound customer-centric and friendly on the surface, many are concerned that the practice of “iBuying” has the potential to become a foe and tank the housing market yet again this century. Is this rapid-onset practice beneficial or detrimental to Americans?

Heating Up

It’s easy to call people dumb. In his latest column for 1851 Franchise, No Limit Agency* CEO Nick Powills acknowledges as much, and uses this notion to explore the idea that failure to perform is less about lack of brains and more about lack of engagement. Using his own company as a point of reference, Powills demonstrates that engagement is a two-way street, and it is up to leaders to demonstrate the “why” behind their actions to achieve the necessary buy-in.