EBN's Profile

Nicklas – I like the tension you brought up with the “Create your own taste” touch screens between customization and standardization.

Looks like they’ve already rolled out 500 restaurants with touch screens (http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/17/news/mcdonalds-steve-easterbrook/). Revenue and profits were above forecast since the screens and more customizable options were introduced so it looks like the has been successful thus far. I think that the touch screens will allow will allow McDonald’s to hire less staff and is an investment in a long term play to reduce labor costs.

Great company to highlight! Did you know that Starbucks brought in Gerri Martin-Flickinger as their first ever Chief Technologist Officer? I think this signals how important Starbucks views technology to their customer value proposition moving foward. You can read more here, pretty cool article on her and what she’s planning for Starbuck’s future: http://www.geekwire.com/2016/new-starbucks-cto-technology-creating-hyper-connected-coffee-shops-personalized-customer/

Jacqueline – Agreed, it’s crazy how so many institutions still rely on paper!

Happy to clarify what I mean for UX bringing consumer grade experiences to the enterprise. If you think of consumer technology, they’re usually pretty intuitive (iphones are a great example… or even turbo tax for something more complex). You don’t need much training on how they work, the experience is intuitive. I think the BC government is one of many organizations that could benefit from thinking how do they make technology for work as intuitive and easy to use as technology we use in our everyday lives.

Interesting post and company! The “pay for performance” revenue model reminds me a of the Stikk case we did in marketing, however I think that Omada has a better model because it partners directly with Kaiser, Humana etc. In the Omada model the company pays for performance instead of the individual. I would imagine if the individual had to pay for performance, the accuracy of reporting would decline so they did not have to pay fees.

Another next step to elevate Omada’s value prop is to have a diet component / food component. Companies such as Rise (https://www.rise.us/#) offer apps where you can text a dietitian everything you eat and the dietitian will respond and offer advice / encouragement. This keeps users accountable to a real person with the food they eat.

Great post! To me, your post is highlighting an industry-wide trend on how owning the CMO relationship requires connecting customer strategy to digital advertising execution. Shortly after Publis (advertising) bought Sapient Nitro (tech consulting) for $3.75B Cash!, Deloitte Digital (digital consulting) bought Heat (advertising company). Read more here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/deloitte-digital-buys-creative-agency-heat-1456761163 Given that Publicis isn’t the only firm taking this strategy, it should also look to increase it’s core strategy consulting competencies in addition to it’s creative edge.

One thing that puzzles me about Flywheel is how they’ve also expanded into “FlyBarre” classes. https://www.flywheelsports.com/flybarre-classes These barre classes are pretty traditional and don’t use any IoT components. In my opinion nothing sets flybarre apart from the zillions of other barre classes available in major cities. I find it interesting that flybarre’s customer value prop and operating model is so different though they are a subset of flywheel and available at the same locations. I wonder if there is a way to create some sort of wearable tech / beacons to create as similar leaderboard for their barre classes. Thoughts?

great idea NN! They’ve already explored this; in 2009 they launched “a care tag for our planet” and partnered with Goodwill too champion donating clothes: http://adage.com/article/goodworks/levi-s-goodwill-launch-clothing-recycling-push/139856/ However I can’t find anything later than 2010 on it, so it may be good to relaunch the campaign

Great read, Jared! While I love the direction Exo is going, but @APF’s comment got me thinking… @APF mentioned they were a big fan of protein bars, but protein bars don’t usually contain animal protein! So could Exo actually be creating bigger ecological footprint than traditional protein bars with plant-based proteins? To truly minimize impact should Exo look to develop a cricket-based protein to go on sandwiches, salads etc? (this sounds gross even thinking about it; I echo @WZ that consumer perception will have to change as well!)

Great point of view and original artwork photo! Interesting that the man who doesn’t acknowledge climate change is happening, has hotels that will be directly impacted from climate change!

A few other thoughts on what Trump Hotels can do to minimize environmental impact:
1) Use types of grass that require less water around Trump hotel properties as well as golf courses.
2) Install low flow shower heads which can cut down on water usage by 25-60% http://www.energy.gov/energysaver/reduce-hot-water-use-energy-savings

Great post and scary future for skiing! You mentioned one of Vail’s main competitors is Squaw Valley and the actions they have taken. Squaw has also joined the National Ski Areas Associations Climate Change Challenge along with 36 other ski resorts.
You can check out their annual report here: http://www.nsaa.org/media/274957/2016_Climate_Challenge_Annual_Report.pdf The program is doing some really good things to combat climate change! The program helps make ski resorts drive towards actionable change though a five step process: 1) Inventory 2) Target 3) Reduce 4) Advocate 5) Report

I find it surprising Vail is not part of the Climate Change Challenge already and, to me, signifies they may have some less-than-ideal environmental practices in their operations that they do not intend to fix in the near future.

Agreed with @AakashM this is definitely the future of food!

Another idea to take climate change impact one step further: Impossible Foods is also dependent suppliers for coconut oil, potatoes and wheat. Where it is feasible, they should ensure they are sourcing their ingredients from places that are using sustainable farming practices.

I do however wonder, Impossible Foods actually convert meat eaters to their meatless burger long term? Or will this just capture the market for vegetarians? If we meat eaters don’t switch over, then the demand for meat (and it’s climate implications) will be left largely unchanged.

As an avid tea drinker I enjoyed reading your post! A few thoughts:
1. While this post focuses on the reduced rainfall, it seems that climate change brought significant flooding this year that has also caused problems! As of August floods have affected 1.6 million people in the Assam Region (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/27/flooding-in-india-affects-16m-people-and-submerges-national-park). Given incredible amounts of water the region has seen, it seems that tubewells may not make enough difference to help the tea crop achieve traditional harvesting levels.
2. You note that: “Assam tea can be substituted with tea from other regions (Darjeeling or Nilgiri in India, Sri Lanka, China, Kenya).” Another strategy for Bhumya is to evaluate alternatives other than tea, is there another crop that grows even better in the Assam region than others that Bhumya can get a true competitive advantage of?
3. I’m wondering if Indigo Agriculture is evaluating tea leaves as a potential next crop to consider?