SHo's Profile

Delightful application of 3D printing! I question if additive manufacturing will be enough to lift the Hershey brand from a mass-market product to be on par with upscale chocolatiers like Godiva. I wonder if developing a separate, higher end sub brand with a tweaked underlying recipe might assist in positioning the 3D printed product as more artisanal and luxury. Expanding on your recommendation to expand storefronts, I think online ordering could be a key avenue for growth for Hershey in this endeavor as well. It would be extremely exciting to upload a digital file to the Hershey website and have a corresponding chocolate sculpture created and sent to a loved one. That said, is one of the major draws of 3D printing chocolate the ability to see the product printed before your eyes?

Really interesting evolution for Gilette – thanks for sharing! I echo Rose S’s comments above in that I’m not sure Gilette has hit the mark here on winning back the hearts of consumers and Millennials, specifically. I wonder if simply offering customization of colors and designs is really speaking to what consumers are looking for – I consider razors to be a basic, everyday product and thus worry consumers won’t have an appetite for a razor that costs more and takes longer to ship. I wonder if Gilette could increase the value-add of 3D printing customization by creating razors that are perfectly sized for a person’s hand?

Thank you for sharing – wonderful to see how open innovation can be used for social impact! I think the point of innovation requiring experimentation is particularly poignant here – how do we wrestle with the fact that the communities UNICEF’s serves are particularly vulnerable? Can we really rely on social media given cybersecurity concerns and the potential amount of “noise” in the data? Are we overlooking certain communities in need that may be more closed to the digital world? As you pointed out, I think a marriage of human expertise / boots on the ground and open innovation/technology will be key to ensuring vulnerable communities are not exploited.

Great piece and a topic that is particularly dear to my heart! As an AFOL myself, I would truly hope LEGO can find ways to remain relevant in our increasingly digital world, and believe open innovation is key to their go-forward success. While I think LEGO Ideas is a fantastic vehicle to leverage the open source platform and engage the online community, LEGO should shorten the reaction to time to these ideas – the 2 year wait time is simply too long to keep a customer’s interest. I completely agree that bringing LEGO toys to life through interactive games will be an important lever for the company – I’d like to see them harness that avenue here in North America (could LEGO be the new SIMS?)

Great topic! I think the tenuous nature of EasyJet’s partnership with Airbus is really interesting – on the one hand, as they ramp up their machine learning capabilities, this training data from a wide range of airlines will be critical in building out their predictive maintenance capabilities. On the other hand, relinquishing their own data to Airbus over the long term might hurt the company’s competitive edge. Furthermore, since aircraft data can differ so significantly based on airline, geography, weather patterns and other variables, I worry about how much “noise” is in this data that might lead the predictive maintenance algorithm astray. Beyond maintenance, I wonder how other airline-related ‘headaches’ could be solved by machine learning – the prospect of a better customer experience (through better food and beverage options or seat selections) is extremely appealing – could this lead to a higher end experience across the board, or will the benefits of these learnings just be reserved for business/first class travelers?

Great piece – appreciate the update on a product I used to wear! I find it really interesting to think back 5-10 years ago to when FitBits were all the rage and seem to have a monopoly on top tech wearables. I agree with both your and Hill’s sentiments that given Apple’s reach and integration with other apps via the Apple Watch and iPhone, Fitbit finds itself an extremely difficult position in the battle to win share of wrist. As Apple continues to amass more data on its customers, it seems to me FitBit’s struggle to stay relevant and access data will only increase. In conjunction with its FitBit Coach product, I wonder if developing a product line that targets a more serious athlete, akin to a Garmin, might help FitBit position itself as an augmented product that adds additional value. Further, could FitBit partner directly hospitals or senior housing to expand their customer reach? Or partner directly with phone companies to bundle their products with the sale of mobile phones aside from Apple?