Mike's Industry View - Issue #114
Creativity
Walmart is betting on the blockchain to improve food safety — techcrunch.com
Walmart has been working with IBM on a food safety blockchain solution and has announced it's requiring all suppliers of leafy green vegetables (!) to upload their data to the blockchain by September 2019.
Mailchimp rebrands as an anti-tech company — www.fastcompany.com While other software giants are simplifying their branding, Mailchimp is keeping it quirky.
Business/Marketing/Adv
Nike Nearly Dropped Colin Kaepernick Before Embracing Him — www.nytimes.com Nike’s ad campaign featuring Kaepernick has been a sensation since it began this month. But a year ago, the company was ready to cut him loose.
Amazon is opening a new store that only sells top rated products — www.cnbc.com
The store is permanent and will only sell items that have been rated 4* or above on Amazon's website.
Interestingness
BuzzFeed bets its future on being the home of ‘adulting’ advice — www.thedrum.com
74% of people aged 18-24 are so unsure of their competence in basic skills, such as bleeding radiators or reigniting a pilot light, that they would like classes in “adulting”.
Dad trainers: Why they're back in fashion — www.bbc.com The chunky, 90s-style trainers are making a comeback on the catwalk and on the feet of celebrities.
Platform News
Billionaire LA Times owner calls social media the cancer of our time — www.cnbc.com "The short attention span we're creating in this millennium is actually very dangerous," says Patrick Soon-Shiong.
Why Instagram’s founders are resigning: independence from Facebook weakened — techcrunch.com
Tension had mounted this year between Instagram and Facebook’s leadership regarding Instagram’s autonomy.