Indra Nooyi, the 62 year old CEO of PepsiCo will step down in October. She has been at the helm of the soda and snacks conglomerate for 12 years and is credited with diversifying the company’s product lineup to include healthier items, as well as boosting profits.
Commercials for Dollar Shave Club, the subscription toiletries company, are known for two things. There’s that zany, slightly frat-boy sense of humor — the latest ad features a few dozen people shaving, tweezing, clipping, trimming, waxing, bathing, powdering, spritzing, gelling, styling and moisturizing to the song “I’ve Gotta Be Me” as crooned Read more…
Once upon a time, an iPhone was the most sought-after fashion accessory of every cool kid on the block. That’s the longstanding cliché about Apple (AAPL – Get Report) fans, at least, and one that’s paid off handsomely for Apple and its shareholders. Apple sold 216.76 million iPhones last year. Read more…
Take the Next Step Many companies are out of kilter as the pace of change increases, making it difficult to remain current in the marketplace, according to Allen Adamson and Joel Steckel, co-authors of Shift Ahead: How the Best Companies Stay Relevant in a Fast-Changing World (AMACOM, 2017). “Figuring out Read more…
People cheered Starbucks’ recent decision to ditch straws. But that’s not always the reaction companies get when they introduce eco-friendly packaging. PepsiCo (PEP) unveiled a new biodegradable SunChip’s bag in 2010 but had to retreat after customers complained that the packaging was too noisy. Just a year before, Kellogg (K) Read more…
In a business environment as volatile and complex as this one, there is one phrase that marketers must keep top of mind if they want to lead in their categories: “Average is over.” This phrase came from an interview I did with journalist and author, Thomas L. Friedman, for my Read more…
This was the last thing that Papa John’s needed. With intensifying competition from larger rivals — a tech-savvy Domino’s and a resurgent Pizza Hut — sales at Papa John’s International Inc. were slumping even before chairman and founder John Schnatter came under fire for using a racial slur in a Read more…
Like many of you, I take more than my fair share of business trips, often staying in business class or, as Marriott refers to them, “premium” class hotels. When on vacation, I’m fortunate enough to be able to stay in what the industry refers to as “luxury” hotels. What I Read more…
There’s a moment in the first few minutes of the new movie Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1 that paints a truly bleak picture of what the National Basketball Association was like a generation ago. Today, of course, the NBA is the second-most valuable sports organization in America—one in which every Read more…
Domino’s announced it’s no longer just a pizza joint but a company on a mission to fix American’s crumbling infrastructure – one pothole at a time. The chain announced earlier this week it’s teaming up with towns and cities throughout the U.S. to fix potholes, with the goal of “paving” Read more…