Know someone in the class of 2024? Don’t forget to send them a card — specifically, a condolence card. New graduates are emerging to an atrocious job market, with one employer survey showing US companies plan to hire 5.8% fewer college grads than they did in 2023.
In today’s email:
Innovation labs: What happens when dozens of companies have the same bright idea.
Checked out: Work from home = shop from home.
Burger machine: If it works for waffles, why not burgers?
Around the web: Prove you’re a human, predict the weather using onions, and more.
👇 Listen: In 1996, Apple released a gaming console named Pippin and… it didn’t really pan out. Why?
The Big Idea
Has ‘innovation lab’ lost all meaning?
If your company hasn't hopped on this buzzword, is it really even a company?
2024-05-23T00:00:00Z
Ben Berkley
What image comes up when you hear “innovation lab”?
White coat. Goggles. Cutting-edge stuff.
But as brand after brand flocks to build the next innovation lab, the title has kind of lost its moxie.
The latest one?
Estee Lauder and Microsoft are co-building an innovation lab to infuse AI into your beauty routine (whatever that means).
Some notable innovation labs that have recently emerged:
Mars invested $70m to “[increase] the speed of innovation” on brands like M&M’s and Snickers.
Even the state of Georgia is jumping on the bandwagon with its own “controlled sandbox environment.”
Other companies that have launched “innovation labs” include: HP, Alphabet, Starbucks, SAP, Dell, T-Mobile, Visa, Sephora, Lowe’s, Volkswagen, CVS, WarnerMedia, and KPMG.
Heck, we’re not even including the many “innovation centers,” “innovation hubs,” “innovation studios,” etc. that are out there.
What is an innovation lab, really?
Everyone’s doing it, but is everyone doing it right? Probably not.
In fact, a whopping 90% of so-called innovation labs fail to deliver on their promises, according to one expert.
We get it — businesses want to look like trailblazers, and with the seemingly endless stream of AI advancements, it can feel extra damaging to fall behind.
But if you’re using the innovation lab as a PR stunt — AKA “innovation theater” — or simply doing it because everyone else is, there’s unlikely to be any real business impact.
The tides are shifting, though: Businesses focused on a different buzzword — profit — are getting well-deserved attention nowadays.
Of course, not all labs are looking for profitability. Some are just sweet, employee-led efforts to work better… and others are just looking to feed some fish.
Free Resource
Templates for optimizing your time
Tackle your to-do list with structured spreadsheets. These will help you prioritize projects, juggle stacks of tasks, and map out your day.
BrainBridgesays it has created viable head transplant tech that could graft your head — your memories, your abilities — onto a donor body. The startup wants to try its mechanized system on a real-life person within eight years. It’s OK if you need a minute to process this information.
SNIPPETS
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will hold “buy now, pay later” companies to the same standards as credit card providers. The new “interpretive rule” will offer protections such as the right to dispute charges or refunds for canceled products.
Linktree — the company that makes “link in bio” happen for influencers — hit 50m+ users. The company is also launching a new beta program that will let creators make storefronts and earn 12%-15% commission on sales.
Grounded: Boeing’s long-delayed Starliner has been delayed again. The spacecraft’s first crewed mission, now postponed indefinitely, was nixed on the launch pad earlier this month.
Mattel is moving into gaming. The toy company is partnering with Outright Games on three PC and console games based on its Monster High, Matchbox, and Barbie brands.
Closing the Loop: One year after WK Kellogg introduced an Icee-flavored cereal, The Icee Co. is bringing a WK Kellogg cereal-flavored frozen beverage into the world. It’ll be their best cereal, no less: Froot Loops.
Bold: Buffalo Wild Wings, seemingly unfazed by Red Lobster’s “endless shrimp” debacle, will run an all-you-can-eat boneless wings deal 2x per week through July 10.
How ‘bout them apples? Danish startup Beyond Leather Materials is now mass-producing a leather alternative made from discarded apple pulp. The upcycled fruit waste is apparently strong enough for furniture makers and auto upholsterers to use.
Spotifyrolled out its new bespoke font, Spotify Mix, designed as an ode to the “dynamic and evolving nature of audio culture over the years,” and it’s… honestly just a pretty standard sans-serif typeface.
“60 Minutes” notched its 50th consecutive season as TV’s No. 1 news program. The weekly CBS show, which debuted in 1968, is impervious to time — it hit 1m+ followers on both TikTok and Instagram this year and still draws ~9m viewers.
Rejoice, Mozilla Firefox users: Their team resolved a bug that had been open for 25 years. Firefox didn’t even exist until 2004; the March 2000 ticket was created for its predecessor Netscape Navigator.
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Imagine an email so good it scored you a job at the White House. These psychological tricks for writing better emails could get you there.
Data Point
Let’s talk shop: It turns out that with more employees working from home — and no pesky co-workers peeking into our cubicles — we’re doing a lot more online shopping, perThe Wall Street Journal. New data from the Mastercard Economics Institute, Stanford University, and Northwestern University shows that the ratio of online shopping sales to retail sales was 26.3% in March 2024, 3.3% higher compared to the 2015-2019 trendline projection of 23%. That difference comes out to $375B on an annualized basis.
The data also shows that online shopping is higher in places where work-from-home jobs are common, but has returned to pre-pandemic levels in counties where more people go into the office. The practicality of shopping from your desk paired with a need for midday escapism is driving the trend, with weekly online spending peaking between 10am and 1pm on Fridays.
Fit the bill
There are thousands of companies valued at $1B+. How many clues do you need to identify today’s billion-dollar brand?
Clue 1: This financial firm was formed by two men named Harold and Henry. If we told you their last names, it’d ruin this whole trivia thing we’re doing.
Clue 2: Here are another two names for you: Dean Witter, which merged into this company to become America’s biggest securities giant in 1997. Everyone couldn’t keep their names on the door, though. Sorry, guys.
Clue 3: Everyone had a lot going on in 2020, but this company was particularly busy, buying E-Trade for $13B. We really hope the E-Trade baby got a nice acquisition bonus.
👇 Scroll to the bottom for the answer 👇
Weird Patents
Hamburger helper: We see your waffle maker and we raise you a “hamburger making machine,” patented by Zhejiang Qianlong Industry & Trade Co. Ltd. in 2013. The machine has upper and lower food storage rings, two heating plates, and a rotating separator. A temperature controller allows you to heat your burger without burning it, and handles and a wire connection cavity let the machine get hot enough to cook without damaging your hands or power lines. You can even fry an egg on the separator if you’re feeling adventurous with your toppings.
AROUND THE WEB
👓 On this day: In 1785, Benjamin Franklin announced his latest invention: bifocals, which he called “double spectacles.” Franklin came up with the idea after growing tired of switching between pairs of glasses.
