Whole Foods and McDonalds; Making Changes for the Kids

Whole Foods also recently announced their "Whole Kids Foundation" which seeks to increase produce consumption in children and reduce childhood obesity.  While they have already given considerable donations to organizations such as Lunchbox.org, they are now working on initiatives that include "campus teaching gardens."  Very cool!  What better way for kids to learn (and love) fresh food than to make it themselves.  Kudos!
 In related news, we have heard a lot about Happy Meal bans over the last year and multiple conversations regarding the content of these meals.  In fact, it seems to be more mainstream to expect fast food companies to own up to their part in the problem of childhood obesity and begin to offer solutions.  Today, McDonald's took a step in that direction by publicly announcing a shift in their Happy Meal offering.   The new effort is expected to start in September and reach 14,000 stores by April as MediaPost reports.


In addition to reducing the amount of potatoes (from 2.4 ounces down to 1.1 ounces) they are reducing sodium by 20% and "will work toward additional reductions in sugars, saturated fat and calories by 2020."  Each improved Happy Meal will still cost the same but also include a healthy side dish;  apple slices, carrots, raisins, pineapple slices or mandarin oranges. 

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Posted in: Brand,Conscious Biz,Food

What's in Your Queue?

A recent study just found that the majority of of internet traffic in North America comes from Netflix, that's right, Netflix.

"Even more than YouTube?!" Yep.  Even more than YouTube.

Apparently the site is now responsible for 30% of "peak downstream" content. So while the company is currently given credit for turning the way we rent movies on its head (sorry Blockbuster) could it soon be considered a viable threat to cable TV subscriptions?  I mean, if we can have Netflix for as low as $10/mo without the commercial interruption what's to stop many consumers from considering the switch?  As Netflix continues to license and make more content available with potentially shorter wait times, it will be fascinating to see what other market share they can start taking.  Honestly, if I were Hulu, I'd be a bit scared.

Regardless, one thing is for sure, Time's assertion that "Bandwidth is the New Black Gold" is right on.




Thanks to Sam Decker for his tweet that inspired this post.

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Posted in: Brand,Culture

HBR: From mudane to amazing!

Bill Taylor recently posted an inspirational challenge on HBR -- "How to Turn Anything from Adequate to Amazing."  He references a great example of taking a seemingly mundane business, in this case a parking garage (as pictured above), and turning it into something more, a civic space.

He asserts that despite the perception of your industry seeming not as "cutting-edge" and or "glamorous" as the likes of Google or Apple, there are opportunities to turn those assumptions on their head.  We couldn't agree more.

photo from NYT: High-End Miami Parking Garage

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Posted in: Brand

What influcences you?

Trendwatching just released a great summary on what they call "The F-Factor" - or the increasing influence of the three "F"s - friends, fans, followers.  As we've covered in some of our previous posts, the new chain of influence continues to define social commerce and generate new avenues for brands to interact and learn from their consumer.

Specifically, they list five ways in which the "F-Factor' influences the consumer decision process:

1. F-DISCOVERY: How consumers discover new products and services by relying on their social networks.
2. F-RATED: How consumers will increasingly (and automatically) receive targeted ratings, recommendations and reviews from their social networks.
3. F-FEEDBACK: How consumers can ask their friends and followers to improve and validate their buying decisions.
4. F-TOGETHER: How shopping is becoming increasingly social, even when consumers and their peers are not physically together.
5. F-ME: How consumers’ social networks are literally turned into products and services.

What was that last thing you discovered through a post, article or "like" shared by one of your friends?

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Posted in: Brand,Culture,Social Tech

Social Business

Here's a great article on "10 Ways To Use Twitter for Business" by Jeff Bullas.  He also links to some interesting Case Studies that illustrate the positive impact companies like Zappos and Dell have garnered from the use of social tools.

Have you started to experiment in social tools to drive business results?  Any words of wisdom to add?

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Posted in: Brand,Social Tech