Identifying the challenges that are changing the way we see, market, and advertise our brands and businesses. So many of our innovations rely on advertising, a $700 billion industry, to gain fans, followers, and consumers. After four years of writing this column on innovation and more than 25 years of personal experience designing retail product innovation and selling......

Retail’s digital transformation left plenty behind, don’t let that be you. With physical stores going away, a lot of brands are left attempting to navigate their own online transition. These growing pains and this fundamental shift in how retail does business, and will do business in the future, is bigger than most realize. Yet with......

The Exponent Women Conference covered a broad range of innovation investment topics, here’s what you missed.   As I venture more into the world of blockchain, and investable technologies, I find myself participating in fascinating and energizing conferences. The most recent panel I was thrilled to be a part of, Exponent Explore: The Pulse on Blockchain, Cannabis,......

Exponent Women talking consumer product trends: reckless direct-to-consumer models coupled with disruption.   Consumer packaged goods (CPG) is an industry term for merchandise that consumers use up and replace on a frequent basis. Examples of consumer packaged goods include food, beverages, cosmetics, self-care items, clothing, shoes and cleaning products. The market surrounding CPG’s is incredibly......

What you need to know about Amazon marketing, capable agencies, and a few no-no’s when hiring. Chris Fryburger, founder of nReach and Amazon consultant, spent six months researching and interviewing branding, digital, and full-service agencies. The goal? To figure out where the Amazon experts were hiding, and to understand why. As it turns out, they aren’t hiding,......

  Starting and then having the capacity to scale a business in such an entrenched branded community can be very daunting. For Ryan Ringholz and Jonathan Spier, that is coming into the shoe industry establishing the first lifestyle brand to start with kids through their company, PLAE. In this interview, Ryan and Jonathan take us into their journey......