What’s In This Issue?
This Week’s Main Stories
Story 01How Netflix Lawyers Delight The Internet By Having A Sense Of Humor
Story 02Did Blue Bottle Coffee “Sell Out” To Nestle?
Story 03Why More Men May Be “Marrying Up” In The Future
Story 04Refugees Use Airbnb To Book Trump’s Childhood Home
Story 05Panera CEO Dares Fast Food Execs To Eat Their Own Kids MealsEven More Stories
How Netflix Lawyers Delight The Internet By Having A Sense Of Humor
Earlier this week when Netflix sent a surprisingly human cease and desist letter to the folks who decided to create a “Stranger Things” themed popup bar without permission, people offered credit to their lawyers. It seemed to me like a better example of something that happens all too rarely in business: a brand deciding what they stand for and asking their lawyers to bring that same personality to writing something as standard as a cease & desist letter.
Did Blue Bottle Coffee “Sell Out” To Nestle?
Soon after hipster coffee brand Blue Bottle Coffee sold to Nestle, founder James Freeman gave this wonderfully candid interview where observes how the deal probably dragged on because lawyers get paid by the hour. When asked about the backlash on social, he rightly noted: “nobody grabs their telephone and opens up Twitter and types in all caps, ‘I’M GOING TO GIVE THIS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.’” The interview offered a glimmer of hope that Blue Bottle might, like Ben & Jerry’s, end up a beloved startup that manages to sell their company without selling their soul.
Why More Men May Be “Marrying Up” In The Future
This week a few researchers published a demographic study which examined the effect of more highly educated women entering the “marriage market” and therefore creating more dual income households where women are the primary breadwinners. Rather than seeing this as triggering some sort of crisis of masculinity, the report concluded that this is likely to “lead to a faster improvement of the family standard of living for men.” Or put differently, “men are getting the benefit from women’s progress.” Gender equality, in other words, has an upside for everyone.
Refugees Use Airbnb To Book Trump’s Childhood Home
When Oxfam learned that Trump’s childhood home in Queens, NY was available to book on Airbnb, they sent refugees to stay there and share their personal stories. The move was a brilliant piece of calculated PR that helped put a human face on the plight of refugees to reach legislators. While the home has since been taken down from Airbnb, the campaign is a wonderful creative idea and a reminder that sometimes the most important thing might not be what you say, but where you choose to say it.
Panera CEO Dares Fast Food Execs To Eat Their Own Kids Meals
We have all heard the business cliché about eating your own dog food, but Panera CEO Ron Shaich took it a step further by daring execs at McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King to actually eat their own kids meals for a week. The highly effective dare stunt is part of Panera’s ambitious announcement to offer every item on their menu (over 250 items) in a smaller portion for kids. His underlying argument is that companies should not be allowed to market to kids at all because so many brands do it in quantifiably evil ways. It’s hard to argue with that.
