Pee Color Charts, Pet-Friendly Offices, and the Age of Instant Recycling

Instant Recycling Is Here, and You Can Watch It Happen In Real Time

This week there has been lots of buzz around a crowdfunding campaign for a new home composting device called Lomi. More than 12,000 backers have raised $4.4 million so far for the concept countertop appliance that lets anyone turn their food scraps and bio plastics into compost. In the same week, a startup called Looop won a Fast Company 2021 World Changing Idea Award for its machine that shreds and cleans old fabric, spins it into yarn and then knits it into a new product in just 24 hours. Both are highly visual examples of a new sort of instant recycling that may soon become commonplace.

One of the longstanding challenges for the recycling or upcycling movement has been that it is easy to lose a connection to the end benefits of your actions because they aren't always visible. If we can solve that problem with a creative way to let people visually experience their own impact ... that could dramatically shift perceptions and behaviors.

Should the Post-Pandemic Office of the Future Be Pet Friendly?

According to a new survey from Petco, 41% of people would switch jobs to go to work for a company that had a pet-friendly workplace. Obviously, that's a convenient survey result for a company that sells pet-related supplies, but the idea that workers may want to hold onto their newfound attachment to the pets they have been seeing every day as the work from home is an understandable thing. In the coming months, I expect this will spark some serious workplace debates - and more than a few hurt feelings.

I love my dog, but I don't consider myself a dog person and generally don't enjoy being licked (at work or otherwise). Some workers will have serious allergies to certain pets. And if you think the debates about who should clean the office microwave are bad, wait until you have pet "accidents" to argue about. Yes, bringing pets to the office is one of those ideas that seems great on the surface ... until you actually start to imagine what it would really be like.

Why Cadbury Is Trying to Save Its Competitors

The pandemic has deeply affected the business of some of the UK's most beloved small chocolatiers - but they are getting a lifeline this month from a unlikely source: their biggest competitor. Cadbury is partnering with six independent stores to help promote their chocolate and buying large quantities to give away to consumers as well. This is so smart on so many levels. It offers a large brand a chance to go back to its heritage, creates goodwill among consumers and relays the message that we are all in this together. Plus ... free chocolate. I'm not sure you could find two words that could make people happier than those.

Pantone Launches the Pee Color Chart To Help You Assess Your Hydration

Anyone who has become a student of hydration knows that you can quickly check your level through the color of your urine - but what color exactly should it be? Water maker Highland Springs launched this quirky promotion with Pantone where they identified five specific colors to watch out for. This so-called "pee chart" was conceived as a way to help "polite Brits" talk about hydration, but it ended up as a great case study in how a decent idea can fail in execution.

The brand of water behind it is invisible. The international alignment to other English speaking markets is non-existent. And the entire campaign illustrates exactly why the reputation of marketing bottled water might just deserve it's reputation as the "marketing trick of the century."

An App That Actually Tries To Help You Be More Open Minded and Curious

What if a social media platform could encourage more cultural exploration rather than relentlessly personalizing your feed to keep you closed off to anything new? That is the bold vision for a new platform called Adduna created by software developer Carol Glenn and currently running on Kickstarter. The app allows you to signal what you are interested in, but does not close off other stories to your feed because it eliminates the feed entirely. Instead, it promotes stories from a wider range of sources and lets people create groups based on interests. It's a beautiful idea and one that I have already donated to make a reality. The world needs more people creating more platforms like this.

New Survey Reveals How the Healthcare Industry Is Shifting

Before the pandemic, a major focus across the healthcare industry was value-based care. Over the past year, that has become less of a priority and healthcare leaders report a renewed focus on AI, machine learning and telemedicine. This was just one of the major findings reported this week in the annual Philips’ Future Health Index 2021 Report, which surveys more than 3000 professionals across 14 countries. The most significant finding from the report notes that the coming year will bring "a fresh emphasis on partnerships, sustainability and new models of care delivery, both inside and outside the hospital." Healthcare, in other words, will be increasingly mobile, virtual and automated. This was always the way healthcare was headed ... but now it looks like we are going to get there even faster. Download the full report >>