Beverly Hills + Domino's + Spam + Luxury Brands + Batteries + Robots
Beverly Hills weighing ban on all tobacco sales: The famed city of Beverly Hills is considering a ban on the sale of all tobacco products. The city’s health commission is meeting today to finalize its recommendation, which it will present to city officials in May.
How eating habits changed at George Mason University when delivery robots came to the campus: WP reports, in the two months since the robots arrived, an extra 1,500 breakfast orders have been delivered autonomously, say the companies that run the service.
30 legendary startup pitch decks and what you can learn from them http://bit.ly/2SMNA2C
Kara Swisher: Owning a car will soon be as quaint as owning a horse: The shift away from private vehicles will happen faster than we think.
Brain ‘creates cells until well into old age’: The Times reports, The human brain produces new cells well into its twilight years, according to a study. In research that may offer a new path towards understanding forms of dementia, scientists have found that the hippocampus region of the brain, used for memory and mood, generates fresh cells even in its tenth decade.
Domino's adds in-vehicle ordering for customers.
Renewables investment: Norway's Equinor, the oil-and-gas giant formerly known as Statoil, is investing in a $180 million fund aimed at storage technologies for renewable energy. The Volta Energy Technologies fund is based in Chicago and has already made four investments.
Spam has taken over our phones. Will we ever want to answer them again? https://wapo.st/2JIV6HK
Luxury brands follow the money to airports: Brands want to follow luxury spending as it becomes more mobile. Sales in airports grew by 7% in 2018, Bain & Company figures show. Department store sales fell 4% by comparison, while spending in labels’ downtown stores was flat. Only online sales are outpacing those in airports.
Brian Eckhouse and Chris Martin: Batteries and gas: Frenemies of the power world face off: It was only three years ago that natural gas overtook coal to become king of America’s power mix, and its throne is already being challenged — by batteries.
Can we stop robots outsmarting humanity? The specter of superintelligent machines doing us harm is not just science fiction, technologists say – so how can we ensure AI remains ‘friendly’ to its makers? http://bit.ly/2JLk61a
'It's a no-knickers feeling!' The healing power of wild swimming
Liz Richardson’s new show explores the transformative qualities of a freezing cold dip.
Read the full Guardian article here: http://bit.ly/2U6riJk
‘In water, everything else disappears’ … Liz Richardson. Photograph: Kate Wyver
‘
Ultimate Unknown + What I Learned at Brigadoon Sundance 2019
With a Brigadoon gathering, you really never know what you are walking into.
Sure there is an agenda and a speaker or two. A location, a room, and a meal or two. Smart participants certainly and a PowerPoint-free format.
But you don't know what will transpire. What ideas will be created? What conversations will occur? What will make an impact and change your perspective?
Walking into the unknown, getting out of your comfort zone, and taking a step forward isn't easy, but it is wonderful.
Organizing Brigadoon Sundance is the ultimate unknown.
From year to year, I have no idea who will attend or who will speak.
I have no idea if I have selected the right speakers and curated the right emerging issues shaping commerce and culture.
Having the trust of the audience, feedback from past participants and the ever growing quality of the speakers has sustained me to step forward and keep this project going.
With less than a year to go, Brigadoon Sundance 2020 will be the eighth edition of this conference that isn't' a conference.
As the formal planning and thinking for the eighth edition begins in earnest today, here are 12 things I learned from the seventh edition:
1. Selling art and luxury is the highest form of behavioral economics.
2. Holding statements and key phrases can be the difference between success and failure.
3. Homophily.
4. If ... Then ... Else.
5. "Your kids will never get lost."
6. "Lean into the pain."
7. Purpose over pleasure.
8. Embrace curiosity.
9. Find and foster community.
10. Backlash over companies becoming too human while becoming communities.
11. "Dolphin Tank."
12. Cheap answers led to expensive questions.
What did you learn?
What should be discussed at the eighth edition?
-Marc
Marc A. Ross is the founder of Brigadoon and specializes in thought leader strategy and global public policy for senior executives working at the intersection of globalization, disruption, and politics.