In the short time since Grazas 2022 launch, the wunderkind olive oil slinger has become a standout in a crowded market with its dynamic duo of extra-virgin olive oils: Sizzle for cooking and Drizzle for finishingcleverly packaged in matte-green squeeze bottles.
On Tuesday, Graza introduced its third product to the lineup, the high-heat cooking oil Frizzle. Its being sold online as well as in select Whole Foods locations nationwide in squeeze bottles and a company-first nonaerosol spray bottle.
Made from the remaining pressed olives from Grazas flagship oils, Frizzle is extracted and refined without the use of chemicals or solvents. The natural refinement process results in a neutral taste and high smoke point, making it a wholly olive-based alternative to seed oils (those being the latest boogeyman of the wellness-industrial complex). Entering the neutral oil market has also allowed Graza to play around with new packaging, something the brand explored last year with its olive oil refill cans.
[Photo: Graza]
A new spin on neutral oil
Graza cofounder and CEO Andrew Benin was well aware of the risks of tinkering with the brand. Why mess with something that’s working? he says. Frizzle may be the new kid on the block, but the products conception is as old as Graza itself. The Graza braintrust had always envisioned three use cases for its oil: frying and high-heat cooking, sautéing, and raw finishing.
Frizzle is still made from olives, but dont call it olive oil. Per regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, that title is reserved for the substance directly extracted from the olive fruit (such as Grazas Drizzle and Sizzle). Frizzle, on the other hand, is technically an upcycled by-product made from the spent olives. But unlike some other cooking oils, it isnt chemically refined.
After spinning the pressed olives in a high-speed centrifuge, a tapenade-like slurry of flesh, pits, and peels known as pomace is left behindwhat the Graza team lovingly calls olive mush. Once the oil is extracted, the product is naturally refined through multistep filtration and gradual heating, which removes impurities without the use of hexanes, solvents, or deodorants.
[Photo: Graza]
No seeds, no problem?
These common refinement techniques are at the center of an ongoing push against seed oils, the detractors of which range from gently concerned at best to conspiratorial at worst. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of Health and Human Services, has been a particularly vocal skeptic of seed oils, suggesting Americans are being “unknowingly poisoned by them. Nutrition experts insist such concerns have been exaggerated.
Benin is quick to point out that neutral seed oils have a role to play. By diminishing them, you’re diminishing the people who need to consume them as a functional ingredient in their diet, he says, alluding to the presence of dietarily necessary omega-6 fatty acids that occur in corn oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, and the like.
To lump all seed oils into one category, he continues, is as overly generalizing as presuming all olive oil meets the same quality standards. Still, Benin will go to bat for Graza any day of the week. This is a superior product than canola oil because we can back it up with lab data, and taste, he says. But we’re not going to be bashing seed oils as part of our brand.
[Photo: Graza]
Standing out by blending in
Despite conventional wisdom, Benin says, you can fry with extra-virgin olive oil. In fact, he notes that you can fry more, repeatedly, in EVOO than you can in other types of oils. But its capabilities top out around its smoke point of 410 degrees. At that temperature, youre essentially refining the oil yourself, and all of those lovely grassy, bitter notes flame out, making way for an acrid-tasting substance called acrolein.
[Photo: Graza]
Frizzles 490-degree smoke point makes it optimal for wok cooking, grilling, or searing in a ripping-hot cast iron. But Benin says those capabilities presented some new challengs for the oil aficionados at Graza. How do you sell a product whose defining characteristic is neutrality? Extra-virgin olive oil is known for its variety of tasting notes, whether grassy, peppery, or fruity, due to EVOOs high percentage of antioxidant-rich polyphenols.
The refining process breaks down polyphenols, resulting in more neutral-tasting oil. Graza adds 7% of its Sizzle formula to Frizzle post-refinement, replacing some lost polyphenols and adding a soupçon of buttery flavor that Benin says eludes other neutral oil options. “Adding [EVOO] after the Frizzle has been refined means that all the antioxidants from the Sizzle are not affected as part of the refining process,” he says. “We’re adding in the health benefit afterwards.”
New oil, new packaging
One advantage of refined oil is its longer shelf lifeapproximately three years as opposed to extra-virgin olive oils two (or even one, in some instances). That wiggle room allowed Graza, which has limited its refills to single-use sizes, to introduce a new suite of packaging volumes, all decked out in a lemon-yellow color scheme.
Frizzle can be bought in Grazas first at-home jug, a 2-liter vessel with an ergonomic handle that retails for $29.99 exclusively on the companys website. Frizzle also comes in a nonaerosol spray bottleanother Graza firstfor grilling and baking ($6.99). And it wouldnt be Graza without the signature squeeze bottle that put the brand on the map, available in the same 750-milliliter bottle as Sizzle ($14.99).
Benin and company have no doubt that Frizzle will stand up to Grazas flagship oils, even if it means expanding its lexicon to include the word neutral. We’re trying to push it, we’re trying to innovate, we’re trying to prove it in our products, he says. It’s been exciting and difficult to orient a company around a new word.”
If you are career-minded, you may think applying for a loftier position in another company is the best route. In fact half of millennials expect to leave their current company within a year.
But it’s not always the right move. Advancing in your present company may be a smarter move. You already know the culture and the people. If you enjoy them, who is to say that you’d find something better elsewhere? Also, some companies reward loyalty. And why would you want to compete with hundreds of applicants in a chaotic job market?
If you are staying, hone your strategy. Follow these five steps to boost your likelihood of advancing.
1. ASK FOR VISIBLE ASSIGNMENTS
First, seek out high-profile assignments. You want to be seen as a go-getter.
Do this, and your boss and other leaders in the firm will regard you as a creative, productive worker with aspirational goals. Im not talking about doing extra grunt work. I mean seizing opportunities to come up with innovative ideas and initiatives that impress others.
Commit to projects that reach beyond your department. Youll open the door to new relationships with potential bosses in other departments. For example, you might lead a fundraising project, or help another executive with her presentation, or volunteer to speak at an International Womens Day event in your company.
2. BUILD YOUR NETWORK AT THE COMPANY
It’s important to build your network within the firm. Youll meet and gain the favor of leaders who recognize your talent and initiative. That can lead to important new relationships with strategically placed individuals.
Take part in activities where you can meet senior leaders. These include conferences, sports such as company golf tournaments, leadership forums, and training sessions. If there is someone in the company you admire and think youd like to work for, find a way to get onto their calendar. You might have a mutual interest. Or, you might invite them to speak to your team as a guest expert. Be creative in setting up that meeting.
Once youve made that contact, broach the discussion about reporting to them. There might be an advertised position or not. Either way, if you want to work in that department go for it, set up a meeting, and prepare to pitch yourself.
3. PREPARE A STRONG PITCH
If youre job hunting in your present company, it might seem like overkill to prepare for each encounter. But you must do soeven for conversations with people who may not have a job to offer you at the moment. They may be able to recommend you to others.
Your preparation should include a résumé that is polished and geared to opportunities in the company. If someone has agreed to meet with you, youll also want to prepare speaking notes in the form of a well-crafted statement explaining what kind of position you are looking for and why you feel ready for it. And dont forget to write a thank-you note after the meeting.
For guidelines on how to create a strong networking pitch, see the chapter on Pitching Yourself inside Your Company. in my book, The Job Seekers Script. Youll discover how to sell yourself within your present company.
4. DONT LET YOUR BOSS GET IN YOUR WAY
Its important to get along with your boss. But dont let that person slow you down if you want to advance.
A manager who praises your work may not want to see you move to another department. One woman I know had an opportunity to take a VP position elsewhere in the company. That would have been a big step forward since she was a director. But her boss pleaded dont go . . . I need you here. So, she stayed, and after a decade she is still a director.
If you have a boss who encourages you to pursue next steps within the company, be thankful. But be wary of a bad boss who tries to block ascent. All the more reason to develop strong network ties that will allow you to get around that roadblock.
5. AVOID COMPLAINING ABOUT YOUR CURRENT ROLE
As you have conversations with others and seek to move up the corporate ladder, never complain about your current position. A bad boss is, of course, only one reason for seeking a new position. There are many others. But if you are looking to move up because you are unhappy with your current manager or some other aspect of your job, keep that to yourself. No one wants to hire a complainer. They fear it might be a personality trait.
Instead, focus on what you like about your present role, what you have learned from your boss, what a great team of professionals youve had the pleasure of working with. And then look ahead and share your excitement about moving to the next role, whatever it may be. That kind of self-portrayal will get you a potential job offer and it will help you build your career.
A $19 strawberry has broken the internet.
Over the weekend, several content creators went viral with reviews of one very expensive berry, purchased from the upscale Los Angeles-based grocery chain Erewhon.
Apparently its the best-tasting strawberry in the entire world, influencer Alyssa Antoci says in a video that has racked up more than 15 million views. It’s worth noting that Antoci appears to be a social media manager for Erewhon, and her family also owns the store. Wow. That is the best strawberry. Thats crazy, she adds.
@alyssaantocii insane original sound – lyss
Along with the $19 price tag, the berries from luxury Japanese fruit vendor Elly Amai are individually packaged, set on a small cushion inside a miniature plastic cloche for protectionexactly how one would expect such an expensive berry to be packaged. On its website, the company claims to sell only the “highest-quality fruits from Japans most celebrated farms.”
Not everyone is impressed. People in L.A. are so gullible, one commenter wrote. If I dropped $20 on a strawberry, Id probably convince myself it was the best one Ive ever tasted too, wrote another.
It does taste good but is it worth the $19? content creator @janemukbangs questioned in a TikTok video with 5.5 million views. (Spoiler alert: It wasnt.)
@janemukbangs $19 strawberry from Erewhon #erewhon #foodtiktok #fyp #strawberries original sound – janemukbangs
Whether people are willing to pay a premium for Japanese berries or its simply a case of clever marketing, this isnt the first time the celeb-loved L.A. grocery store has made headlines for its pricey products. This month, its a $19 strawberry; last year, it was a $32 bag of specialty ice. In a time when many are struggling to afford even basic groceries, its easy to see why a ridiculously expensive strawberry has rubbed some people the wrong way.
Or, as one commenter theorized, Erewhon was 100% started by a group of uni students who wanted to run a social experiment on consumerism. They ended up accidentally creating a successful grocery so now they just watch and laugh.
Its been a year since Intuitive Machines (IM) made history with the first private soft landing and first American spacecraft since the Apollo program to land on the moon, after a nail-biting descent that came perilously close to failing. But this time around, theyre veterans. As they ready their second mission, IM-2, with an updated lunar lander named Athena, the vibe at the startups Houston headquarters is decidedly more relaxed and confident.
Weve made 85 improvements to the vehicle and the process used for building and flying it, says Trent Martin, IMs senior VP of space systems. That includes 10 for landing and determining its location in space, which we struggled with during the first mission. We’re not nearly spending as many late nights as we did getting ready for IM-1.
Not that they dont still worry. This is space flight, he says. And space flight is hard.
Athena is slated to lift off from Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 at 7:17 p.m. ET on February 26 for a 10-day mission at the Mons Mouton plateau near the lunar south pole. (Click here for ways to watch.)
Athena, a 14-foot hexagonal cylinder on six landing legs, will shuttle several NASA and commercial payloads to the lunar surface to test exploration vehicles and the first communications network on the moon; drill and analyze samples of lunar soil (called regolith); and map precious resources, like water ice.
The roughly $100 million mission turned a 10% profit, thanks to funding from NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program and Tipping Point Initiative, commercial payloads, and three additional rideshares for satellites that will deploy to other destinations after Athena detaches from the rocket post-launch. Most are to support NASAs Artemis mission to establish sustainable infrastructure on the moon and in space, rather than rely solely on Earth for materials. In situ resources like oxygen and helium-3 can be used to make rocket fuel, water, and energy, while water can also make fuel and be a source for astronauts. Water is a building block for just about every chemical process that we would like to use on the moon, says Martin.
[Image: Intuitive Machines]
Athena is an upgrade from IMs first lander, Odysseus, and part of its methalox-propelled Nova-C class of landers. Odysseus might have crashed were it not for some lightning engineering. A missed safety switch prevented the landers altimeter lasers from firing to the surface to gauge its altitude and descent speed. Unable to reprogram substitute lasers from a NASA payload, they imaged a crater, estimated its size, and used that to approximate the landers altitude. Given the circumstances, they came astonishingly closeOdysseus touched down 4 mph too fast, broke a gear, and tipped over. But it still worked.
The lander showed incredible resilience, but it was a miracle we were able to do it with a measurement we took from 85 kilometers [53 miles] high, says CEO Steve Altemus. We were all pretty steady during it. But afterward, it was like, Oh my God, what did we just do?
For this next mission, the company not only revised its lander engineering but also began diversifying beyond lunar landers. One of the IM-2 payloads, the Intuitive Machines Micro Nova Hopper One, is a 29-inch, 77-pound rocket-propelled drone designed to explore areas inaccessible to ground rovers. Last fall, the firm unveiled Moon Racer, a two-passenger prototype Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that can carry and tow a combined 2,600 pounds, thats earmarked for a future manned mission.
Building the lander [Photo: Susan Karlin]
We’re maturing [from] a startup having these aspirations and initial ideas to where we’re now battle-hardened by mission one, says Altemus. We’re providing and building a cis-lunar economy [offering] three pillars of service: the delivery to the moon and ride share, the data transmission and navigation services for communicatig around the moon, and infrastructure as a service. That’s the beginning of an economy and everyone can take advantage of that.
Prospecting for resources
The Micro-Nova Hopper, nicknamed the Hopper and Grace (after computer science pioneer Grace Hopper), will gauge surface temperatures and water distribution using instruments from Hungary and Germany. Although designed for a 15-mile distance, it will make five shorter parabolic hops and level flights to hard-to-reach areas, including a crater that has never seen sunlight.
It provides you extreme mobility in places that rovers can’t go, says Martin. So, if you want to go into a pit or a lava tubeor a permanently shadowed region with steep walls, we can do it with a rocket-propelled drone.
At the landing site, NASAs Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) will operate a meter-long drill and a mass spectrometer to look for and analyze sub-surface resources that might sustain future human exploration, plus measure forces and temperature. The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT), from Blue Origins Honeybee Robotics, will bore three feet deep and bring regolith samples to the surface where the spectrometer will measure the compositions of volatile gases escaping from the material.
[Photo: NASA/Honeybee Robotics]
As it’s done with other landers, NASA is outfitting Athena with a Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA), mirrors that reflect laser light back to an orbiting spacecraft initially emitting the light to determine the landers location. LRAs will enable precision landmarks for Artemis sites to guide the arriving landers.
Lunar Outposts Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) is slated to be the first commercial rover on another planetary body. Sporting internal prospecting instruments and an MIT-designed CW Time of Flight camera, the 22-pound solar-powered vehicle will travel about a mile from the lander, 3D mapping the lunar surface and scouting for ice and other valuable resources. Another MIT device, AstroAnt, a .95-ounce micro-rover with magnetic wheels, will roam MAPPs surface to measure its internal temperature to assess MAPPs healtha proof of concept for future iterations that might monitor and fix space hardware remotely. It’s very meta, laughs Justin Cyrus, Lunar Outposts founder and CEO.
[Photo: Lunar Outpost]
MAPP carries drills and wheels designed to grip the powdery regolith with little excavators to collect and analyze samples that NASA will eventually retrieve. The space agency will pay the Denver company $1 to transfer the sample ownership to set a legal precedent and procedural framework for a private company to own and sell what it mines on a celestial body. NASA has similar contracts with other companies for future samples. Considering the investment cost and potential rewardshelium-3, for example, is among the most expensive substances on Earth due to its scarcity, but abundant on the moonthis step gives companies more confidence they wont be legally challenged before spending billions to extract resources on a large scale.
If you’re looking at resources not only on the moon but the near-Earth asteroids, its significantly more resources than we’ve ever had access to, says Cyrus.
Can you hear me now?
In a first step towards a lunar cellular system, Nokia Bell Labs is providing a 4G LTE communications network between MAPP, the Hopper, and a Lunar Surface Communications System (LSCS) on the lander serving as a cell tower. The rovers, carrying antennas and radio equipment, will venture from the lander and beam signals back to the LSCS, which will measure the speeds and bandwidth. This network will also enable the three vehicles to talk to one another. The lander will sport a direct-to-Earth radio connection so mission controllers can receive data and images and remotely operate the probes.
The main goa was to prove to NASA that it can take the cellular technology and adapt it for space, compared to using UHF or proprietary technology, says Nokia Bell Labs president Thierry Klein. Additionally, some of the data collected from the rovers would transmit over the Nokia network to the lander and relayed back to Earth.
Commercial symbiosis
Columbia Sportswear continues its symbiotic partnership with IM after IM-1 helped the clothing company perfect its Omni-Heat Infinity insulationa lightweight, breathable, heal-reflecting foil used in its winter jackets. On the first mission, IM applied it to one panel to buffer Odysseus cryogenic propellant tanks from extreme radiation and a 450-degree Fahrenheit temperature range. This time, its covering more of the lander packages.
Columbia Insulation [Photo: Susan Karlin]
Columbias materials enabled a more cost-effective and nuanced method of thermal management than off-the-shelf aerospace materials from the Apollo missions, says Haskell Beckham, Columbias VP of innovation. We also learned that in space you typically have multilayers of installation. So, we took this information, brought it back to our lab in Portland, and made a jacket where we had the insulating layer, not only on the lining but also on the shelf fabric, which made it much warmer.
But wait, theres more . . .
Other commercial payloads include Dymons YAOKI rover, IMs first Japanese commercial payload, that will capture images of the lunar surface. Lonestar Data Holdings is sending a data center that will test data transmission between Earth and the moon. The Florida start-up wants to establish a server system on the moon for extremely secure data storage for disaster recovery. After proving its software on IM-1, Lonestar will now test its ability to remotely load, store, and retrieve data from the server.
Three satellites will hitch rideshares, deploying from Athena for other destinations. Jet Propulsion Laboratorys Lunar Trailblazer satellite will orbit the moon, mapping the water distribution on its surface. Astroforges Odin satellite may become the first commercial satellite in deep space when it sets out to image a near-Earth asteroid. Epic Aerospace Chimera, a chemical propulsion system to help payloads change orbit, will head to low Earth orbit.
Creative culture
It takes a little whimsy to pull off pioneering engineering. And IMs self-described battle-hardened stance hasnt disrupted its playful engineering nerd culture. Back at headquarters, cutouts of Star Wars characters grace the ceiling beams, while the Moon Racer LTV sports longhorns, a flourish spearheaded by CTO Tim Crain, a former Texas Longhorn football player.
Part of its corporate mantra is serving as a space ambassador, by partnering with academics on science objectives, such as the University of Arizona on Hopper mission science; artists, like Jeff Koons, who flew a payload on IM-1; and STEM aspirants with student internships, such as those at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Altemus alma mater) and nearby San Jacinto Community College.
Before we flew to the moon, I think we had 20 people apply for our internships, says Martin. After we landed on the moon, we had 1,500 people apply. We found incredible young, bright minds to come and work here. Having art projects is a good way to encourage people outside of the aerospace world to imagine what can happen in space.
This mission, MIT has an art tie-in to its payloads, titled To the Moon to Stay. The first, HUMANS (an anagram of Humanity United with MIT Art and Nanotechnology in Space), was inspired by the Voyager Golden Record. Its a 2-inch silicon wafer flying aboard MAPP that contains an etched recording of voices in numerous languages describing what space means for humanity.
The other is a Lunar Mission Control installation at MIT Media Lab thats a collaboration between the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, which designed the 3D camera and AstroAnt aboard MAPP, MIT Architecture students, and Inploration, a Los Angeles space education and design lab. It consists of a lunar-inspired self-supporting half-dome with displays connecting the public to the MIT payloads through a short film, real-time views of the lunar surface and payload operators, and a VR experience that lets visitors interact with the software they use.
Of course, it all depends on how you define art. Altemus, who comes from a family of painters, considers the mission itself a creative endeavor. That’s a piece of art right there, he says, motioning to the Hopper. The people who can actually put that together are artists in their own right. It’s important that people understand the art of engineering. And the day I don’t feel that way, it’s time for me to go.
The challenges businesses face today are increasingly unpredictable and interdependent. Traditional business structures were built for different times and different challenges. These models helped companies to scale and thrive in a more predictable world, where efficiency, clear hierarchies, and specialization were the keys to success. But as the world has evolved, so too have the conditions for innovation.
In todays fast-paced, globalized, and complex world, these outdated models actively hold teams back. Silos trap expertisepreventing the flow of fresh ideasrigid hierarchies create bottlenecks that slow down decision making when speed is essential, and a lack of clear vision can drain energy and resources, leaving critical problems unsolved. These traditional models arent just inefficientthey actively stifle innovation, making it harder to succeed in this new, rapidly evolving environment. This stagnation is evident in the U.S. economy, where labor productivity growth has significantly slowed since 2005. To break out of this productivity slump, companies need to adopt new models and modes of working that cultivate innovation and can keep pace with the modern rate of change.
Build a foundation for innovation
At Whipsaw, collaboration is at the core of our ethos and process. It’s built into our very namea whipsaw requires back-and-forth coordination between two operators to succeed. We know the best results come from continuous collaboration between our team and our clientsas well as the dynamic back-and-forth between design and engineering. For over two decades, weve crafted an environment where teams from all disciplines collaborate seamlessly to design beautiful, functional solutions to pressing problems.
While speed is often critical, true innovation isnt always a linear or efficient process. It thrives in the space between exploration and executionwhere deep thinking, expansive exploration, and iteration are essential. Weve learned that to achieve great results, teams need the time and space to experiment, make mistakes, and refine their ideas. Weve been able to tackle complex challenges for our clients by designing a process that provides the time and creative space necessary for innovation while maintaining the momentum required to stay aligned with client deadlines. This approach ensures both exploration and execution happen at the right pace. Weve developed a frameworkclarity, collaboration, and confidenceto help businesses innovate while navigating todays world. Here are three practical steps that can elevate your innovation process:
1. Start with clarity: Define the why
Clarity is the foundation of any successful innovation effort. It ensures that everyoneinternally and externallyunderstands the problem being solved and why it matters. But often, the only thing clear at the start of a project is the process itself. Navigating ambiguity is a natural part of the innovation journey. We guide our clients through that uncertainty by spending time during our discovery phase to clarify business, customer, market, and technological needs, helping internal and client teams align and move forward with a shared vision.
2. Nurture collaboration: Tap into collective expertise
Collaboration is the engine of innovation. But its not just about bringing people togetherit’s about creating an environment where diverse perspectives can thrive. We’ve learned from our work with clients that the best ideas emerge when cross-functional teams, clients, and end users are involved. Weve built collaborative practices like co-creation workshops, stakeholder interviews, and design hootenanniesbringing fresh eyes from outside the project team to challenge assumptions and offer new perspectivesinto our process to ensure our innovations are relevant and well-informed. Its about avoiding silos, leveraging collective wisdom, and ensuring that all contributors are aligned toward a common goal.
3. Empower confidence: Give teams autonomy to act
Innovation requires confidenceconfidence in your teams expertise, vision, and process. Weve learned that autonomy is key to maintaining momentum. Teams need the freedom to make decisions and experiment without navigating endless approvals or rigid structures. But empowerment isnt just about giving the team space to act; its about creating an environment where they feel safe to test ideas, fail fast, and adapt quickly. Weve found success in cultivating a culture of empowerment and growth. While our teams have the autonomy to innovate, they are supported by leaders who know when to encourage exploration and when to provide key insights to drive the next stage of innovationthey guide teams past obstacles and help drive innovation forward, even amidst uncertainty. Weve seen that this blend of autonomy and strategic guidance fuels creativity and accelerates decision making.
Dont be forced to follow innovation; lead it
The businesses that win today arent just reacting to changetheyre driving it. Traditional models may have worked in the past, but those old systems will hold you back in todays fast-moving, tech-driven, complex world. The path forward? Embrace clarity, collaboration, and confidencethree simple principles that have helped Whipsaw define new markets and create products with impact. So, if you’re looking to stay competitive in todays evolving landscape, its time to foster the right culture, trust your teams, and create innovation built to last.
Dan Harden is CEO and principal designer at Whipsaw.
The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
As an amateur historian, I can say with certainty that technology has never embedded itself into society as rapidly as it has in the last decade. Todays consumer relationship with technology is complicated and multifacetedunderstanding that intersection is at the heart of everything we do as a company, and personally for me as Verizons Consumer CEO.
Given our focus on the consumer, we publish an annual view of insights and trends that shed light on these relationships and the evolving role of technology in our lives, and this years Consumer Connections Report does just that.
The report reflects our commitment to understanding and supporting the ways technology shapes our relationships, empowers our families, and enriches our daily experiences. It explores the interplay between digital and physical shopping experiences, and the growing reliance on home connectivity, as people use more and more smart home devices. And for the second year in a row, we look at how NFL fans showed up for their favorite teams, alongside the events and moments from the past year that connected us most as a society. What we learned:
Limits reign: Parents and caregivers are using tech to monitor tech
Parents are motivated to keep on top of their childrens use of technology. Our report reveals that theyre focused on social media apps like Tumblr, Whisper, and Snapchat the most. Theyre also utilizing transitional options, like the Gizmo watch, which averages 3.3 million calls connecting parents and other caregivers with children each month. They can set content controls, block unwanted contacts, view text and call history, set usage limits, and more. That helps kids find their balancelearning to make smart, safe connectivity choices.
Connectivity is where the heart is
Home data use is on the rise. The average monthly data usage in 2024 across all Verizon Home Internet households was 656 GB, a 6% increase from 2023. People enjoy video and music streaming, gaming, videoconferencing, and smart home technologies that bring convenience, energy savings, and security. We know that to be true given that 18 is the average number of devices per Verizon Internet household.
Customer experience is on demand
Brick-and-mortar retail is returning to growth after pandemic-era slowdowns, indicating that in-store shopping provides a social and sensory experience that appeals to many consumers. Were seeing the emergence of the phygital economy, which combines online and in-person in a single experience. Sixty-two percent of our customers purchases were made in a Verizon retail store. Most Verizon customers who use our in-store pickup service initiate their order online, and a growing number place the order over the phone.
Go live from the gameits on 5G
My company provides the 5G infrastructure for the NFL, which gives us insights into how fans are using their phones at games.
Fans are increasingly creating and sharing their own game experience. Theyre interacting with fellow fans via text, social media, and voice calls. Theyre analyzing fantasy football matchups and checking scores. And theyre embracing AR and VR for on-site entertainment.
In fact, average mobility (wireless) usage per game was 3.6 TB this season, a 37% increase over last season. The game with the most mobility usage? Giants at Cowboys. Video accounted for 25% of consumer data usage at NFL stadiums. Thats a lot of footage of the action.
Other ways consumers use connectivity
During the holidays, Americans are generating an enormous volume of calls, texts, and data to reach out. We studied data use at the airports over the winter holiday season, and found it rose to 17.7 million GB, and 28% of that was video. At the same time, many of us are also focusing more on connecting in personand on balancing our access to the world around us with our attention to those in front of us. Indeed, on New Years Eve, the number of phone calls skyrocketedit was the top holiday for phone callswhile on Christmas and Hanukkah, the number was muted.
And thats the point. Mobile devices connect us all to a world of opportunity, but dont replace the world. Recognizing that truth is one of the keys to a healthier life.
Sowmyanarayan Sampath is the CEO of Verizon Consumer.
The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
For the last decade, chief marketing officers (CMOs) havent felt as appreciated and necessary as they once were. But that may be changingI should stress may.
I’m thinking of the 2024 CMO Tenure Study by marketing consultancy Spencer Stuart. Theyve been issuing this study for two decades. Four years ago, the length of CMO tenure tightened to its smallest interval in more than a decade. In Spencer Stuarts latest report, the average time spent by Fortune 500 CMOs in that job post in 2023 was 4.2 years, unchanged from 2022. While I wouldnt say flat is the new up, stabilization after years of decline is somewhat positive.
A bit more context: Conventional wisdom has suggested that CMOs turn over more often than other C-suite leaders. But Spencer Stuart’s analysis shows that CMO tenure is just under the 4.6-year average for all C-suite leaders such as chief operating officers, chief revenue officers, chief technology officers, etc.
Still, CMOs are living in an era of less,” according to a Gartner Marketing Practice study. Issued in May 2024, around the same time as the Spencer Stuart report, the GMP study notes that in the four years preceding the pandemic, average marketing budgets were 11% of overall revenue. In the four years since, they’ve dropped to an anemic 8.2%.
The roles of marketing and advertising appear more diminished than ever before. Meanwhile, ad agencies and brand marketing departments are under greater pressure and scrutiny to prove effectiveness. The essential quality of the CMOs job is akin to an orchestra conductor; but instead of musicians, the role is to make sure companies and individuals act seamlessly and complementary.
But it’s not. There are reasons for that, good and bad.
Short-sighted efficiency
An ethos of efficiency has served as the defining, underlying feature of the advertising business for the last 25 years.
The ’60s were about pushing the boundaries of creativity. Advertisers and agencies wanted to impress everybody with the ideas, images, and messages bursting from Madison Avenue.
However, that shifted: The 21st century has been about personalization, speedand above allcost savings.
But it takes a larger advertising team to expertly handle all parts of the marketing funnel from discovery to purchase while simultaneously instilling brand loyalty.
The demands are, in fact, too complex for one agency, let alone one individual. As a result, specialists have divided the responsibilities associated with the multiple consumer touchpoints that need to be checked off.
So much for efficiency. If only there were a single individual who could organize, synthesize, and prioritize all those crucial tasks.
Oh, right. That’s what the CMO does. Its what the CMO has always done.
Marketings ah-ha moment
Companies are increasingly recognizing this. There is solid value in developing marketing leadership from within. In 2023, 74% of CMOs of the top 100 advertisers were serving in their first corporate-level CMO rolethe highest percentage since Spencer Stuart began tracking this data in 2016. Moreover, 59% of these CMOs were promoted from inside their companies.
This move toward internal promotion signals an ah-ha moment as the CMO role is rediscovered as the truly efficient solution to advertisings largest problems. Institutional knowledge and recognizable authority are virtues worth keeping.We might be witnessing a maturing perspective on marketing leadership. Organizations are investing in succession planning and management development specifically for the CMO role.
Theres even a higher opinion for the general marketing and management acumen a CMO possesses, Spencer Stuart data indicates. When external hires are needed, companies are showing greater flexibility, with 43% of CMOs recruited for Fortune 500 companies in 2023 coming from different industries, up from 37% in 2022.
Despite facing significant budget constraintswith 64% of CMOs reporting insufficient funds to execute their 2024 strategy per Gartnerthere’s optimism about the potential of generative AI to expand marketing’s impact beyond traditional resource limitations. This technological evolution could help CMOs overcome the “era of less” while delivering more value.
As companies focus on developing their marketing leadership pipeline, they have an opportunity to increase diversity at the top by identifying high-potential leaders early and creating smoother development paths. Not only would that strengthen the CMO role, it also ensures marketing leadership better reflects the diverse audiences they serve, which helps build brand affection.
When consumers associate a brand with trust and other positive qualities, the path to performance and purchases is more immediate and direct. The intersecting lines of technology, branding, advertising, and sales all converge at the CMOs desk. Perhaps it’s time agencies, platform companies, and the brands themselves showed more trust and value in the CMO role after all.
Tim Ringel is global CEO of Meet The People.
Unilever surprised investors on Tuesday by ousting chief executive Hein Schumacher and replacing him with finance chief Fernando Fernandez, who will focus on speeding up the execution of the consumer group’s turnaround strategy.
Unilever’s board, which includes billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz, was unified in its decision to oust CEO Schumacher, a source familiar with the board’s thinking told Reuters.
Schumacher was surprised by the move, but the decision involved “nothing untoward”, the person said.
In an email to associates, Schumacher defended his approach and record as CEO and said he regretted leaving the company earlier than anticipated.
“The board is eager to step up the pace of our strategy execution and realise swift value creation underscored by a change in leadership,” he said in the email, which was shared with Reuters.
The CEO’s sudden departure after less than two years in the job hit Unilever’s shares, which fell as much as 3.4% on Tuesday. They had gained more than 9% since Schumacher took the helm on July 1, 2023.
The consumer goods industry has had a difficult time coping with a supply chain crunch triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, plus sky-high commodity prices and an energy crisis after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Profit margins have been squeezed and sales volumes hit by consumers switching to cheaper options.
Unilever, which gave no specific reason for the CEO change, is facing pressure from investors to revitalise its fortunes and the top management upheaval comes just weeks after Unilever announced underwhelming full-year earnings.
Nestle CEO Mark Schneider was ousted last year after several quarters of weak sales volume growth.
Unilever’s management change was made after a board meeting on Monday, another source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The board concluded that Fernandez, who has been with Unilever for nearly 40 years, was the right person to execute the company’s strategy, the source said.
Schumacher’s appointment and strategic changes had been welcomed by Peltz, who built a stake in the company in 2022 and sits on Unilever’s board.
“We are gobsmacked at the news that Unilever’s very highly regarded CEO Hein Schumacher is to step down,” RBC Capital analyst James Edwardes Jones said in a note.
When Schumacher became CEO, analysts and investors had applauded the choice of an external candidate as CEO.
Schumacher reset the group’s strategy to address years of underperformance and laid out cost cuts last year, including plans to separate its ice cream division and cut thousands of jobs.
The company has tried to step up the pace of asset sales, although some categories, like plant-based meat, are proving hard to exit.
Chairman Ian Meakins said the board was impressed by Fernandez’s “decisive and results-oriented approach”, and had given him the task of executing the growth strategy.
“There is much further to go to deliver best-in-class results,” Meakins said in a statement.
Execution
Analysts and investors said the news was unexpected, but Fernandez was a good choice to lead Unilever’s turnaround strategy.
“We agree with the board that Fernandez is best placed to accelerate the value unlock,” Barclays analyst Warren Ackerman said in a note.
UBS analyst Guillaume Delmas said “execution is key” in the new phase of the company’s strategic journey.
Fernandez, 58, has been with Unilever since 1988. Before he became CFO last year, he held a number of roles such as President Latin America and CEO Brazil and President of the Beauty & Wellbeing business.
Harsharan Mann in the Global Equities team at Aviva Investors, a Unilever shareholder, said: “We were surprised by the announcement but have a positive view of the CFO He is a 30-year veteran of the business who ran the Beauty and Wellbeing division very well.”
In January, Fernandez took up extra responsibilities including overseeing supply chain and procurement.
Unilever, which owns Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, said there was no change to its 2025 outlook or medium-term forecast and the board was committed to “further accelerating” Schumacher’s growth plan.
Schumacher, 53, will step down as CEO in March and leave the company on May 31. He is leaving by mutual agreement, the company said.
He will be treated as a “good leaver” and will continue to get his 1.85 million euros ($1.94 million) fixed pay until he leaves the business, the company said. He will then get an undisclosed payment for the remainder of this notice period, it said.
Srinivas Phatak, currently Unilever’s deputy chief financial officer and group controller, will become acting CFO, while the company looks for a permanent replacement.
($1 = 0.9549 euros)
Yadarisa Shabong and Josephine Mason, Reuters
Small business owners felt more uncertain about the future in January, as they continue to deal with labor challenges and lingering inflation.
According to a monthly poll of small business owners from the National Federation of Independent Business, the uncertainty index in January rose 14 points to 100 the third highest recorded reading, after two months of decline. The NFIB said small business owners are feeling less confident about investing in their business due to uncertain business conditions in the coming months.
The response mirrors overall consumer confidence, which plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, with inflation seemingly stuck and a trade war under President Donald Trump seen by a growing number of Americans as inevitable.
In the NFIB poll, optimism fell by 2.3 points in January to 102.8, but remained high. Optimism surged after the presidential election, and the index still topped the the 51-year average of 98 for the third month in a row.
Overall, small business owners remain optimistic regarding future business conditions, but uncertainty is on the rise, said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. Hiring challenges continue to frustrate Main Street owners as they struggle to find qualified workers to fill their many open positions. Meanwhile, fewer plan capital investments as they prepare for the months ahead.
Eighteen percent of owners reported that inflation was their single most important problem in operating their business, down two points from December and matching labor quality as the top issue.
Labor remains a top headache. A seasonally adjusted 35% of all small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in January, unchanged from December. Of the 52% of owners hiring or trying to hire in January, 90% reported few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill.
And fewer small businesses are planning capital investments to expand their business. Twenty percent plan capital outlays in the next six months, down seven percentage points from December.
Mae Anderson, AP business writer
Dennys is the latest restaurant chain to add a temporary egg surcharge due to the rising cost of eggs caused by a nationwide shortage and the current bird flu outbreak.
Last month, Waffle House added an upcharge of 50 cents per egg. Meanwhile, many supermarket chains, including Trader Joe’s, Market Basket, and big-box retailers including Walmart, Costco, and Sam’s Club, have raised prices and limited the number of cartons shoppers can buy.
“This pricing decision is market-by-market, and restaurant-by-restaurant due to the regional impacts of the egg shortage,” Dennys told Fast Company in a statement. “We will continue to look for ways to provide options on our menu, including our $2 $4 $6 $8 Value Menu.”
The restaurant said it would not specify which of its 1,500 locations would see the surcharge as the situation is “fluid.”
Once an inexpensive food staple, eggs have soared in price in recent months. As of last week, a dozen white eggs was $8.07, according to CNBC. Bird flu, or avian influenza, has had a crippling effect on the nation’s egg supply, resulting in the death of 18.9 million birds in just the past 30 days, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
This is a double whammy for Denny’s, which announced more store closings earlier this month as part of the restaurant chains plan to jumpstart its waning growth. Like many fast-food and casual-dining chains, it has been struggling in recent years due to inflation, changing customer habits, and skyrocketing food prices.
“We have taken a close look at every restaurant in our domestic portfolio; and as a result, at the end of last year, we announced the decision to close approximately 150 restaurants by the end of 2025,” Denny’s previously told Fast Company. “We began the closing process last year, and we are continuing to work through our plan. More than half of these locations have already closed.”
Denny’s said the closures will enable its franchises to open “upwards of 20 new locations in 2025 . . . and remodel some current locations.”
