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Legos newest set is a replica of a Nintendo Game Boy, and its designed to tap into the millennial nostalgia thats ruling the cultural zeitgeist. The 421-piece set is the latest in a series of collaborations between Nintendo and Lego, which have included builds based on the Super Mario, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart worlds. Currently, the Game Boy is available for preorder at a price point of $60; it will be purchasable online and in stores starting October 1. [Photo: Lego] According to a press release, the collectible is an almost one-to-one replica of the original Game Boy, standing at just over 5.5 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide. It comes complete with a control pad, A and B buttons, a contrast adjustment, and a volume dialessentially, all the elements youd find on the original device. The main drawback is that, tragically, the brick-based Game Boy is not playable. However, it does come with a Game Pak slot and two Game Paks (also made of Legos, of course) based on The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and Super Mario Land. The Game Paks come with lenticular screensor screens that use light deflection to mimic movementreplicating scenes from the respective games, so you can briefly pretend that its a functioning electronic. Legos Game Boy replica comes as 80s and 90s IP has flourished in pop culture. Movies like Barbie and Twisters, fast-food menu throwbacks, and the return of 90s fashion (like via the long-dead J.Crew catalog) have all brought millennial nostalgia into the limelight. [Photo: Lego] Theres also renewed interest in retro tech aesthetics, even among younger generations who werent around during the products heydays. In 2024, that meant product releases like Anduril founder Palmer Luckeys 90s-esque portable gaming device and a pager by Sega that only sends emojis. So far this year, the Commodore 64 PC has already made a comeback and the iPod Nano got turned into a design object. Now the Game Boy is on sale againif only in Lego form.
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E-Commerce
For the third consecutive year, venture capital investment in climate tech fell in 2024. Investment in the sector reached only $37.8 billion, nearly 40% lower than its all-time high in 2021. Looking ahead to 2025, a report from PitchBook suggests climate tech investments could fall even further. The broad scope of climate tech means the companies focused on it are subject to policy and industry changes impacting many sectors, such as energy, agriculture, and transportation. However, even as tariffs and shifting policy priorities threaten companies bottom line, many venture investors in the space say there is no cause for alarm. This isn’t surprising to us, says Sara Simonds, executive director of Venture Climate Alliance, an organization that brings together climate-focused venture capital firms. Many of the VCs that we work with have been investing in these sectors for the better part of a decade or longer and are accustomed to the ebbs and flows in industry outlook. The last surge of investment started in 2021, when the market for renewable energy and other climate technologies looked very different. Favorable policies under President Joe Biden bolstered the sector and made it a hotbed of activity even for venture capitalists who werent previously involved in the space. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, for example, invested billions in clean energy, electric vehicles, and other climate-friendly technologies. That act built on tax credits for electric vehicles, carbon sequestration, and other initiatives provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in 2021. On the venture capitalist side, those policies led to expensive deals that pushed the annual VC deal value over $60.5 billion in 2021 and $53.8 billion in 2022, according to the PitchBook report. Now some climate-favorable policies and tax breaks are gone under President Donald Trump, and tariffs are raising the cost of clean energy in the U.S. (China remains the leading supplier of solar panels, wind turbine components, and lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, according to the International Energy Agency.) Many tourist investors who temporarily entered the climate space during its period of high growth have taken these changes as a sign to scale back investments or leave the space. This, combined with declines in the number of VC deals in the tech sector more broadly, has added to climate techs troubles. However, venture capitalists who specialize in climate tech investments arent worried. In fact, they see opportunities for growth that may outweigh the financial risks these policy and market changes bring. Part of their confidence in the sector comes from having experienced past boom-bust cycles in climate technology markets. The CleanTech 1.0 eraa period in the mid-2000s when venture capitalists heavily staked renewable energy startups that ultimately failedwas a formative experience for many of todays climate tech investors. They observed not only how these businesses failed but also how others succeeded in their wake as the need for climate-friendly solutions grows. Climate change is the macro of all macro trends, says Andrew Beebe, managing director at Obvious Ventures. Maybe not as a human, but as an investor, the macro on climate is amazing. The challenge becomes greater by the day and that means the opportunities just become greater by the day. Additionally, many of the changes on the policy side have greater impacts on mature industries that venture capitalists are less directly involved in, says Matt Eggers, managing director at Prelude Ventures. Venture capitalists tend to invest in startups and other early-stage companies with potential to grow. While there is always innovation going on behind the scenes of mature industries, some that are well-established (like traditional solar and wind technologies) are less appealing to investors looking for groundbreaking new technologies or unexplored areas of industries. What many dedicated climate tech investors are looking for remains the same as when the sector hit its peak three years agonew or improved technologies that are scalable and have strong market potential. Last year, North America remained the largest market for climate tech investment, and it saw big gains in the energy sector, according to the PitchBook report. In particular, growth was notable in dispatchable energy sources whose output is easily increased or decreased to meet demand, and in infrastructure to produce, store, and transport hydrogen. Similarly, the first quarter of this year saw more investments in energy, with large fusion and nuclear deals. Weve got technology that were really excited about in the portfolio, Eggers says. He and Beebe both see opportunities in companies using electrification and artificial intelligence to transform the climate tech sector. Beyond the technology, Eggers adds that investors look for companies with strong leadership teams and ideas that appeal to big or fast-growing markets, particularly those that have been disrupted by the types of policy and economic changes plaguing many industries today. When theres disruption, theres opportunity, Eggers says. This extends to the investment space as well, where investors are finding promising companies to fund in this now less-crowded area of the venture market.
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E-Commerce
Theres a quiet unraveling happening in business. You feel it in the glassy eyes of employees. You see it in customers ghosting once-beloved brands. You hear it in leadership meetings when someone asks, Why arent people sticking around? and no one has a real answer. The truth is that brand loyalty is fading. Not because people are distracted. Because theyre disillusioned. And no, a new logo wont fix it. The Belief Gap There was a time, not long ago, when brand was a kind of secular faith. We believed in Nike, Apple, or Patagonia. These brands stood for something, or at least they made us feel like they did. They gave shape to aspiration. They helped us orient ourselves in a world that often felt chaotic. But faith, as theologians have long known, requires more than symbols. And trust, once broken, is a difficult thing to restore. What used to bind uscustomer to brand, employee to companyis fraying. Not because people are fickle, but because brands became false idols. The modern brand machine promised meaning and delivered margin. They said people first, but meant until the next earnings call. Todays consumers are savvier, and employees are more vocal. Neither will tolerate brands that say one thing and do another. Theyre not impressed by slogans. They want to know what your company actually stands forand if your actions align with that claim. Theyre asking, Do I see myself in this? Do I trust this? Does this matter to me? And if the answer is no, theyre gone. The Quiet Collapse of Brand Meaning According to McKinsey, three out of four consumers have changed brands in the past two years. Meanwhile, research from MIT Sloan reveals that toxic culturenot payis the number-one predictor of employee attrition. Its not just bad bosses or weak onboarding. Its something deeper: a breach of belief. The breach happens quietly. The brand deck claims innovation, but inside, risk is punished. The values on the wall say people first, but layoffs come before leadership cuts. The company celebrates diversity in its marketing while sidelining it in its hiring practices. People notice. And once they do, no creative or bold rebrand can undo it. This isnt a customer service issue or an HR problem. Its a crisis of meaning. Brands Built for Yesterday Cant Survive Tomorrow For decades, brand loyalty followed a predictable pattern: identify a target audience, claim a point of view, build a story, develop an identity, and launch. Then, pour money into media and hope the message sticks. Meanwhile, culture, what it feels like to actually work there, was a separate track, typically owned by HR, reduced to perks and performance reviews. In an era where every employee has a microphone and every customer has a camera, the gap between what a company says and how it behaves is visible. Its searchable. Its shareable. The line between internal and external is invisible. The pandemic, political polarization, economic volatility, and a new generation of employees and customers have shifted the calculus. Today, people dont just want good products or clever taglines; they also want meaningful experiences. And when the story you tell the market doesnt match the one your team lives every day, brand loyalty dissolves. The Brands That Still Have Devotion? Theyve Earned It. Trader Joes, for all its cult-favorite snacks, has never been about product alone. Its about people. The staff doesnt feel like theyre trapped in a fluorescent prison. Theyre trusted, empowered, often joyful. That energy transfers. The experience feels human. It makes loyalty feel easy. Costco didnt build its billion-dollar business by playing it safe. It pays better wages than nearly anyone else in retail. Its benefits rival some tech companies. It knows that loyalty at scale starts with respect, not perks. And then theres Chobani. Its founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, didnt just democratize Greek yogurt. He redefined what it means to lead with conscience, giving refugees jobs and equity, turning profit into purpose without ever preaching about it. The brands moral backbone is the brand. None of these brands engineered loyalty. They didnt split-test their way into affection. They simply aligned what they stood for with how they behaved. The Old Brand Playbook? Burn It. You know the one: Identify your audience (our audience is . . . everyone!). Conduct market research regarding their preferences, values, and unmet needs, (probably just a hunch, its gotta be a millennial). Stake out a position (throw in a cheesy tagline for good measure). Develop your brand story (two people found an alpaca farm, cut out the middle man, and brought you a better poncho). Develop your visuals (fingers crossed this looks good for as cheaply as possible). Throw lots of money at marketing (nothing like wasting a lot of money to market a bad brand!). This formula used to work when people asked fewer questions. But today, a brand that only looks good is a brand thats already behind. Today, you cant brand your way out of a broken culture. You cant market your way past mistrust. You cant buy loyalty with a new logo and some values in a pitch deck. Rebuilding Loyalty Is a Leadership Mandate This is no longer a task for the marketing department. Brand loyalty has become a test of leadership and vision. Rebuilding loyalty isnt about going louder; its about going deeper. It starts with asking better questionsand being willing to sit with the answers. Ask your employees: What do we stand for, from your perspective? What do we ignore that truly matters? What would make you proud to work here? Ask your customers: What values should this company embody? Where are we falling short? What would make you proud to buy from us? What change would make you stay? These are not marketing questions. They are questions of identity. What youll find in those answers is not just sentiment, but structure, and a blueprint for rebuilding not just brand loyalty, but brand integrity. Loyalty Isnt Gone. But Its No Longer Passive. Lets stop pretending people are loyal to colors, fonts, or discounts. Theyre loyal to how your company makes them feel, to whether they believe youre worth their time, attention, and energy. The good news? Loyalty is still possible. Its just more discerning. The brands that will win in this new era wont be the noisiest. Theyll be the clearest. The ones who know exactly who theyre customer is and theyll run through brick walls to keep them. People arent loyal to campaigns. Theyre loyal to conviction. So dont just try to win loyalty back. Build something bigger:belief.
Category:
E-Commerce
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