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The deadline to claim the Super Early rate for Fast Companys Brands That Matter is this Friday. Rates go up March 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET. This is the fifth year that Fast Company will be honoring brands that have turned their marketing and branding strategies into cultural moments while still delivering for their core audience. It will also mark the second year that Brands That Matter will recognize CMOs of the Yearthe marketers leading their organizations to new heights with ambitious, effective leadership that keeps their brands top of mind for consumers. Brands That Matter includes a main list of General Excellence honorees, as well as dozens of brands in seven categoriesplus CMOs of the Year. Read our 2024 list to learn more about the companies that were honored. Brands That Matter is distinct from other Fast Company recognition programs in that it is solely focused on how brands build cultural relevancewhether thats pop culture, entertainment, tech, or even missionin a way that aligns with their overall identity and has a measurable business impact. Start your Brands That Matter application here. For more information on applying, see the FAQs. The final deadline to apply is June 6.
Category:
E-Commerce
Walmart will be skipping eggs in its Easter meal offer this year, the U.S. retail giant said on Wednesday, in the midst of shortages and sky-high prices spiked by the bird flu outbreak among poultry. Walmart’s Easter 2025 promotion features a meal kit with nine ingredients, including ham, russet potatoes, corn on the cob and a cream cake. It serves eight people for less than $6 per person – an average price which was lower than what it offered last year, it said. Notably absent from this year’s kit, however, are eggs, which were a key part of last year’s offering. In 2024, the kit included ham, sweet potatoes, apple pie, and ingredients for deviled eggs. A promotional image showed a box with 18 large brown eggs and 14 other items. That kit served up to 10 people at an average cost of less than $8 per person, the retailer said. “The items in the (2025) basket are based on some of the most popular Easter meal items. This year we did not include ingredients that are typically already found in ones pantry like salt, pepper, butter, milk and eggs,” Tricia Moriarty, a Walmart spokesperson said in an email. A widespread outbreak of bird flu among egg-laying hens has led to record prices, created severe shortages of eggs on grocery shelves and forced retailers to set limits on purchases, prompting restaurants to increase menu prices as products become scarce. The U.S. is considering importing Brazilian and broiler chicken eggs for processed foods to ease the crunch and free up more fresh eggs for shoppers. Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer, has not placed any broad purchase limits on eggs in stores, even as the cost of eggs is dynamic and supply has been tight in places, Moriarty said. Currently, the only restrictions are on purchases of 60-count cartons to six units per purchase and online only, she added. Walmart’s grocery revenue rose by mid-single digits in the quarter through January 31, the company said in February, which it noted was partly boosted by egg-price inflation. Siddharth Cavale, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
The co-founders of a company that makes lip products for darker skin tones no longer hope to get their line into Target. A brother and sister who make jigsaw puzzles celebrating Black subjects wonder if they need to offer neutral images like landscapes to keep growing. Pound Cake and Puzzles of Color are among the small businesses whose owners are rethinking their plans as major U.S. companies weaken their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The initiatives mostly date from the end President Donald Trumps first term and entered a new era with the dawn of his second one. Some Black-owned brands suspect big retail chains will drop partnerships they pursued after the police killing of a Black man in 2020 reignited mass protests against racial injustice. In today’s anti-DEI climate, other entrepreneurs worry about personal repercussions or feel pressure to cancel contracts with retreating retailers. It becomes a question of, are the big box stores going to be there? Do we even make any attempt to talk to these people?” Ericka Chambers, one of the siblings behind Puzzles of Color, said. We are really having to evaluate our strategy in how we expand and how we want to get in front of new customers. A fighting chance for Black-owned brands Chambers and her brother, William Jones, started turning the work of artists of color into frameable puzzles the same year a video captured a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. Amid the Black Lives Matter protests over Floyd’s death, a fashion designer challenged large retailers to devote 15% of their shelf space and purchasing power to Black businesses. The Fifteen Percent Pledge helped bring Puzzles of Color’s creations to Macys and Nordstroms websites in 2022. Last year, they made it into select Barnes & Noble stores. Chambers said she’s confident in the companies’ commitments but recalled a backlash after news outlets covered the brand, which is based in Texas. It does make us think about how we envision ourselves as far as the safety of not wanting to be attacked, because some people are very vocal about being anti-DEI, Chambers said. Vibrant depictions of Black women account for many of her and Jones’ puzzles. The pair figured they needed to provide more abstract designs for certain Barnes & Noble locations to give Puzzles of Color a little bit of a fighting chance. Discontent over corporate diversity The first prominent names in U.S. retail to end or retool their diversity programs surfaced last summer amid threats of legal challenges and negative publicity from DEI critics, who argue that setting hiring, promotion and supplier diversity goals for underrepresented groups constitutes reverse discrimination. After Trump won a second term in November, Walmart joined the corporate pullback. Target’s suspension of its comparable DEI targets in January stung Black and LGBTQ+ customers harder, largely because they regarded the Minneapolis-based company as more of a natural ally. The company said it would continue working with a diverse range of businesses. Philadelphia-based Pound Cake’s co-founders, Camille Bell and Johnny Velazquez, said they don’t think they would agree at this point if the retailer offered to stock their lipsticks and lip oils. Target would have been a great boost to our businesss growth, Velazquez said. Well just find it elsewhere. To boycott or not? Target’s stance has created a dilemma for brand founders with existing distribution deals. One is Play Pits, a natural deodorant for children that Maryland resident Chantel Powell launched in 2021. The product is found in about 360 Target stores. The retailer’s DEI program allowed us to employ amazing people, give back to our community, and exhibit Black excellence on and off the shelves, Powell wrote on LinkedIn as civil rights leaders talked about boycotting Target. She and some other product creators highlighted the impact boycotts might have on their businesses. They urged upset customers to intentionally limit their purchases to items from Black-owned enterprises. Some activists understood; others pushed the brands to join the protest by cutting ties with Target. The conversation around Black brands, that they should pull out of the retailers that theyre in, is unrealistic, Powell said this month as a 40-day, church-organized Target boycott was underway. We signed up to be in business. I understand why people are having that conversation of boycotts. As a Black founder, I also understand the side of how it can be detrimental. Navigating the post-DEI landscape The owner of a Black-owned sexual wellness business with its own line of condoms has a slightly different take. Target started carrying B Condoms in 2020, and founder Jason Panda said the company told him late last year that it didn’t intend to keep the prophylactics in the 304 stores that stocked them. Panda says he isn’t worried. The product is available through Amazon and in more than 7,000 CVS stores, he said. What’s more, contracts with non-profit organizations and local governments that distribute condoms for free are the cornerstone of the business he established in 2011, Panda said. My money has never really come from mainstream, he said. We’re going to be protected as long as I can maintain my relationship with my community. Brianna Arps, who founded the fragrance brand Moodeaux in 2021, notices fewer grants available to Black brand creators these days. She used to apply for 10 to 15 every week or two; the number is down to five to seven, Arps said. A lot of the organizations that had been really vocal about supporting (Black businesses) have either quietly or ouwardly pulled back, she said. Moodeaux was the first Black-owned perfume brand to get its perfumes into Urban Outfitters and Credo Beauty, which specializes in natural vegan products. In the current environment, Arps is looking to expand her brand’s presence independent shops and to support other Black fragrance lovers. The resiliency of brands like ours and founders like myself will still exist, she said. Accentuating the positive Aurora James, the founder of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, said nearly 30 major companies that joined the initiative remain committed to it, including Bloomingdale’s, beauty retailer Sephora, J. Crew and Gap. Ulta Beauty, another pledge signatory, and Credo Beauty carry Pound Cake products. Velazquez and Belle want to use social media to direct their followers to support retailers like Ulta and to bolster their online sales. Its going to be fostering the community that we have and growing that, Velazquez said. While making a strategic decision to appeal to a broader audience when selecting puzzles for Barnes & Noble, Chambers said she plans to introduce Black faces and experiences to the chain’s bookstores over time, in boxes of 500, 750 and 1,000 pieces. In the meantime, Puzzles of Color expanded its Pride collection as a response to the DEI backlash. The subjects include Harriet Tubman, a mother and daughter tending a garden, and a little girl in a beauty supply store gazing up at hair accessories. Do we lean in all the way?” Chambers asks herself. “Part of why we started this was because we didnt see enough Black people in puzzles. Anne D’Innocenzio, AP retail writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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