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The early stages of building a brand are critical. Beyond identifying their audience, brands also have to connect with them while demonstrating their utility. For the five companies recognized as 2025 Brands That Matter honorees in the on the rise category, in four years or less they have managed to do both those things with aplomb. Whether it’s Unrivaled’s unique NIL and athletic proposition for WNBA athletes, Scarlett Gasque’s ability to tap into underserved shoppers, or Alan-1’s efforts to give the arcade game an upgrade for avid players, these brands have proven their strengths. Alan-1 Alan-1 creates arcade and video game products inspired by the 1980s. In the past year, the company has brought back more modern versions of nostalgic games like Asteroids, Berzerk, and Missile Command through a partnership with Atari. In 2024, the company generated $2.1 million in arcade sales by placing them in Disney World and Dave and Busters locations. To promote its products, the company has adopted a YouTube strategy that showcases teaser trailers and gameplay breakdownsto date, the channel has driven more than 500,000 organic views. It has also continued to meet fans where they are, engaging with them on Discord. Fine’ry Mass fragrance brand Finery has made a name selling dupes for popular fragrances at a fraction of their price at retailers including Target. To tailor its appeal to customers, the company closely tracks the scents consumers want on social media and creates fragrances quickly based on that data. For example, over the summer, amid the rise of pistachio as a color and flavor, the brand released Pistachio Please, a scent with pistachio and vanilla notes. To appeal to digitally native consumerswho often purchase the fragrances without smelling them firstthe brand uses generative AI to quickly create bold campaign imagery across physical and digital assets. Finery also hosted two immersive pop-ups for fans to experience their scents and created digital pop-ups to meet their consumers where they spend time: on Roblox. As a result, one unit of Finery fragrances was sold every 10 seconds in 2024. View this post on Instagram Scarlett Gasque Two-year-old lingerie company Scarlett Gasque creates lingerie and corsets. This year, the company expanded its model roster to include more plus-size and diverse bodies. The move led to a 45% increase in social engagement. The brand’s growing popularity on social media led to custom product requests from the likes of Kim Kardashian and Sabrina Carpenter. The brand’s Dorothy bra also made an appearance in Selena Gomez’s music video for her song “Sunset Blvd.” View this post on Instagram SirDavis American Whisky SirDavis, a whisky brand from megastar Beyoncé and Moët Hennessy, has marketed itself to women and people of color, demographics that are historically underrepresented in the luxury whisky category. Since its launch, the brand has associated itself with pop culture, retailing at venues like the Houston Rodeo to the Pegasus World Cup and California Crown, and of course, as the Official Spirit of the Cowboy Carter Tour. The brand also engaged and promoted blind tasting tests from experts, to assure customers that beyond being a celebrity brand, the product actually tastes good. Unrivaled Professional three-on-three womens basketball league Unrivaled gives WNBA players more opportunities to compete during the offseason. Cofounded by players Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, the company has raised $35 million. Last season, women accounted for more than half of Unrivaleds televised viewershipa significantly higher percentage than every other televised womans sports property. Unrivaled also debuted an NIL program, showcasing college basketball stars Paige Bueckers of the University of Connecticut and Flaujae Johnson of Louisiana State University. To stoke interest in the league, Unrivaled created a content strategy focused on behind-the-scenes storytelling. Unrivaled league and club social media accounts flooded the zone from January through March, together posting 3,804 times and averaging a combined 50 posts per day, which led to 589.1M social media impressions. @unrivaled we got shooterssss #unrivaled @Azzi Fudd original sound – Unrivaled Basketball This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
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E-Commerce
For the past decade, quantum computing has struggled to balance promise and practicality. While the worlds most advanced systems remain engineering marvels, theyre bedeviled by the same flaw: the fragility of qubitsthe fundamental units of quantum dataand the delicate hardware required to control them. A single fluctuation, for example, can collapse a quantum state, invalidating a computation. Most quantum systems also depend on large-scale refrigeration colder than deep space, with cryogenic racks that often occupy multiple rooms. Scaling quantum systems demands exponential increases in cost, energy, and environmental stability. So while the U.N. has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, for all its scientific significance, quantums commercial trajectory remains narrow. But Japanese conglomerate Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) is attempting to rewrite that equation. In partnership with Japan-based quantum technology developer OptQC, NTT is attempting to break current orthodoxy through what is known as optical quantum computing, which uses photons instead of electrical currents to perform calculations. Since photons generate less heat compared to electron-based systems and can travel without resistance, these systems consume far less power. NTT argues that optical systems can be faster and more energy-efficient, forming the basis for greener, more sustainable computing. This combination not only accelerates computational capability but also reduces environmental impact, positioning quantum technology as a foundation for a sustainable digital future, says Shingo Kinoshita, SVP and head of R&D planning at NTT. Rather than relying on cooling systems, NTTs design utilizes light sources and error-correction technologies developed under its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) initiative. Japans broader industrial strategy sits just beneath the surface of this partnership. With the U.S. and China locked in geopolitical competition over quantum supremacy, Japans photonic-first model is being positioned as an alternative: one that favors energy efficiency and manufacturability over extreme-environment engineering. Today, the energy footprint of AI is emerging as a global challenge. Optical quantum computing processes information with light, enabling dramatically lower power consumption and scalable qubit growth through optical multiplexing, Kinoshita says. A million-qubit road map The approach builds on a series of rapid scientific breakthroughs across Japans quantum ecosystem. Over the past year, NTTalongside RIKEN, Fixstars Amplify, the University of Tokyo, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technologydemonstrated the worlds first general-purpose optical quantum computing platform capable of running calculations without any external cooling. The upcoming platform fits inside a single room, a feat that many leading quantum systems developers cant claim. NTT and OptQC outlined a five-year plan leading to the 2030 milestone. During the first year, the companies will conduct technical studies and begin codesigning while identifying early use cases with external partners. In the second year, they plan to build complete development environments for hardware and software. In year three, they expect to begin verifying enterprise use cases such as drug development, financial optimization, materials science, and climate modeling. The final phase will focus on scaling the system to reach millions of qubits and making it reliable enough to handle real-world use cases, thereby preparing the technology for adoption among companies, governments, and industries. Qubits must scale into the thousands for quantum computing to surpass the current capabilities of AI. Unlike classical bits used in general-purpose computing systems, which exist as 0 or 1, qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously, enabling exponentially faster processing of complex calculations. The 2030 vision of 1 million qubits is not just about performance, its about redefining how we align advanced computing with planetary limits, Kinoshita says. In the near term, as we aim for 10,000 qubits by 2027, the first impact will be within NTTs own communications infrastructure. Japans photonic bet to power AI As AI models grow in size and complexity, the demand for simulation, optimization, and high-dimensional problem-solving has also increased exponentially. NTT asserts that photonic quantum systems will become essential accelerators for next-generation AI and telecom networks such as 6G. In classical systems, electrical signals travel through semiconductor processors. Photonic systems replace those electrons with light, transmitting information through properties such as photon number, polarization, and amplitude. However, practical commercial quantum computing requires a scale of 1 million logical qubits, along with reliable quantum error correction, a mechanism that detects and corrects the subtle errors qubits constantly make. Todays machineseven the most advanced systems by IBM, Google, and otherssit orders of magnitude below that mark and remain extremely sensitive to environmental disturbances. NTT claims that photonics changes the math. Scaling to 1 million qubits by 2030 and then moving into mass deployment will demand a robust supply chain. Achieving high-performance quantum light sources and improving yield in precision fabrication will be critical steps, Kinoshita explains. In essence, this means NTT must be able to reliably manufacture the key components, such as high-quality light sources, and improve production yields so the hardware can be built at scale. By 2030, with 1 million qubits, the scope expands beyond telecom,” he adds. “NTT plans to explore these opportunities through partnerships with leaders in chemistry, finance, and industrial sectors. The global stakes of a photonic strategy This is not the first attempt at room-temperature quantum hardware, as companies like Sydney-based Quantum Brilliance are also pursuing cryogenics-free architectures. Quantum Brilliance is targeting edge and data-center deployments with compact photonic-inspired diamond devices, while Atom Computing, headquartered in Berkeley, Calfornia, is building large-scale, room-temperature systems that use neutral atoms. We truly believe that optically controllable neutral atom qubits allow a level of flexibility and practicality to the challenge of controlling millions of qubits with high-fidelity, low-crosstalk signals at room temperature, says Ben Bloom, founder and CEO of Atom Computing. But NTT argues that photons, not electrons or atoms, offer an architecture capable of reaching true commercial scale. Its thesis is simple: Light is inherently more stable, generates less heat, and is ultimately more manufacturable than any matter-based system. This shift transforms quantum computing from a niche technology into a broadly available resource,” Kinoshita says. Still, experts caution that the light-based computation path comes with its own unresolved challenges. Photonics faces significant challenges that often get glossed over in the roomtemperature narrative, says Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer at Boston-based QuEra Computing. You need near-perfect sources and detectors at scale, plus efficient photon-photon interactions, which don’t occur naturally and require complex optical elements. The engineering complexity of building a fault-tolerant photonic quantum computer with thousands of high-fidelity qubits is immense. If NTT stays on track, the worlds first million-qubit system may come from a room-temperature optical platform in Tokyo, engineered for real-world use cases including molecular simulation for drug discovery and materials science, financial risk modeling, and manufacturing optimization. Beyond technology, global coordination for specialized materials and resilience against geopolitical risks remains essential, Kinoshita says. When these systems can run in standard IT environments with ultra-low power consumption and rack-scale integration, enterprises will see cost-effective performance, governments will recognize strategic advantage, and the public will experience tangible benefits like greener networks and faster innovation. That moment will mark quantums shift from experimental to essential.
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E-Commerce
In case you havent been deluged with enough day-themed holiday shopping sales yet, the travel industry will try to tempt you with some seemingly tantalizing travel offers on December 2, aka Travel Tuesday, traditionally the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. But whether the travel deals are actually steals may require you to do some research in advance and read the fine print so you dont face some unexpected fees once youre on vacation. If you regularly book through a specific travel provider and have a sense of what you normally pay, that will help you to better suss out whether youre actually saving money. Knowing what a specific trip or ticket would normally cost is important because travel providers may have artificially inflated the price just to offer a discount this week, Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet, cautioned to the Associated Press. Theres a sense of urgency with deals like these, she said, but its also important to make sure a trip that youre booking actually works for you and is something you genuinely want. That said, there may be some discounts that are worth taking advantage of. Here are some highlights. Blanket discounts with specific companies For seasoned travelers, some of the most attractive offers this week will likely come from companies you already book with regularly. Even then, however, there are some asterisks to each of these deals. Perhaps they can be used only on select dates or for specific locations, for example, which may put a damper on your wanderlust. Amtrak may not seem like the most exciting place to begin, but if you regularly travel by trainor have a trip in mindyou may be able score up to 25% off regularly priced fares if you book a ticket by December 3 for travel anytime from January 5 to March 15, 2026. That said, there are four blackout dates that coincide with holidays in January and February, while some routes arent eligible for the discount. If you do have your eye on something a bit more exciting, then insiders (aka people who have supplied their information) could score up to 20% off a stay at one of the boutique hotels in the Proper Hotels collection, along with a $175 dining credit. And Marriott is offering discounts ranging from 15% to 25% off stays at participating locations for reservations made through December 2, depending on whether or not youre a Bonvoy member and book through its app. Many major airlines are also advertising discounted fares for flights booked on Travel Tuesday; however, deals are primarily focused on specific routes. Deals on booking sites Aggregators in the travel world are also getting in on the action with some specials. Discounts range widely in terms of whats being discounted and the amount, but its worth checking the various sites if you have a trip in mind. You may be able to score up to 40% off by booking accommodations through Booking.com, while Hotels.com is promising up to 50% off on reservations for eligible hotels and resorts. Not to be outdone, Priceline is offering up to 60% off select travel packages, and some people may even be able to score up to 75% off at a curated list of 24 hotels by booking through Expedia. Some property owners are running their own promotions for bookings on Airbnb and VRBO, though youll have to have some dates and locations in mind to find those deals. More broadly, Airbnb is offering up to 50% off a single experience or service in Los Angeles, New York, or Paris if you book through Thursday, December 4. Discounts for cruises, resorts The most tantalizing, but trickiest, deals to navigate are often at resorts or for cruises. Thats because the discounts offered this week may not tell the full story of how much youll pay once you arrive, as fees and on-site activities can be quite expensive. This is the area of Travel Tuesday where you may want to proceed with caution lest you sign up for a trip that turns out to be far more expensive than you realized. Its also fair to wonder why specific locations are so heavily discounted when others are not. You can score up to 65% off reservations and potentially get some other money-saving perks at select Sandals Resorts locations for travel booked through December 2. And Club Med has extended a sale through December 2, offering up to 50% off at some of its all-inclusive resorts. The major cruise operators are seemingly always running some sort of sale, but the discounts may be bigger this week. Princess is offering up to $800 off fares, while Royal Caribbean is advertising up to $1,000 off its fares. And you can save up to 75% off the booking for a second guest with Celebrity Cruises. But if all these deals feel dizzying, travel experts say dont book just for the sake of booking. The decline in international visitors to the U.S. has seen many travel companies discount rates to ensure they are booked, and that trend will likely continue. As French told the AP, rest assured: If you dont buy on Travel Tuesday, you havent missed your moment.
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E-Commerce
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