
It’s U.S. Open Time: Pro Athletes Help Brands Win
Partnerships between brands and sports figures are becoming more popular, but now female athletes are starting to show a stronger ROI.
Retail insights at the intersection of now and next. Unfiltered. Unbiased

Partnerships between brands and sports figures are becoming more popular, but now female athletes are starting to show a stronger ROI.

What I’m seeing in the snack aisle right now is absolutely fascinating and really weird. Two of America’s biggest snack rivals just did something that would have been unthinkable.

Regulation doesn’t erase the core question: Are drones actually the future of last-mile delivery, or are they another shiny object distracting retailers from more urgent problems? Challenges will remain; drones are still limited by payload weight, weather sensitivity, and the economics of operating at scale. Yet the shift to standardization provides retailers with the regulatory clarity needed to plan, test, and prepare for drones as a potential solution in the last-mile delivery mix.

How do you make yourself matter to your local community? If you’re a hardware retailer, what you have to offer is more than nice; it’s a necessity. Ace Hardware gets it. They are innovative players in the retail media landscape with RedVest Media, designed to drive embedded community relationships that translate into measurable ROI advantages.

Cornell and Target kept putting their feet in their mouths at every step. When they announced they were pulling back from DEI initiatives, they were crucified by the customers who supported those views, and they never really got the buy-in from those who didn’t. Efforts to soften that stance infuriated people on both sides of the issue, setting up a no-win situation for the company.

There is no age limit for doll collecting. In fact, it tends to grow with age. Among doll collectors, kids’ rooms abandoned during the empty-nesting years are repurposed as doll nurseries. And the growing kidulting trend, where adults aged 18 and above revert to or continue on with their play toys, will bring younger doll collectors into the fold.

For retailers, the message is stark: what begins in chemical plants and semiconductor fabs doesn’t stay there. It flows directly into the products on their shelves — and into the headlines that shape consumer trust. Companies like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart may not manufacture chips, but they market and sell the devices that depend on them.
WK Kellogg founder Will Keith Kellogg invented his cornflakes in 1894, with the cereal group growing to become arguably the best-known cereal empire in the world. On the other side of the Atlantic, Ferrero was founded in 1946 by Italian confectioner Pietro Ferrero, and the company remains under family ownership, with Ferrero’s grandson Giovanni serving as Executive Chair.

The Honest Company, co-founded by Jessica Alaba in 2011, is experiencing a renaissance with double-digit revenue growth and the highest gross margin in the history of the company.
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