• Lingering GM Strike Has Ripple Effect On Economy
    As the strike by the United Auto Workers against General Motors enters its third week, the economy is starting to feel the effects. Picketers, who are receiving $250 per week in strike pay from the union, are foregoing dining out and vacations  An analysis released last week by East Lansing-based consultant Anderson Economic Group estimates that GM has lost profits of $113 million so far, and is now losing money at the rate of $25 million a day. “Then, too, striking UAW members and workers laid off at GM's supplier network have lost wages totaling $266 million so far, the analysis said," according …
  • H&M Recycles 'Fast-Fashion' Clothes
    H&M first started collecting used garments from its customers in 2013. The fast-fashion retailer partners with I: Collect, a Swiss reuse and recycling logistics company, that picks up clothing and shoes in more than 60 countries. Some clothing is shredded and turned into a fiber mix, then sold to clients, including the retailers that first collected the garments, to be used in new textile products. Metals such as buttons are separated and recycled.
  • Voice Of Nestle Commercials Dies
    Jimmy Nelson, a ventriloquist who was the voice of Humphrey Higsbye, Farfel and Danny O’Da, has died. Nelson and his wooden partners made 120 commercials for Nestle all ending with a memorable jingle: Danny sang “N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestlé’s makes the very best,” and Farfel added, “Chaw-klit!” At the final syllable, his mouth snapped shut. “The three turned this ditty into a world-famous jingle that remained beloved by audiences for more than 10 years,” Heather Taylor wrote on the Advertising Week 360 website in 2017, according to The New York Times.
  • Rent The Runway Snafu Causes Order Delays
    Bad PR for fashion rental firm Rent the Runway, which "has put a temporary hold on accepting new subscribers and new event rentals after a tech system upgrade in its warehouse caused" massive order delays, according to Chain Store Age. The company's snafu affected "hundreds of Rent the Runway customers," who "have been posting about canceled deliveries and three-hour-plus customer service wait times on its  Facebook and Twitter accounts." And in what seems related news, the  company's head of supply chain, Marv Cunningham, will be leaving at the end of September.
  • American Eagle's CMO Believes In Brick And Mortar
    American Eagle put itself in its teen customers’ shoes and noticed that  Gen Z customers like to shop in physical stores. That thinking also evolved how it viewed the reason for its stores to exist, says Kyle Andrew, executive vice president and chief marketing officer. He describes brick and mortar as a “much cheaper way” to acquire new brand loyalists.
  • Food Giants Kraft, Heinz Don't Go Well Together
    The 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz is faltering, right along with sales and profits. The company owns the food and beverage brands that for generations were staples of American households, including Heinz ketchup, Kraft cheese, Oscar Mayer meats and Planters nuts. “Some analysts and former Kraft Heinz employees place much of the blame at the feet of 3G and its use of a highly vaunted ‘zero-based budgeting’ strategy that critics say focuses more on cutting costs than creating products that people want to buy,” according to The New York Times.
  • Digital Sticker Stores Opens Brick-And-Mortar Location
    StickerYou, a digital die-cut sticker company launched in 2010, has opened a 3,000-square foot store in Toronto. A customer experience center is planned where customers can check out the hundreds of custom design options, create their own design using the company’s online sticker maker and place personalized orders Also coming in late October is a museum that details the history of stickers, with rotating exhibitions and events.
  • Samuel L. Jackson Lands Alexa Voice Gig
    Samuel L. Jackson will be the first celebrity voice of Amazon’s Alexa, a cloud-based digital assistant. More celebrity guest voices will be added for the platform starting in 2020. “The Jackson 'voice pack' for Alexa will be available later this year for the special intro price of 99 cents — and users can select either clean or explicit modes,” according to Variety. If you ask Google Home “What’s that famous quote from ‘Snakes On A Plane’?” you might get an idea of what “explicit” refers to.
  • Norwegian Cruise Lines To End Plastic Water Bottle Sales
    The third largest cruise line plans to switch its fleet from single-use plastic water bottles by 2020, starting with the Norwegian Encore, which launches in November. The 4,000-passenger ship will instead carry Just Water, with a carton made mostly of paper, and a cap made of sugar cane. The more sustainable drinking water option will eliminate five million single-use plastic bottles per year fleetwide.
  • Anheuser-Busch Cuts Ties With Viral Star
    Anheuser-Busch has quickly cut ties with a 24-year-old Iowa man whose message asking for beer money went viral. Carson King's witty plea raised over $1 million and he pledged to give all of the pledged money to an Iowa children's hospital. Now, the Des Moines Register found racist social media messages he sent when he was 16. He apologized, but Anheuser-Busch discontinued a promotion with him.
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