It's amazing how innovative a nascent brand gets when it doesn't have the luxury of spending other people's money. Bootstrapped since 2014, the JiMMY! Bar line of high-protein, low-sugar "bars with benefits" started with co-founder Jim Simon, his sister Annette and money chipped in by family and friends. They built a brand by staying outside the costly, complex grocery store supply chain.

Email is 50 years old this year. Its resilience is so familiar that we don't even bother joking about the many "Email is Dead" eulogies.

General Mills CMO Ivan Pollard brought us back a century to the invention of the Betty Crocker persona to illustrate how the company is trying to reassert the basics of consumer engagement by digital means. He demonstrated how a social interaction with a Saudi Arabian boy led to a massively successful Ramadan campaign that promoted men trying their hand at baking.