Innovation
Samsung Showcases Innovative Retail Solutions to Reinvent the Customer Experience at NRF 2020
Samsung is featuring its latest innovations for retail at this year’s National Retail Federation (NRF): Retail’s Big Show in New York this week. With the aim of helping brick-and-mortar retailers boost the in-store experience, Samsung is showcasing its latest display solutions, mobile devices, and behavior-sensing technologies. “Samsung’s portfolio of retail solutions enable brick-and-mortar retailers to elevate their retail environment and create a visually engaging experience for customers,” Harry Patz, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Display Division, Samsung Electronics America, said in a company release. “With a broad range of commercial display technologies that can be completely customizable to fit a myriad of business needs, Samsung is helping today’s retailers captivate customers inside and outside the store.”
Mastercard Launches Augmented Reality Experience to Bring Card Benefits to Life
Cardholders now can see and access their Mastercard benefits through a recently revealed augmented reality (AR) app. The card benefits app, a first in the industry, “delivers a photorealistic AR experience that transports users to a 360-degree virtual environment, where a series of interactive portals brings their card benefits to life,” according to a company release. Using augmented reality, the new app offers benefit information that can be accessed via a mobile device. “At Mastercard, we’re using our technology and solutions to deliver multi-sensory experiences for consumers every day – whether they’re shopping, taking transit, or exploring the card benefits they care about,” Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard, said in the release. “By leveraging an intuitive AR design, cardholders can now easily find and fully explore their benefits that otherwise might have been overlooked.”
Partnerships
NFL Teams Hit The Gym To Engage Fans
In hopes of driving engagement and adding revenue, four NFL teams – San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, and Dallas Cowboys – have partnered with 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov to open team-branded gyms in the last few years. “If you think about NFL revenue streams, we have our broadcast, we have our ticket sales, we have our partnership revenue. Those are the tried and true revenue sources that all sports teams have focused on during the past 20 or 30 years,” said Moon Javaid, the 49ers vice president of strategy and analytics. “But what happens when you maximize all of those, so you are Top 3 in every category across the board? Do you spend all of your efforts trying to squeeze out another million? Or do you focus outside of the traditional revenue area to see if the brand extends past that?”
Corporate Social Responsibility
IBM Study: Purpose and Provenance Drive Bigger Profits for Consumer Goods In 2020
IBM’s new study on global consumer trends says the importance of brand purpose surpasses cost and convenience for today's shoppers. Nearly 19,000 consumers from 28 countries, across all demographics and generations, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers (ages 18-73) were polled “to understand how individual purchasing decisions are evolving and help today's consumer-facing companies navigate trade and commerce complexities,” according to a company release. The study found that one-third of consumers will stop purchasing their preferred products if they lose trust in the brand, and consumers are favoring brands that are “sustainable, transparent and aligned with their core values.”
Hudson Pacific Properties Pledges $500,000 to Address Homelessness in Los Angeles
Hudson Pacific Properties recently announced a pledge of $500,000 to Union Rescue Mission as part of the company’s efforts to fight homelessness in its core markets of Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. Union Rescue Mission offers homeless men, women and children emergency and long-term services. Hudson Pacific’s donation will support these efforts over three years.