Posts tagged with "Fast Company"

Above, Perkins believes that Sizzler can become a regional landmark, like In-N-Out Burger on the West Coast, or Wawa on the East Coast. (Photo source: Tavern)

Sizzler is back from the brink with a shiny new brand and ambitions to match

September 4, 2024

 

Sizzler is a bit of an anomaly: Despite having shrunk to a fraction of its former size and retreating primarily to the West Coast, it’s a brand that remains a ubiquitous cultural touchpoint—in movies and online, on South Park and Saturday Night Live. And even if you’ve never eaten at one, you probably know what it is.

This made it a dream client for Mike Perry, founder and chief creative officer of Tavern, which collaborated with the beloved yet beleaguered chain on a comprehensive brand refresh spanning from its website to its stores, reports Fast Company.

“This brand is weirdly working backwards—it exists within the mind, but not necessarily in the world or in the hand,” Perry says. “It’s the most fun to take the brand that has been beaten up for decades and restore it. It’s not fun to take the shiny one and push it a little further.”

Digging into Sizzler’s past

When it launched in 1958 in Culver City, California, Sizzler helped invent the casual dining chain restaurant. It had its ups and downs over the years, but for an eatery known as much for its endless salad bar (which accounts for 40% of its business) as its affordable steaks, a global pandemic was not a great development.

The chain filed for bankruptcy in September 2020 and has been building back since. Today there are 75 locations (down from 270 at Sizzler’s peak). Christopher Perkins—formerly of Anheuser-Busch InBev—joined in 2019, and is now president and CEO.

Perkins says the brand had lost its way, and he knew it needed more than just a new coat of paint. He aspired for Sizzler to become a brand not locked in the past, but rather one of Southern California’s regional landmarks, like In-N-Out Burger, or Wawa on the East Coast.

In addition to losing its way, Perkins discovered that Sizzler had also lost its history, quite literally—there was no robust archive of assets and other ephemera. So he began to do a bit of archaeology into the company’s past, at one point sending a marketing intern on missions to the brand’s storage facility to see what could be dug up.

Prior to launching Tavern, Perry had worked on the Budweiser account at Jones Knowles Ritchie, which is where he originally met Perkins. Once Tavern came on board the project, Perry and Perkins immersed themselves in all things Sizzler—from store walk-throughs to the corporate side of the business—and did a bit of brand excavation of their own, buying up everything they could find on eBay.

In the end, Tavern saw the solution to Perkins’s problem as a “modern heritage” approach.

“It’s the search for timelessness,” Perry says. “The real tension between modernity and heritage and finding that is taking the old and ultimately making it new—and making it new so that it can continue to work in the future …. If you’re always trying to balance that, that’s really where the good stuff starts to come out.”

A cast of characters

One archival find was a steak-shucking bull character rendered in a Hanna-Barbera-esque style, which they dubbed Ribby Ribeye.

“All great brands have characters,” Perry says. “[Ribby Ribeye] is exactly what embodies a famous Southern California brand from both the midcentury and today, and it seemed like a no-brainer to bring back.”

Tavern built out a supplementary cadre of characters representing the brand’s other best-known offerings—the cheese toast, the unlimited shrimp, a lobster tail; and Perry’s favorite, the Salad Barbarian, an amorphous blob on a plate representing all the goods available at the beloved bar.

For the brand’s fonts, Tavern again turned to the past. Perry says Sizzler had used cuts of Windsor and Caslon Black Swash from its beginning through the mid-’80s or so, and they felt very Southern Californian in design and aesthetic, so his team utilized Windsor EF-Extra, Emfatick NF (a take on Caslon Black Swash), and Block Berthold Heavy and Condensed. For a contemporary feel, all the elements are blended with modern messaging and photography.

Tavern was given a mandate not to mess with the logo, so the team only slightly messed with the logo. They essentially cleaned it up—ditching the black background and dialing it back to a single color; refining the type in minute ways, and flattening it out. They also slanted it at an angle to drive home the notion of the brand’s cattle-brand element.

The Sizzler glow-up

Of course, all of these aesthetic updates mirror larger—and perhaps more consequential—changes. Tavern also worked on the restaurant interiors, uniforms, the living “brand” of how workers talk and embody the restaurant (think Chick-fil-A and all those “my pleasures”), the plates, and more.

It’s safe to say that if you stepped inside any of the competition in the category—Outback, Chili’s, Applebee’s, etc.—in the absence of a logo, you’d probably have no definitive idea of where you were. They all tend to look more or less the same: dark environments, menus with food shot on dark backgrounds, which Perry says doesn’t exactly convey freshness or taste.

So, the team sought to separate Sizzler from the rest of the pack by resurrecting the brand’s ownable red color, aiming for a bright and friendly overall vibe. The new website is now live, and Perkins says the changes will be rolling out to physical restaurants in phases.

In many ways, the rebrand is an attempt to remind the world that Sizzler is an anomaly. It exists in a space between chain restaurant and steak house, not to mention past and present. As for the future, the team says the key to all that nostalgia not feeling dated is to maintain a constant understanding of what is culturally relevant today—and then looking to the brand’s heritage and seeing what resonates with it.

As always, time will tell. For now, Perry says, “[After working] on big brands, we get bored of the brand a lot faster than the consumer. And just frankly [with Sizzler] I’m not—and that’s what I think a successful rebrand is.”

Research contact: @FastCompany

Above, thankfully, it tastes like coconut. (Photo source: Erewhon)

Erewhon’s selling a ‘sunscreen’ smoothie because it’s summer and we’ll pay for it

June 6, 2024

What does summer taste like? For some, it brings to mind watermelon or burgers on the grill. For others, it’s the taste of boardwalk ice cream. For Erewhon Market, the upscale specialty supermarket chain in Los Angeles, it tastes like sunscreen, apparently, reports Fast Company.

In a marketing partnership that doubles as a millennial Angeleno’s dream come true, Erewhon has partnered with Vacation, a sunscreen brand, for a special Vacation “Sunscreen” Smoothie.

Thankfully, its ingredient list doesn’t include any chemical UV blockers. Instead, i. The smoothie’s ingredient list includes organic coconut milk, organic coconut water, coconut soft serve, organic coconut meat, organic coconut whipped cream, organic banana, blue spirulina (an edible algae), Erewhon scratch vanilla, aloe, and sea salt.

It’s not that far off from the coconut oil, aloe vera, and banana extract used to build out the scent of Vacation’s classic lotion.

Priced at $9, the 12-ounce smoothie is more expensive than a typical 12-ounce tall beverage at Starbucks, but it’s relatively cheap for Erewhon, which is known for pricey items like a $20 gallon of raw whole milk.

Vacation was launched in 2021 by Poolsuite, an Internet radio station—and the brand says its signature sunscreen scent was developed with Arquiste Parfumeur, which also has developed scents for the likes of J.Crew and St. Regis Hotels & Resorts.

Vacation has parlayed its signature scent into an expanded business that goes well beyond sunscreen, body oil, and, now, smoothies. The brand also has partnered with Prince on a candle and air freshener that smells like tennis balls, and with Arizona Iced Tea on lip balm.

Research contact: @FastCompany

Above, the Vital Pursuit line is for those using GLP-1s for weight-loss management. (Photo source: Nestlé)

Nestlé caters to the Ozempic crowd with a line of frozen meals crafted just for GLP-1 users

May 22, 2024
GLP-1 weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy—once prescribed only to people managing conditions like diabetes—have hit the mainstream. Not only are celebrities slimming down with the injections, but so are millions of other people, reports Fast Company.

In order to capitalize on the Ozempic trend, some brands are releasing food lines aimed at those taking the drugs. On Tuesday, May 21, Nestlé announced its Vital Pursuit line for those using GLP-1s for weight-loss management. In the announcement, the company explained that the 12 frozen meals are portion-controlled and high in fiber and other essential nutrients.

“As the use of medications to support weight loss continues to rise, we see an opportunity to serve those consumers,” Steve Presley, Nestlé North America’s CEO, said in a statement. “Vital Pursuit provides accessible, great-tasting food options that support the needs of consumers in this emerging category. We’re leveraging our deep understanding of consumers and nutritional science to stay ahead of the trends that are shaping consumer behaviors, and innovating across our portfolio to deliver products people will love.”

Vital Pursuit is Nestlé’s first GLP-1-focused line. However, other brands have already made efforts to capitalize on the era of weight-loss drugs. Last month, GNC announced it would add a section to its stores with vitamins, supplements, and shakes for people taking GLP-1 medications. The company also announced that in order to better serve its customers, employees would be trained on common side effects of those medications.

While it seems like it could be a gamble to create an entire line of food or supplements for people taking weight-loss drugs, it’s probably not. The market is massive and growing quickly. According to Nestlé’s announcement, per the National Center for Health Statistics nearly half of U.S. adults reported trying to lose weight at some point over a yearlong period, and 1 in 60 were prescribed a GLP-1 medication in 2023.

Vital Pursuit will be available in the United States by the fourth quarter of 2024.

Research contact: @FastCompany

Above, since President Joe Biden announced the New Deal-inspired program last September, more than 50,000 people have expressed interest in joining. (Illustration source: Fast Company)

Want to get a job as one of Biden’s 20,000 climate workers? Here’s what you need to know!

April 3, 2024

The jobs board for the American Climate Corps is set to officially launch this month—and it’s likely to be flooded with eager applicants, reports Fast Company.

.Since President Joe Biden announced the New Deal-inspired program last September, more than 50,000 people have expressed interest in joining. But space is limited: The program will launch with just a few hundred positions.

Given that most jobs won’t require relevant experience, how will the program select its first cohort?

“I think the idea is to make it as broad as possible, so all young people can find something, whether they’re at a 7th-grade reading level and they’re coming out of the foster care or juvenile justice system, or whether they’re a PhD candidate at a university,” says Mary Ellen Sprenkel, president and CEO of The Corps Network. Her association represents 150 corps, including AmeriCorps, that will host many of the ACC projects.

The first list of job openings will likely include things like installing solar panels, restoring vulnerable habitats, and fire hazard prevention. While some positions will require math and science skills, or higher degrees in things like environmental science or natural resource management, others will be looking for “basic 21st century work readiness skills like communications, conflict resolution, teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, reliability,” Sprenkel says.

There’s an interview process, although Sprenkel says that the interviews aren’t usually extensive. “They just want to make sure the young person is a good fit,” she said. The “young person” definition is flexible, too. There’s no official age cap that she knows of, but the typical age range for corps members is between 16 and 35.

Funding for the Climate Corps projects is subject to Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, an executive order requiring at least 40% of the benefits from certain federal programs to go toward disadvantaged communities. “So there will be an emphasis to support project work in environmental justice communities and underserved communities, and enroll young people from those populations,” Sprenkel said.

Each post will vary in length depending on the project at hand. Some corps run summer programs that last three or four months. Others run year-long programs. But all corps members will be compensated no matter how long the position lasts.

This could come in the form of a stipend, living allowance, or a wage, though the Corps Network is strongly encouraging programs to pay at least $15 per hour. Payment will vary depending on state minimum wage requirements. Some projects might have a benefits package that includes money for transportation or housing.

Climate Corps members will receive training that allows them to enter the workforce with essential green skills needed to address the climate crisis and aid in the energy transition. And the corps will help members make that leap into the workforce by connecting them to potential employers and arming them with industry-recognized credentials.

“They are definitely focused on giving the young person experience that will help them find a career,” Sprenkel says.

Research contact: @FastCompany

Above, using images of 16 different locations, researchers were able to visualize how gender plays a role in our personal perception of safety. (Photo source: Martino Pietropoli/Unsplash)

This heat map shows what women experience when they walk home alone at night

February 15, 2024

In the United States, gender gaps remain firmly ingrained in the culture —whether it’s salary, time spent on household chores, or just feeling safe. Indeed, fully 85% of men report feeling safe when walking alone at night, compared to 64% of women, reveals Fast Company.

Now, a new study published in the journal, Violence and Gender suggests that this fear translates to significant behavioral differences between men and women.

Researchers at Brigham Young University, George Washington University, and University of Utah School of Medicine analyzed data from 571 college students at Brigham Young—56% female and 44% male. The students were asked to fill out a survey on walking home and safety.

The researchers gave the students 16 pictures of different locations at different points in the day and asked them to picture walking alone through the picture. The students were then asked to click the ar

Above, men tended to focus on walkways while women tended to focus on what surrounded the path, such as bushes or dark areas. This was particularly true at night. (Visual source: Martino Pietropoli/Unsplash]

eas of the picture that stood out most to them, creating a heat map.

The researchers found stark differences based on gender. Men tended to focus on walkways while women tended to focus on what surrounded the path, such as bushes or dark areas. This was particularly true at night. But even when there were lighted paths, women still focused on areas around the path.

“Despite attempts to improve environment, such as lighting; it is likely these findings represent a more systematic problem, rippling into other areas of women’s lives,” the researchers wrote.

“The results presented here can be a useful conversation starter for recognizing different lived experiences and to begin reclaiming everyday spaces for free mobility.”

Research contact: @FastCompany

 

Above, electric vehicle battery performance is affected by extreme temperatures, at least in the USA. (Illustration source: Javier Zarracina for USA Today)

EVs work fine in the cold in Norway. Here’s how they do it.

January 19, 2024

With a cold snap causing below-zero temperatures across Chicago this week, electric vehicle drivers in the Windy City have been struggling with charging issues, reduced battery life, and plummeting range.

It’s part of the learning curve of adapting to EVs, but drivers could look to Norway, the Scandinavian country that’s a leader in electric vehicle adoption, for reassurance that their battery-powered cars can handle freezing weather, reports Fast Company.

That cold temperatures affect an electric vehicle’s range isn’t new information; experts have been studying this effect for years. Cold temperatures actually make gas combustion cars less efficient, too—reducing the amount of mileage they get out of a gallon. But EVs are especially affected thanks to their reliance on the battery for both mileage and features including heating and defrosting.

In lower temperatures, the chemical and physical reactions in the vehicle’s battery slow down. This reduces both the amount of charge the batteries can hold and their range. (Batteries are also affected when parked in the cold; just like they’re affected by extreme heat, even while still.)

The use of cabin heating to keep a car’s passengers warm can affect an EV’s performance in the cold, too. While gas-powered cars can use the waste heat from their engines to warm the car’s cabin, electric engines don’t generate the same amount of heat. That means turning the heat on inside an electric vehicle takes away energy from the same battery powering the car’s range.

According to the Norwegian Automobile Federation, cold temps can reduce an EV’s range by about 20%, although this can vary a lot by model. Some EV makers are adding heat pumps, which help heat the EV while reducing how much its range drops; as well as pre-heating abilities, which let drivers warm up their car while it’s still plugged into a home charger. Still, winter weather affects an EV’s battery in other ways: Recharging, for example, takes longer in cold temperatures.

Norway, which tested how the cold impacts EV range, is a leader in terms of global EV adoption; in 2022, all-electric vehicles made up 80% of passenger vehicle sales there, and in October 2023, EVs hit a 91.3% share of auto registrations (84% of which were full electric vehicles).

The country’s winter temperatures—which average around -6.8 degrees Celsius, or around 19 degrees Fahrenheit, but can reach as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit—have also been a test for the technology. So far, EVs have largely passed—as long as drivers are prepared. Ståle Frydenlund, test manager for the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, told the Globe and Mail in 2023 that EVs are “quite able to cope with winter if you know what you’re doing.”

How can EV drivers protect their cars’ batteries from the cold?

Drivers of gas cars have likely heard that they shouldn’t let their gas tank get dangerously low in freezing temperatures—more air in your tank, experts say, means more moisture that could condense and freeze, blocking fuel from flowing. Similarly, EV drivers are having to learn how to protect their vehicles against winter weather.U

In a blog post on an Audi dealership site, one Norwegian family shared tips for using their Audi EV in the winter, like pre-heating the car while it’s still plugged into their home charging (this is also called preconditioning), or using just the steering wheel or seat heating as a way to stay warm, and save range, on short trips. (These types of heating use less energy than warming up the entire car’s cabin.)

Experts say that drivers should park EVs inside a garage to protect it from the cold, and keep an eye on the battery temperature (lithium ion batteries perform best between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit). If your battery is too cold and can’t be stored indoors, you could use a battery blanket to warm it up. Just like with internal combustion cars, you should also check the tire pressure, which may drop in the cold.

EV drivers should also keep an eye on their battery level and ensure it doesn’t get too low, as bringing it back to a full charge will take longer in the cold (many EVs actually limit charging speeds when the battery is cold, in order to protect it from extreme temperature fluctuations). Home chargers are helpful for this, as drivers can keep their EV plugged in overnight (with a maximum charge setting around 70%), which will keep the battery at a warm temperature.

Research contact: @FastCompany

Above, Flovent, a widely used asthma inhaler made by GSK, will no longer be available in U.S. pharmacies as of January. (Photo source: Animated Healthcare)

In January, Flovent will disappear from U.S. pharmacies

December 29, 2023

There’s a big change coming for asthma sufferers, starting on January 1. On Monday, Flovent, a widely used asthma inhaler made by GSK, will no longer be available in U.S. pharmacies. In its place will be an authorized generic version of the inhaler, reports Fast Company.

The company says the replacement will work just as well as Flovent. However, there’s growing concern in the medical community about how widely it will be covered by insurance providers.

As the change looms, doctors are starting to advise patients to hurry up and get their prescriptions filled now, and look into their coverage options for the new inhaler. While depending on an inhaler that will no longer be available is nerve-wracking, the fact that the changeover is taking place during cold and flu season—when respiratory struggles surge—is another chest-tightening worry.

In a November 2023 statement to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), GSK said, “It’s important to understand that the transition from branded to authorized generics will not have an impact on our ability to supply the market and we expect minimal disruption for patients.”

The statement continued, asserting that the inhaler “contains the same medicine, in the same familiar device, and with the same instructions for us as Flovent HFA.” The company also contended that the generic version may even “be a lower cost alternative to patients, depending on their insurance coverage and benefit design.”

Still, doctors are worried and are voicing their concerns, particularly when it comes to children. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the discontinuation could “lead to higher co-pays and the need for prior authorizations that delay access.” But the group says there are already big challenges for kids who suffer from asthma and allergies when it comes to treatment options and coverage.

They believe the discontinuation highlights the fact that some insurers only cover breath-actuated inhalers, which aren’t recommended for children suffering from eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). They also believe they can be difficult for younger children with asthma to use.

The North American Society For Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition (NASPGHAN) has released guidance for clinicians—recommending using generic fluticasone HFA. In the case that insurers won’t cover the generic inhaler, the group says oral viscous budesonide and swallowed topical Asmanex HFA or Alvesco HFA are the alternatives.

Flovent is being discontinued due to Medicaid rebate changes that would result in GSK having to pay penalties for increasing prices. Since 2014, the price of Flovent has gone up by around 47%.

Research contact: @FastCompany

Above, one of the limited edition Kith & Kin strollers. (Photo source: Kith X Bugaboo)

Streetwear for strollers? Kith x Bugaboo is among this season’s hottest drops for babies

October 30, 2023

Becoming a parent can feel like a loss of identity. Your carefully curated adult life is suddenly flooded with strange brands and objects—Why is everyone obsessed with a giraffe?—that are key to your child’s survival, lifelong happiness, and, most importantly, ability to get into a magnet school.

And this sensation isn’t simply true to you or me: It even applies to Ronnie Fieg, founder of the footwear, fashion, and streetwear brand Kith, who upon learning of his family’s pregnancy, called up the stroller brand Bugaboo to collaborate, reports Fast Company.

Two years later, Kith is releasing its first two strollers in a limited-edition drop with Bugaboo. Each is a customization of an existing Bugaboo model: the lightweight foldable Butterfly (which is Bugaboo’s best-selling stroller globally) and the all-terrain Fox 5 (which is particularly beloved by the U.S. market).

The strollers are available today for $650 and $1,450, respectively, meaning the capsule collection runs a few hundred dollars more than your typical Bugaboo. A $130 changing tote is also available for purchase.

The project began with an invite from Kith, a company that’s certainly no stranger to collaborations, be it with the NFL or Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Still, Fieg insists that Kith is particularly careful about how it delves into products for youth (and yes, Kith will sell you $100 utility pants for your newborn).

“I’ve been very selective about our kids partnerships since launching the line in 2016,” writes Fieg over email. “Establishing our own design ethos and getting our product to the level it is now has been the focus.”

Similarly, Bugaboo has teamed with what it calls “unexpected” partners in the past, like the Van Gogh Museum, but it hasn’t collaborated with another brand for the past five years. “When Ronnie approached us, it was a matter of right place, right time,” says Jeanelle Teves, Bugaboo general manager North America. Upon their first meeting, Fieg presented a clear vision of how he imagined a Kith stroller product.

What the teams have developed are classic Bugaboo strollers, albeit remade in the muted neutral colorways of Kith. For the fabric pieces, that’s a simple enough challenge, but the colors extend from the wheels and wheel caps to the aluminum frame. Getting tones like these just right, across multiple materials, is always a challenge—and it required a significant amount of back-and-forth with their factory.

“Kith & Kin” is embroidered on the canopy, while the bumper bar is embossed with the brand in script, adding a finishing touch of brand cachet that whispers to your friends, “No, you can’t get one too; this stroller is already sold out.”

While most of us would consider Bugaboo’s strollers at least a little luxurious already, Teves believes that the collaboration is the first that really propels Bugaboo into the luxury lifestyle category—and she hopes to see her brand build off this momentum.

“Kith does an incredible job connecting with the next generation of parents, so I hope this introduces Bugaboo to a new wave of parents-to-be,” she says. “And I think we’re going to learn a lot.”

Research contact: @FastCompany