BRAND: Demographic insights support that thinking. According to a report by the Innovation Group at J. Walter Thompson, 56 percent of consumers 13- to 20-years-old say someone they know uses gender-neutral pronouns—"they," "them" or "ze" versus "he" or "she"—significantly more than the 43 percent of millennials who do. Plus, more than one-third of Gen Z respondents in the study strongly agree that gender does not define a person as much as it used to. 

BRAND: Driven by its constant focus on innovation, Adidas has made creative thinking the foundation of its commercial strategy and its company culture. Despite its size, the global company believes that everybody in its workforce should approach their role as “a creator.” From marketing to design, merchandising to logistics, Here, Arthur Hoeld, general manager Originals, reveals how the company enables its employees to meet business goals without pre-conceived ideas on how they should be achieved.

BRAND: Like many other so-called affordable luxury brands, Lacoste fell into the trap of over-expanding its own stores and its presence in department stores. “We probably made some mistakes in the United States, because we were focused on expanding sales volumes,” says Guibert. Here is a closer look at what Lacoste did to fix its brand. “It’s the only way to make the brand more desirable in the long run and recapture the kind of customers who love Lacoste,” Guibert says.

VOICE FIRST: Mobile phones and then smartphones have been swallowing other products for a long time - everything from clocks to cameras to music players has been turned from hardware into an app. But that process also runs in reverse sometimes - you take part of a smartphone, wrap it in plastic and sell it as a new thing. This happened first in a very simple way, with companies riding on the smartphone supply chain to create new kinds of product with the components it produced, most obviously the GoPro. 

MEDIA: Among the companies working with the API is VaynerMedia, which is on both the creative and media-buying side. Since the API launched this summer, the digital agency has run two Snap Ads—one for USA Networks and one for Nordstrom. Gatorade, Nissan and McDonald's have also run API campaigns through other partners. While programmatic-like buying on Snapchat is still new for brands and agencies, VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk said that his shop is "probably getting 25 to 50 inquiries a day" about the API.

DATA: The age of Big Data has generated new tools and ideas on an enormous scale, with applications spreading from marketing to Wall Street, human resources, college admissions, and insurance. At the same time, Big Data has opened opportunities for a whole new class of professional gamers and manipulators, who take advantage of people using the power of statistics. I should know. I was one of them.

DATA: Already a big name in streaming video, Amazon.com may enter the broadband market by offering internet service in Europe. It’s a good way for the company to develop a broadband-video package since parts of Europe require broadband providers open their networks to rivals.  Details of Amazon’s plans couldn’t be learned. But Amazon has looked at selling broadband service using networks run by other providers, this person said. 

ECOMMERCE: Shoppers need more education when compared to buyers. Don’t try to persuade them with cheap offers, instead, work at building strong connections by delivering valuable content. Educate and engage them with e-books, whitepapers and blog articles.  Different people react differently to different content. Buyers, for example, prefer the purchase button to an educative series. They tend to skip over the education phase, and quickly look for free trials and case-studies to help them understand the product in detail.

RETAIL: Likewise, the highly promotional environment in retail today has given shoppers a sense that there's always going to be another, possibly better deal down the road. This has led to a sharp decline in brand loyalty, which is a nightmare for retailers. It has also diminished the significance of traditional shopping holidays like Black Friday. Why save purchases for Black Friday when retailers are offering "Black Friday in July" and other steep discounts year-round?

BRAND: For J. Crew to pull off athleisure, it will likely have to compete even more directly on Lululemon’s turf, with high-end, high-tech fabrics that justify its higher price tags. It’s not clear whether J. Crew’s emphasis is on quality anymore, though: Its most loyal fans have complained that the retailer’s reputation well-made, long-lasting clothing is no longer accurate, citing recent moves toward lesser quality, more ill-fitting clothes.