The Broadmind Business & Innovation Tracker
How brands are transforming tech, retail, and culture—AI-powered smart glasses, cloud gaming, experiential retail, and the rise of functional beverages.
We explore how innovation is reshaping industries—from Meta's AI-powered smart glasses to Netflix's bold expansion into cloud gaming, American Eagle's fresh approach to Gen Z retail, and more.
American Eagle is taking its "Denim Deli" pop-up to Nashville after successful runs in Austin and New York, combining local culture with interactive experiences. CMO Craig Brommers told Modern Retail the company is betting on community-focused physical activations alongside expanded digital advertising on TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest and Bluesky.
Levi's Eureka Innovation Lab helped Deb Ambar repurpose her late father's jeans into a wedding jacket and bachelorette gifts. The collaboration created meaningful mementos that preserved family heritage throughout her wedding celebrations.
Lululemon's "Glow Up Studio" pop-up features workout classes, DJ sets, and panel discussions honoring International Women's Day. The event highlighted the brand's commitment to wellness, diversity, and supporting female entrepreneurs through community-building experiences.
Burberry's recent pop-up at London’s Selfridges showcased sustainability through craftsmanship, featuring artisans from its Yorkshire factory offering repairs and customizations of classic trench coats and cashmere scarves.
Ulta Beauty is redefining its market position with a greater focus on wellness and underrepresented beauty entrepreneurs. At SXSW 2025, CMO Kelly Mahoney detailed how customer loyalty data is driving personalized shopping experiences, while the company launches dedicated wellness sections in stores and partners with Instacart for one-hour delivery.
Heineken's "Pub Succession" program aims to find a new owner for McLoughlin's Bar on Achill Island, a 155-year-old establishment whose proprietor is retiring. The brand is searching globally for someone to maintain the pub's cultural traditions.
Netflix is retooling its Open Connect delivery network to support cloud gaming, updating over 18,000 content servers across 175+ countries. This infrastructure shift will allow subscribers to stream sophisticated games directly on smart TVs without consoles, further diversifying Netflix's entertainment offering beyond films and shows.
Observers say that Meta is pivoting toward a future where smart glasses become the primary computing device, blending Ray-Ban style with augmented reality capabilities. The company's decade-long Orion project aims to overlay digital content onto real-world vision, with AI enabling intuitive interactions simply by looking at objects.
Target's advertising division generated $649 million last year, up 25% from the previous year, fueled by enhanced self-service capabilities and auction-based pricing models. Simultaneously, Target Circle added nearly three million members in a single quarter, with the retailer leveraging its first-party data to improve ad targeting against competitors Amazon and Walmart.
At SXSW 2025, Chewy CEO Sumit Singh detailed how the company has improved shipping efficiency by 30% while maintaining high customer retention. AI streamlines logistics, but human interactions remain key for customer service. Analysts see this as a model for AI-human hybrid operations in e-commerce.
Adobe reports a 1,300% year-over-year increase in retail website traffic originating from generative AI during the holiday season, with Cyber Monday seeing almost 2,000% growth.
Puma has partnered with SAYSKY on running gear inspired by "The Great Wave off Kanagawa".
Formula 1 is expanding U.S. presence through an upcoming Brad Pitt film.
Alphabet introduced Differential Privacy, Federated Learning, and Homomorphic Encryption at SXSW 2025, hoping to position itself as a privacy-first tech leader.