ThinkFun has a legacy supply chain and warehousing system based out of Hanover, PA. Because much of their competition is turning to a more automated supply chain, ThinkFun’s management is interested in looking at cheaper, more effective, and more efficient alternatives.

What opportunities exist around the use of external warehouses and vendors for manufacturers such as ThinkFun?

As a restaurant company, CAVA’s ability to grow effectively and efficiently is dependent on their team members’ ability to make the best decisions every day on the job. Team members are key to CAVA’s continued success, and as such, they require continuous training—from initial employee onboarding to rollouts of new initiatives and improvements to existing operations.

Maintaining and improving training operations is one of Lori Goldstrohm’s jobs as VP of Operations Services. How should Goldstrohm approach improving training operations to ensure that CAVA has well-equipped, quality employees at every level?  

Consumer retention is vital to Spoon University’s growth and success. Access to Spoon’s user base provides value for sponsors of content. The attention Spoon draws with one-off, viral videos indicates a wider appeal and potential to grow that base, but often results in difficulty converting potential new users to loyal subscribers.

How can Spoon facilitate continued engagement with content to grow audience trust in the brand and deliver value for sponsors of paid content?

In line with the ethos of the current paradigm of DevOps, ParkMyCloud continuously improves upon the ability to recommend and automate cost-saving practices. However, as automation takes hold across the industry, some DevOps roles may become obsolete. For Chris Parlette, director of cloud solutions, this means he must find a balance between accommodating customer needs under the current paradigm while preparing for the potential that the environment in which PMC is currently built to operate in may fundamentally change—and with it, customer expectations as well.

How can PMC become a more integral part of DevOps processes while at the same time securing their future in cloud services?

Framebridge entered the $4–5B custom framing market hoping to disrupt with its eCommerce website and in-house, centralized manufacturing. After launching, Susan Tynan, founder and CEO, realized that Framebridge made custom framing accessible to new audiences—people who would not have custom framed otherwise—growing the opportunity beyond what she first imagined.

How can Tynan estimate the size of the market while still shaping it?

Based on the presence Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) has in basketball, hockey, and now football and eSports, are there any creative ideas for new offshoots they could develop in a "blue ocean" Strategy? What other customer segments are ignored by this industry, which could be underserved? These are a few of the questions Zach Leonsis considers when attempting to frame a blue ocean strategy. Leonsis wants to evaluate proposals for a blue ocean strategy to find empty market space for a new type of offering related to MSE’s
resources, values, and experience in sports and entertainment.

Brian Gleason knows that once people get into the stadium, they’re going to have a great time; his job is to grab fans’ attention and motivate them to step through the doors in the first place. The challenge is that there’s so much noise inundating consumers as they struggle to improve their lives - brand activation needs to challenge people to realize why an MSE event is just the ticket.

Sports team sponsorship no longer means simply attaching a corporate name to a stadium. Rather, it has become a triangle of association between the team, the sponsor, and the passionate fan. To test the value of sponsorship integration, Brian would like to be able to prove that fans tend to like/follow a brand on social media because of its association with an MSE team. What could drive that effectiveness for sponsors? Do fans who use social media to connect with a sponsor later make a purchase because of the brand’s association with the team? How do you measure this as proof of sponsor ROI? How would you drive more productive fan engagement for MSE brands via social media?

As CAVA launches new CAVA Grill locations across the United States, the team will need to ensure brand consistency while appealing to broader and more diverse markets. Meg Schiffman, Director of Marketing, has established and disseminated brand standards internally, learning from experience via testing different marketing approaches. To get ahead of stresses brought about by CAVA’s aggressive growth, they will need a broader understanding of the brand’s core appeal so they can articulate it to customer prospects in new regions. How can CAVA make good on its brand promise with every consumer interaction?

Although Wolf Trap is one of the most popular venues in the nation by ticket sales, statistics show that most of their concert-goers do not know about Wolf Trap's larger philanthropic and educational missions. Consequently, they are struggling to convert regular ticket-buyers to be donors and members of the Wolf Trap Foundation, even after promoting this message on flyers and signage around the grounds. Wolf Trap knows that once individuals become a member, they enjoy the benefits that come with membership. They just need to identify how to encourage transactional customers to play a larger role in Wolf Trap's educational mission as donors and members. Furthermore, they need your help understanding the catalyst that makes ticket-buyers decide to donate for the first time.

KIND Healthy Snacks sold 5 million of their products in over 150,000 stores around the world just last year. Since the inception of the company, KIND's management team has continued to innovate by integrating new product lines that fit well within the KIND portfolio. To date, KIND has six product lines including: Fruit & Nut, Nuts & Spices, KIND Plus, Strong & KIND, KIND Breakfast Bars, and Granola (Bars & Clusters). This case deals with the long-term vision of KIND as a health food company. How far out of the snack aisle can the KIND brand go?

Noodle Markets connects K-12 education buyers with product/service providers. As a marketplace, Noodle’s audience is driven by a need to find innovations in education, solutions to educational problems, and resources to fill gaps in education, and more. CEO Nicole Neal’s biggest challenge is identifying ways to connect with that audience. She has looked at multiple social media sites, but still isn’t sure if any are the right fit.

In what ways should Nicole plan to engage Noodle’s potential market?

Tri-County Scholarship Fund needs a grassroots sales strategy to be able to leverage the roughly one million people that live in Morris, Sussex, and Passaic Counties. They want to reach as many new donors as they can to increase the Fund's growth as much as possible. They specifically need to build a strategy centered around three areas: lead generation, field sales territory design, and salesforce compensation.

Case Focus

Analyzing the Beefsteak brand presence on social media to optimize the campaign and evaluate the ROI of content marketing

Case Introduction

Beefsteak is José Andrés’s first foray into the fast-casual food industry intent to distinguish itself with its focus on vegetables. With such a new concept for ThinkFoodGroup, there are few ways of measuring if the current social media strategy is not only working, but optimal. Based on analysis of Beefsteak’s social media presence, what characterizes the most effective content marketing for the Beefsteak brand and how can Stephanie measure success?

After finding significant success in Israel, Spitball has launched in the U.S., with a pilot of 10 universities. The feedback from this small-scale launch has helped to shape the next evolution of Spitball’s product to meet the vastly different needs of students in the U.S. market. Now, Spitball needs a package structure to match, but Eidan Apelbaum, CEO, and Jordan Weiss, COO, also want to be sure that the cost of acquiring new customers is well worth the predicted potential gains from the bundle. How can Spitball best adapt to the needs of this new market and realize the same level of success they did in Israel? 

Servy is a platform for expert, secret shopping in the restaurant space, but mystery shopping is applicable to any customer-facing industry. Robert, CEO of Servy, believes that their technology and methodology can be specially tailored to vastly different markets.

Which industry presents the best opportunity for Servy to enter next?

RedPeg Marketing is an experiential marketing firm based in the DC Metro Area.  They have worked with many blue chip clients, which is a testament to the quality of their work and their ability to deliver results.  Lately, RedPeg has run into an ethical issue with one of their high-value clients.  After RedPeg developed a fully comprehensive proposal based on their experience, resources, creative energy, and knowledge of the market, their client wanted to start a bidding war with competing firms to lower the cost of the campaign.  CEO Brad Nierenberg is having a difficult time conveying to the client that their service encompasses everything from creative ideation to implementation of their campaigns.

The Chief Product Officer discusses the process and challenges of expanding into global markets while protecting patents.

 “Who is going to counterfeit us, and what low-cost protections can we employ to protect ourselves in key markets?”

To provide valuable insights to restauranteurs, Servy needs a quality user base of secret shoppers. An important aspect of obtaining and retaining these “shoppers” comes from the rewards Servy offers such as partial meal reimbursement, points to put toward gift cards of their choice, and for every evaluation submitted, a meal donation to a local food bank. As a CSR initiative, this donation program has gone unnoticed despite already donating over 1400 meals.

How can Rob Edell raise awareness around Servy’s commitment to a cause and integrate it into the brand?

Doug Fabbioli, owner of Fabbioli Cellars, discusses collaboration between businesses in the community.

How can we teach the mindset of collaboration in order to build a strong community in which all of our businesses succeed, both individually and as a group?