Stephan's Thursday Picks

• People are ordering smaller pizzas and fewer toppings. What does that tell us (NYT)
• San Francisco sues food makers over ultra-processed products (WSJ)
• Past forward: The modern rethinking of marketing's core (McKinsey)
• Get ready America, here come China's food and drink stores (NYT)
• Costco joins companies suing for refunds if Trump's tariffs fail (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The writing vs editing distinction (Medium)
• Strategic and annual planning in chaotic times (BCG)
• Inside Gap's last-ditch, tariff-addled, turnaround push (Bloomberg)
• The CMOs comeback: Aligning the C-suite to drive customer-centric growth (McKinsey)
• Amazon is on the cusp of using more robots than humans in its warehouses (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Tariffs on Canada paused for 30 days, Trudeau says after Trump phone call (Globe and Mail)
• A U.S-Canada trade shock is now in play: first economic takeaways (RBC)
• What puts the 'New York' in New York cheesecake (NYT)
• Unlocking the next frontier of personalized marketing (McKinsey)
• Amazon and Ottawa at odds over proposed meeting with its CEO Andy Jassy (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Dollarama sees profit jump 20% in first quarter (Globe and Mail)
• Creating a data advantage in marketing (BCG)
• State of the consumer 2024 (McKinsey)
• The end of one-stop shopping (Axios)
• From the archives (2023): As dollar stores proliferate, some communities say no (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Harnessing analytics and AI to shape the future of mobility retail (McKinsey)
• This is peak subscription (The Atlantic)
• Mindshare matters. Now markets can measure it (BCG)
• Why Lululemon's stock is going out of fashion (WSJ)
• From the archives (2015): Lululemon combines Ayn Rand and yoga (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Analyzing the CEO-CMO relationship and its effect on growth (McKinsey)
• Amazon is launching a smaller version of Whole Foods (Quartz)
• Aldi to add 800 new U.S. grocery stores by 2028 (CNBC)
• Europe is wargaming a food crisis (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (1997): The forgotten benefactor of humanity (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why Aldi is the fastest-growing grocer in the U.S. (WSJ)
• The power of partnership: How the CEO-CMO relationship can drive outsized growth (McKinsey)
• The apple-picking apocalypse of upstate New York (NYT)
• Sainsbury's declares it is winning back Aldi and Lidl customers (The Guardian)
• Instacart's delicious little secret (The Information)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• How a vast demographic shift will reshape the world (NYT)
• How Allbirds lost its way (WSJ)
• The state of live commerce (McKinsey)
• Banana Republic wants to outfit your home, too (NYT)
• Marketing when budgets are down (HBR)

 Stephan's Friday picks

• DoorDash, shifting business model, will offer drivers hourly pay (NYT)
• Morrisons' boss admits supermarket chains have hiked profits on petrol (The Guardian)
• Indigo reports nearly $50-million loss as it appoints new board leadership (Globe and Mail)
• How marketing can drive resilience during uncertain times (McKinsey)
• From the archives (2012): Talk to me, one machine said to the other (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Online-only startups adopt a bold strategy: Opening actual shops (WSJ)
• Culture wars become corporate wars too, and Bud Light doesn't understand it (Globe and Mail)
• How the skyrocketing cost of baby formula is hitting those that can least afford it (CBC)
• Canada's lobster industry fears its dispute with China could see it move from winner to loser (Globe and Mail)
• Higher food prices are here to stay, UNB economist says (CBC)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy & leadership #4 (Medium)
• Modern marketing: Six capabilities for multidisciplinary teams (McKinsey)
• The dog-eat-dog world of kosher pet food at Passover (WSJ)
• People started buying Crocs during the pandemic. They can't stop (NYT)
• Experience-led growth: A new way to create value (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• How Budweiser salvaged its World Cup (NYT)
• Canadian debt payments climb at record pace as interest payments rise (Globe and Mail)
• Supermarkets offer more store brands to lure cost-conscious customers (WSJ)
• The state of grocery in Southeast Asia (McKinsey)
• From the archives (2019): P&G puts its focus on reach (Marketing Week)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Canada is facing a terrible food crisis, says Michael McCain (Globe and Mail)
• Marketing in the metaverse: Opportunity for experimentation and innovation (McKinsey)
• Gorillas to cut staff in search for profit (Reuters)
• Starbucks to sell juice brand as coffee chain focuses on its stores (WSJ)
• Geographies of grocery shopping in major Canadian cities: Evidence from large-scale mobile app data (School of Cities)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The key to marketing to older people? Don't say old (NYT)
• Canadian inflation hits 30-year high as Omicron threat looms (Globe and Mail)
• Asian grocery stores slammed with Port of Vancouver backlogs (Financial Post)
• Holiday supply chain concerns drive some Canadians back into shopping malls (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2019): Do your data scientists know the 'why' behind their work (HBR)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Ten steps retailers can take to shock-proof their supply chains (McKinsey)
• The worst of both worlds: Zooming from work (NYT)
• Tim Hortons parent RBI buying Florida-based Firehouse Subs for $1-billion (Globe and Mail)
• Toronto food banks record highest number of visits ever during pandemic (CBC)
• Retailers rethink holiday ads amid digital marketing upheaval (CNBC)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Why do strategy anyway (Medium)
• The new marketing model for growth (How CPGs can crack the code) (McKinsey)
• Amazon's Astro home robot is like having Alexa on wheels (The Verge)
• For flagging Amazon Games unit, New World 'has to be a breakthrough' (NYT)
• Workers are putting on pants to head to the office only to be on Zoom all day (Washington Post)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The slow collapse of Amazon's drone delivery program (Wired)
• Why stores send you so many emails (The Atlantic)
• Target rolls out debt-free college degrees to woo retail workers (CNBC)
• Prioritizing sustainability in retail and consumer goods (McKinsey)
• Fortress sweetens offer for U.K. grocer Morrisons to $9.3 billion (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How big is Amazon really (NYT)
• Data-driven marketing in the next normal (McKinsey)
• Companies ask their customers to help them cut emissions (WSJ)
• Amazon loses effort to install camera to watch union vote ballot counting (CNBC)
• Why the Amazon unionization vote could take a week - or longer - to be resolved (Washington Post)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Expect more marketing texts and emails in 2021 than ever before (CNBC)
• Dunkin Donuts is in talks to sell itself and go private (NYT)
• Can The Gap become cool again (WSJ)
• The second food stockpiling wave is here (Bloomberg)
• How the Coronavirus changed consumer behaviours and company valuations (Morningstar)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Sustainability in packaging: Inside the mind of the US consumer (McKinsey)
• Online associate is the job of the future (Bloomberg)
• How to trace a path to resilient, sustainable supply chains (Bain)
• Commodities king ADM pivots to pet food, veggie burgers, and probiotics (Bloomberg)
• Strategy is what you do, not what you say (Medium)