With the holiday movie-going season upon us, we assembled a list of anti-innovation quotes from notable Hollywood executives, inventors, and directors — just to show that no industry is without its nay-sayers who can rationally explain why change will never come.
“AI may be the most powerful technology that our company has ever seen,” and other quotes from CEOs about the impact of AI.
Former DreamWorks and Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg discussed the similarities between the arrival of AI technologies in the business world today and the arrival of computer-generated animation technologies in Hollywood in the 1990s.
One of the things Weis discusses in this video from Impact 2024 is the relationship between the creative and design teams at Imagineering, and the operators who run Disney’s theme parks, hotels, and cruise ships.
In the GenAI era, tech companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Runway are coming under fire for doing almost the exact same thing Google does when it “crawls” websites to allow users to find content on them.
Consumer Reports recently launched AskCR, an AI-powered chatbot that can answer subscribers’ questions based on the nonprofit organization’s research into a wide array of consumer products. Here’s how it was developed — and the challenges the team had to overcome.
In this podcast episode, we talk with Bob Weis, the former president of the legendary Imagineering division at Disney, and author of the new book “Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering.”
To live up to their lofty valuations, every generative AI startup needs big bucks enterprise deals — rather than just selling $12-a-month subscriptions to consumers. This deal is about Lionsgate using generative AI for its own internal purposes, rather than letting you generate your own sequel to the “Hunger Games” or “John Wick” franchises.
Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences, which includes the company’s theme parks and cruise line, shares the principles that guide the company as it seeks to create unique in-person experiences and tell memorable stories.
At the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Luminate CEO Rob Jonas offered an overview of how music and video consumption changed in 2023. Here are 10 of the data points he shared…
How does a Formula One racing team think about innovation? We talk with Shergul Arshad, Head of North America for the Aston Martin F1 team.
When he first proposed building Sharpen, McGraw Hill’s app that has been called “the TikTok for studying,” Justin Singh didn’t know whether it would play well with the company’s target audience for the product — students looking for a new way to study that was more aligned with their lifestyle.
The Golden State Warriors’ VP of Technology, Daniel Brusilovsky, shares insights on his team’s strategy for creating stronger fan experiences and infrastructure through technology upgrades and partnerships.
Tim Clark is the Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at NASCAR, the auto racing sanctioning and operating company, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. In this exclusive interview, he talks about leveraging new technologies to increase fans’ engagement with the sport.
As part of our most recent research report, Shaping Your Strategy for Web3 and the Metaverse, we spoke with Panos Panay, President of the Recording Academy and the Grammys, to hear about the Academy’s partnerships in emerging technology, what stage Panay believes emerging technologies are at, and his expectations going forward.
Personalization of products and services has become a major desire for many consumers across a variety of industries. We spoke with Ziad Sultan, VP of Personalization at Spotify, the music streaming platform famous for its customized user interface, to learn more about its personalization practices, get advice on how to integrate personalization into other organizations, and discuss his position on using new ideas in an organization.
“Innovation is a word that can mean everything – and nothing,” says Benjamin Stoll, Director of Strategic Alliances & Innovation at FIFA, football’s governing body. Unless, he adds, innovation activity can be tied to tangible value creation for FIFA and its constituents. We talked to Stoll in advance of this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Comcast SVP Ruth Dawson lays out the trends she’s paying attention to, and the three avenues that a Comcast Labs project can travel: a hand-off to the business, a temporary hold, or a full stop.
To shed light on how NASCAR stays connected with fans — and how it explores the potential of new technologies — we spoke with Craig Neeb, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer. He says that delivering concrete results requires strong relationships with leadership, openness to the startup world, and an acute awareness of where a project’s biggest risks lie.
For decades, sports teams have relied on stats to track their performance on the field. Today, a growing number of teams are using more sophisticated data and analytics software to optimize their business performance as well. That includes the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, where Charlie Shin serves as VP of Data Strategy and Analytics.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek is looking beyond theme parks and video streaming services toward building an immersive digital “metaverse” — a kind of virtual reality environment that might enable Disney fans to take part in games and theme park-like experiences without hopping on a plane to Orlando, Anaheim, or Tokyo.
Jasmine Robinson, a Partner at Causeway Media Partners, talks about some of the recent investments her sports-focused venture capital firm has made, and what she sees coming next…
The world of sports is experiencing a highlight reel of disruption — from streaming content to legalized betting to digital collectibles like the NBA’s Top Shot series. We talk with Jordan Fliegel, Managing Director of the Techstars Sports Accelerator, to understand what matters most.
October is big for baseball fans and all eyes are on the SF Giants, leading the playoffs after a five-year hiatus. For Faham Zakariaei, who directs the team’s special events, the busiest part of the season means Nike partnerships, fan groups, and influencer marketing.
”From the corporate side, a lot of times, a [startup engagement] program gets started, but the people who have to do the physical work of integrating the startup’s technology view the startup as just any other vendor, and they don’t understand that it’s a three-person company,” says Ken Durand, a former emerging tech exec at Ericsson and Dover Corp. who is now running a startup accelerator on behalf of Comcast NBCUniversal. More of Durand’s advice inside…
COVID-19 has accelerated the digitization of entire industries, changing everything from where we work to how we watch sports. NHL Florida Panthers’ Chief Strategy Officer is leading the organization’s transformation with data-centered marketing and creative strategies to build a larger fan base.
In its 42-year history, ESPN has consistently pushed the boundaries of innovation and technology in the sports realm — from cable television to TikTok. Here’s what they’re hoping to achieve with a new virtual innovation center.
Michael Shaw, Vice President and Head of Experience and Innovation for the Miami Marlins, discusses projects that create a unique fan experience, and explores the future of the game in a post-COVID world.
Edwin Wong works with data to identify trends in Vox’s audience. That information can be used to identify stories that most interest readers…
Jon Snoddy of Walt Disney Imagineering gave an inside look at the culture that makes his team tick and his vision for how the physical and digital worlds are converging.
The US Tennis Association’s CMO shares storytelling tips and explains how her team stayed connected digitally with fan’s during the most recent US Open.
How did the Portland Trail Blazers innovate to keep close to fans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? The team’s Chief Commerical Officer explains.
Executives at Samsung, Google, and Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic talk about business shifts they expect to endure in 2021.
In order to accurately cover an election pivotal to the country’s history, The Washington Post spent a year testing an election mapping tool and built a lead locator. Here’s how they did it.
Ken Wee, Chief Strategy Officer of Activision Blizzard, shares insights on esports, the company’s focus on its biggest franchises, investing in mobile games, free-to-play offerings, and more.
Barre3 CEO Sadie Lincoln explored how the company approaches innovation and how the company pivoted to meet the new demands of 2020.
The desire to escape in 2020, if only for minutes or hours, has become an obsession, creating the perfect tipping point for virtual reality. See how Lucasfilm’s ILMxLab has harnessed that energy…
Time spent streaming is up 60 percent since the start of the pandemic. But this not to say that digital will replace the physical. What’s the future of live entertainment?
When it comes to digital tools, some offer real solutions. Others provide “vitamins” that are nice to have but not essential. Learn how to find the tools that solve real challenges.
In the midst of COVID-19, many of sports venues are increasingly empty, and sport no longer holds as central a place in our lives. There is a real urgency to change how live sporting events operate.
Pixar’s VP of R&D, Guido Quaroni, explains how and why the company encourages collaborative work. ”A culture of too much individualism…is always a dangerous place to be,” says Quaroni. Here’s how Pixar’s culture operates.
We’ve gathered the best pieces of recent advice from our live show, report, and other online coverage to help you imagine the future and plan your next steps.
What can you learn from the creative cultures of Walt Disney Imagineering and Pixar? Leslie Iwerks, a documentary filmmaker, has made films about both organizations. She shares what she observed in this replay of “One Quick Thing.” Iwerks is joined on the show by two unnanounced guests: her father, Don Iwerks, who worked directly with Walt Disney, and a former Disney Imagineer, Josh Wachman.
Lauren Xandra, Vice President of National Research Group, explains COVID-19’s impact on the relationship between consumers, entertainment, and communication.
Two leaders of the Panasonic Hollywood Lab predict how entertainment will become even more personalized in a post-COVID world. They also discuss environments that promote healing and relaxation.
When looking for updates on the impacts of coronavirus, many have turned to news publications for information. Edward Roussel of Dow Jones discusses the changes.
Few companies have experienced more of a surge of customer interest than Peloton Interactive, the maker of Internet-linked exercise bikes. We spoke to Rick Paster, Peloton’s VP of M&A Integration…
“Any step a company takes to foster innovation is praise-worthy,” says Marty Yudkovitz, formerly of The Walt Disney Company. “But…a lot of what is going on…is window dressing.”
”In my experience, the most powerful motivator to encourage innovation was peer recognition,” says Ed Leonard, Co-Founder of Bred Ventures and former CTO at DreamWorks Animation. Leonard shares more on what senior leaders do at companies like DreamWorks Animation and Disney to shape a culture of innovation…
“I have always tried to make everyone aware that failure is not a corporate death sentence,” says former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Here are some of the biggest failures Disney has experienced in the last 20 years — and how the entertainment giant has bounced back.
How can teams set innovation initiatives up for success? To get best practices, we sat down with guests from Marriott, Comcast NBCUniversal, and Innosight.
Mike Proulx, Chief Innovation Officer at Hill Holliday, shares why the ad agency he works for gives out an “Epic Fail Award” every year, and how it has impacted the way the organization thinks about success and failure.
How do you scout for new technology that’s the right fit for your business? Marc Lavallee, Head of R&D at The New York Times, shares best practices…
The PGA of America represents 29,000 golf professionals and runs top golf championships. The PGA’s Chief Innovation Officer discusses his plans for catalyzing innovation.
Over a four years, Comcast NBCUniversal’s Danielle Cohn built LIFT Labs, a startup engagement program. She shares advice on how to design a startup strategy.
We sat down with Kyle Wright, the Digital Projects Director at Shubert Ticketing, to learn more about the company’s innovation focuses and their new Broadway Tech Accelerator.
Most think of American Greetings as a purveyor of greeting cards. But VP of Innovation Carol Miller says the company is in the “meaningful connections” business.
Vicki Dobbs Beck, Executive in Charge at Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB, discusses Star Wars, immersive experiences, and bringing people together through story. Watch the video excerpts…
What’s disrupting the world of sports, and how are teams adapting? To find out, we talked with Angela Ruggiero of the Sports Innovation Lab, and Jack Elkins of the Orlando Magic.
How are sports and technology converging? Angela Ruggiero, CEO of the Sports Innovation Lab, talks about how technology can help teams avoid disruption…
Moon Javaid, Vice President of Strategy and Analytics at the 49ers, discusses his team’s goals, with a special focus on how they collect real-time data to improve the fan experience.
Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner shares how Hasbro navigates the changing retail landscape and why changing things as fast as the market demands can often run counter to human nature. Part three of three…
Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner shares how the company navigates the changing retail landscape; how they managing Wall Street’s expectations; and more. Part two of three…
In the decade since Hasbro Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner took charge, the company has begun to take a “digital-first” approach to everything it does. Read our three part interview…
Edward Roussel of Dow Jones discusses the company’s relationship with new gatekeepers like Facebook, and how the company explores new technologies.
As part of our IL Live series, we spoke with Shannon Clute, Director of Business Development and Strategy at TCM, about the channel’s “bottom-up” innovation strategy.
“Our job is not to prevent mistakes and errors,” says Pixar President and Founder Ed Catmull. “It is to respond when things go wrong…”
Matt Griffin of the Boston Celtics shares how the team leverages technology and data analytics to improve the fan experience. Watch the full video…
Mona Vernon, Chief Technology Officer of Thomson Reuters Labs, explains why the company began rotating employees between its innovation labs. Find out more in this video…
With seven global labs, Thomson Reuters knows the ins and outs of starting an innovation initiative. Mona Vernon, Chief Technology Officer of the company, discusses best practices…
Isaiah Kacyvenski, Co-Founder of the Sports Innovation Lab in Boston, discusses five major trends he sees impacting the future of sports, including “smart venue” and eSports.
Baseball franchises excel at scouting players until they’re ready for the big show. But the LA Dodgers are unique in trying to do the same thing for startups…
Working on a tight schedule to develop NFL apps, Jazz Singh uses an agile development to get everything ready in time for the big game. Here are some of his tips.
The new lab is open to hosting early-stage consumer product companies and some B2B concepts — not just sports or fitness-related startups. Find out more…
George Leimer, VP of Fantasy Sports and Premium Products at ESPN, discusses how the sports network is working to build a data and metrics-oriented culture.
Kimberly Hicks of Viacom says in an arena where people’s media consumption and the devices change so quickly, the lean startup approach is extremely helpful.
The $13 billion created an internal seed fund called the Catalyst Fund in January 2014, which provides up to $350,000 in funding to build and test prototypes. Here’s how it works…
The lab was founded a decade ago to look “beyond the next product cycle, identifying trends and technologies that will emerge in the next three to five years.”
“Creative abrasion is the ability to have difficult conversations,” says Greg Brandeau, former Pixar SVP of Technology. Brandeau shares his thoughts and an assessment.
In our Live Call with Justin Graham of Hearst Health, we talk about the innovation lab he oversees in San Francisco, including staffing, funding, and the focus of the lab.
Talking about ideas is great, but it’s just vapor. Al Callier of Universal explains how his team takes ideas from “vapor to paper to brick,” and what technology they explore.
Lego executive chairman and former CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp talks about Future Lab, a separate team the company set up to explore new avenues for growth.
It’s common for initiatives to muddle along, because no one is willing to be honest about what might be wrong with the idea. Find out when to be honest when innovating…
Michael Dewar of the New York Times R&D Group discussed the various ways that his group can build awareness of its projects throughout the organization…
SVP of Innovation Michael Abrams discusses the upside of launching an accelerator program for media and entertainment startups, including partnerships that it has sparked so far.
NBCUniversal’s chief technology officer and chief information officer share their advice on topics like how to link hackathons with business unit objectives.
An acquisition in 2014 gave Dun & Bradstreet a 49-person, cloud-focused software development team in Vancouver. Here’s how that group has evolved…
Can two companies innovate together? Shannon Lucas of Vodafone Global Enterprise and Saidah Nash Carter of Thomson Reuters share their advice.
Late December brought another unfortunate example of corporate budget cuts bringing the curtain down on an innovation team — this one at Turner Broadcasting…
The head of the Data Innovation Lab at Thomson Reuters argues that if you want to generate revenues from innovation, installing idea management software won’t get you there.
Chief Innovation Officer Cary Burch explains the objectives and impact of a weekly video series that puts innovative employees in the spotlight.
You launch an innovation initiative and cast a wide net for employee ideas. What happens next? This slide from Thomson Reuters’ Mona Vernon predicts it with accuracy.
With the Walt Disney Co. about to launch the second round of its Disney Accelerator program for startups, we caught up with Michael Abrams, Senior Vice President of Innovation.
“Education is changing — there’s no denying that,” says Diana Stepner of Pearson plc. Here’s what the British publishing company is doing to connect with tech startups…
After launching a high-profile iPad newspaper that didn’t succeed, the Manhattan-based publishing company is taking a quieter approach to incubating new products…
Christopher Chapman, Disney’s global creativity and innovation director, talks to InnoLead about how his team creates online and offline spaces to foster innovation.
We’re assembling collection of job descriptions for a wide array of innovation-related roles, including in the advertising and marketing industries…
Execs from Time Warner, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and TechStars talk about the upside in supporting accelerator programs for entrepreneurs…
The cable network’s digital game development studio spells out the goals, process, guidelines, and awards for its quarterly employee hackathon.
In June 2009, Edward Boches became the first Chief Innovation Officer at Mullen, an ad agency that works with household names like JetBlue, Adidas, and Zappos.
Hollywood studios aren’t always enthusiastic when it comes to embracing a new technology. But a smartphone app from a stealthy startup called myLINGO could help them get more non-native English speakers into theaters, with almost no additional effort. Company co-founder Olenka Polak, who grew up in a household that spoke mostly Polish, has already been pitching the idea to studio executives.
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