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What happens when the wittiest fast food chain in the country and one of television’s sassiest characters come together? A not-so-happy meal. Restaurant chain Wendy’s announced a forthcoming collaboration with Netflix’s Wednesday ahead of the show’s new season release. In Wendy’s disruptive fashion, the brand did not shy away from irreverent packaging and gothic names, with plans to launch a “Meal of Misfortune” on August 11. The collaboration comes after a series of announced administrative changes at Wendy’s, a company currently valued at $2.1 billion. On July 18, the company’s CEO, Kirk Tanner, stepped down after a little over a year in the position. Ken Cook, Wendy’s chief financial officerwho had less than a year in that position and no previous restaurant experiencetook over as interim CEO while the board continues to look for a permanent replacement. In addition to the C-suite changes, Wendy’s has seen positive growth in its share price, up by 4.06% the time of publishing. The uptick follows the previous day’s announcement of Pete Suerken as Wendy’s new U.S. president, who will report to the current CEO. Online chatter has also helped the stock, with increased mentions on the popular retail investment subreddit r/wallstreetbets. The subreddit, which identifies itself as “like 4chan found a Bloomberg Terminal,” plays an outsized role in promoting so-called meme stocks. Just this week, several stocks have seen surprising gains thanks in part to online retail investors, including a boost for retailer Kohl’s and donut maker Krispy Kreme. ‘Nothing happy about this meal’ The Wednesday Addams collaboration is set to feature various Addams-family-inspired treats. For instance, the collab’s dips are named “You Can’t Hyde,” “This Will Sting,” “Grave Mistake,” and “Nowhere to Woe,” an ode to the character’s dark humor. The meal will also include an order of nuggets dubbed “Rest in 10-Piece,” “Cursed & Crispy” fries, and a “Raven’s Blood” Frosty. “This isn’t a typical collaboration, because not just any brand could scheme up a Meal of Misfortune with Wednesday Addams,” Liz Geraghty, Wendy’s International Chief Marketing Officer, said in a statement. The meal’s packaging also boasts Addams fashion, featuring a black and purple color palette for the containers, as well as a carrier bag veiled with the fictional character’s iconic white collar and black dress combo. The phrase “there is nothing happy about this meal,” accompanies the bag’s design, an irreverent nod to the iconic Happy Meal from competitor McDonald’s. “For a brand that’s proudly customer-obsessed and unapologetically bold, it was a match made in dark, dry-witted heaven,” Geraghty added.
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E-Commerce
Alphabet beat Wall Street estimates for its second quarter on Wednesday, and cited massive demand for its cloud computing services as it hiked its capital spending plans for the year to about $85 billion. The search giant beat estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on the back of new AI features and a steady digital advertising market. Google Cloud’s revenue growth surged nearly 32%, well above estimates for a 26.5% increase. “With this strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services, we are increasing our investment in capital expenditures,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in an earnings release. Shares of the company, which have risen more than 18% since its previous earnings report in April, were down 1% in extended trading. Google had earlier pledged about $75 billion in capital spending this year, part of the more than $320 billion that Big Tech is expected to pour into building AI capabilities. The companies have defended their aggressive AI spending amid rising competition from Chinese rivals and investor frustration with slower-than-expected payoffs, saying those massive investments are necessary to fuel growth and improve their products. Alphabet reported total revenue of $96.43 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts’ average estimate of about $94 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Google’s advertising revenue, which represents about three-quarters of the tech major’s overall sales, rose 10.4% to $71.34 billion in the second quarter, beating expectations for $69.47 billion, according to data from LSEG. Deborah Sophia and Kenrick Cai, Reuters
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E-Commerce
According to McKinsey, while more than 75% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, only 1% describe themselves as fully mature in their deploymentand most executives still dont feel confident leading it. Fluency, not just familiarity with AI, is the next big leadership gap. Ive spent three decades guiding leadership teams, government departments, and boards through the endless waves of emerging tech. If theres one thing I know for sure, its this: Capability doesnt come from dashboards or demos. It comes from shared language, strategic alignment, and the confidence to make informed decisions. Many of the executive teams I have AI discussions with remain fluent in all the right buzzwords, but lack the depth of understanding to turn shiny new tech into scalable, sustainable outcomes. With AI moving from nice to necessity, its time to steer the conversation in a new direction. Heres how leaders can do it. 1. More Talking Before Testing AI fluency begins with conversation, not capability statements. Too often, leadership teams rush into pilots or platform demos before having the foundational discussions that guide responsible, effective use. If you want your team to lead with clarity, start by asking these questions: Governance: How are we managing AI risk and accountability? Customer impact: Where could AI enhance or erode trust? Workforce: What skills do we need to build, shift, or unlearn? IP and data: Who owns what we create? How are we protecting it? Ethics: Are our use cases aligned with company values? These arent nice-to-haves. Theyre essential questions, core to any organizations resilience and relevance strategy. Skip them, and you risk building tools your team doesnt understand and your clients dont trust. 2. Run Fire Drills, Not Just Workshops AI is moving faster than most leadership teams can process. That pace creates blind spots, and blind spots turn into problems. To stay relevant in an AI-driven world, you need a way to surface risks early. Easiest way to do that? Start with a fire drill. Pick a scenario. Maybe your customer data is used without permission to train a public large language model. Or your chatbot starts making promises your business cant afford to keep. Then, as you would for any contingency or risk mitigation plan, ask: How would we respond? This kind of simulation forces teams to make decisions under pressure. It reveals knowledge gaps and helps connect abstract AI risks to real world consequences. You dont need to overengineer it. A whiteboard, some honest questions, and the willingness to sit with discomfort is enough. You wont have all the answers, but you need to start probing. 3. Fluency Over FOMO Theres mounting pressure on businesses to do something with AI. But when action is driven by FOMO, it usually results in shallow pilots, disconnected tools, or AI bolted on as an afterthought. Thats not strategy. And its certainly not sustainable. Fluency reframes the conversation. The question isnt What can we automate? Its What problem are we solving, and is AI the best tool for the job? Teams focused on fluency build slower, but smarter. They make better investment decisions, ask sharper vendor questions, and develop solutions that flex, scale, and last. 4. Make It Cultural, Not Just Strategic AI capability isnt something you tack onto operations. It must be baked into the way your organization thinks and acts. That means: Making AI literacy part of team member onboarding Reviewing how AI influences customer experience, products, and services Treating AI risk with the same weight as cyber risk, including shared accountability at the leadership table Creating space in board and executive agendas for regular AI discussions One-off strategy days wont cut it. Organizations that take AI seriously embed fluency in their culture, not just their calendar. 5. Ditch the Jargon, Lead With Questions You dont need a PhD in machine learning to lead confidently in this space. But you do need curiosity, courage, and a commitment to ongoing learning. Start by ditching the jargon. That creates space for honest, useful conversations. Encourage reverse mentoring. Trial tools together. Normalize not having all the answers. AI isnt the next department or the next fad. Its the new business as usual. Leadership teams willing to sit in the unknown, learn the new language of business, and ask better questions will unlock opportunities others never see. The rest risk becoming irrelevant.
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E-Commerce
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