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2025-10-18 09:00:00| Fast Company

I was thrilled this week when Apple issued a press release announcing that its original film, F1 The Movie, starring Brad Pitt, would make its streaming debut on the companys video service December 12. But it wasnt the news about the movie that excited me. Rather, it was a small line at the end of the press release that quietly announced something else: Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity. The + branding on Apple TV+ always bugged me. Whenever I looked at it, I thought, Apple TV plus what? Apple News offers a free base version and a paid version that gets you more content, called Apple News+, which makes sense. But theres never been a free version of Apples video streaming service, so what was the + signifying? The + branding had also grown increasingly tiresome over the years, as nearly every streaming service added the mathematical operator onto its name. Mercifully, Apple has now decided to subtract the plus. Heres the why, and how the company could go further toward to ending brandings most tiresome scourge. The company didnt invent the +, but it embraced it like no other Until this week, Apple had been leaning hard into the + branding for yearsnearly as hard as it did to the much more iconic i branding in the early 2000s.  Apple debuted its first + branding all the way back in October 2011 with its AppleCare+ extended warranty program, which covered accidental damage to a users iPhone. It used an alphabetic version of the nomenclature with the iPhone 6 Plus model in 2014. But it wasnt until 2019 that Apple began to go hog wild on +. That year, Apple debuted the Apple News+ news subscription service and the Apple TV+ video streaming service. A year later, in 2020, Apple debuted the Apple Fitness+ workout streaming service, and a year after that, the company added its latest + service, iCloud+. Yet Apple wasnt the first tech or media company to tack + onto a product. The earliest I can remember is NBC Universals and News Corps Hulu Plus back in 2010, and then, several months before Apple debuted AppleCare+ in 2011, Google came out with its now-defunct social network Google+. The next major company to embrace the “+” was Disney, with ESPN+ in 2018. However, the + really went viral in the final months of 2019. In September of that year, BET launched BET+. Two months later, Apple TV+ and the streaming giant Disney+ arrived. In the years that followed, we got more: Discovery+, Paramount+, AMC+, the short-lived CNN+, and more. But it was Apple, with its no fewer than five + products, that was the clear cross-bearersorry, plus-bearerfor the techno-media industries. Apple explains why it killed off the Apple TV + Apples announcement to drop the + from Apple TV+ this week came out of the blue. However, shortly after the abrupt name change, the company explained its reasoning. In an appearance on The Town podcast (via 9to5Mac), Apples senior vice president of Services, Eddy Cue, who oversees products including Apple Music, Apple News, and the newly named Apple TV, spoke about the subtraction of the +. Cue revealed that the company originally named its streaming service “Apple TV+” simply because Apple had used the “+” mark in its other subscription services, such as Apple News+ and iCloud+. “But we do that when we have a free service and then theres a paid version,” Cue acknowledged, noting the distinction between Apple TV and the company’s other paid services. “We stayed consistent because of it,” Cue continued, admitting, “but we all called it Apple TV, and we said, given where we are today [with the service’s brand awareness], its a great time to [ditch the “+”], so lets just do it. Apple shows no signs of entirely abandoning the + My colleague, Grace Snelling, spoke to several branding experts the wake of the Apple TV service rebrand. They all seem to agree that Apple made the right move in dropping the +. As Snelling noted, in the early days of the streaming wars that began in 2019, the “+” addendum attached to a name served as an easy identifier, indicating that the product being sold was a streaming service. However, now that the symbol has become ubiquitous, it has lost some of its branding power. As Cue pointed out, the Apple TV streaming service brand is now strong enough that the “+” is no longer needed. Yet while Apple has now subtracted the + from Apple TV, the company remains firmly on the + side of the equation. Four of its products still carry the mathematical moniker: Apple News+, iCloud+, Apple Fitness+, and AppleCare+. Here, the + makes more sense than it ever did on Apple TV, since it signifies additional features. Cue’s comments suggest that Apple has no intention of eliminating the “+” from the rest of this product lineup. Still, it’s worth noting that the removal of “+” from Apple TV’s name isnt the first time in 2025 that Apple has eliminated the symbol from one of its products. In September, Apple replaced the iPhone Plus model in its smartphone lineup with the new iPhone Air.


Category: E-Commerce

 

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2025-10-18 08:00:00| Fast Company

When Starbucks announced that it would phase out its mobile-order pickup-only locations beginning in 2026, it raised a question: Why abandon a format seemingly built for speed and efficiency? As Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol explained in an earnings call, the pickup-only stores have a transactional feel, lacking the warmth and human connection that defines our brand. While Niccol also touted the mobile-order options at its traditional coffee shops, I see Starbuckss move as an attempt to return to its roots as a third placea destination between home and work where people can gather and connect. But this sort of pivot comes with trade-offs, and it creates interesting market opportunities for competitors. As a marketing professor and a coffee connoisseur, Im offering this analysis to go with your morning cup of joe. The two types of coffee shop patrons In general, coffee shops attract two distinct customer segments. The first are what I call stay-and-savor customerspeople who mostly use the site as a place to meet others or work. Their primary interest is in the space, not the mocha or muffins. The second are grab-and-go customerspeople who want a consistent product, delivered efficiently. They dont linger at the store, so the place is less important to them than convenience, speed, and product quality. Think of the morning rush at your local coffee joint. Starbuckss pickup-only stores, branded as Starbucks PICK UP, cater to grab-and-go customers. If you dont live in a busy area, you might never have heard of the brand: There are fewer than 100 Starbucks PICK UPs, many in densely packed cities. In contrast, there are about 17,000 sit-in Starbucks stores across the United States. That means the companys plan will affect just 0.5% of its locations. Thats not very much. So why does this change have me a little, well, steamed up? Back to the third place, whether you like it or not As I said before, I see this move as part of an effort to emphasize stay-and-savor customers over their grab-and-go counterparts. Indeed, Niccols recent earnings call presentation claimed that Starbucks is prioritizing warmth, connection, and community. Starbucks also published a document stating its principles for upholding the third place, and its commitment seems to be more than just rhetorical. The problem is that coffee shops arent like regular restaurants in terms of menu prices and customer spending. Stay-and-savor customers are costly to serve for coffee shops, and may generate insufficient revenue, making them less profitable. That could be bad for the bottom line. The change could also have unintended consequences for workers and customers. For example, pickup-only stores allow employees to focus on food and beverage preparation, with less pressure to engage in small talk in the hopes of generating warmth and tips. Indeed, much academic research has shown that restaurant workers who serve customers report more emotional labor and stress and worse morale and well-being than those who dont. In contrast, Starbucks rivals such as Dunkin and the Chinese new entrant Luckin Coffee have embraced the grab-and-go customers. These rivals provide space for seating, but they dont elevate their positioning as if their baristas are serving warmth, connection, and community. Starbucks CEO Niccol has described the plan as a sunsetting. Id watch out for Dunkin and Luckin Coffee and, of course, Starbuckss financials in 2026, to determine whether the Starbucks sun sets or rises. Vivek Astvansh is an associate professor of quantitative marketing and analytics at McGill University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


Category: E-Commerce

 

2025-10-18 08:00:00| Fast Company

More than 2,700 “No Kings” anti-Trump protests and community events are scheduled to take place today, Saturday, October 18, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. And a majority of those events are in small and medium-size towns, as the grassroots pro-democracy movement spreads to all corners of the country. This latest protest comes amid a federal government shutdown and as Trump has deployed National Guard troops to an increasing number of American cities. The event is organized by Indivisible, a progressive grassroots movement, and a coalition of more than 20 partners that includes the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), 50501, and MoveOn. It builds on the momentum of the first “No Kings Day” protest on June 14and today’s event is expected to exceed that day’s turnout of 5 million people. “We are anticipating the largest turnout in Washington, D.C.; Chicago; NYC; Boston; Atlanta; New Orleans; San Francisco; Kansas City; Honolulu; and Bozeman, Montana,” the “No Kings” organizers said in a statement emailed to Fast Company. While organizers are anticipating the largest gatherings in major cities, which may grab most of the headlines, a majority of the events are actually taking place in rural, small, and midsize towns. This map shows a complete list of locations for the “No Kings” events in each state scheduled nationwide. (A core principle of the protests is nonviolence, and the No Kings.org website also provides training in de-escalation.) Fast Company has rounded up some of the events taking place in lesser-known cities, which form the backbone of the “No Kings” movement today. Here are six of them below. Bryson City, North Carolina In Bryson City (population 1,500), attendees are gathering for a public protest on Main Street. Burns, Oregon No Kings Harney County is gathering in Burns (pop. 2,700) in peace and solidarity to voice our opposition to government overreach, and our support for the First Amendment . . . and all those oppressed by the MAGA regime. Storm Lake, Iowa Protestors in Storm Lake (pop. 12,000) are once again standing up to say, NO KINGS IN AMERICA” at the town sign, as they did for the first “No Kings” event in June. Traverse City, Michigan The Traverse City (pop. 16,000) event is being held at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center, and it will include speakers, live music, and a demonstration. Attendees are encouraged to bring items to donate to local food banks. Maryville, Tennessee Organizers in Maryville (pop. 32,000) are encouraging local participants to dress to honor democracy, by wearing costumes celebrating American icons like Uncle Sam, the Statue of Liberty, and historical heroes who defended democracy. Manitowoc, Wisconsin Manitowoc (pop. 35,000) is holding a rally and food drive in Washington Park, the site of the towns first county fair in 1859, that will include a performance by the Raging Grannies of Madison, a social justice organization of older women with chapters in eight countries.


Category: E-Commerce

 

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