Business Wars

By Wondery

History Business

What's Business Wars about?

Netflix vs. HBO. Nike vs. Adidas. Business is war. Sometimes the prize is your wallet, or your attention. Sometimes, it’s just the fun of beating the other guy. The outcome of these battles shapes what we buy and how we live.
Business Wars gives you the unauthorized, real story of what drives these companies and their leaders, inventors, investors and executives to new heights -- or to ruin. Hosted by David Brown, former anchor of Marketplace. From Wondery, the network behind Dirty John and American History Tellers.

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KFC vs Chick-fil-A | The Co...

04.07.2021

It’s the 1970’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken has yet another new owner: Heublein, the company known for introducing Americans to Smirnoff’s vodka. But KFC brand ambassador Harland Sanders creates a PR fiasco by accusing his new corporate bosses of letting ...

Business Wars episodes:

04.07.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| The Colonel’s Last Stand \| 5 It’s the 1970’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken has yet another new owner: Heublein, the company known for introducing Americans to Smirnoff’s vodka. But KFC brand ambassador Harland Sanders creates a PR fiasco by accusing his new corporate bosses of letting ...
04.06.2021 The Art of Business Wars Lesson 4: Positioning oo often in business, taking two positions is the same as taking none. You can only carve out one at a time — so choose wisely. To read more lessons from The Art of Business Wars and to order your ...
04.05.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| The Henhouse Heats Up \| 4 It’s the late 1960s and Kentucky Fried Chicken’s new owner takes the rapidly expanding franchise public. America’s hottest new IPO makes dozens of employees instant millionaires, but not Harland Sanders, who sold his company for cash. Now brand ambassador, Sanders ...
03.31.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| The Birth of the Bucket \| 3 It’s the 1950s in Kentucky and Harland Sanders faces bankruptcy once again. 65-years-old, broke, unemployed and desperate, he barnstorms the country, living out of his car, selling his secret fried chicken recipe to restaurant and diner owners. Franchising is a ...
03.30.2021 Announcing The Art of Business Wars Pre-order our new book The Art of Business Wars now before it is released on April 13.
03.29.2021 Wondery Presents: Spy Affair A charismatic Russian woman arrives in the US on a mission to improve relations between the two countries, and she soon makes some powerful friends. But who is Maria Butina? And who is she working for? As Maria gets closer ...
03.29.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| Fast Fists and Failure \| 2 It’s the 1900’s and a young Harland Sanders learns how to cook out of sheer necessity when his widowed mother leaves him at home to care for his younger brother and sister. Crushing poverty prompts his mother to loan him ...
03.24.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| Guns, Guts, and Gravy \| 1 It's the Great Depression, and in one of Kentucky’s toughest corners, Harland Sanders defends his gas station business with sheer moxie and a loaded shotgun. He expands it into a thriving motel and restaurant, but impatient tourists balk at long ...
03.22.2021 Late Night Wars \| Late Night for the TikTok Generation \| 7 Since the disruption of the broadcast viewing experience, late night comedy has gone through some growing pains. It’s no longer must-see TV, but late night water cooler moments remain as fiery political segments go viral online. For more on how ...
03.17.2021 Late Night Wars \| Late Night Stars Collide \| 6 Jay Leno takes it on the chin from NBC when the network informs him his future as Tonight Show host has a looming shelf life. He needs to hand the keys to Conan O’Brien, who doesn’t want to be stuck ...
03.15.2021 Late Night Wars \| A Darker Night Ahead \| 5 CBS makes David Letterman a very attractive offer to leave NBC—a move he’s very willing to make—but his long-time network is desperate to keep him. So desperate they dangle the prize that Letterman felt he deserved all along—the Tonight Show. ...
03.10.2021 Late Night Wars \| There Goes Johnny! \| 4 When longtime Tonight Show host Johnny Carson shocks NBC with the surprise announcement of his departure, Jay Leno is anointed as the next host of the network’s flagship franchise. But there’s a problem: after a decade hosting Late Night at ...
03.08.2021 Introducing: In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson Lady Bird Johnson’s audio diaries reveal how one vastly underestimated woman navigated the power, politics and polarization of her time to become arguably one of the most influential first ladies in history. From ABC News, makers of the hit series ...
03.08.2021 Late Night Wars \| Late Night Explodes \| 3 Johnny Carson – the man who defined the Tonight show – is nearing retirement. But NBC has yet to settle on an heir. And that sets the stage for one of the most painful moments for the late night rivals ...
03.03.2021 Late Night Wars \| The Dawn of Tonight \| 2 The late night saga begins in the uncharted wilderness of after-hours programming. In the early 1950s, an era when television broadcasting literally stops at 11:00 p.m., NBC dares to push the envelope with something called the Tonight Show. It works. ...
03.01.2021 Late Night Wars \| The Stars Realign \| 1 The cutthroat evolution of late-night talk shows is a long and fierce battle for advertising riches, ratings and sheer egotistical triumph. It’s the early 1980s and NBC’s Tonight Show is the unbeatable standard in its class, and its long-time host ...
02.24.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| How Influencers Are Changing the Beauty Industry \| 7 As the beauty business shifts towards boutique brands and upstarts, traditional titans of the industry like L'Oreal and Esteé Lauder are struggling to maintain a foothold. At the center of this cultural shift are beauty influencers, who are reaching a ...
02.22.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Lipstick Lockdown \| 6 It’s 2007, and the L'Oréal founding family is thrust into the media spotlight when a scandal erupts. The daughter of Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the company fortune, accuses a family friend of exploiting her mother’s dementia. But the ensuing investigation ...
02.17.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Buying Spree \| 5 It’s 1991, and after the financial crash of 1987, Estée Lauder is looking for a new way to continue expanding without sinking millions of dollars and several years into developing a new brand. The answer lies in acquisitions, and they ...
02.15.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Face to Face \| 4 It’s 1979 and Estée Lauder is on top of the world after launching another in-house brand, Prescriptives. But after decades of being primarily known for hair products, L'Oréal is ready to invade the American high-end makeup market. And their secret ...
02.10.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Skin in the Game \| 3 It’s 1962, and Estée Lauder is on fire, with well-received new products helping solidify their position as the top high-end makeup brand. But Revlon is hot on their tails, and to fend off the threat the Lauders decide to develop ...
02.08.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Do or Dye \| 2 It's 1904, and ambitious French chemist Eugène Schueller quits his job as a researcher to focus on formulating the first synthetic hair dye. Teaming up with Parisian hairdressers to spread the word about his product, he soon expands into hair ...
02.03.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Telephone, Telegraph, Tell-A-Woman \| 1 It’s 1946, and after years of building a cult following thanks to free samples and loyal customers, Estée Lauder finally has an opportunity to join the big leagues. She can now sell her high-quality makeup products in department stores in ...
02.01.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| To Infinity And Beyond \| 7 As the Space Race moves into the present day, Elon Musk recoups SpaceX’s losses and edges ahead of Blue Origin. But now his competition is coming not just from Jeff Bezos, but from like-minded dreamers in Russia and China. For ...
01.27.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| The Next Generation \| 6 It's 2016 and Virgin Galactic is about to re-enter the space race following its fatal test flight two years earlier. But the company's early lead in human spaceflight is eroding fast. Blue Origin, Boeing and SpaceX are closing in. The ...
01.25.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Space War \| 5 It's 2013 and the long cold war between Blue Origin and SpaceX is about to go nuclear. The clash begins when NASA puts its most famous launchpad up for lease, and escalates fast. Soon SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the United ...
01.20.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Rise of the Dragon \| 4 It's 2009 and a new president is looking to shake up the space world by opening up the stars to private industry. But with NASA’s space shuttle about to retire, the United States soon won't be able to reach the ...
01.18.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Burning Up \| 3 It's 2005 and SpaceX is about to find itself exiled to a tropical island, but this is no vacation. It's in a race against time to get the Falcon 1 rocket into orbit before Musk's millions runs out. But as ...
01.13.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Reaching for the Stars \| 2 It's 2003 and in the Mojave Desert, renegade aviation genius Burt Rutan is building a spaceship funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. But while Rutan and Allen are preparing to launch the world's first privately funded astronaut, Elon Musk and ...
01.11.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Rocket Men \| 1 It's 2001 and a 30-year-old Elon Musk has just been fired from Pay-Pal, the company he co-founded. In need of a second act, he hits on the idea of bankrolling a bizarre Mars mission. But he's not the only tech ...
01.06.2021 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Screen Dreams \| 6 With the world plugging into the Internet, toys are under pressure. Kids are swapping plastic play for screen-based entertainment and both Mattel and Hasbro need to adapt. The question is: how? Mattel’s also finding out the hard way that Barbie’s ...
01.04.2021 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| The Shotgun Wedding \| 5 A few months ago, Mattel’s revenues were just fifty million dollars behind Hasbro’s. But now that Hasbro’s swallowed Tonka—the classic maker of Nerf, Play-Doh, and Monopoly—Mattel is half a billion dollars behind, and CEO John Amerman isn’t happy about it. ...
12.30.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Resurrection Joe \| 4 It’s the early 1980s and things are not looking good for Hasbro. The company hasn’t had a hit since Hungry Hungry Hippos; its founding CEO Merrill Hassenfeld has just died; now Star Wars dolls have just about gobbled up the ...
12.28.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| The House of Cards \| 3 Sizzlers, Mattel’s new motorized Hot Wheels, were supposed to be the top toy this Christmas. But sales have fizzled, leaving Mattel $30 million below target. For the last ten years, Mattel’s done exceptionally well by its investors, but now the ...
12.23.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Boy Toy \| 2 It’s the 1960s and Hasbro is struggling. The pencil manufacturer turned toymaker hasn’t had a major success since Mr. Potato Head hit the shelves in 1952, and it’s starting to lose money. If the company doesn’t act fast, it’ll be ...
12.21.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Dream Doll \| 1 It’s the late 1940s and two small toymakers are taking their first uneasy steps. The names of these young hopefuls are Hasbro and Mattel. One’s an offshoot of a pencil manufacturer. The other a husband-and-wife garage start-up. But toy-making, they ...
12.16.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| The TikTok Effect \| 6 With TikTok’s legal future hanging in the balance, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t been shy about borrowing what works from the Chinese upstart and replicating it within Instagram. But his copycat feature Reels made more of a ripple than a ...
12.14.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Lights Out \| 5 It's July 2020. TikTok usage has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it faces an unexpected threat — powerful politicians with their own agenda. Now, TikTok must find a solution or risk being shut down in the U.S. Instagram, meanwhile, ...
12.09.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Hitmaker \| 4 It’s November 2018. Mark Zuckerberg takes a hit as his copycat TikTok product fails miserably. Then, Instagram faces another disaster when a security breach draws ire from users. But Zuckerberg decides to launch a direct attack on his Chinese competitor. ...
12.07.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Dance, Dance, Revolution \| 3 It's August 2016 and Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are about to pull off the tech equivalent of a heist — and they just might get away with it. But despite its success, Instagram faces trouble at home ...
12.02.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Small Place, Big Dream \| 2 It’s the mid '90s and Kevin Systrom is editing a video game. It's his first taste of coding, but it won't be his last. When he grows up, he's going to build a product used by more than a billion ...
11.30.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Codename \| 1 It’s July 2010, and Kevin Systrom is on holiday in Mexico when he has an idea for how to save his failing app: offer filters to make users’ photos more appealing. He gets back to San Francisco and teams up ...
11.25.2020 Why Black Friday Will Look Different This Year \| 5 Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, will break the mold this year, as the pandemic sends retailers scrambling for new ways to bring in customers while minimizing large crowds. But the changes to American shopping habits predate ...
11.23.2020 Denim Wars \| Are Your Jeans Blue or Red? \| 7 Consumers are increasingly looking to buy from brands whose values match their own, and denim is no different. These days, the jeans giants are not only facing down threats from each other, but navigating a new era of partisan consumerism. ...
11.18.2020 Denim Wars \| The Unravelling \| 6 It's 1999 and Levi's is a company in trouble. It's drowning in debt, out of fashion, and hobbled by sub-par distribution. But while Levi's searches for a way to make a comeback, a new, fast-growing enemy is out to convince ...
11.16.2020 Denim Wars \| Lord of the Flies \| 5 It's the '80s and Levi's is far out in front in the battle for denim dominance. But Lee owner V.F. Corporation isn't giving up. It's about to make a major move that will pile the pressure on Levi's and threaten ...
11.11.2020 Denim Wars \| From Freak to Chic \| 4 It's the late '60s and Levi's is seeking to stay on trend by tuning into the flower-power movement taking over San Francisco. But keeping up with the ever-shifting tides of fashion is harder than it looks and soon Europe will ...
11.09.2020 Denim Wars \| Storming the Castle \| 3 It's the 1950s and young Americans are idolizing the new wave of Hollywood rebels and horrifying their parents by wearing jeans. But as these post-war renegades take denim duds out of the workplace, the jean giants find themselves between a ...
11.04.2020 Denim Wars \| Old Western Blues \| 2 It's the mid-1800s and a young wholesaler called Levi Strauss is looking to cash in on the California Gold Rush. But when a wandering tailor approaches Strauss with a revolutionary idea, his business takes an unexpected turn into the world ...
11.02.2020 Denim Wars \| Cowboys & Indigos \| 1 It's the 1930s and Californian jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. is struggling. The Great Depression is destroying jobs and killing demand for its denim workwear. So when a craze for the Old West boosts demand for jeans, Levi's and ...

Older episodes

04.07.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| The Colonel’s Last Stand \| 5 It’s the 1970’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken has yet another new owner: Heublein, the company known for introducing Americans to Smirnoff’s vodka. But KFC brand ambassador Harland Sanders creates a PR fiasco by accusing his new corporate bosses of letting ...
04.06.2021 The Art of Business Wars Lesson 4: Positioning oo often in business, taking two positions is the same as taking none. You can only carve out one at a time — so choose wisely. To read more lessons from The Art of Business Wars and to order your ...
04.05.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| The Henhouse Heats Up \| 4 It’s the late 1960s and Kentucky Fried Chicken’s new owner takes the rapidly expanding franchise public. America’s hottest new IPO makes dozens of employees instant millionaires, but not Harland Sanders, who sold his company for cash. Now brand ambassador, Sanders ...
03.31.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| The Birth of the Bucket \| 3 It’s the 1950s in Kentucky and Harland Sanders faces bankruptcy once again. 65-years-old, broke, unemployed and desperate, he barnstorms the country, living out of his car, selling his secret fried chicken recipe to restaurant and diner owners. Franchising is a ...
03.30.2021 Announcing The Art of Business Wars Pre-order our new book The Art of Business Wars now before it is released on April 13.
03.29.2021 Wondery Presents: Spy Affair A charismatic Russian woman arrives in the US on a mission to improve relations between the two countries, and she soon makes some powerful friends. But who is Maria Butina? And who is she working for? As Maria gets closer ...
03.29.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| Fast Fists and Failure \| 2 It’s the 1900’s and a young Harland Sanders learns how to cook out of sheer necessity when his widowed mother leaves him at home to care for his younger brother and sister. Crushing poverty prompts his mother to loan him ...
03.24.2021 KFC vs Chick-fil-A \| Guns, Guts, and Gravy \| 1 It's the Great Depression, and in one of Kentucky’s toughest corners, Harland Sanders defends his gas station business with sheer moxie and a loaded shotgun. He expands it into a thriving motel and restaurant, but impatient tourists balk at long ...
03.22.2021 Late Night Wars \| Late Night for the TikTok Generation \| 7 Since the disruption of the broadcast viewing experience, late night comedy has gone through some growing pains. It’s no longer must-see TV, but late night water cooler moments remain as fiery political segments go viral online. For more on how ...
03.17.2021 Late Night Wars \| Late Night Stars Collide \| 6 Jay Leno takes it on the chin from NBC when the network informs him his future as Tonight Show host has a looming shelf life. He needs to hand the keys to Conan O’Brien, who doesn’t want to be stuck ...
03.15.2021 Late Night Wars \| A Darker Night Ahead \| 5 CBS makes David Letterman a very attractive offer to leave NBC—a move he’s very willing to make—but his long-time network is desperate to keep him. So desperate they dangle the prize that Letterman felt he deserved all along—the Tonight Show. ...
03.10.2021 Late Night Wars \| There Goes Johnny! \| 4 When longtime Tonight Show host Johnny Carson shocks NBC with the surprise announcement of his departure, Jay Leno is anointed as the next host of the network’s flagship franchise. But there’s a problem: after a decade hosting Late Night at ...
03.08.2021 Introducing: In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson Lady Bird Johnson’s audio diaries reveal how one vastly underestimated woman navigated the power, politics and polarization of her time to become arguably one of the most influential first ladies in history. From ABC News, makers of the hit series ...
03.08.2021 Late Night Wars \| Late Night Explodes \| 3 Johnny Carson – the man who defined the Tonight show – is nearing retirement. But NBC has yet to settle on an heir. And that sets the stage for one of the most painful moments for the late night rivals ...
03.03.2021 Late Night Wars \| The Dawn of Tonight \| 2 The late night saga begins in the uncharted wilderness of after-hours programming. In the early 1950s, an era when television broadcasting literally stops at 11:00 p.m., NBC dares to push the envelope with something called the Tonight Show. It works. ...
03.01.2021 Late Night Wars \| The Stars Realign \| 1 The cutthroat evolution of late-night talk shows is a long and fierce battle for advertising riches, ratings and sheer egotistical triumph. It’s the early 1980s and NBC’s Tonight Show is the unbeatable standard in its class, and its long-time host ...
02.24.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| How Influencers Are Changing the Beauty Industry \| 7 As the beauty business shifts towards boutique brands and upstarts, traditional titans of the industry like L'Oreal and Esteé Lauder are struggling to maintain a foothold. At the center of this cultural shift are beauty influencers, who are reaching a ...
02.22.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Lipstick Lockdown \| 6 It’s 2007, and the L'Oréal founding family is thrust into the media spotlight when a scandal erupts. The daughter of Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the company fortune, accuses a family friend of exploiting her mother’s dementia. But the ensuing investigation ...
02.17.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Buying Spree \| 5 It’s 1991, and after the financial crash of 1987, Estée Lauder is looking for a new way to continue expanding without sinking millions of dollars and several years into developing a new brand. The answer lies in acquisitions, and they ...
02.15.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Face to Face \| 4 It’s 1979 and Estée Lauder is on top of the world after launching another in-house brand, Prescriptives. But after decades of being primarily known for hair products, L'Oréal is ready to invade the American high-end makeup market. And their secret ...
02.10.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Skin in the Game \| 3 It’s 1962, and Estée Lauder is on fire, with well-received new products helping solidify their position as the top high-end makeup brand. But Revlon is hot on their tails, and to fend off the threat the Lauders decide to develop ...
02.08.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Do or Dye \| 2 It's 1904, and ambitious French chemist Eugène Schueller quits his job as a researcher to focus on formulating the first synthetic hair dye. Teaming up with Parisian hairdressers to spread the word about his product, he soon expands into hair ...
02.03.2021 Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal \| Telephone, Telegraph, Tell-A-Woman \| 1 It’s 1946, and after years of building a cult following thanks to free samples and loyal customers, Estée Lauder finally has an opportunity to join the big leagues. She can now sell her high-quality makeup products in department stores in ...
02.01.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| To Infinity And Beyond \| 7 As the Space Race moves into the present day, Elon Musk recoups SpaceX’s losses and edges ahead of Blue Origin. But now his competition is coming not just from Jeff Bezos, but from like-minded dreamers in Russia and China. For ...
01.27.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| The Next Generation \| 6 It's 2016 and Virgin Galactic is about to re-enter the space race following its fatal test flight two years earlier. But the company's early lead in human spaceflight is eroding fast. Blue Origin, Boeing and SpaceX are closing in. The ...
01.25.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Space War \| 5 It's 2013 and the long cold war between Blue Origin and SpaceX is about to go nuclear. The clash begins when NASA puts its most famous launchpad up for lease, and escalates fast. Soon SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the United ...
01.20.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Rise of the Dragon \| 4 It's 2009 and a new president is looking to shake up the space world by opening up the stars to private industry. But with NASA’s space shuttle about to retire, the United States soon won't be able to reach the ...
01.18.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Burning Up \| 3 It's 2005 and SpaceX is about to find itself exiled to a tropical island, but this is no vacation. It's in a race against time to get the Falcon 1 rocket into orbit before Musk's millions runs out. But as ...
01.13.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Reaching for the Stars \| 2 It's 2003 and in the Mojave Desert, renegade aviation genius Burt Rutan is building a spaceship funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. But while Rutan and Allen are preparing to launch the world's first privately funded astronaut, Elon Musk and ...
01.11.2021 SpaceX vs Blue Origin \| Rocket Men \| 1 It's 2001 and a 30-year-old Elon Musk has just been fired from Pay-Pal, the company he co-founded. In need of a second act, he hits on the idea of bankrolling a bizarre Mars mission. But he's not the only tech ...
01.06.2021 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Screen Dreams \| 6 With the world plugging into the Internet, toys are under pressure. Kids are swapping plastic play for screen-based entertainment and both Mattel and Hasbro need to adapt. The question is: how? Mattel’s also finding out the hard way that Barbie’s ...
01.04.2021 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| The Shotgun Wedding \| 5 A few months ago, Mattel’s revenues were just fifty million dollars behind Hasbro’s. But now that Hasbro’s swallowed Tonka—the classic maker of Nerf, Play-Doh, and Monopoly—Mattel is half a billion dollars behind, and CEO John Amerman isn’t happy about it. ...
12.30.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Resurrection Joe \| 4 It’s the early 1980s and things are not looking good for Hasbro. The company hasn’t had a hit since Hungry Hungry Hippos; its founding CEO Merrill Hassenfeld has just died; now Star Wars dolls have just about gobbled up the ...
12.28.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| The House of Cards \| 3 Sizzlers, Mattel’s new motorized Hot Wheels, were supposed to be the top toy this Christmas. But sales have fizzled, leaving Mattel $30 million below target. For the last ten years, Mattel’s done exceptionally well by its investors, but now the ...
12.23.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Boy Toy \| 2 It’s the 1960s and Hasbro is struggling. The pencil manufacturer turned toymaker hasn’t had a major success since Mr. Potato Head hit the shelves in 1952, and it’s starting to lose money. If the company doesn’t act fast, it’ll be ...
12.21.2020 Encore: Hasbro vs Mattel \| Dream Doll \| 1 It’s the late 1940s and two small toymakers are taking their first uneasy steps. The names of these young hopefuls are Hasbro and Mattel. One’s an offshoot of a pencil manufacturer. The other a husband-and-wife garage start-up. But toy-making, they ...
12.16.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| The TikTok Effect \| 6 With TikTok’s legal future hanging in the balance, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t been shy about borrowing what works from the Chinese upstart and replicating it within Instagram. But his copycat feature Reels made more of a ripple than a ...
12.14.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Lights Out \| 5 It's July 2020. TikTok usage has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it faces an unexpected threat — powerful politicians with their own agenda. Now, TikTok must find a solution or risk being shut down in the U.S. Instagram, meanwhile, ...
12.09.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Hitmaker \| 4 It’s November 2018. Mark Zuckerberg takes a hit as his copycat TikTok product fails miserably. Then, Instagram faces another disaster when a security breach draws ire from users. But Zuckerberg decides to launch a direct attack on his Chinese competitor. ...
12.07.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Dance, Dance, Revolution \| 3 It's August 2016 and Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are about to pull off the tech equivalent of a heist — and they just might get away with it. But despite its success, Instagram faces trouble at home ...
12.02.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Small Place, Big Dream \| 2 It’s the mid '90s and Kevin Systrom is editing a video game. It's his first taste of coding, but it won't be his last. When he grows up, he's going to build a product used by more than a billion ...
11.30.2020 TikTok vs Instagram \| Codename \| 1 It’s July 2010, and Kevin Systrom is on holiday in Mexico when he has an idea for how to save his failing app: offer filters to make users’ photos more appealing. He gets back to San Francisco and teams up ...
11.25.2020 Why Black Friday Will Look Different This Year \| 5 Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, will break the mold this year, as the pandemic sends retailers scrambling for new ways to bring in customers while minimizing large crowds. But the changes to American shopping habits predate ...
11.23.2020 Denim Wars \| Are Your Jeans Blue or Red? \| 7 Consumers are increasingly looking to buy from brands whose values match their own, and denim is no different. These days, the jeans giants are not only facing down threats from each other, but navigating a new era of partisan consumerism. ...
11.18.2020 Denim Wars \| The Unravelling \| 6 It's 1999 and Levi's is a company in trouble. It's drowning in debt, out of fashion, and hobbled by sub-par distribution. But while Levi's searches for a way to make a comeback, a new, fast-growing enemy is out to convince ...
11.16.2020 Denim Wars \| Lord of the Flies \| 5 It's the '80s and Levi's is far out in front in the battle for denim dominance. But Lee owner V.F. Corporation isn't giving up. It's about to make a major move that will pile the pressure on Levi's and threaten ...
11.11.2020 Denim Wars \| From Freak to Chic \| 4 It's the late '60s and Levi's is seeking to stay on trend by tuning into the flower-power movement taking over San Francisco. But keeping up with the ever-shifting tides of fashion is harder than it looks and soon Europe will ...
11.09.2020 Denim Wars \| Storming the Castle \| 3 It's the 1950s and young Americans are idolizing the new wave of Hollywood rebels and horrifying their parents by wearing jeans. But as these post-war renegades take denim duds out of the workplace, the jean giants find themselves between a ...
11.04.2020 Denim Wars \| Old Western Blues \| 2 It's the mid-1800s and a young wholesaler called Levi Strauss is looking to cash in on the California Gold Rush. But when a wandering tailor approaches Strauss with a revolutionary idea, his business takes an unexpected turn into the world ...
11.02.2020 Denim Wars \| Cowboys & Indigos \| 1 It's the 1930s and Californian jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. is struggling. The Great Depression is destroying jobs and killing demand for its denim workwear. So when a craze for the Old West boosts demand for jeans, Levi's and ...

Business Wars

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Business Wars episodes:

KFC vs Chick-fil-A | The Colonel’s Last Stand | 5

The Art of Business Wars Lesson 4: Positioning

KFC vs Chick-fil-A | The Henhouse Heats Up | 4

KFC vs Chick-fil-A | The Birth of the Bucket | 3

Announcing The Art of Business Wars

Wondery Presents: Spy Affair

KFC vs Chick-fil-A | Fast Fists and Failure | 2

KFC vs Chick-fil-A | Guns, Guts, and Gravy | 1

Late Night Wars | Late Night for the TikTok Generation | 7

Late Night Wars | Late Night Stars Collide | 6

Late Night Wars | A Darker Night Ahead | 5

Late Night Wars | There Goes Johnny! | 4

Introducing: In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson

Late Night Wars | Late Night Explodes | 3

Late Night Wars | The Dawn of Tonight | 2

Late Night Wars | The Stars Realign | 1

Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal | How Influencers Are Changing the Beauty Industry | 7

Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal | Lipstick Lockdown | 6

Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal | Buying Spree | 5

Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal | Face to Face | 4

Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal | Skin in the Game | 3

Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal | Do or Dye | 2

Estée Lauder vs L'Oréal | Telephone, Telegraph, Tell-A-Woman | 1

SpaceX vs Blue Origin | To Infinity And Beyond | 7

SpaceX vs Blue Origin | The Next Generation | 6

SpaceX vs Blue Origin | Space War | 5

SpaceX vs Blue Origin | Rise of the Dragon | 4

SpaceX vs Blue Origin | Burning Up | 3

SpaceX vs Blue Origin | Reaching for the Stars | 2

SpaceX vs Blue Origin | Rocket Men | 1

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