The Unconventionals

The Unconventionals episodes:

• 12.21.2017

  Mind the Gaps: How Peloton, Warby Parker, Lagunitas, and Converse Asked the Big Questions that Changed their Markets

  If you’re a marketer, it’s a good time to look for gaps. We live in an age of asymmetrical advantage, and emerging companies have access to the same computing power, networks, and channels that everyone else does.  Tune into this...

  
• 11.16.2017

  IBM’s Watson: the Making of an AI Brand

  Artificial Intelligence may be all the rage, but that doesn’t make it easy to market. The voices on AI range from Alexa (powered by) to Zuckerberg (defender of), which means it’s hard to get a bead on what AI means....

  
• 10.10.2017

  Who in the world are we? Ancestry and the DNA moment

  We are in the midst of a big cultural moment for finding our roots. The moment is enabled by science for sure. DNA tests are simple and cheap--they'll run you about 100 bucks. But it's also driven by a deeper...

  
• 08.23.2017

  Data, Secrets, and Human Performance: Why Professional Athletes Love the Whoop Strap

  According to Whoop founder Will Ahmed, our bodies are keeping secrets. Those secrets hold the key to human performance, and the Whoop Strap unlocks them.  It’s a big claim, but one that LeBron James, Michael Phelps and hundreds of professional...

  
• 06.26.2017

  The Crazies: How GE, Waze, and Big Ass Fans Enlist an Army of Advocates

  B2B is always about change—reframing how people buy, introducing an innovation, or getting people to think about your company in new ways. You can increase your chances of success by getting change agents on board—the subset of your market who...

  
• 05.10.2017

  Peloton and the Fitness Experience That Won’t Quit

  Peloton is becoming one of the hottest brands in fitness, and it all starts with an extraordinary experience. Stripped down, the company sells you a cycle in your home and spinning classes delivered through the internet. But it adds up...

  
• 01.11.2017

  Beer, Records, and Watches: What Can We Learn From the Revival of Craft?

  Digital dominates our everyday lives, and we increasingly organize our world around the software, platforms, and devices of the world's largest technology brands. At the same time, there is a renewed craving for brands that are small, hand-crafted, and proudly...

  
• 11.16.2016

  From Ann Arbor to Africa: Undergrads Team Up to Find a Sustainable Animal Protein

  Today on The Unconventionals, a special edition. Call it “Unconventionals Young Guns.” We're taking a peek into the future, and the future looks pretty great, at least embodied by Eric Katz and Kulisha, a company he founded with a handful...

  
• 10.12.2016

  Google and the Future of Health Care

  Google isn’t a health care company—they don’t treat patients, fund care, or make drugs or devices. But If you want to understand where healthcare advances will come from, you could do worse than watching where Google is placing its bets. On...

  
• 09.13.2016

  Breakthroughs Are Just the Beginning: How a 3D Bioprinting Pioneer Creates a Market

  Organovo’s printers create human tissue that mimic the form and function of native tissue in the body — but live outside the body. This is a big deal. A feat of science and engineering that’s truly disruptive, sci-fi kind of stuff. But the innovation alone doesn’t guarantee success. Once you’ve created something truly novel,...

  
• 07.20.2016

  The Shinola Story: Making a Modern Brand in Detroit

  If you want to understand the future of luxury brands, you should take a close look at Shinola. This five year-old company chose Detroit — the original maker city — as the setting for a mission that is ambitious and...

  
• 06.22.2016

  GE and the Art of Brand Reinvention

  GE is Thomas Edison’s company, with a heritage of industrial innovation that goes back more than 100 years. But you’d be excused for missing this during the heyday of GE Capital, when financial services delivered 50% of corporate profit. GE...

  
• 01.26.2016

  Rethink Robotics: The New Face of Industrial Robots

  Even though they’ve become a necessary part of society’s progress and have made life much easier, robots are a lot of work. They require teams of programmers in order to perform the most basic tasks, and every worker on the...

  
• 12.20.2015

  Everlane: The Online Clothing Retailer With Nothing To Hide

  Think about your favorite piece of clothing. You probably know what you paid for it, but do you know how much it cost to produce it? The tag may tell you what country it was made in, but do you...

  
• 10.19.2015

  Bridj: Driving a Better Commute with Pop-up Mass Transit

  The morning commute on public transportation is rarely easy. You hope for a reliable, fast and comfortable ride but probably end up with a not-so-pleasant start to your day instead. That would all change if you used Bridj — a...

  
• 09.16.2015

  From Faster Commutes To Better Communities, We’re All Working For Waze

  Waze is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app, and its 50 million users are dedicated to outsmarting traffic together. The maps are crowdsourced from roads users have driven on — so they’re always up-to-date. And to take it...

  
• 08.06.2015

  What’s Old is New: What We Can Learn From Vinyl’s Resurgence

  Music is generally an accompaniment to life — unless you’re listening on vinyl. Records make the music an event. You engage with the music and appreciate it for the art that is it because it isn’t portable, sharable, or ephemeral....

  
• 06.05.2015

  Open Airplane: Putting Private Aviation Back in the Air

  Imagine how frustrated you’d be if you had to take a driving test every time you rented a car. Well that’s what private pilots deal with when they rent a plane outside of their home base or flight school. It...

  
• 05.07.2015

  Rumi Spice: Soldiers Turned Entrepreneurs Fight Opium With Saffron

  When thinking of great places for a startup, Afghanistan probably wouldn’t jump to the top of your list. But a few Army vets sensed an opportunity while serving there, and Rumi Spice — a company looking to grow the American saffron market—...

  
• 01.08.2015

  Small Is Beautiful: Why Heady Topper Probably Won’t Be Coming To A Store Near You

  If you produced what many view as the best beer in the world, with a 100% rating by Beer Advocate, you’d probably expect to be living a life of fame. But that’s not the case for John and Jen Kimmich...

  
• 12.08.2014

  Make No Little Plans: Lagunitas and the Craft Beer Movement

  The next time you’re at your favorite bar, take a look at the beer menu and count how many craft choices are on it. Chances are the list is growing each day. So after you order a delicious brew, raise...

  
• 11.21.2014

  Fast Food and a Living Wage

  Walk into a fast food restaurant and count the number of smiling employees. With the way fast food workers are paid, chances are your count won’t be too high. That’s the MO John Pepper, founder and former CEO of Boloco, tried to erase...

  
• 11.06.2014

  Evernote

  When Evernote came along, it re-shaped note taking by giving us a way to use technology to remember things. Many thought the application would fail with the business model it had — there was no specific target audience and people...

  
• 09.25.2014

  Five Years of Small Business Saturday with American Express

  It seems odd that a large corporation would launch a campaign that’s neither proprietary nor tightly controlled. So when American Express — a not-so-small business — created Small Business Saturday, they must have envisioned a great opportunity. And with the...

  
• 09.03.2014

  The Beginner's Mind: Why Naiveté is a Critical Business Asset

  Having a sense of naïveté is never a bad thing. Because there are no risks, when there are no rules. In the Beginner’s Mind, the most outlandish and bizarre ideas could be the best. And who knows? Maybe they’re right. In this...

  
• 07.30.2014

  Reinventing Retail, One Story at a Time

  Is it a store, an agency, or a community center? According to founder Rachel Schechtman, Story is a little bit of all three. Based in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, Story is an unconventional boutique that reinvents itself every few...

  
• 07.15.2014

  If You Can't Count It, It Doesn't Count

  Many unconventional brands are proving that you can succeed while managing around ideas that aren’t typically measurable. With the right leadership and culture, you can certainly get by defying conventional business practices. In this episode, host Mike O’Toole discusses how unconventional...

  
• 11.01.2013

  b.good

  Believe it or not, there can be such a thing as a “Good problem to have” in business. The highly popular fresh burger franchise b.good are finding themselves in these types situations lately as they continue to grow. Founded a...

  
• 10.08.2013

  Higher Ground Farm

  When you think of a busy city a few images may come to mind. Bustling streets, busy shops, bumper to bumper traffic.But one thing you probably don’t picture is a green space and 55,000 sq ft farm sitting eight stories...

  
• 09.18.2013

  UNREAL Candy

  Sometimes all it takes is a simple unconventional question to change everything… Our friends at Warby Parker asked, “Why do eyeglasses have to cost $700?” The Dollar Shave Club wondered “Why do we pay top dollar for unnecessary shaving technology?”...

  
• 08.08.2013

  MakerBot

  Pettis, CEO of the 3D printing company MakerBot. Imagine having the power to make creations in your mind's eye a reality - a reality you can hold in your own hands. I's not a plot from a new sci-fi film,...

  
• 07.10.2013

  Warby Parker

  On this episode of The Unconventionals, host Mike O'Toole chats with Neil Blumenthal, cofounder of online eyewear retailer Warby Parker. Once labeled by GQ as "Netflix for glasses," Warby Parker has set out to change the perception that buying a...

  
• 06.05.2013

  Intel and the Creators Project

  On this episode of The Unconventionals, host Mike O'Toole sits down with Intel's Creative Director, David Haroldsen to discuss The Creators Project: Intel's unique way connecting the future of chip technology with today's modern artist. This revolutionary partnership between Intel...

  
• 01.10.2013

  Converse

  On this episode of The Unconventionals, host Mike O'Toole interviews Chief Marketing Officer Geoff Cottrill from Converse, about its innovative Brooklyn based recording studio - Rubber Tracks. For Converse, the sales of athletic shoes used to be very straightforward. Everyone...

  
• 12.06.2012

  RelayRides

  In this fourth episode of the season, host Mike O'Toole talks to Shelby Clark, Founder and Chief Community Officer of RelayRides. Based in San Francisco, CA and founded in 2010, RelayRides is a peer-to-peer carsharing service. It allows private car-owners...

  
• 11.13.2012

  Dollar Shave Club

  In our third show of the season, host Mike O'Toole talks to Michael Dubin, CEO, Dollar Shave Club. From a baby shaving a man's head to a machete-wielding CEO dancing with a leaf blower, Michael Dubin's Dollar Shave Club video...

  
• 10.30.2012

  IdeaPaint

  In our second show of the season, host Mike O'Toole talks with Morgen Newman, VP, International Sales and Jeff Avallon, VP, Business Development of IdeaPaint. Based in Ashland, MA and founded in 2002, IdeaPaint gives people the opportunity to unleash...

  
• 10.16.2012

  Big Ass Fans

  We're kicking off our first show with Carey Smith, CEO of Big Ass Fans, a company in Lexington, KY that makes, well, big ass industrial and residential fans. It's a company where unconventional goes much deeper than the name -...