Fast Company June 2017

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As a journalist, maintaining a healthy level of skepticism is a requirement. Sources routinely put their own actions in the best possible light, while undercutting the activities of rivals. I just can’t take everything people say to me at face value. But every now and then, I get to engage in a project that is so inspiring, my wall of cynicism melts. That’s the way I feel about our annual coverage of the Most Creative People in Business. Each year, our editorial team scours the globe to identify 100 allnew honorees whom we have not significantly covered in print before. This is how we initially introduced readers to Instagram founder Kevin Systrom—before his business was acquired by Facebook. It’s where we first talked about Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud of Saudi…

Updates from the MIC alumni SoulCycle In April, SoulCycle, the chain of boutique fitness studios with 78 locations in 15 markets, launched its first-ever brand campaign, featuring a two-minute spot starring actual sweaty, attractive class instructors. As the music swells, they explain that SoulCycle—and its cult following—is not about the bike but rather about the rider. With the company expecting to add another 15 studios this year, the ads target both newbies and veteran cyclists in the company’s biggest markets (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco), where there’s almost always a trendy new fitness option. Despite the ad’s vociferous stance regarding soul versus cycle, the campaign debuted just a month before the company introduced a major redesign of its signature Soul- Bike. “Our riders are getting stronger, physically and mentally,” says CEO Melanie…

Nintendo The hottest new consumer-electronics device of 2017 has been a system that combines the on-thego nature of smartphone gaming with the power and detail of a home console. The Nintendo Switch, as it’s known, sold a reported 1.5 million units in the first two weeks of launch, making it the fastestselling console in Nintendo history. Part of the Switch’s beauty is its simple design. Users can undock the central, 6.2-inch touch screen and attach the two controllers to either side for an experience akin to Nintendo’s handheld DS device. The other key component is the games themselves, particularly The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which players have lauded as the best addition to the Zelda franchise in years because of its open-world, discovery-based format. Nintendo needed to get the Switch…

Vail Resorts This spring, Vail Resorts, one of the largest ski-area operators in the world, extended its colossal reach with its first East Coast acquisition, Vermont’s Stowe Mountain. The timing of the buy wasn’t accidental. Late spring and summer, when skiing and snowboarding drop off, are actually Vail’s most important time of the year, because this is the moment when it starts to market next season’s Epic Pass, which offers unlimited access to 45 ski areas around the world. Over the past few years, Vail has used the off-season to beef up the $859 Epic Pass, by acquiring Canada’s Whistler Blackcomb in 2016 and Australia’s Perisher Mountain in 2015. The Stowe purchase allows Vail, which is concentrated in the western half of the U.S., to make a compelling bid for the…

Anyone who’s ever organized and designed a conference knows how hard it can be to attract and engage attendees. And as the events space grows more crowded and more complex, the task is only getting harder. That’s why some of the world’s biggest companies seek a true hospitality partner to help them think outside the box—and the hotel ballroom. Take Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) popular conference, re:Invent. In 2016, AWS hosted around 32,000 attendees across five days at the Venetian Las Vegas and the resort’s adjoining conference facilities. As the five-year-old conference has grown by leaps and bounds, re:Invent has tapped the Venetian’s expertise, working hand in hand to achieve the sort of creativity and innovation that has established re:Invent as a model event. “We’re experts at serving and entertaining people,” says…