CVS has expanded from
retail health center to patient
advocate. It has begun selling a less-expensive EpiPen
alternative and stopped
stocking sunscreens with
an SPF below 15. Last April,
the company announced it
would remove parabens,
phthalates, and other
“chemicals of concern” from
nearly 600 store-brand
personal-care items after
cutting trans fats from its
food products. “We think
about the customer first,”
says CVS Pharmacy president Helena Foulkes. “If you
do so, partners want to
work with you.” Updated
stores have seen a 2.5%
boost in overall sales and a
7% increase in food purchases. And CVS will likely
get even healthier once it
completes its $69 billion
acquisition of insurer Aetna..
50 MOST
INNOVATIVE
Last season, the NBA set new records for
attendance ( 22 million) and global fan
engagement (more than a billion viewers around the world tuned in at some
point). That growth was powered in part
by a mobile-focused digital strategy that
engages fans in compelling new ways.
“We’re bringing the world courtside,”
says Melissa Brenner, the NBA’s executive vice president of digital media. In
2017, the NBA made significant enhancements to League Pass, its live-stream
product that allows fans to view games
in all markets. The league also installed
additional cameras in every arena and
introduced Mobile View, which provides
tighter, zoomed-in angles for smaller
screens; today, more than a third of
subscribers are tuning in via handheld
devices. “We used to call it the second
screen,” Brenner says of mobile, “but for
a lot of people, now it’s the first screen.”
In partnership with Tencent, League
Pass rolled out in China, reportedly generating more than 190 million views
during the 2017 NBA Finals. (The service
is available in 200 countries.) Brenner is
also now exploring the “infinite amounts
of content we can produce with technology.” For example, streaming a game
each week all season long in VR for
League Pass subscribers and introducing
NBA AR, a virtual pop-a-shot app for the
iPhone, and NBA InPlay, a fantasy game
synced to live broadcasts. A two-year-old
partnership with Israeli workflow automation startup WSC Sports Technologies has increased instantly shareable
highlight clips from about 100 per week
to more than 10,000, contributing to a
record number of video views ( 12 billion)
for the league last season. In May, the
NBA will get even more virtual with the
debut of the 17-team NBA 2K League—
the first e-sports league (for competitive
and professional gamers) operated by
one of the American majors.
Gearing up for its highly anticipated IPO,
Spotify spent 2017 securing favorable royalty
deals with all the major record labels. The
company reported more than $3 billion in
annual revenue last June, a 52% increase over
the previous year. With more than 140 million
active users (including more than 70 million
premium subscribers), the music-streaming
leader has scaled its fan base. One reason: It’s
made a series of smart deals to put Spotify
where its users would want a personalized
soundtrack, such as in the car (Waze), when
gaming (Xbox One), and when hanging out
with friends (Facebook Messenger, which also
includes the ability to make group playlists).
Now it’s turning its focus to artists through
new initiatives such as Rise, which helps break
new acts by integrating them into playlists and
marketing them on and offline; Secret Genius,
which shines a spotlight on songwriters
through video series, podcasts, and playlists;
and RapCaviar Live, a live concert series built
around the popular hip-hop playlist.
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