Celebrating its tenth year, the 2024 Fast Company Innovation Festival takes place across various venues in New York City, bringing together thousands of creators and innovators from around the world. Over four days, our team engaged in inspiring discussions and hands-on workshops. Most importantly, we left the Big Apple energized and inspired, as all good CE does, ready to implement strategies for both ourselves and our clients.

Here’s a breakdown of our top takeaways…

How Brave Is Your Brand? Future-Proofing Through Fearlessness

Hosted by FutureBrand | Review by Hart

One of the highlight workshops of the week, our first session by FutureBrand—a global network of brand, experience, and design experts—was an interactive workshop on how to future-proof your brand through fearlessness.

We explored five key characteristics to help a brand stand out, then identified our brand’s bravery gap with The FutureBrand Score tool. It breaks your brand purpose down to ten key dimensions and explains what’s crucial for thriving in an ever-evolving market. We benchmarked our own brand, as well as our clients', against industry leaders, evaluating attributes such as seamlessness, authenticity, innovation, & more.

Bravery demands action. Bravery is felt. Bravery is always fresh. A brave brand is irresistible magnetic, boldly confident, unexpectedly ingenious, radically impactful, and intrinsically real. These five characteristics help your brand stand out with brave ideas that drive positive impact.

How brave is your brand? We wrote an entire blog on our learnings, read more below!

Reinventing the Retail Model Through Direct-to-Demand Strategy with Larroudé 

Hosted by Larroudé | Review by Andrea

This year the Fast Company Innovation Festival felt a little different than last. 

Maybe it was because it felt familiar. After attending last year, I had a better understanding of the types of sessions and what to expect. I also know the subway better and only ended up in Brooklyn by accident once on this trip. Nonetheless, the experience did not disappoint and I came back to Raleigh with a renewed perspective. A little more on that learning... 

I think I can speak for our team when I say “Fast Tracks” are our favorite type of session. They are hosted at HQ’s and destinations around the city, and you get to hear from decision makers in their own space about different aspects of their business. They are intimate interviews, talks and panels that provide an insider understanding with themes from entrepreneurship to sustainability and social good. 

My background is in fashion, retail and ecommerce, so I intrinsically like to listen and learn through this lens. I gravitate towards sessions that feature fashion brands of which there were a good amount of this year. Among the ones I attended were Sandro (Sustainability), Filson (Future of Heritage Brands) and Fashionphile (Entrepreneurship). My first session and arguably my favorite, was with the co-founders of Larroudé, Ricardo and Mariana Larroudé, titled ‘Reinventing the Retail Model Through Direct to Demand’. Larroudé is a high-end shoe company, for those who haven’t heard.

Ricardo took the “stage” in their beautiful new house and showroom in Midtown East and spoke about the company's steady and efficient rise in the last 4 years. From being jobless in 2020, to building a company valued at 40M today - he gave us the inside scoop on how they got there. Ricardo and Mariana make a perfect pair (see what I did there?) for building a designer shoe company. She is the former VP Fashion Director at Barneys and his background is in Finance. Enter: a data-empowered logically-driven strategy, beautifully-designed high-quality product, well-marketed brand with a compelling story to tell. 

As Ricardo spoke, he noted some of the keys to Larroudés success, these include: 

• Quickly vertically integrating - by owning their supply chain they can cut down on traditional hangups in the fashion industry, (ie. long lead times, increasing cost of goods) and they can hold onto less inventory. They operate on negative working capital, meaning they are paid to grow. In Ricardo’s own words: It only ends this way if you vertically integrate. 

• Their product is designed for Ecommerce - in short, it empowers Larroudé to use analytics to let the customer dictate what they produce, not vice versa. This “Direct to Demand” model means they can communicate with their customers directly without the hassle of wholesale, retail and other more cumbersome outlets. 

• They have a very distinct price point in the market. Few shoe companies fall in this accessible core luxury range. They found the opportunity in the market, and went for it. Kudos. 

• Their marketing is friendly and open. A far cry from some high end fashion brands, the bright colors, smiling models and overall cheerful vibe make you want to be a part of that culture. This is by design. 

• They collaborate often - 8x / year to be exact. By collaborating with other companies and reaching those audiences, they are growing their presence in a natural, exciting and exclusive way. 

• They believe in what they call the ‘3 Wows’ 1. Attract. The product has to be different and attractive. 2. Experience. When you open the box, you are welcomed by quality materials and gifts. and 3. Win-Back. They ask themselve: Has the customer used the product for 30 days and still satisfied with it? That’s a win. 

There was something else Ricardo also said during his lecture that has sat with me since this session and that is: “There is no business of fashion, there is business and there is fashion. Fashion is the catalyst for human behavior - which is the exchange of business.” I had to ruminate on that for a while, but I understand what he’s saying - and I think it’s what I’ve been saying in my head all along. 

No matter the industry, fashion, retail, food and beverage, hospitality… In any business, there are human behaviors that are now, with the ever growing power of technology, traceable and actionable. It’s a matter of tapping into your audience, listening to them directly, making the connection and leaning into what they are saying. Whether that’s through your product or your marketing, collaborations, messaging - growing a successful business is about the most important human behavior: Listening. We all want to be heard, and a good business doesn’t just produce, it listens.

PS. Here are a few additional takeaways from my week in NYC: 

• Trends are just that - trends. Tap into them when they make sense, but more often than not, stick to what you know and do best, and don’t get caught up in the noise. 

• If you’re starting a new business, consider diving into something you’re not so passionate about - it sounds backwards, but operating a business with a more logical lens can oftentimes lead to greater success. 

• Where there are humans, opportunities for connection exist. Be brave, be creative and be open. This can be uncomfortable, but getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is an extraordinary skill to have. 

• Lastly, late night NYC pizza is always a good idea.

Brand Building for the Next Generation

Hosted by Milk Makeup and Phidel Digital / Review by Lindsay

Philip Atkins, founder of rising digital marketing agency Phidel Digital, and Tim Coolican, CEO of Milk Makeup, spoke to their winning playbook of how to build a brand for the next generation.

This session featured a deep dive into the success behind Milk Makeup's Cooling Water Jelly Tint and a Q&A on intentionally formulating product launches for the TikTok community. The floor was open to ask personal questions on e-commerce and digital strategy, social content, product development, and community.

Here are my major takeaways from this workshop:

• Social media best practices for engagement are changing all the time — Milk doesn’t believe in taking one approach

• Environment that is constantly being disrupted — in a state of constantly trying to learn and evolve 

• We know our brand. We know our product. We know our community. Let’s experiment to see what content connects with our audience on this platform. 

• Don’t believe in a “template approach” - have to keep evolving and stay curious

• “Instinct creatively driven organization”

• Shift in social of the team being the brand — in house social team is an active part of the brand, excited 

• Creator engagement, posting cadence, etc always changes based on the data and what their audience is doing

Squarespace Circle Day 2024

Hosted by Squarespace / Review by Hart

Circle Day is an annual event that unites the most forward-thinking creators and entrepreneurs within the Squarespace community. This year's in-person gathering brought valuable insights from Squarespace leaders, Circle members, and product experts worldwide, all focused on helping attendees enhance their businesses through website creation on the platform.

At Chair 8, we’ve been crafting custom Squarespace websites for over a decade, and attending Circle Day in person at the NYC Headquarters was undoubtedly a highlight of the year. It was inspiring to hear Founder & CEO Anthony Casalena discuss the exciting future of Squarespace, along with insights from industry experts like Christy Price, Hayley Fedders, Omari Harebin, Paige Brunton, Will Myers, and many more.

We also got a sneak peek of “Refresh” — Squarespace’s latest releases to help you launch, manage, and grow your business. A few highlights include:

• AI-enabled design tools to unlock your creative potential

• Invoicing and project management tools to manage your business in one place

• New ways to accept payments and sell anything online

• Powerful new marketing features to keep your customers engaged

My biggest takeaway is that Squarespace is significantly expanding its features to compete with other CMS platforms like Shopify, making it easier than ever to manage an entire business through one platform. You can now handle invoicing, automate workflows, purchase domains, optimize SEO, monetize blogs, set up video paywalls, accept donations, sell products, schedule appointments, and much more—all within Squarespace. This translates to saving time, money, and resources for small businesses.

Highlight of the day: live performance by Sing Harlem!

Brand Building in the Age of Microtrends

Hosted by Red Antler / Review by Lindsay

Brat Summer, Girl Dinner, Dark Academia, Cottagecore, Clean Girls, Butter Boards, Eyebrow Blindness—seemingly everywhere you look, there’s a microtrend. Society has become obsessed with identifying niche products and aesthetics, planting a flag in every new idea.

For consumers, microtrends add layers to their identity, allowing them to try on new personalities at the speed of the trend cycle and discard them when they no longer fit. For brands, however, tapping into these trends isn’t so clear cut.

In this Fast Track, the experts at Red Antler, PopUp Bagels, Cann, and Levain dove into the world of brand strategy in the age of microtrends. From knowing when to engage with them to understanding how these trends gain offline traction, we explored the consumer insights behind our society's voracious appetite for novelty. We learned how to turn a microtrend into a sustainable business strategy, and how established brands can navigate this ever-shifting landscape with authenticity and foresight.

Here are a couple takeaways:

• #1 rule of marketing used to be consistency - think that is out the window and you have to have fluidity 

• Commit to your core value — don’t fully commit to one quick social moment because then you’ve changed your course

• “What makes it identifiably us?”

Where Running and Tech Intersect

Hosted by New York Road Runners / Review by Hart

Fitness was another big subject at this year’s festival. I ventured uptown to catch New York Road Runners CEO Rob Simmelkjaer, Peloton instructor Becs Gentry, and TCS head of sports sponsorships, Haley Price for a recording of the NYRR Set the Pace podcast followed by a group run through Central Park (personal highlight of mine!)

The nonprofit, which organizes 60 adult and youth races annually, including the TCS New York City Marathon, is committed to bringing world-class experiences that are also inclusive and accessible to its participants, spectators, and fans alike. We learned about the role that investments in technology play in enhancing and growing NYRR's impact as a NYC-based nonprofit. 

Exploring the Next Dimension of Entertainment with Disguise

Hosted by Disguise / Review by Hart

Our last session of the week, we dove into the world of real-time 3D, immersive entertainment, and AI. From 360-degree immersive visuals in stadiums and tourist locations, transformative live concert experiences, and AR graphics for broadcast and film productions that take you to a whole new reality, the nature of entertainment is changing… and Disguise is on the forefront of the future!

This small but mighty team are the Emmy Award–winning technology company behind Adele and Beyoncé concerts, MSG’s Sphere, the Euros, and this year's Olympics broadcast coverage, as well as film productions Daddio and Time Bandits and the recent immersive experience at Top of the Rock. Disguise’s integrated ecosystem of hardware, software, cloud, and services is driving this transformation between the physical and the virtual. We learned about the company's software that helped bands like U2 & Phish tell stories in The Sphere and how its industry-leading virtual production platform creates a more collaborative environment on set.

Thank you, NYC!

The Innovation Festival was unforgettable. If you’re searching for a top-tier marketing conference, this is where you’ll find the leading speakers, innovators, and brands—in the greatest city on earth. It left a lasting impact on our team, motivating us to push boundaries and elevate our work to the next level.

See you next year, New York!