My worlds are colliding. Immersive Experiences and Innovation Labs are coming together to give corporations a way to experiment with lean startup methodologies to capture some of that D2C magic. In the past, Innovation Labs or Skunkworks, were hidden away from corporations and VERY far away from consumers. The wild laboratories where mad scientists could try new things without fear of harming the bread and butter of the corporate machine. But as the lean startup and agile methodologies have gained business momentum and D2C products have sliced away at market share, larger corporations are putting their test labs front and center for their consumers. We saw the power of immersive experiences when we helped to launch the Museum of Ice Cream and have been helping corporations build out their corporate innovation practices for years. To put them together enables corporations to test new products in iterative sprints and gauge real customer reaction. It also enables brands to provide unique experiences that lead to loyalty, new customer acquisition, and a monetizable test kitchen for taking chances. Here are a few of our favorites.

We get to see the best of what’s next every day. From augmented, mixed, and virtual reality to advances in biometrics, voice, and touch technology, there is an influx of new tech-enabled experiences in the market. An interesting emerging trend is the power of scent, and corporations are smelling opportunity to grab market share, differentiate themselves, drive loyalty, and in some cases, just be clever. Scent is the sense that has the strongest ability to evoke memories and trigger emotions and moods. Not to mention, the global fragrance market is worth $48 billion. Here are a few innovations that we think make scents.

Corporate innovation is one of the most dynamic, emerging, changing, challenging, rewarding, and confusing roles in the history of business. You must make bets while mitigating risks. You must evaluate that which cannot be measured. You must do the never-been-done-before while providing proof that it will work. And you must do all of this within corporate machines that were built to eliminate inefficiencies and differences. Often you are selling ideas 5 years out to people compensated and obsessed with only the next quarter. It can feel like a lonely island at times. If I could give each of you 5 books to help you on this journey, these are the 5. Some are written by friends of mine and all of them make you feel like you have a friend in the trenches.

$51 billion valuations. Hundreds of thousands of drivers. Tens of millions of riders. Companies like Uber and Lyft have ushered in an entirely new industry that has exploded, seemingly overnight. Several startups have emerged with unique, scalable opportunities for advertisers to win mindshare through rideshare. Here are a few of our favorite startups that are making the ridesharing experience more meaningful for customers and more profitable for drivers, while also creating greater opportunities for brands. Grabb-It Grabb-It projects video advertising messages onto the outside of the vehicles’ passenger window to targets pedestrians and other drivers. The tiny projector inside the vehicle serves customized content onto a specifically cut material thin enough so you can roll the window up and down. Drivers earn extra money while they drive and advertisers can trigger based on geo-location, time of day, and a host of other digital OOH triggers. White Raven This Israeli-based company connects the ridesharing experience to the physical world outside the vehicle by augmenting it with geo-aware information, retail offers, and entertainment – thus providing a customized AR experience. This real-time data is superimposed onto video feeds displayed on screens inside the vehicle from front and rear-facing cameras. Want to know the kinds of businesses you’re passing by during your ride or what’s playing at the theater you’re about to pass? White Raven allows you to do that and buy tickets for the show. It can also show you special sales curated specifically to your taste at the stores around you, with the ability to buy items during your ride.

Fretting over your holiday shopping? ‘Tis the season! Thankfully, stores are paying close attention to consumers’ needs, and the future of retail includes some major enhancements to the traditional shopping experience. Nike and CoverGirl are paving the way for a new wave of tech-forward retail solutions this holiday season. Nike’s House of Innovation and CoverGirl’s first retail store opened to the public last week in New York City – and we were some of the first to check them out! Nike’s House of Innovation: Nike has coined the term “phygital” - a mix of physical and digital - to describe what it believes to be the optimal retail experience of the future. Its new House of Innovation is 6 floors of exactly that. Here, Nike employs technology mainly to provide a more seamless, efficient, and stress-free shopping experience for customers, with features like reservation lockers (shoppers can reserve items in advance to try on in-store) and instant checkout booths on each floor. CoverGirl’s Flagship: CoverGirl’s first venture into physical retail is the latest example of traditional brands expanding into brick-and-mortar to connect directly with consumers. This trend comes as D2C-centric entrants continue to gain momentum across various industries and as consumer data collection becomes increasingly vital. The Flagship uses technology to create a more memorable branded experience, encouraging consumers to interact with the brand and its products in new ways. ‘Instagrammable’ elements throughout the store, such as a photo/video booth, trendy décor, and branded makeup stations drive home these efforts. While the two flagship stores are vastly different, several underlying trends exist that give us a glimpse into what the future of retail holds.