Fast Company’s 2024 Brands that Matter honorees have found ways to establish broader cultural relevance while authentically connecting with consumers.
It’s never been easy—and maintaining that connection gets even harder when constant messaging makes audiences want to tune out. But the 129 Brands That Matter honorees have cut through the din to deliver their message.
This Brands That Matter list includes 66 benchmark brands and 63 honorees in eight categories. And new in 2024, Brands That Matter is also honoring its inaugural CMOs of the Year—10 marketing professionals whose work has helped cement their brands as cultural forces and demonstrates brands at their best.
Read more about the Brands That Matter winners: https://bit.ly/3thGYfY
#FCBrandAwards [Illustration: Patrik Mollwing]
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has dedicated his life to weighty AI research. Now he’s also racing to make everyday Google products smarter.
This video clip is from a panel with Hassabis at the 2023 Fast Company Innovation Festival about the evolution of AI and DeepMind.
A little over a year later, Fast Company's profile of Hassabis looks ahead at what might be next. Read the full profile here: https://bit.ly/4eMJQDm
In today’s fast-paced world, nearly every sector of the economy is reinventing itself with the latest advancements in technology.
As the pace of innovation accelerates, companies both large and small are turning to groundbreaking approaches to create smarter, more sustainable solutions. Yet among the thousands of exciting new developments released each year, a select group of technologies stand out for their ingenuity. These are Fast Company's 2024 Next Big Things in Tech winners.
The 138 honorees span 28 categories, including AI and Data, Space and Telecom, and Health. From corporate giants to ambitious startups, each honoree has demonstrated impressive progress—showing both immediate promise and potential to drive lasting change in the years ahead.
You might see this dichotomy in some of our winners: Coursera, EA - Electronic Arts, Logitech, Headspace, Houzz, and Discord. It may be the first time you’ve encountered some of these brands, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Whether using AI to improve disaster-response efforts, creating a hiking-friendly wearable exoskeleton, or making supply chains more ethical, each of these products, services, and technological breakthroughs reflects fresh thinking that inspires us.
Read the full #FCTechAwards list: https://bit.ly/3Cz2HVj
Dude Perfect is winning YouTube.
The sports-comedy group known for their outrageous trick shots have 60 million subscribers on the platform, more than the NBA, NFL, and MLB combined.
@yazzyg sat down with Dude Perfect’s new CEO, Andrew Yaffe, to discuss what comes next for this burgeoning media empire.
Listen at the link in bio.
Only a couple of years ago, WeightWatchers was on a mission to transform itself from a weight-loss company centered on in-person meetings to a digital-first service with online support groups and a robust app. In 2022, it hired Houseparty cofounder Sima Sistani as CEO to lead the effort.
But as weight-loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy began taking over, Sistani seemed to toss WeightWatchers’ talking points about moderation and self-control out the window and launched WeightWatchers Clinic, a telehealth provider that connects members with physicians who can prescribe weight-loss drugs.
It’s been a rocky pivot.
Read more: https://bit.ly/403LSLJ
And listen to the full modern history of WeightWatchers on this week's Most Innovative Companies: https://bit.ly/3UfspCn
“Science should be for a social purpose.”
In honor of the first 2024 Nobel Prize being announced today, we’re highlighting a recent speech from 2020 Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna at Fast Company Innovation Festival.
Doudna won the Nobel Prize, and was recently named to Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative People of the Last 10 Years, for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing.
Read her full profile at the link in bio.
"Science should be for a social purpose."
In honor of the first 2024 Nobel Prize being announced today, we're highlighting a recent speech from 2020 Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna at Fast Company Innovation Festival.
Doudna was named to Fast Company's 10 Most Innovative People of the Last 10 Years for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing.
Read her full profile: https://bit.ly/3Nebdem
What’s it like to be fully immersed in the @sephora experience?
5,000 fans flocked to”beauty funhouse” event SEPHORiA in Atlanta last week—even as Hurricane Helene hit the city.
These fans were there to both meet old favorites and, at SEPHORiA’s Next Big Thing section, discover new ones. Being featured by Sephora, @lizsegran writes, can often be a breakthrough for young, diverse beauty startups that would otherwise have a difficult time taking hold in the industry.
Read more about the SEPHORiA experience at the link in bio.
If you were on YouTube in the Golden Age of BuzzFeed videos, you probably remember the Try Guys, who hosted a hugely popular series about trying new experiences.
Like many BuzzFeed creators, the four @tryguys eventually left to start their own production company, 2nd Try Entertainment, which still runs strong today.
On this week’s Most Innovative Companies, we talk with two of the original guys, Zach Kornfeld (@korndiddy) and Keith Habersberger (@keithhabs), about navigating upheaval, YouTube, and 2nd Try’s new streaming platform.
Listen now at the link in bio.
Even Ryan Reynolds knows how hard B2B marketing can be.
At Fast Company’s 10th Annual Innovation Festival, Reynolds — who headlined the event as one of our Top 10 Innovators of the Last 10 Years — shared why “access and accountability” matters most when building a brand.
Watch his full panel at the link in bio.
@wearemntn @maximumeffort
#RyanReynolds #MNTN #MaximumEffort #FCFestival #FCIF10
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said Wednesday that she is leaving the high-profile AI company after six and a half years.
“There’s never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right,” Murati wrote in a statement she shared on X.
Murati has been a key player at OpenAI, which captured the attention of the world in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT, and served as temporary chief executive of the company after its board of directors temporarily ousted CEO Sam Altman last year.
In the spring of 2023, Fast Company named OpenAI as its Most Innovative Company of the Year, featuring Murati on the cover of the magazine. Watch Murati discuss the limits of ChatGPT on a panel with Fast Company’s Ainsley Harris from April 2023.
Read the full story about her departure: https://bit.ly/3MY5Uj1
