Harrison
Lawton, the
professional
new kid.

The Assignment

For my marketing entrepreneurship midterm, the brief was simple to say and hard to do: create a drink that feels like me. Not a drink I'd like to sell someday — a drink that, if you tasted it and then met me, would make sense. I built the whole case study solo: brand strategy, market sizing, competitive positioning, visual identity, and a go-to-market plan. The product I landed on is Lumen, a zero-proof sparkling botanical tea spritz.

The Concept

I started from my own personal brand — bright, intentional, wellness-aware, social — and asked what a beverage version of that would actually look and taste like. Lumen is a 12oz sparkling can, zero-proof, built around a rotating system of botanical flavors like Yuzu Cucumber Mint. It's low-calorie and light on sugar by design, because the brand promise is energy without compromise: you can be social without being boring, and wellness-minded without being preachy about it.

Why Now

The market timing is real, not just convenient for the assignment. The non-alcoholic beverage category is projected at roughly $1.49 trillion, with functional beverages specifically around $178.9 billion. About 80% of Gen Z is actively moderating how much they drink, and roughly two-thirds of consumers say they want a functional alternative to soda that still feels indulgent. That gap — wanting to participate in social occasions without alcohol, and wanting something more interesting than seltzer — is exactly where Lumen sits.

Who It's For

I built the target consumer around a persona I called "The Social Resetter": college-aged and post-grad, wellness-conscious, still wants to go out and be social, but is rethinking their relationship with alcohol without wanting to feel excluded from the moment. I mapped the competitive landscape across two axes — soda-led versus coffee-led, and everyday versus special-occasion — and positioned Lumen in the open space between an everyday spritz and a genuine going-out drink, which is where I felt like the biggest gap actually was.

Brand Strategy

I built the brand around two archetypes: the Sage and the Creator — clear-headed and intentional, but also expressive and aesthetically driven. Everything ladders up to one brand wheel core: "Clear Social Energy." From there I built out a full design and copy system — logo, color palette, packaging family, and a tone of voice that's confident without trying too hard. The campaign concept, "Show Up Clear," carries that through: inclusive, aspirational, memorable, built around a simple promise of zero-proof, 100% real.

Go-To-Market

I built out a real launch plan, not just a mood board. Media strategy across TikTok and Instagram, Spotify and podcasts, campus sampling, and out-of-home near the occasions where people actually decide what to drink. A place-activation plan covering retail display systems and on-premise programming at bars and cafes, including an event concept I called "The Clear Night Out." Pricing followed a normal beverage architecture — single can, 4-pack, 12-pack, and an on-premise price point — and I phased the rollout across three stages instead of assuming instant national distribution.

What I Took From It

The hardest part wasn't the design work, it was staying disciplined about translating personal traits into a business case a stranger would actually believe. It's one thing to say you're "intentional and wellness-aware" on a slide about yourself. It's another to show that discipline in a P&L-adjacent launch plan, a defensible market size, and a product spec that could genuinely sit on a shelf. That's the version of personal branding I actually respect — not a tagline, but proof that the traits hold up under a real business problem. It's also, honestly, the same skill I'm building in hospitality: reading what a person actually wants, then building the specific, unglamorous details — pricing, positioning, distribution — that make the experience real instead of just aspirational.

1. Brief Company History and Portfolio

I did my research on Prologis. Its public ticker is NYSE: PLD. Prologis is an industrial and logistics Real Estate Investment Trust. A REIT owns or finances income-producing real estate and gives much of its income to shareholders. Prologis owns, develops, leases, and manages logistics real estate, mainly warehouses and distribution facilities. The company operates at a very large scale: it owns 1.3 billion square feet across 20 countries and serves more than 6,500 customers. Its portfolio is focused on high-barrier, high-growth locations near ports, highways, airports, and major population centers.

2. Market Trends by Region

In 1Q 2026, Prologis reported 95.3% average occupancy and 95.3% period-end occupancy in its owned and managed portfolio. Post-pandemic, the rent situation was worse. Prologis Research reported that global rents declined about 3.7% in 2025. The decline wasn't the same everywhere. Rents in the U.S. and Canada declined 4.9% year over year in 2025, and U.S. vacancy fell 10 basis points quarter over quarter to 7.4% in Q4. Coastal U.S. markets fell 7.6%, while inland markets fell 3.0%. Mexico had a positive year, with rents rising 3.2%. FIBRA Prologis, a Mexican real estate branch, showed strong demand as well, reporting 97.0% period-end occupancy and 97.8% average occupancy, with a 59.1% net effective rent change in 2025. Europe declined 2.9% year over year and landlords used more concessions to keep occupancy up. China was the weakest region, with rents down 11.8% overall, including North China down 18.9% and East China down 12.8%, mainly because of oversupply. Japan grew 1.8% year over year. Brazil had the strongest rent growth listed in the report, up 11.2% year over year after growing 18.7% in 2024, while Sao Paulo vacancy reached about 7%. In summary, Brazil and Japan still had rent growth, Mexico was positive but uneven, China was hurt by oversupply, and Europe leaned on concessions to keep space leased.

3. Occupancy, Income, and Expense Trends

Occupancy measures how much of the company's available space is leased or being used by tenants. Prologis had 95.3% average and period-end occupancy in 1Q 2026. Leasing was active: about 66.7 million square feet of leased space in 1Q 2026, with customer retention at 75.8%. Many of Prologis's existing leases are still below current market rent, so the company can increase income as leases expire and renew. Same-store NOI grew 8.8%, net effective rent change was 31.9%, and cash rent change was 16.8%. The biggest takeaway is that Prologis has an advantage owning warehouses in locations where it's hard to build new space — when new supply is limited, existing properties become more valuable to tenants.

4. Financing, Debt Maturities, and Equity Capital

Prologis finances itself through a mix of unsecured debt, credit facilities, retained cash flow, asset sales or contributions, and equity capital through common stock or operating partnership units. The company also uses co-investment ventures, partnering with outside investors instead of funding every asset from its own balance sheet. In 1Q 2026, Prologis and its co-investment ventures closed $5.5 billion of debt at a weighted-average interest rate of 3.7% and a weighted-average term of 5.9 years. At quarter end, Prologis had about $6.7 billion of total available liquidity. Its debt-to-Adjusted EBITDA was 4.8x, and debt was 23.8% of total market capitalization. Prologis's share of total debt had a 3.3% weighted-average interest rate and an 8.1-year weighted-average term, with 96% of equity in U.S. dollars or hedged. One debt maturity example was the redemption of the 3.00% notes due June 2, 2026, at a redemption price of about EUR 1,021 per EUR 1,000 principal. Prologis also extended one of its $3.0 billion revolving credit lines for flexible borrowing capacity.

5. Recent Transactions

Prologis is focused on development and financial discipline. In 1Q 2026, Prologis reported $268 million of acquisitions, excluding other real estate, at a 4.7% weighted-average stabilized cap rate. The company also reported $1.113 billion of development stabilizations at a 7.6% weighted-average yield, a 34.8% estimated weighted-average margin, $387 million of estimated value creation, and 47.5% build-to-suit. It reported $1.783 billion of development starts at an 8.8% estimated weighted-average yield, a 32.0% estimated weighted-average margin, $571 million of estimated value creation, and 81.2% build-to-suit. Total dispositions and contributions were $676 million at a 5.1% weighted-average stabilized cap rate. For comparison, Prologis reported a record 228 million square feet of leases in 2025.

6. How Prologis Has Grown Over Time

Prologis has grown through mergers, acquisitions, development, property sales, and co-investment ventures. In 2011, AMB Property Corporation merged with ProLogis, creating a larger global logistics real estate platform. In 1Q 2026, 81.2% of development starts were build-to-suit, and build-to-suit construction starts were up 61% year over year in Q4 2025, while new development starts had fallen 71% from their peak. Prologis added new strategic capital partnerships with GIC and La Caisse in 1Q 2026. Its 2026 guidance shows continued heavy but controlled investment: development starts between $3.5 and $4.5 billion, acquisitions between $1.0 and $1.5 billion, and development stabilizations between $2.25 and $2.75 billion, with realized development gains expected between $500 and $700 million.

7. Leasing and Management

Prologis manages most of its leasing and asset management in-house through its own platform, leasing to a mix of business-to-business and retail/e-commerce tenants. That spread matters — it means Prologis isn't dependent on any single kind of customer. The company is hands-on, with its own leasing team, customer relationships, market data, development experience, and Strategic Capital platform. Prologis says roughly 3% of global GDP flows through its portfolio, which underscores how central global logistics is to the business.

8. Tenant Pushback

Tenant pushback is mostly about cost. Companies still need modern logistics space, but they're watching expenses closely given taxes, insurance, labor, capital costs, freight, and trade uncertainty. Rent declines slowed to 1.4% in the second half of 2025, suggesting stabilization. Operating expenses rose about 20% year over year in 2024 in some markets, making up roughly 20% of gross rent. Concessions increased 40% year over year in Europe to 11% of headline rent, more than double 2022 levels; in the U.S., concessions were around 12%. The real pushback isn't that tenants stopped needing space — it's that they're taking longer to decide, asking for concessions, and watching total logistics costs more closely.

Sources: Prologis 1Q 2026 earnings release (Apr. 16, 2026); Prologis Research, “2025: Pause Shifts to Progress as Rents Approach Inflection” (Jan. 29, 2026) and “Record Leasing and Falling Vacancy Reaffirms Turning Point” (Feb. 3, 2026); Prologis press release on note redemption (Dec. 7, 2025); Yahoo Finance and REIT.com company data.

When choosing a movie about Employee Development, it was very clear to me that it had to be Moneyball, released in 2011. We learned how to turn your struggling employees into superstars and keep superstars happy. We learned that there are different types of employees, such as the Lone Wolf and the Star. Companies have to keep the Lone Wolf and the Stars happy. Both roles contribute to a company's success. Employee Development can be seen in Moneyball when the Oakland Athletics manager, Billy Beane, found undervalued talent, placed people in the right roles, and helped players improve within the new organizational system. This movie shows development not only through formal training but also by helping people reach their full potential.

The main character, Billy Beane, is the manager of the Oakland Athletics. It is a sports/business movie about creating an organization to develop its players. The main focus of the movie is that the Oakland Athletics were the cheapest organization among all professional teams during that period. They are playing against an organization that has five times as much money to pay its players. This can be connected to how HR finds and develops employees within the organization to build internal talent, not just the most expensive employees. It is crucial to develop talent rules that fit in strategic human capital.

At the very start, you quickly realize what the movie is all about: finding potential in undervalued people. Billy Beane hires Peter Brand to look beyond traditional scouting to gather opinions and options in baseball. They find players who are overlooked and have useful skills still applicable to baseball, regardless of their size, age, or appearance. This connects the viewer to HR development because organizations should recognize potential, not just obvious credentials or appearances. Development begins with understanding what employees can become, not just what they already are.

The team doesn't ask everyone to be a superstar — it asks them to contribute where they can, and everyone tries their best. They built this team using analytics, and they were among the first sports organizations to do so. This connects to development concepts such as job fit, strengths-based characteristics, and career growth.

Billy is changing the organization's mindset and has to spend the entire first half of the movie convincing coaches, players, and scouts to accept the new system. Sports systems were built on player appearance, not so much on analytics, until the Oakland Athletics team. Development can also involve changing attitudes and helping people adapt to new expectations. The main conflict in Moneyball is that employees resist challenging their old habits. HR is always trying to develop new programs that require leadership support and clear communication.

By the end of the movie, Billy Beane is able to convince and change an organization's mindset by how he uses his players and the skill level at which they play. He has shown that an organization can compete by developing and using talent wisely. Billy's strategy for human resources helps the Oakland Athletics become one of the best organizations in all of sports — not through money, but through people.