Z-Files

One of the campaigns named to the 2023 WARC Effective 100 list is from an unexpected source – Meat & Livestock Australia, which regulates standards for meat and livestock management.In early 2021,…

Kraft Heinz’s latest ketchup campaign is inspired in large part by insights that emerged from social listening.The new “It Has to be Heinz” campaign dramatizes real-life behaviors that brand loyalists…

Credit: The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor on Twitter) The Twitter account @culturaltutor this week discussed how architecture influences our perceptions of characters in movies.  It probably influences perceptions of certain brands in the same…

The always entertaining “Under the Influence” podcast has an episode this season that discusses Royal Warrants.  These warrants are awarded to companies that supply goods and services to senior members of Britain’s…

Unsplash / Dipqi Ghozali We all unconsciously sabotage ourselves in certain ways – sometimes in big ways, sometimes in small ways. Have you ever sat awake in bed well past…

Thanks to OZ’s Kelly Willis for sharing news of an iconic American brand that has hit the skids – Tupperware.Tupperware blames its recent struggles on COVID and inflation, but every brand has…

Thanks to OZ friend-of-the-family Dr. Michael Mulvey for sharing this column about embodied cognition and ChatGPT.The Deep Metaphors that we use in our ZMET research are based on embodied cognition. We…

With book bans and library de-funding in the news all over the US, here is a classic example of how library supporters in Troy, Michigan used psychological jiu jitsu to foil their…

L’Oreal this week announced the acquisition of the Australian cosmetics brand Aesop.  Aesop is a unique brand with a cult following.  Some of that uniqueness comes from its store designs.…

One of Fast Company’s Most Creative Companies is Wendy’s. Specifically, the focus of Fast Company’s admiration is the brand’s presence in the worlds of social media and gaming.Ironically, the brand…

Unsplash / Tim Mossholder At the deepest levels, what motivates people? What are they looking for from their lives?A 2022 paper by Shigehiro Oishi and Erin Westgate in Psychological Review…

OZ’s Jake Wax had the idea for this week’s Z-Files – a look at HBO’s new hit series, The Last of Us, which is based on a PlayStation video game of the…