Z-Files

Unsplash/Diana Polekhina Thanks to OZ’s Joe Plummer for sending a summary of a Journal of Consumer Research article that discusses the art of sticking to a boring task.The key is…

The power of visual imagery is central to what we do at OZ – a metaphor or an image can tell an entire story with no words required.This collection of…

Unsplash / Alex Kondratiev New research published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that scientific claims are fine for selling utilitarian products, but not so good for selling products…

Credits: Lance King/Hector Vivas/Ronaldo Schemidt/Kevin Winter/Getty (from the journal Nature ) Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett comments in Scientific American about the supposed correlation between facial expressions and emotions. In short,…

Adweek features a story about Oatly’s clever positioning and marketing strategy.  It is behind a paywall, so if you don’t subscribe, here is the dumbed-down version.  Oat milk is an unconventional product, so…

Photo: Fast Company Today at the IIEX North America Conference, we will discuss our ZMET research into minds of sustainability innovators. One of the points emerging from the research is…

The brilliant Under the Influence podcast recently featured two episodes about “Don’t Do It” advertising.  It discusses examples of campaigns that have successfully convinced people not to do something.One twist…

It is difficult to ask consumers to predict what they will do in the future. Well, you can ask. But you won’t necessarily receive an accurate answer, especially when people…

Thanks to my colleague Tim Bradley for discovering an article about the formative impact of fairy tales.The authors apply their research to hypothesize about the surprisingly successful Ukrainian resistance. They argue…

Imagine you were PlayStation and you had the insight that people use games, in part, to escape from the drudgery of everyday existence. How would you bring that to life…

Rob Hampson / Unsplash Just like you’re not you when you are hungry…you’re not you when you are on your phone. (Or maybe you are.)Research led by Shiri Melumad at…

Ukrainians are proving themselves to be skilled communicators, and they have mobilized nearly the entire world around their cause. This online video from the Armed Forces of Ukraine highlights the extreme bravery…