Z-Files

A new article in the Journal of Advertising Research (available behind the WARC paywall) discusses the most effective strategies for 6-second ads.Obviously, you can’t tell much of a story in…

Metaphorical thinking at its finest – what a hospital learned from a Formula One pit crew.Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children identified a major pain point in its procedures –…

MIT Technology Review discusses a new social network, Telepath, which is centered on the idea of “kindness.” Telepath has a number of features that are interesting but not exactly game-changing: it is an…

In the late 1960s, with his acting career adrift, Bruce Lee opened a martial arts training facility in Hollywood. He started by charging $30/lesson. Hardly anyone signed up.  That was…

Pretty food = healthy food, at least in the minds of consumers.New research in the Journal of Marketing by Linda Hagen, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behavior at USC,…

We really like the latest chapter in Hennessey’s long-running “What’s Your Wild Rabbit?” campaign. It centers on the heroic journey of the world’s first Black chess grandmaster, Maurice Ashley, who…

My daughter is a LEGO enthusiast and I am a neat freak when it comes to my living space. As the image above suggests, that is a bad combination.LEGO has…

What matters to marketers may not always be what matters to consumers.This thought-provoking column by Ben Shaw of the creative agency BBH – “Marketing’s Unhealthy Obsession With Inspiration” -- illustrates that chasm…

A recent episode of the CBC podcast, Under the Influence, a marketing-themed podcast, deals with brand nicknames – think about names like “Tar-zhay” and “Mickey D’s,” and the like. The theme…

Josh Hild/Unsplash Thanks to OZ friend Nancy Cox for sharing this article about the malleability of memory – “The Pandemic is Messing With Your Memories.” The article links the research on memory…

One of my favorite Twitter follows is behavioral scientist Richard Shotton, who recently tweeted his admiration for this classic tagline from the watchmaker Patek Philippe, “You never actually own a…

Photo credit: National Geographic COVID-19 has sparked a resurgence in classic board games.Research across 14 developed nations shows that more and more people are playing board games and card games,…