Z-Files

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,…

Image: Unsplash/Maks Styakhkin In Marketing Week, Richard Shotton (author of the must-read book, The Choice Factory) and Will Hanmer-Lloyd discuss the science behind the formation of habits and how marketers…

A business lesson here from the humble Dixie cup.At one time, the Dixie cup was not so humble. What Zoom is to the current pandemic, Dixie cups were to the…

Creative packaging can make a brand stand out both on shelf and in communication. Ben Van Leeuwen, founder of Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, discusses his brand’s packaging and other…

Many stores and eating establishments have plastic bins near the cash register, imploring you to give money for one reason or another. They are always for good causes – either…

You may have heard that the anti-brand Brandless went under a couple of months ago. Here is a eulogy that was published late last week.Brandless was built on the premise…

Brands that take their social media presence seriously rather than churning out self-promoting pablum can reap the benefits. Specifically, a strong sense of community can arise among users — even…

This timely new article from Omar Wasow in the American Political Science Review hints at how the protests in Minnesota may affect public opinion.Wasow studied how protests during the Civil…

How can a historically safe car be reinvented as a safe and luxurious car? Volvo Car Australia’s Living Seawall campaign did just that, and for its efforts has captured a…

Brands are still trying to find their COVID voice, so to speak. So many of the ads you see that reference COVID look and sound exactly the same, and this…

Obviously, there is an inherent societal good that comes from purpose-driven marketing. However, as Byron Sharp and others have argued, there is a lot of justifiable skepticism about brands that…

Image: Matt Hoffman/Unsplash I just discovered this 2015 Longreads article that remains relevant from a linguistic perspective. It is called “The Rise of ‘Mama’” and explores the phenomenon of upper-middle…