Z-Files

From the Wall Street Journal, a recent article about the “masculine-ization” of parenting. More and more fathers (in the U.S., at least) are staying at home and raising their children…

This isn’t directly about marketing – it is more about product design.  It is the obituary of a Bell Labs researcher named John Karlin, who used the principles of industrial…

In the wake of the Super Bowl ad extravaganza, we have located a discussion of one of the all-time most memorable Super Bowl spots – McDonald’s “The Showdown” ad from…

  On MediaPost, we found this blog post from Steven Kraus, SVP of Audience Measurement Group.  It is a deeper look at what the New Year’s resolutions of affluent consumers…

From The Atlantic: What America is drinking.  (Short answer: More water, energy drinks, wine, and premium liquor.  Less cheap beer and soda.) Interestingly, Americans tend to drink, on average, the…

This is a discussion about a slightly different kind of consumer.  Experts in the New York Times today are discussing why shoplifters have developed a penchant for stealing Tide laundry…

Thanks to Bergita for a nice little summary of the importance of play to actually be a more effective worker. Neuroscience research has now shown that the brain starts to…

An article published recently in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that the physical appearance of money influences how people spend it. In short, people tend to spend old, worn-looking…

The Profession Association of Innkeepers (people who run bed and breakfasts) are trying to remake the image of the B&B.  They are seeking to attract younger travelers, and get away…

Metaphors gone bad. A study from Citrix reveals that 51% of Americans believe stormy weather interferes with cloud computing.  Heh-heh. Perhaps cloud was a bad metaphor to use.  Obviously companies…