The challenger brand has disrupted the hotel industry by asking a simple question: “what don’t we need?” Apart from a strong focus on technology and convenience, its hotels shun many other standard features. That’s why they are situated in prime locations, but they use just 4.5 staff per shift and all rooms are identical.
Sam Salama
In the recent conclave, clerics actually used the film (of the same name) for guidance on deciding the new Pope. The film is considered to be remarkably accurate, which is especially helpful for the clerics with little experience of Vatican politics and protocol.
It’s true that people who participate are healthier, but that’s not a result of the programmes themselves: participants tend to be healthier beforehand. In fact a randomised study found that these schemes have no significant impact on healthy behaviours (or medical spending and absenteeism for that matter).
Côte Brasserie recently launched a range of £10 mains on Monday to Friday. A great offer, made even better because of its clever framing: the meal is more affordable than a range of (often needless) items you buy.
In Japan, sales of adult nappies have outpaced infant nappies for more than a decade – which makes sense given the country’s unusually old population (those aged 65 and over make up 30%). The decline of infant nappies has become so stark that Oji Holdings, a leading producer, recently announced it will stop making them altogether.
The Waitrose branded podcast gets more than 10 million views every week, and has hosted the likes of Florence Pugh, Tom Holland and Shania Twain. When a recipe is chosen for an episode, it leads to a 5,000% spike in searches for it on the Waitrose website.
Recent studies suggest so, but it’s a big misinterpretation. Excellent follow up research from KCL, exploring different question wordings, shows that Gen Z do indeed want a strong leader – but not if it means a dictator who gets rid of elections. In reality, Gen Z are calling out for better political decision making and not the end of democracy.
The vast majority of Americans agree the country would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing. But it’s less clear who those people should be – only 25% of Americans agree it would be better if they did.
Almost half of UK adults gamble in a given month, but the occasional players are not the ones the industry cares about: 86% of online betting profits come from just 5% of (very obsessive) customers.
How do you prove that these regimes are inflating their GDP figures? Use satellite data. By tracking changes in nighttime lighting – a measure of consumption and activity that is hard to fake – researchers found a clear link between lack of freedom and inflated figures.
If you think kebabs are for nights out, then think again: only 4% of GDK’s business is done post 11pm – this has been helped by a diversified product range, including healthier options like rice bowls, and an ad campaign designed to showcase its relevance at every meal time.
If you look at an election results map of Germany (in 2025), you can still see the iron curtain that divided communist East Germany from the west. The populist AFD party is dominant in the east, where living standards remain low after decades of communist rule, while it fails to cut through in the more prosperous west.
The beauty brand was hailed as a poster child for the DTC model. But now, as Shane O Leary notes, “it has 11 stores and a Sephora partnership is key to recent growth.” Like many brands it is realising that physical stores play a crucial role in brand growth.
As bleak as it sounds, suicide is a question of ease and not just motivation. In the US, suicide rates are highest in the states where gun ownership is highest (and largely where gun control laws are weakest).
Immigration is the biggest perceived problem facing Britain, but just 4% of people feel it affects them personally. It begs the question, why do people assume it’s such a big issue for others? Interestingly, this pattern holds for all surveyed issues with the exception of inflation – which is considered to be a bigger problem personally vs for the country.