Coca Cola is enjoyed in over 200 countries, and is available in the most remote places. Its presence is so universal that the former Zambian Health Minister complained that his country’s small villages stocked the brand but not lifesaving medicines.
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The company did start using Santa in advertising in 1933. But Santa had been portrayed almost exclusively in red from the early 19th century and most of his modern image was put together by cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1870s. In fact White Rock beverages had used Santa to advertise its ginger ale in 1923.
The coffee craze is nothing new. In 1739, there were three times more coffee shops per person in London than there are today.
The US News & World Report started to rank colleges based on a range of factors like acceptance rates and class sizes. But colleges quickly started to game the system; aggressively recruiting (and rejecting) candidates to appear more selective, and capping class sizes below the stated suitable amount.
Proverbs are largely contradictory:
– Absence makes the heart grow fonder / Out of sight, out of mind
– A stitch in time saves nine / Haste makes waste
– All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy / Idleness is the devil’s workshop
– Birds of a feather flock together / Opposites attract
– You can’t teach an old dog new tricks / Never too old to learn
– You can’t tell a book by its cover / Where there’s smoke, there’s fire
– Better safe than sorry / Nothing ventured, nothing gained
– He who hesitates is lost / Fools rush in
– Two heads are better than one / Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth
In a large scale study across OECD countries, 26% of the adult population were unable to use a computer – a stark reminder that your audience is not always like you.
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.
When Concorde was lagging during the 1980s, its owners discovered that the passengers significantly overestimated the ticket price. “So very simply, we said, we’ll charge them what they think they are paying. And so we put the fares up”. Concorde ticket prices were doubled to over $7,000 one way (in today’s prices) and it was repositioned to provide a super-elite class for bankers, the rich, and the famous.
Should you force a user to confirm a password when they complete your form? It certainly slows things down: removing the ‘confirm password’ box increases form conversions by 56% while not negatively affecting the password reset rate.
The term ‘consumers’ is used so often that we forget there are alternatives. But when we use ‘citizens’ instead, we increase our sense of trust and fairness. Could this re-frame help us unlock a new way of approaching marketing?
Britain’s 35,000 corner shops offer more than cheap booze; Evri, a delivery company, now drops 180m parcels a year into shops, or 22.5% of all its deliveries; Customers of online-only banks, such as Monzo, can deposit cash wherever there is a PayPoint; And about 4 million households are on pre-payment gas and electricity meters, meaning they have to schlep to a shop whenever it runs out.
The self service coffee machines were inspired by photocopiers in American convenience stores: the manufacturer installs the machine free of charge in return for a slice of the profits, and all they have to do is fill the copier with paper and ink cartridges.
There are no aisle signs or in store maps at Costco. Plus, the store frequently rotates its stock and changes its layout, making it hard to know what is available and where to find it. This is all part of the store’s ‘treasure hunt’ strategy; helping customers find unexpected items and creating a unique shopping experience.
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.