The iconic slogan was inspired by a murderer. Ad executive Dan Wieden remembered hearing it from Gary Gilmore, an American man awarded the death penalty in 1977 for killing two men after depriving them of their valuables, and used it ten years later when he was creating Nike’s first TV advert.
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One of the most innovative artists of the 21st century is a master at sampling. ‘Touch the Sky’ used the riff from Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move on Up’, and ‘Gold Digger’ sampled Ray Charles’ song ‘Hit the Road Jack’.
Booking site Kayak shows customers each airline it searches for. It takes more time, but it signals the effort that is going into the search.
In America KFC is a fast food chain, but in Japan it represents a sacred Christmas tradition. Restaurant sales are 10x higher than normal on Christmas Eve, any many customers now pre-order their chicken dinners months in advance to avoid hours of waiting in line.
KFC, the beloved American brand, generates 85% of its revenue from outside the US. One third of it comes from China.
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As crazy as it sounds, the Korean language was invented by one man’s kindness. In the 1400s, many lower class Koreans were illiterate due to the complexity of their language Hanja (effectively literary Chinese). So to promote literacy among the masses, the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty, Sejong the Great, personally created and promulgated a new alphabet known as Hangul, which has remained in place ever since.
Our desire to please others even extends to our voice. An analysis of interview tapes showed that news host Larry King would (subconsciously) alter his vocal range to match high status guests, like then-president George Bush and actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Lego’s research revealed that its toys weren’t just appealing to curious children, but adults who wanted to relive their childhoods. A series of 18+ product innovations have since become bestsellers; including the 2,048-piece ‘Friends apartments’ (based on the sitcom), a 11,695-piece ‘World Map’, and the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars. In fact adults now account for 25% of sales in the wider toy industry, according to the NPD group.
Lego (temporarily) turned their Battersea Power Station store into a florist – a brilliant way of bringing the brand to life.
Lego’s Fortnite partnership has reached 83 million people (largely adults) and helped the toymaker achieve double digit growth this year: a perfect illustration of the power of creativity in commercial success.
In the 1930s, English toymaker Hilary Fisher Page was selling a system of ‘self-locking building bricks’ called Kiddicraft. It then became the main inspiration for Lego, as the company will readily admit.
Lidl owner Schwarz Group has a standalone unit that offers cloud computing to corporate customers. It generated €1.9bn in annual sales in 2023, and its clients include Germany’s biggest software group SAP and the country’s most successful football club Bayern Munich.
When Thomas Edison created the light bulb, he presented the unfamiliar technology in familiar terms. He set the power of the electric bulb at 13W – almost the same as the gas lamp – even though it was able to go brighter, and he copied the gas lamp tradition of using light shades, even though these were superfluous: their original purpose was to stop the gas flame guttering in the wind.