Monopoly released a new ‘simplified’ version of the game, where a mobile app handles all transactions and removes the need for a banker or physical money. Sure, players will find it easier to pay, and harder to cheat, but in the words of one journalist: “it is nowhere near as tantalising as the prospect of flaunting piles of pink and orange notes in a delicious victory over your competitive mother.” Plus, as any regular player will know, a bit of fraud is part of the fun.
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By the time of Monty Python’s 25th anniversary, author George Perry wrote that “the five surviving members had with the passing years begun to occupy an institutional position in the edifice of British social culture that they had once had so much fun trying to demolish.”
The bank initially required customers to join a three week waiting list, creating the sense that the product was special. It then gave customers a golden ticket – but only one – to pass to friends so they could skip the waiting list and get immediate access. According to founder Tom Blomfield, “it just worked incredibly well – about 40% of our sign-ups in 2017 came from golden tickets and it cost us nothing.”
The brand has a simple rule: add ‘by monkeys’ to any sentence to ensure you are writing in the active – not passive – voice.
Mooooonpig.com
Most people think moral values are getting worse. But archival data shows we’ve been thinking that for over 70 years. Plus, there is no evidence that morality is in fact declining (e.g. in terms of how helpful and respectful we are to each other).
Every penny counts for supermarkets. So Morrisons has recently increased the temperature of its freezers from -18°C to -15°C, after a previous trial suggested the move would save 10% on energy costs.
In fact they’re very rare. Panel data shows that the most common number of items purchased in a supermarket is one, with half of all trips buying 5 or fewer items.
Motown record label dominated the charts in the 1960s, collecting 35 number ones from artists like Stevie Wonder, the Supremes and the Jackson 5. The label’s founder, Berry Gordy, had the idea of building this factory of talent while assembling cars at a Ford plant. “Different stations would put things on there, and they would go out another door a brand new car. I said, my goodness, I could do this with people.”
People like to think they have sophisticated taste in movies, but as Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos puts it, “they just want a movie that they love.” Maestro, with its seven Oscar nominations, couldn’t get it into the top ten most-watched films on Netflix at Christmas: viewers preferred Zack Snyder’s space opera Rebel Moon and the arrival of the 1990 classic Pretty Woman on the service.
In a controlled study, people listening to new music liked a song more when they were told it was popular, vs the same song without any extra information. So much for independent choices.
Want to become an NBA player? It helps if your dad played in the league. And you can massively increase your odds of becoming President by the same token (though beware low sample sizes for that stat).
Nescafé has expanded its customer base by venturing into ice cream and iced drinks – a new way of staying relevant when less than half the global population buys instant coffee.
Nespresso entered the coffee-to-go market in 2024, opening its first café near Liverpool Street station – as the busiest train station in England, it’s not a bad place to attract new customers.
NPS is a simple way of gauging customer experience, but don’t confuse that with a measure of growth: studies consistently show that NPS changes don’t predict market share.