It’s a tale as old as time.
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Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein coined the term ‘Libertarian Paternalism’ in a 2003 article – a doctrine that aimed to guide people’s decisions without taking away their freedoms. It’s unlikely the idea would have caught on, had it not been for the much snappier title used for their 2008 book: ‘Nudge’ (interestingly a suggestion of one of the publishers who passed on the book)
Nurofen contains exactly the same chemical as ibuprofen, but can be seven times as expensive. When it comes to pain relief, we assume expensive products must be better.
After an Oasis concert faced technical glitches, the band sent out refunds to every attendee but with a twist – each cheque had their signature on it. They worked on assumption that most fans would prefer their signature to cashing the cheque, and saved up to £1m with a bit of ink.
In a quest to dominate the US market, Oatly sent representatives to high-end coffee shops to share the product with local baristas. The baristas, effectively controlling distribution, would then recommend and their oat milk with customers.
Obesity is now considered a medical illness, but this is a modern perspective. Throughout history, obesity was seen as a sign of wealth and high socioeconomic status: when food was scarce and famine was rife, only the most prosperous could afford to indulge. The art of Renoir and Rubens presents an ideal figure that is very different from the one today.
No one likes being put on hold, so Octopus energy makes it slightly more enjoyable by playing the song that was no.1 in the charts when the customer was 14 (based on the date of birth on the account).
Aside from China (a country with 1.4 billion people and rising wealth), the countries with the most Olympic medals are all high-income democracies. Why is this? They are good at taking care of their inhabitants. Even in the remotest outposts of Norway, for instance, there’s generally an all-weather sports ground around the corner. Usually the changing rooms are warm, the coaches have diplomas, and kids can train and play at a reasonable price.
OnlyFans pays out $7 billion to its content creators, but the split is far from even. The top 1% of accounts make 33% of all the money and the top 10% of accounts make 73%.
At three Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana, a sous chef accidentally dropped a lemon tart before serving it. All he saw was failure, but the head chef, Massimo Bottura, saw an opportunity. He used it create a new dessert called ‘Oops I dropped the lemon tart’ – a tart served upside down and smashed, which “pokes fun at our daily striving for perfection and pristine beauty.”
Oscar winners are becoming less successful at the box office. In other words, a growing gap between what critics rate and what audiences want to watch. Reminiscent of advertising?
You often hear it has declined from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to eight seconds now. The problem is that the statistic has no reliable source, and the very concept of attention span is misleading given it is task dependent. After all, it didn’t stop people watching the entirety of Baby Reindeer in one go.
Advertising was banned on the Thames in the 1920s, so gravy manufacturer Oxo decided to build their logo into the windows at the top of their tower. It’s now one of London’s most iconic buildings.
What led to a 43% reduction in deaths from paracetamol in the 1990s? Smaller packs. The government reduced the number of pills in each pack from 32 to 16, making it harder for people to overdose.
Thomas J. Barratt understood media principles long before they were in textbooks. In the 1860s it was illegal to tamper with British coinage, but French centimes were still legal tender in Britain. So he imported 250,000 centimes, engraved them with ‘Pears’ soap’ – the brand he managed – and put them into circulation.