Brand Humanity

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: I Bottled My Mother by Monica Nassif

This is the story behind the “cult-favorite cleaning line inspired by Monica’s real-life mom, Thelma Meyer: a whip-smart, no-nonsense Midwesterner who raised nine children with...

Meta and Amazon Both Prove in the Same Week That Tech Company Greed May Have Some Limits

Last week, three seemingly unrelated stories offered a glimpse into a perhaps hopeful version of reality. After losing over $84 billion dollars, Meta finally shut down...

The Wildly Effective #QuitGPT Movement May be the Easiest Boycott in Human History

The #QuitGPT consumer boycott movement is accelerating. More than 2.5 million people have chosen to delete ChatGPT and switch to another AI model such as Anthropic’s Claude....

How Anthropic Is Winning the AI Platform Marketing War by Being Less Evil

Anthropic is winning the AI platform marketing war. In the quest to become the dominant category-defining player, OpenAI had the largest lead with ChatGPT. Then...

An Advertising Campaign That Could Actually Make You Happier

You should go out and have a beer. And just in case you need a bit of encouragement, Heineken wants you to go and have...

A Lesson In Marketing Strategy From the Cheetos Shape Hunt

Searching for Cheetos that are shaped like anything is a fairly idiotic way to spend your time. It’s also surprisingly popular despite its idiocy. The...

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Always Eat Left-Handed … And Other Secrets for Killing It at Work and in Real Life by Rohit Bhargava

Back in 2013, I wrote a career and life advice book. It was my third book and before I really understood what it took to...

The Most Popular Non-Obvious Stories of 2022 (Based On Reader Feedback)

Based on this combination of quantitative and qualitative data, here is a partial list of some of the most popular stories of the year, based on what my readers shared.

Tom “Marketoonist” Fishburne on How Humor Can Inspire Change | Non-Obvious Insights Show

Trader Joe’s and the Slow Death of Brand Personality

Update – Two weeks after this post was originally published, Trader Joe’s issued a new statement sharing that they do not consider these brand names...

4 Big Trends From The 2019 Super Bowl Ads That Explain Our Culture

The best part of the Super Bowl experience is always the advertising. That was particularly true this year thanks to another joyless victory by the...

Why More Millennials Are Uncovering Their Tattoos At Work

For the past several years the debate about tattoos at work has gone back and forth between those who think a tattoo is taboo in the...

Victorinox and How To Use Powerfully Ordinary Videos For Marketing

One piece of advice I am fond of sharing from the stage is about the importance of showing your work – something we are told...