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15 Non-Obvious Business Trends Shaping 2017 (Retail, Consumer, Tech, Marketing, and Media)

Are you a member of the media? Visit our media kit to download a trend summary and more information about requesting an interview with Rohit >> This week I launched the seventh edition of my annual trend report featuring all of my research from throughout the year on trends. Many of you have already picked … Read more

Why “Strategic Pillars” Don’t Work For AT&T (Or Your Brand Either)

Last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, AT&T announced a new partnership with Microsoft to produce a suite of mobile Office products and wireless plans geared for small and medium-sized businesses. It is an understandably hot (and profitable) market for any technology services provider – with one recent survey noting that “new technology” was the number … Read more

What Coke Can Teach McDonald’s About Love

I should have loved McDonald’s ambitious Super Bowl ad promoting the idea that customers could pay with “lovin’” instead of cash. Any marketer should.  It’s bold, innovative, and takes a stand.  McDonald’s believes we should be nicer to each other and have a little more fun. What could be a better brand message than that? … Read more

The Underappreciated Brilliance Of The Helpful Honda Campaign

In 2007 an association of about 50 Honda dealerships based in the Southern California area launched a bold experiment. Faced with the reality that customers generally rate car dealers among the least trustworthy people in business, Honda and their agency at the time had an idea to change that perception.  The “Helpful Honda Dealers” concept … Read more

The Selfie Silencer And Other Silly Startup Ideas That You’ll Wish Were Real

The greatest word The Simpsons ever offered to the English language was “craptacular.” When Bart Simpson used it to describe Homer’s Christmas decorations, he introduced a much needed concept for us all: something that was so bad it might actually be good. Today we are in the age of instant startups, where launching an idea … Read more

The Best And Worst Of 2014 Sochi Olympics Marketing Strategy

Just mention “Olympic Marketing” to anyone in communications and two images will likely come to mind immediately. The first is the predictable 30 second spot focusing on the dedicated Olympian who wakes up super early, braves crazy cold temperatures and sacrifices a “normal” life for their dream. And the second is an army of lawyers … Read more

Why Most Trends Don’t Matter (And 15 New 2014 Trends That Do!)

If you believe the typical trend declarations for 2014 – this is going to be the year of big data, wearable devices, and ubiquitous tablets. These are the facts we have heard over the past two months presented as big insights for the coming year. There are only a few problems with these so called … Read more

The HSBC Story: How To Squander Great Advertising And Lose A Customer For Life

In case you hadn’t noticed, your bank wants to upsell you more services – and sometimes that’s not a bad thing. Unless your bank happens to be HSBC. There is a well known model in the financial industry for customer evolution that is based on lifetime customer value. If you deliver a great service and … Read more

The 300 Year Old Female Entrepreneur Story You’ve Never Heard

“Started by a woman, in a time when women didn’t start companies.” These are the powerful first words that introduce the story behind a brand you probably forgot you have in your kitchen right now. Kikkoman is the #1 best selling soy sauce brand worldwide, in a category filled with syrupy competitors that can rarely … Read more

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#1 WSJ & USA Today Bestselling Author

In addition to Non-Obvious Thinking, Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

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