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Spun and Peerflix – Online DVD Trading Then & Now

One of my favourite holdover sites from the dot-com era that is still around today is Spun.com.  I have always loved the idea of creating used cd and dvd store online for people to sell their old stuff and use credits to buy new stuff.  I think I still have a spundex somewhere.  I came … Read more

Nike Survives Ill-fated JoinBode.com Effort

Using celebrity spokespeople can be a tricky thing – especially when it comes to athletes and sports sponsorships.  Nike and Visa both learned this with their ill-fated Olympic sponsorships of Bode Miller and Lindsay Jacobellis, respectively.  Both turned out disappointing performances, with Bode Miller coming off as a total ass yesterday with his declaration that … Read more

The Evolution of Marketing

Several weeks ago, a few of my colleagues gave a presentation to our entire office about the field of word of mouth marketing, learnings from the WOMMA conference and what this means for our clients.  After the presentation, several members of our social marketing team commented that this area seemed to be nothing new.  After … Read more

The Olympics and Brand Extensions

I love the Olympics.  I always have – ever since living in Atlanta in 1996.  I moved to Sydney to be there for 2000.  My son was born right in the middle of the 2004 Athens games (appropriately, during the women’s marathon).  And now I am working on planning for a client that’s a Global … Read more

BuzzAgent Launches 90 Day Blog Experiment

Leading by example, Buzz Agent is demonstrating it’s position as a leader and pioneer in Word of Mouth Marketing with their new blog about the inner workings of the "central hive."  The Butman Experiment, as they call it, will be a blog written over the course of 90 days by John Butman (Dave Balter’s co-author … Read more

The Super Bowl Best and Worst Ads

Every year there are lists of the best and worst ads from the Super Bowl – and usually I look at them with frustration because they have nothing to do with advertising effectiveness … just pure entertainment.  Entertainment is fine, but it’s hard to imagine that any of the advertisers in the Super Bowl will … Read more

The New US Airways Missed WOM Opportunity

As part of the merger between US Airways and America West airlines announced in November last year (2005), they had an intriguing new decision to make about the beverage brands that they served on their flights.  America West had Pepsi and Budweiser, US Airways had Coke and Miller.  Over the past decade, both brands in … Read more

Are Customers Photoshopping Your Logo?

I remember about five or six years ago going through Coke’s brand guidelines for agencies in preparation for a project we were about to design for them.  It was a nearly 50 page document with details about everything from pantone colors, to reverse out instructions to where to place the trademark symbol in relation to … Read more

Lessons from the NFL Brand Marketers

I used to love Tuesday afternoons in Sydney.  In the middle of October, (heading into summer down under) every Tuesday at 11am I would make my way to the nearest sports bar – and stay for a three hour lunch  everytime I could manage it.  Because of the time difference, that was my Monday night … Read more

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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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