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This week IKEA will release its new 2018 catalog, and this timely piece looks at how a small internal army of hundreds of photographers, art directors, copywriters, proofreaders, prop masters, carpenters, photo retouchers, programmers and CGI specialists make the catalog globally relevant. From zooming in on kitchen photos (because Chinese kitchens are smaller than American … Read more
Back when I worked in the agency world, I remember the angst every time an unreasonable demand came in from a client without a “proper” brief. Rather than try to change this sad reality of last minute requests (or complain about it behind the client’s back), “The Backscratchers” agency have created a model that embraces … Read more
The most famous portraits in history are all painted from the torso up. That was the interesting insight from Ogilvy that led to this campaign for shoe polish brand Kiwi which recently won big at the Cannes festival. By commissioning artists to draw the bottom half of famous paintings like the Mona Lisa – this … Read more
Sometimes it is hard to pick the perfect caption for your selfie, but Brazilian publisher Leya has a solution to help … and introduce you to some of their newest authors in the process. The brand launched a chatbot that will ask you about your photo and then suggest a quote from one of their … Read more
Senior citizens now officially outnumber the young people in Taiwan, and there is a growing worldwide shift among brands to embrace older consumers instead of largely ignoring them in favor of their younger counterparts. This week’s stories feature brands in traditionally younger targeted industries like athletics and lingerie using older ambassadors. Meanwhile a new startup promises … Read more
The stories this week are wide ranging – as I share one about an admirable new effort from Grey Advertising to promote diversity and offer more transparency into the diversity of their team supported by a few other programs that will help drive more inclusion in an industry that often lacks it. Other stories include … Read more
Fascinating stories from the world of business this week included Lego’s bold move to finally create a safe social network online for kids, Starbucks’ growing pains from its mobile app that perhaps works too well, a new startup that will pay business travelers to skip the hotel mini bar to save money, and how augmented … Read more
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
This week the Internet went crazy talking about how Brangelina split. Despite how important that “news” might be – it’s clearly not the kind of “non-obvious” story I have to share today. Instead, this week’s underappreciated marketing stories feature YouTube’s desperate plan to fix their longtime problem with comments, a glimpse into what Netflix might do … Read more
I am deep in the midst of writing the next edition of Non-Obvious and identifying new trends for 2017. The research has been leading me down some interesting paths as I curate this weekly email for you. You’ll see some of those emerge this week, in stories that take you inside the strange Korean social … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my latest book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - relesaed 10/01/2024.
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company and the 3-time Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ten books.
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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.
