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The Creepy Things Uber Knows About You (And Other Non-Obvious Insights)

It seemed like the theme of the week was reduction through small tweaks as Twitter announced a long awaited small tweak to eliminate photos and videos from the allowable 140 character character tweet limit, the FDA made small changes to the iconic nutrition facts label after two decades, Victoria’s Secret made a change to finally discontinue … Read more

Branding Secrets Of Lin Manuel Miranda, Inside The Hyperloop and Google’s Vision For The Future

This week was filled with big news about big brands. Google revealed its upcoming roadmap of innovation. Fast Company interviewed the creator of the wildly popular musical Hamilton on how he built such a powerful brand so quickly. Slate offered a glimpse into the secret brilliance of Under Armour’s non-lifestyle basketball shoe inspired by Steph … Read more

Game of Thrones Fights Piracy, Why Writing Skills Matter, and Lockheed Martin’s School Bus To Mars

I am sitting in an airport lounge in Zurich and putting the final touches on my selections for the most under appreciated stories of this week navigating through stories about perhaps the greatest underdog sports story in soccer history, YouTube’s ongoing plans to kill the cable television industry and Budweiser’s slightly desperate attempt at relevance … Read more

Zika Killing Billboards, Facebook’s Tip Jar And HBO’s Ambitious Hologram Strategy

This past week it was hard to escape the dominating headlines of the US political primary – and the announcement of a coming change to the faces on the $20 dollar bill. Outside the mainstream news, though, were several relatively quiet stories that contained potentially huge implications for marketers and business overall – from a … Read more

Smart Wine, Driverless Race Cars, Rhode Island’s Marketing Flop and the Truth About Blackberry

Some weeks have more happening than others and this week’s list of the most under appreciated marketing stories was tough to curate. Interesting stories like Samsung’s new patent on “smart contacts” or Medium’s big announcement about the future of publishing narrowly missed the list – while stories like the Internet firestorm over Nest’s choice to … Read more

Why Instagram Reinvented Its Newsfeed, Racist Zip Codes and New Release Movies For $50

Want these insights before anyone else? Join my email list to receive a curated list of top non-obvious stories of the week and useful insights like these every Thursday – a full 24 hours before they are published on this blog!  Click here to subscribe >> For the past week, you’ve likely heard all about SXSW … Read more

Whiny Millennials, Selfie Payments and Yelp Sells Its Data

This past week included the biggest event in mobile tech in Barcelona, the continuing #OscarsSoWhite drama about lack of diversity at the Academy Awards and our long awaited permission from Facebook to have emotions other than “Like” to describe how we feel. Going beyond the obvious is the focus every week in this newsletter, so rather than rehash the biggest … Read more

Deadpool Marketing Secrets, Adidas’ Subscription Box and a $3 Android Phone

As the mainstream news this week alternated between reports of Apple’s “showdown” with the US government and the latest idiotic rant from Kanye West, there was also the story of Adidas quietly launching a bold bet on the subscription economy and the culmination of one of the most innovative movie marketing strategies in recent memory. … 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

3 Ways Dumb Phones Might Save Nokia

Last month Nokia quietly missed the opportunity of the decade. It wasn’t easy to spot. Amidst all the news about the mega-implications of the Microsoft-Nokia merger this week, some critics are adding up the failures of two doomed brands while others see it as proof of Android’s projected growth. Just about every article looks at … 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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