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This was a busy week with continuing stories from the Olympics, teens showing leadership, and the launch of a questionably moral new reality show from Netflix. Other stories this week take a deeper look at the potential of predictive banking, the rapid rise of StockX as a competitor to eBay and Emirates wonderful new ad that … Read more
In the first years of publishing my annual trend report, I used to wait until early in the year just so I could go to CES and incorporate some of the ideas and products from the show into my research. With the accelerated schedule of getting the report out by December, I end up forecasting … Read more
Given next week is Halloween – I thought it fitting to share a few related stories this week. The first is about Skittles “Trick Plays” bag which features candies that do not taste like their colors, which is sure to frustrate some die-hard Skittles consumers. Last week I featured Snickers hunger bars and this week I came … Read more
This post from GlaxoSmithKline exec Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez really got me thinking about a new way of selling. Rather than focusing on products or experiences, this article argues that the future might belong to brands who excel at selling “projects.” He uses the case study of how Philips moved from selling medical devices to instead partnering with Westchester … Read more
What would you do if you had to market a product that is competing with duct tape? Here’s a great 5 step strategy from the team at Adventure Tape … (1) Attack what people dislike about the market leader (duct tape leaves a sticky residue). (2) Get endorsed by media outlet targeting innovators (this story … Read more
In a league often defined by greed, with unscrupulous owners who are sometimes hated by their entire fan populations (like Daniel Snyder of the Redskins), it may come as a surprise that there are some who do care about more than the bottom line. Instead of requiring vendors to buy expensive sponsorships and then subsidize them with … Read more
Millennials are being blamed for the recent woes of casual dining restaurants like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebees and even more established brands like Harley Davidson – but is that really fair? This article looks at some of the reasons why the revered motorcycle brand may be suffering and whether the brand is actually failing to appeal … Read more
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
If you are one of those people who thinks that brushing your teeth properly takes too long, this new product will help. A startup called Amabrush has launched a toothbrush that will clean all your teeth in 10 seconds. It looks like a futuristic gag used to keep criminals quiet, but watching how this works … Read more
The intersection of luxury products and personalization will continue to bring interesting new ideas and this new watch from Louis Vuitton called the Tambour Horizon is a perfect example. The watch “is built to be a companion to the traveler. A feature within the watch allows users to view recommendations in big cities from Louis … Read more
Non-Obvious is my Wall Street Journal bestselling trend series about learning to use the power of curation to transform your business and predict the future.
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company, and the author of six best selling business books including the Wall Street Journal best seller Non-Obvious.
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Rohit is the author of 8 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.
