The Non-Obvious Insights Blog. Non-Obvious Insights
The Non-Obvious Insights Blog.

Dedicated To Helping Readers
Be More Interesting
Since 2004.

As Featured In:

What I Learned By Predicting Trends For 8 Years (And Almost Becoming A Futurist)

NonObviousBookCovers

I have often resisted describing myself as a futurist. To me, a futurist was someone who offered an ambitious prediction of the far future — usually focusing on things like energy produced by bio luminescent bacteria or 3D printed houses. Instead, I have spent close to the past decade predicting the near future. Every year, … Read more

The Ad Council Helps Connect Creative Marketing Pros With Nonprofits

I admit that despite my many years working in marketing and advertising I have never been lucky enough to work on an Ad Council pro bono campaign, but have routinely admired them. Now they have teamed up with Taproot to launch a wonderful site designed to help nonprofits access free professional support from a variety … Read more

Flavor Changing Skittles And Other Fun Halloween Stories

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

Stop Selling Products & Services and Sell Projects Instead

88-hbr-projects-vs-products

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

Snickers Launches Plan To Sell Candy Bars Based On Emotions

Forget using tech and big data for personalization – Snickers has a better idea … just let people tell you how they are feeling. The new versions of their “hunger bar” (as they are now calling their product) which will come out in June 2018, branded along with the emotion that they might fit with (like Salty&Sweet … Read more

Nissan Will Make Its Electric Cars “Sing” To Protect Pedestrians

88-nissan-canto

Electric cars are too quiet. For years, unsuspecting pedestrians accustomed to listening for cars would walk into the road in front of electric cars, unaware of their proximity. At the Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan proposed an interesting solution: they will make their new cars “sing.” As creators continue to innovate to make tech as human-friendly as possible – … Read more

Why You Can Focus In A Noisy Coffee Shop, But Not A Noisy Office

For years one of my favorite tools for writing is a website called Coffitivity which simulates the background noise of a coffee shop. I find this little tool a perfect backdrop for writing and use it almost every day. In this article, author David Burkus shares some research behind why having this type of “white noise” in … Read more

How Diverse Are US Newsrooms? Not Very …

In this data visualization, the shift in diversity of both race and gender in newsroom staff and leadership across the country is analyzed with some interesting results. The newsrooms overall, as you probably expect, are overwhelmingly white and skewed toward men. More interesting is the fact that over the past 15 years the Washington Post and NY Times have … Read more

The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter. Non-Obvious Insights
Layer 97
The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter
Layer 118

Skip the obvious and anticipate the future with our weekly newsletter. Join over 25,000 subscribers and start receiving the stories (and insights) you’ve been missing.

All Books

#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.

Contact ROHIT

Have a Question or Inquiry?

Just fill out this form, and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours!

Contact

About You

What Are You Contacting Us About*:

Your Message