23 2025 April
Tattoorism and the Elusive Quest for the Ultimate Souvenir
How do you remember a trip forever? Last year there was a feature story about “the rise of tattoo tourism” and how more Millennials and...
Read Now04 2025 April
The Sad Retreat of April Fool’s Day and What It Reveals About Our Culture
The week of April Fool’s Day, I regularly look forward to reading about all the brands taking risks, exploring their fun sides and doing something...
Read Now02 2025 April
Rimowa Sells Old, Beat-Up Suitcases and Demand Is Off the Charts
Buyback programs are getting popular among retailers in many categories but usually they are for products that are still in “sellable” condition that can be...
Read Now20 2025 January
The Problem of Fake Job Postings
The Wall Street Journal published a piece this week about the rise in fake job postings online. The reasons for these range from some companies using those listings to...
Read Now17 2025 January
What the Canadian Angst Over the Upcoming Trump Inauguration Can Teach Us
In days, President Trump will take office again and there is certainly some concern among the groups you would expect. One unusual source for some...
Read Now15 2025 January
The Slow Decline of Patriotic Branding (and Maybe National Pride Itself)
There was a time when patriotic branding was hot. That time seems to be over. According to an eye-opening new study from a sociologist at...
Read Now11 2024 December
Amsterdam Launched a Campaign to Convince British Tourists NOT to Visit. Did It Work?
Back in 2023, in response to a growing number of young male British tourists partying, getting drunk and generally behaving badly, the city of Amsterdam...
Read Now10 2024 December
The Non-Obvious Books of the Week: The 2024 Non-Obvious Book Awards Longlist
After considering more than 1000 submissions and hours of reviewing titles, I’m thrilled to share that our latest round of winners for the Non-Obvious Book...
Read Now06 2024 December
The Top 12 Trends from Non-Fiction Books Published in 2024
This week is the first announcement for our annual Non-Obvious Book Awards and we just published our list of the Top 100 books of the year...
Read Now29 2024 November
Short Form Video Is Back and It Might Actually Have Been a Great Idea After All
Four years ago, with much fanfare (and budget), a platform called Quibi emerged with the promise that people would watch short vertical episodic shows and...
Read Now31 2024 October
3 Fun Examples of Non-Obvious Halloween Creativity to Share
Today is Halloween and a new survey suggests that for nearly half of all Americans, it’s their favorite holiday of the year. Amidst all the...
Read Now27 2024 September
This Chatbot Could Actually Change Minds … Using Facts?!
The prevailing wisdom about human behaviors and beliefs today is that facts are not persuasive in changing minds or shifting beliefs. Usually, it’s true. That’s...
Read Now19 2024 September
How the Black List Changed Hollywood, and Might Change Publishing Too
Nearly twenty years ago, Franklin Leonard started publishing his Black List which collected “an annual survey of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays.” The goal was to help undiscovered...
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