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5 Non-Obvious Megatrends Changing Our World In 2020

For the past ten years I have gone through an annual ritual of publishing a book about trends that describe our shifting culture and business environment. Over the past decade, my team and I have identified and written about well over 100 trends covering everything from the rise of the #metoo movement (a trend we … Read more

6 Marketing Lessons From Ed Sheeran

There is a moment during a show at the Austin City Limits where Ed Sheeran finally starts to perform his biggest hit at the time: Shape of You. About 10 seconds into the performance, he breaks a guitar string. Watching what he does next is a master class in stage presence, preparation and perhaps the … Read more

The Real Reason Influencers Make So Much Money

Everyone wants to be an online influencer, because it seems to pay well, but who is really benefiting? This article from the USA Today actually takes the unusual step of trying to reverse engineer a “rate” for influence and ended up with an estimate of “up to $100 for every 10,000 followers per sponsored post.” The amount … Read more

Why We Should Stop Trusting Viral Videos

Last week one of the inescapable stories in the United States was a controversial video showing a group of Catholic students appearing to clash with Native Americans. They were widely condemned and the video was endlessly dissected in opinion stories shared online and one of the students even went on television to defend himself. Over the course of … Read more

Why Does The Internet Make Stupidity So Viral?

Drakes-Music-by-Climbing-out-of-Cars

Earlier this week the US government had to officially ask people to stop jumping out of moving cars to dance in the streets in response to a viral dance challenge for one of Drake’s songs. About the same time I first read this story, for some reason another story and video about how you can … Read more

How To Spot A Fake Viral Video

For a crash course in figuring out what is real and what isn’t online, who better to turn to than a YouTuber who has built a reputation out of debunking viral videos and showing what techniques they have used. While you could go frame by frame to see the tricks, the more useful conclusion from … Read more

15 Non-Obvious Business Trends Shaping 2017 (Retail, Consumer, Tech, Marketing, and Media)

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

Strange Korean Video Trends, How Fabergé Sells Luxury and Ikea’s Unexpected Ecommerce Experiment

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

What Coke Can Teach McDonald’s About Love

I should have loved McDonald’s ambitious Super Bowl ad promoting the idea that customers could pay with “lovin’” instead of cash. Any marketer should.  It’s bold, innovative, and takes a stand.  McDonald’s believes we should be nicer to each other and have a little more fun. What could be a better brand message than that? … Read more

What 5 Fake Ads Can Teach You About Great Marketing

Sometimes clients don’t buy great ideas. And sometimes creative people have great marketing ideas for brands they don’t work on. I have thought for years that the greatest marketing idea for Crayola would be to create their own series of coloring menus and crayons for kids, and sell them to restaurants on a monthly basis … Read more

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#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.

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