The fastest way to build trust might be telling buyers what your product won’t do. New 2025 research on brand transparency shows something neat: When brands clearly state their limits, purchase intent goes up. Consumers read honesty about trade-offs as a sign of integrity: “they’re telling me the whole story.” For product makers, it can be a massive opportunity. Instead of adding another paragraph of hype to your landing page, try a short block that says: “Not for you if…” Or “Best for…”...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Turning Grand Central Station into a pine forest might be the best sensory play of the season. Bath & Body Works is running a campaign that makes parts of New York City (yes, even its subways) smell like Fresh Balsam. Image courtesy Bath & Body Works The brand’s realistic evergreen tree scent greets commuters in Grand Central and Chicago’s Clark & Lake station, diffusing holiday memories into the air where most people expect … something else entirely. It’s genius sensory reframing. By...
3 days ago • 1 min read
The most polarizing products sometimes become the most profitable. A super-creepy doll.A blanket with sleeves.A pen “for women.” All ridiculous … until you see the sales numbers. None of them were great in a universal sense. But they truly stood out to someone specific. THAT is the trick most founders miss. You don’t need a product everyone on earth agrees is amazing. You DO need one a specific group can’t shut up about. Great doesn’t mean perfect. It means resonant. It means a clear hook, a...
4 days ago • 1 min read
In life and in marketing, silence is one of the most poignant signals there is. Every year on November 11, I stop what I’m doing at 11:00 am. That two minutes of silence is powerful not because of what it says … but exactly … the opposite. In Canada, we take two minutes for Remembrance Day. Americans pause for the same duration on Veteran’s Day at 2:11 pm eastern time. It always brings thoughts and feelings I wouldn’t otherwise have. In product and brand communication, the same principle...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Your product’s sound shapes trust faster than your logo ever could. The best brands know: sound is feel, presented as audio. The soft, sure “thunk” when a car door closes.The whispery click of a premium skincare lid.The dull, confident taps of a well-built keyboard. Each tells the user something before a word is said. Research on sensory congruence shows that low, damped sounds signal strength and durability; higher-pitched clicks communicate precision but can feel fragile. When those signals...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Don’t stop at solving problems. Evoke wonder! Recent research shows that awe is more than a feeling. It’s a cognitive reset. It widens perception, opens people to novelty, and deepens emotional attachment. For product makers, that means your job doesn’t end at making something work. You’ve got to make it dazzle. Think of the first time you unboxed an iPhone and the screen seemed to “come to life” to greet you in a variety of languages. Or the shimmer of a color-shifting finish that makes you...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Before a buyer reads the label, they’ve already judged your product by touch. A new design study confirms what great makers have always felt intuitively: the visual–tactile properties of materials significantly shape product appeal. Even when two objects look identical, one that feels slightly more substantial or textured is consistently rated higher in quality and value. That’s because the brain treats touch as a shortcut for trust. Smooth becomes “refined.”Weight becomes “worth.”Softness...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Your brand only has two seconds to earn a glance. On a good day. A new deep-learning study on visual attention in packaging found that logo placement, orientation, and even nearby faces dramatically impact whether a brand registers in the first glance. And that moment matters: research shows 81 % of purchase decisions for new products are influenced by packaging design, and 72 % of shoppers admit it sways them. From a cognitive angle, shoppers scan shelves on autopilot. But heir attention...
9 days ago • 1 min read
With endless buzzes, chimes and beeps, haptics can carry meaning — if you let them. If you felt your phone rumble like a Formula One racer from this summer’s F1 haptic movie trailer, you know how powerful touch can be. The subtle vibration synced with the growl of the engines. Like being trackside, you don’t just only the speed, you feel it. That’s the future of tactile storytelling. And it’s bigger than a cool effect. Researchers studying “dark haptics” have shown how vibration patterns can...
10 days ago • 1 min read
