Artwork orientation shapes our expectation before words ever get processed. In a series of four experiments, plus an analysis of 256 Amazon product listings, researchers found that diagonal text orientation can influence how people feel about a product and whether or not they want to buy it. When an exercise-related product used an upward-tilting logo rather than a downward one, stated purchase intention shot up by 44.5 percent. The lift came directly from alignment. The product promised...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Efficiency doesn’t tend to slow consumption. It usually accelerates it. Jevons Paradox is a 19th-century idea with very modern consequences. It was first described in the 1860s by Scottish economist William Stanley Jevons, who picked up on something counterintuitive during the Industrial Revolution. As coal-powered steam engines became more efficient, Britain didn’t burn less coal as anticipated. The opposite happened. It burned more! All that efficiency made new uses economically viable....
3 days ago • 1 min read
The near future will reward products that can act, not simply analyze. I read a recent Kellanova piece predicting that digital transformation is shifting from modernization to reinvention. That framing matters even more than the tech itself. Kellanova is an American multinational consumer packaged goods company spun out of the former Kellogg Company in 2023. It focuses on global snacking, international cereals, plant-based foods and North American frozen breakfast products, with well-known...
4 days ago • 1 min read
Product launches feel monumental from the inside, yet are almost invisible from the outside. Launching a product is one of the most exciting things you can do. Building toward the day you finally reveal your life-changing marvel. Watching traction form, sometimes really fast. Seeing strangers delight in something that once existed only in your head. That part is real. I’m experiencing it right now vicariously through clients. What too many innovators forget is how easily real life can poison...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Success is dependent on whether the buyer feels recognized, reduced … or even abused. Researchers call it the Starbucks Effect. Across five experiments, people showed dramatically stronger preference for bakeries, cafés, and chocolatiers that used their name instead of an order number. Liking went up 37.5%. Preference went up 32.6%. Even satisfaction nudged up. On paper (or in an email) this sounds super-obvious. In practice, I’ve seen many brands dreadfully misuse this power. The effect is...
5 days ago • 1 min read
The right pairing expands the room, sometimes in a really big way. I wrote a while back about how Dr Pepper has, in many places, grown into one of the most popular soft drinks in America. It didn’t pull that one off by being neutral. It did it by being unmistakable (if not a little weird) for a soda. And now, it’s a weird Tic Tac. Tic Tac® Dr Pepper® Mints take that 23-flavor identity and compress it into a pocket format. This is not the strangest collaboration we’ve seen, but it is a notable...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Effort and scarcity do not reduce value, they create it. Nearly every Valentine’s Day, I buy my wife chocolates from the same place. There are excellent, locally made options two minutes from home. Instead, I drive 45 minutes, wait in line for half an hour, and choose from the latest work of a world-renowned chocolatier whose creations are sensational. You never know what you’re gonna get, but in the best possible way. Other award winners exist. This one is special to us. I know it before I...
7 days ago • 1 min read
The fastest way to LOSE a yes is to ask one more question. A 2025 Journal of Consumer Research paper looked at something many teams assume is harmless: the “confirm or change” nudge at checkout. You know the moment: You’ve chosen the product. Good to go. And then, the system asks if you’d like to confirm … or consider something else. In one context, this works. A subscription app nudged users to switch from monthly to annual and saw a meaningful lift. BUT, in another case, it totally...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Demand doesn’t have to ask permission from category boundaries. I avoid Doritos for one simple (but important) reason: I love ‘em TOO much. They are chemically engineered pleasure, and I know exactly how that story ends for me. Which is why PepsiCo launching Doritos Protein feels like a big moment to me. Protein has officially crossed into territory that used to be unapologetic junk food. Somehow, this is no longer a discussion about athletes, meal replacements, or functional snacks...
10 days ago • 1 min read
