Big, proprietary AI tools is not what makes this so good. The part YOU can snag is. Heineken has been finding cool, smart ways to use generative AI layers in its factory operations. Not marketing or trend prediction (although no doubt bits of those too), but primarily to answer a very practical question for people on the floor. “How do we do this around here?” Their CoBrain system (love the name) pulls from thousands of internal standards, past fixes, and operating practices … and lets...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Counterintuitive research shows early registration prompts can increase sales, even when fewer people browse. This one might surprise you. Every brand owner wants to hook the customer.Every digital marketer warns about bounce rates.I’ve warned about them (plenty), as a central part of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). And yet, research from the University of Houston and USC, tracking over 75,000 ecommerce users, shows the OPPOSITE effect. When shoppers were asked to register at the start of...
3 days ago • 1 min read
Being trendily weird can send signals that weaken trust. I have come up with plenty of unconventional spellings in naming work, for a number of real reasons. Sometimes you need the domain. Sometimes the common word feels too generic. Sometimes the team wants to look fresh, modern and distinctive. And sometimes it really works. Lyft is an obvious example. You can add Krispy Kreme and Kool Aid to the list. But the data says those are exceptions, not proof. Across eight experiments, researchers...
3 days ago • 1 min read
What we imagined robots would be doing by now, and why they aren’t. If you grew up watching sci-fi like I did, you probably expected humanoid robots to be everywhere by 2026. Walking factory floors. Filling labor gaps. Doing the dull, physical work we would rather avoid. Instead, Gartner predicts that by 2028 fewer than 100 companies will move humanoid robots beyond pilot programs, and fewer than 20 will deploy them at full operational scale in supply chains or manufacturing. I believe that...
5 days ago • 1 min read
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...
6 days 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....
7 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...
8 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...
9 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...
9 days ago • 1 min read
