In 1985, thousands of blind taste tests showed that consumers preferred a new, sweeter formulation of Coca Cola. The company took this at face value, replacing the original Coca Cola with a new drink using the sweeter recipe. But the ensuing backlash to New Coke shows the limitations of objective thinking. Insiders forgot that, in the real world, people don’t consume drinks blindfolded. The data ignored the strength of the original Coca Cola brand.
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When Trinity Mirror media group asked consumers what they wanted in a new newspaper, they said content that was upbeat, optimistic and politically neutral. But when the group launched New Day – a newspaper that offered exactly that – readership was so low that the paper shut down within just 2 months.
The New York Times is now a gaming company (in terms of time spent by users).
Nickel, a French bank, wanted to provide financial services to low-income people but couldn’t afford to open branches everywhere. So the company used corners of existing cafés and tobacconists, which not only saved money but also provided instant reach and scale. Nickel now has 7,500 of these points of sale as well as 2.5 million customers.
Nickel, a French bank, wanted to provide financial services to low-income people but couldn’t afford to open branches everywhere. So the company used corners of existing cafés and tobacconists, which not only saved money but also provided instant reach and scale. Nickel now has 7,500 of these points of sale as well as 2.5 million customers.
Nike started out as a running shoe manafacturer, long before it ventured into casual shoes and apparel. As co-founder Phil Knight explains, “we just tried to get our shoes on the feet of runners… we thought the world stopped and started in the lab and everything revolved around the product.”
Nobel Prize winners, scientific geniuses in their own fields, have scientifically questionable views in other fields. Alfred Russel Wallace, codiscoverer of the theory of natural selection, advocated spiritualism and believed that nonmaterial forces explained the evolution of the human mind. Percival Lowell, a pioneer in planetary astronomy whose observations paved the way for the discovery of Pluto, was convinced that he had discovered martian canals of intelligent origin.
It’s a tale as old as time.
Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein coined the term ‘Libertarian Paternalism’ in a 2003 article – a doctrine that aimed to guide people’s decisions without taking away their freedoms. It’s unlikely the idea would have caught on, had it not been for the much snappier title used for their 2008 book: ‘Nudge’ (interestingly a suggestion of one of the publishers who passed on the book)
Despite all the technological change over the last decade, our buying habits remain remarkably similar: the average household buys a portfolio of 55 FMCG brands in a year. Of course the brands in question vary from year to year, but the challenge for marketers is still getting into a very limited buying set.
Nurofen veblen
After an Oasis concert faced technical glitches, the band sent out refunds to every attendee but with a twist – each cheque had their signature on it. They worked on assumption that most fans would prefer their signature to cashing the cheque, and saved up to £1m with a bit of ink.
Oatly distribution in coffee shops