Purple clothes seem ordinary to us, but to the Ancient Greeks they symbolised power. Purple dye was incredibly hard to find – coming from a sea snail called the murex – so it was only accessible to emperors, priests, kings and judges. It wasn’t until 1856 that a British chemist found a synthetic version of purple, soon making it available to the masses.
All Threads
Wedding dresses are synonymous with white, but we only have Queen Victoria to thank for this. For her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840, she decided to buck the trend of wearing red (white was reserved for courtrooms), and popularised a trend that has remained ever since.
After the Queen’s Gambit began ruling the Netflix charts in late 2020, Chess.com saw a 400% rise in registrations immediately, while US sales of chess sets on eBay soared by 60%.
The celebrated director makes his movies with an audience in mind, but that audience isn’t a big group: “It’s me – I am the audience. I am the guy who pays $8 to go and see a movie, and I’m betting there are other people like me out there.”
Quorn initially targeted their products at vegetarians and vegans. After all, who else would want to buy plant-based meals? But they soon discovered that these meals also appealed to health conscious non-vegans. This insight led Quorn to rebrand as a ‘healthy food’ company, famously partnering with openly meat-eating Mo Farah, and helped them massively expand their buyer base (and sales).
Quorn initially targeted their products at vegetarians and vegans. After all, who else would want to buy plant-based meals? But they soon discovered that these meals also appealed to health conscious non-vegans. This insight led Quorn to rebrand as a ‘healthy food’ company, famously partnering with openly meat-eating Mo Farah, and helped them massively expand their buyer base (and sales).
Getir and other rapid deliver decline
Think again. Over 55s are leading the charge in alcohol and drugs usage, sexually transimitted diseases and arrests – a result of having more disposable income, looser social attitudes, and fewer childcare responsibilties.
A decade of innovation around special flavours has boosted Red Bull’s penetration and increased overall sales by 9%. They’ve also helped to position the brand as a fun and social drink; now, 1 in 4 Red Bull drinking occasions are because it is “fun to drink”.
When Dietrich Mateschitz visited Thailand in 1982, he discovered Krating Daeng: a locally sourced drink that helped to cure his jet lag. He was so impressed that he decided to adapt it for a western audience. He called it Red Bull.
1% of Reddit communities start 74% of all conflicts. In other words, most people are nice and friendly. It’s also a reminder that opinions on social media don’t reflect the general population.
At Noma in Copenhagen, René Redzepi restricts himself to using ingredients that grow in Nordic countries. In an area where vegetation barely grows due to the cold weather, sourcing local food is incredibly difficult. The result is that Redzepi works with ingredients other chefs wouldn’t think of touching; rotten seaweed, red ants, and fried fish scales. The result is a menu of unexpected flavors that people simply can’t find elsewhere. Redzepi’s philosophy is that “the best discoveries are hidden somewhere in insanity.” It’s clearly paying off: Noma was voted the World’s Best Restaurant in 2021.
Jennifer Fleiss, co-founder of Rent the Runway, had no background in fashion. But she says that “being naive is one of the best secrets of first time entrepreneurship. So we were naive enough to reach out to Diane von Furstenberg and to ask her advice and her time.” The meeting gave Fleiss important pointers for shaping the business.
What causes riots? A study of unrest in 50 African and Asian cities found that “peak levels of unrest occur in the upper 20s [degrees centigrade]”. In short, heat makes it nicer to be outside at night. It’s not a coincidence that the 2011 London riots started in peak August.
During Covid-19, the public was inundated with dates for lifting specific restrictions. To make things easy to follow, a developer created a handy timeline based on beer consumption (the number one priority for most of the UK).