Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 46

The 2024 Soft Power Survey Honors Countries Who Still Practice the Art of Diplomacy in Complex Times

Pandas have long been used as a symbol of international cooperation. Known as “envoys of friendship,” the loaning of pandas from China to other nations was so popular for a time that it inspired the term “panda diplomacy” as a way to describe what is otherwise termed in geopolitical circles as “soft power.” This is influence exerted based not on military strength but on cultural cache instead.

This week, Monocle released the results of their annual 2024 Soft Power Survey and at the top of the lis...

What Three Beers Can Teach You About Reinventing Your Marketing

Beer is a category that has long been defined by the tastes great less filling debate. As a result, it’s easy to think that disruption would be nearly impossible to achieve through product alone.

In the last several weeks, I’ve discovered several new product examples that the opposite is true. I’m a beer drinker. I’m also a marketer. And the story of the rise of these three beers in particular can teach you some very interesting and useful ways you might rethink your marketing, no matter what...

The Untold Backstory of Warm Winter Spices Like Nutmeg and Cinnamon

There’s a story I used to tell in my marketing keynotes about the early popularity of cinnamon. Spice traders hundreds of years ago, wanted to inflate the price they could charge for cinnamon so they created an elaborate story about a fierce bird known as the cinnamologus that had to be tamed in order to harvest the fragrant sticks (the cinnamon) it used for its nest. Over time, the story was proved to be fabricated — but it turns out it’s just one of several unusual backstories for “winter spic...

Behind Netflix’s First-Ever Big Data Release and What We Watched In 2023

The Night Agent was the most popular show globally on Netflix over the past year and 30% of all viewing was non-English programming. 55% of all viewing on Netflix was original titles while the remaining 45% was for licensed content produced by others.

These are just a few of the insights you’ll get from Netflix’s newly released 2023 engagement report. For a company notorious for being secretive about their data, the data release is a sign something is changing. The company has been reluctant to s...

How Obesity Drugs Are Creating a “Seismic” Shift in the Travel Industry

As more people are taking GLP-1 drugs to lose dramatic amounts of weight, the implications for travel are definitely more than what you’re imagining … or what the industry is ready for.

Yes, restaurants will be impacted as people eat and order less food. But TSA may run into challenges as people no longer look like their ID photos taken many pounds ago. Airlines could save a stunning $80M per year in fuel costs if the average passenger drops just ten pounds. Active travel experiences will see new...

6 Non-Obvious Trends from Books That Shaped 2023

After six months of reading and deliberation, this week I shared our big Shortlist announcement for the top 15 books of the year, as well as a look at six curated macro trends from the hundreds of books published in 2023: Human AI, Good Work, Beyond Happiness, Forgotten Foundations, Broken Healthcare and Fix the Future.

You can watch the full show with reviews for all our picks and a description of the trends in the video linked below which is making the rounds right now (we just passed ...

Behind the Parties, Pills, and Paintings at the Art Basel Fair in Miami Beach

Sold artwork at an art fair receives a revered red dot sticker indicating it has found a home, or it has been “placed” (in art lingo). But what does it take to make that sale and who are these collectors who travel to the world’s biggest art festivals, checkbook in hand ready to become a supporting patron for today’s artists?

I found this insider look at the real day to day life of an art trader at the Art Basel show happening this coming weekend in Miami Beach to be quite eye-opening. Celebrity ...

The Minus Chair Saves the Earth by Cutting Down More Trees?

What if you could design furniture that captures more carbon than it emits? That’s the vision behind the Minus Chair, a design award winning new product from Norwegian brand Minus that is rethinking furniture design and selling. Trees only absorb carbon as they grow to maturity. After that, as they deteriorate, they release that carbon back into the atmosphere. So, as Minus has discovered, if you could cut down a tree at the right moment you will trap all that carbon inside the wood for the rest...

Microsoft Turns the “World’s Most Viewed Picture” into an Ugly Holiday Sweater

“It looks good on a monitor, but better on you.” That’s the legendary tagline for this soon-to-be iconic ugly holiday sweater featuring the “world’s most viewed picture,” that green and blue landscape that has shipped as the default screensaver on Microsoft Windows for nearly a quarter century. This is the perfect combination of nostalgia, dorkiness and understated cultural commentary.

In other words, likely to be a bestseller. More broadly, as a marketing tactic there is an insight here; what if...

How Sports Journalism Is the New Battleground for AI

Drew Ortiz and Sora Tanaka have two things in common. The first is that they are prolific fun-loving sports writers for the online version of Sports Illustrated magazine. Tanaka’s bio features a fit young Asian woman who “loves to try different foods” while Ortiz enjoys spending weekends “back on his parents’ farm.” The second is that they are both completely made up, with profile photos purchased from a site that sells AI-generated headshots. 

In a recent investigation, the profiles were discove...