Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 59

Non-Obvious Insights Show – Episode #230

Stories featured on the show this week:

One thing that could eliminate fake news
How Japan’s “culture of cute” traps women
An inside look at how Iceland beat coronavirus
Branding lessons from the shady history of the Oreo
The 17th century technique for selling during a pandemic
A sad new documentary about a surprising new ocean species
Plus, another selection for the Non-Obvious Book Release of the Week!

Stories mentioned this week:

Why Jonathan Swan’s Interview With President Trump Is So Goo...

Problemshifting and the Myth of Food Shortages

Every few months, there are stories about an impending food crisis. From the death of the humble banana, to the loss of fertile farming land to doomsday stories of outbreaks at food production plants, there are plenty of things to be afraid of. Yet the truth, proven by facts and data, is that the world is growing more than enough food to feed all of us, it’s just in the wrong places, too expensive or inaccessible. Rather than worrying about not having enough food, a segment from NPR this week po...

Watch Netflix Content Faster or Slower on Your Mobile Device

I spend a lot of time writing my books. For Non-Obvious Megatrends, my team of editors and I went through fourteen rounds of editing and obsessed over every word in every section to share the insights as succinctly as possible without losing the nuance of all the research we had amassed from ten years of collecting trend insights. Despite all that effort, I know that the vast majority of people who bought the book will only ever skim it or read part of it.

While I always hope they read more, I k...

Coca-Cola Imagines the Future of Refreshment with “Coca-Cola Coffee”

I spent four years in a place that acclimatizes you to believe there is nothing strange about having a Diet Coke for Breakfast. I’m speaking, of course, of my time living in Atlanta doing an Undergraduate degree at Emory University which is sometimes known, thanks to it’s large endowment from the brand, as “Coca-Cola University.” Yet this habit of drinking a can of Coke at breakfast or lunch or really anytime apart from maybe while having popcorn in a movie theater is never really a choice I und...

Why More People Should Skip the Hustle and Take the Paycheck

Hollywood and just about any other creative industry is filled with success stories of people to took big risks to find that “performance of a lifetime.” To some degree, these are what make awards like the Oscars so watchable. That actor who lost (or gained) 50 pounds in service of a great role, or the one who continually reinvented herself for each new character is celebrated. What about the actor who stays in the same role for two decades, without continually seeking something better?

There ar...

The Non-Obvious Insights Show – Episode #229

Watch the Non-Obvious Insights Show – Episode #229

The One Thing That Could Change Media and Eliminate Fake News

Award-winning journalist Eric J Scholl published a story this week where he deconstructs Jonathan Swan’s interview with President Trump. As he notes in the article, the most powerful thing about the interview is how Swan fact checks the President DURING the interview and refutes his false claims in the moment. As Scholl writes:

“If you can challenge forcefully, real-time, you don’t need to go back and do fact-checking. And that’s the real success of it. And at least part of the reason this type ...

Today’s Perfect Tourism Campaign: Send Your Virtual Scream To Iceland

There are many things these days that might make you want to scream out loud – but it’s not always easy to find a place to do it. Now, in a timely new campaign for Iceland tourism, you can send your most heartfelt scream to them and the Icelanders will release that scream in nature for you. The campaign is called “Looks Like You Need Iceland” and it’s a perfect way to remind people about the therapeutic effects of a scream but also of being out in a remote place far from others. While people may...

Tokyo 2020 Is Now The Longest Marketed Olympic Games In History

The Tokyo Olympics was scheduled to be happening this week and I was planning to be there. I’m a big Olympics fan so this week I can’t help but think about all the athletes who trained for years only to have their big shot delayed. What I didn’t consider, until reading this article, was that the team marketing the Games just had their task extended by a full year. How do you promote a big event that may or may not happen and keep excitement going at a time when people can’t imagine gathering for...