Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 74

Refugees Use Airbnb To Book Trump’s Childhood Home

When Oxfam learned that Trump’s childhood home in Queens, NY was available to book on Airbnb, they sent refugees to stay there and share their personal stories. The move was a brilliant piece of calculated PR that helped put a human face on the plight of refugees to reach legislators.  While the home has since been taken down from Airbnb, the campaign is a wonderful creative idea and a reminder that sometimes the most important thing might not be what you say, but where you choose to say it.

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Why More Men May Be “Marrying Up” In The Future

This week a few researchers published a demographic study which examined the effect of more highly educated women entering the “marriage market” and therefore creating more dual income households where women are the primary breadwinners. Rather than seeing this as triggering some sort of crisis of masculinity, the report concluded that this is likely to “lead to a faster improvement of the family standard of living for men.” Or put differently, “men are getting the benefit from women’s progre...

Did Blue Bottle Coffee “Sell Out” To Nestle?

Soon after hipster coffee brand Blue Bottle Coffee sold to Nestle, founder James Freeman gave this wonderfully candid interview where observes how the deal probably dragged on because lawyers get paid by the hour. When asked about the backlash on social, he rightly noted: “nobody grabs their telephone and opens up Twitter and types in all caps, ‘I’M GOING TO GIVE THIS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.’” The interview offered a glimmer of hope that Blue Bottle might, like Ben & Jerry’s, end up a belov...

How Netflix Lawyers Delight The Internet By Having A Sense Of Humor

Earlier this week when Netflix sent a surprisingly human cease and desist letter to the folks who decided to create a “Stranger Things” themed popup bar without permission, people offered credit to their lawyers. It seemed to me like a better example of something that happens all too rarely in business: a brand deciding what they stand for and asking their lawyers to bring that same personality to writing something as standard as a cease & desist letter.

Read the full story on Yahoo! >

Love n...

How Libraries Might Save Humanity’s Soul (Or At Least Preserve It)

We expect libraries to maintain an archive of humanity’s best thinking, but what if a library decided to put so-called “pulp fiction” on the shelves? The term refers to a category of cheaply printed books from the early 1900s about lust, sex, theft, betrayal and degradation that were so lowly regarded that most were “pulped” (destroyed) within a few years of printing. Yet this throwaway category of fiction does offer unique insights into our own “messy, fascinating and appalling” history wort...

Why Leica Thinks Brand Transformation Is Overrated

I once heard a CEO describe the mentality of many new marketing executives as similar to a dog peeing on a fire hydrant: they are both too focused on engaging in mostly futile attempts to establish ownership. The analogy is slightly off putting, but not all that inaccurate. In that context, this unearthed print ad for Leica from several years ago shares a message marketing leaders could certainly stand to hear far more often. The most underappreciated brand strategy in the world might be know...

Why Millennials Hate The Doorbell

When you ask Millennials to describe the doorbell, a surprising number use phrases like “panic-inducing,” “hateful” and “terrifying.” Sound overblown? It turns out many millennials see the doorbell as an unwanted intrusion much like a phone call during dinner from an 800 number. Friends or family don’t show up unannounced and ring the doorbell. They send a text or Whatsapp message. As author Jean Twinge explores in The Atlantic this week, this reliance on smartphones may bring the unintended...

Japan’s Hottest Wedding Photo Trend: Couples Sealed In Airtight Plastic

Nothing says forever like getting vacuum sealed in plastic to be photographed with your newly beloved. Tokyo-based photographer Haruhiko Kawaguchi describes his quirky portrait idea as “a way for people to express how close and in love they are. ” At the end of the day, everyone wants to have that unforgettable wedding photo so there is clearly a market for this. And yes, in case you were wondering, the couples are actually sealed in plastic for the shoot. Which is sort of the perfect analogy...

Two Women Create Fake Male Co-Founder For Startup To Avoid Sexism

To combat early sexism, the co-Founders of ecommerce art site Witchsy invented a fake co-founder aptly named Keith Mann and started communicating with developers and partners through his virtual personality. To their surprise, the ruse was sadly successful. Keith would often be treated with far more respect by men and women in the tech industry alike. The story should inspire all of us to consider the bias we might have when emailing or communicating virtually with people who we assume to be...

Canada Offers Third Gender Option Of “Intersex” For Passports

On August 24th the Canadian government approved a provisional measure to allow individuals who identify as neither male nor female to select a gender neutral “intersex” option on official documents. While the US government continues to head in the opposite direction by reducing gender inclusiveness, in Canada this measure will already take effect as of August 31 – just a week after it was approved. Now they just need every country’s visa and immigration form to be updated to offer that same t...