Category: Advertising/Marketing
The Evolution of Luxury: From Gold Leaf to Inner Peace
Luxury isn’t about wealth—it’s about what’s missing. From postwar security to digital-era silence, what we call “luxury” keeps evolving. This essay explores how rarity shapes desire, how the luxury industry sells emotional scarcity, and why the most coveted experiences today are often the quietest.
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The Pope in the Mirror: Outrage, AI, and the Performance of Power
Trump’s AI images and media theatrics aren’t signs of dementia—they’re a deliberate strategy. What happens when outrage becomes the operating system of politics?
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The Reciprocity Effect: How Strategic Favors Create Powerful Relationships
That free cheese cube creates an invisible thread of obligation—the same primal mechanism that once ensured tribal survival now shapes your shopping cart.
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From Cigarettes to Cheetos: How Big Tobacco Engineered the Science of Addiction
How tobacco giants used addiction science to transform snack foods, engineering everything from Doritos to Oreos for maximum craveability.
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Navigating the New Normal: Phygital Solutions in Airport Retail
In airports worldwide, a retail transformation is underway. This “phygital” revolution...
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From Canada
Now doesn’t this make you want to emigrate? And people wonder why I chose to move to...
Read MoreIkea street graffiti campaign
As a flow-on from the Milan design fair, Ikea set loose a team of street artists in Milan to stick B&W stenciled figures on subway ads (it had already bought), turnstiles, steps etc. It was all with agreement...
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SpoonLidz – an idea which deserves more attention
SpoonLidz(tm) is one of those remarkably simple “why didn’t someone think of it...
Read MoreCoca Cola Immersive brand experience
In celebration of Coca-Cola’s 125th anniversary, they created an immersive “future room” concept at the Turkish modern art museaum Santralistanbul. It was 90m2 with 270 degree projection mapping and a...
Read MoreSponsored airport gates
Airports are always looking for new ways to make money, improve wayfinding and make the airport experience more enjoyable. This example from Taipei creates some interesting ideas. I don’t know whether the airport is...
Read MoreHard Yakka
The basic strategy for Hard Yakka ran for around 35 years and involved celebrating the hard working aussie working class. The jingle, which if I recall correctly was written by Mike Brady, was mixed and remixed for a good 10+...
Read MoreTurquoise 2010 colour of the year
Pantone are pretty good at picking colour trends or perhaps its just that people follow what they say and therefore create products in those colours. Either way we’re likely to see lots of turquoise in 2010, both in...
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