Commitment devices go back to 800 B.C. In Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses hears of the sirens whose enchanting songs bewitch sailors to jump off their ships. So he asks the crew to tie him to the ship’s mast long before they cross paths with the sirens, and tells them to plug their ears with beeswax so they can’t hear the noise.
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The UK has seen a steep rise in worklessness due to long-term sickness, but what does this really tell us? In fact it says more about the benefit system than public health. Health problems aren’t actually becoming more common, but health-related payments have become more generous than unemployment benefits; making it more attractive for the workless to cite health as a reason for not having a job.
The advent of UK university tables meant that good grades no longer became an aspirational target for marks – but rather a minimum threshold to ward off low rankings. The proportion of English graduates getting ‘good honours’ – a First or 2:1 – has leapt from 47% in the mid 1990s to 79% now. At the same time, England is the only country in the OECD where the literacy and numeracy levels of 16 to 24-year-olds is no greater than that of 55 to 65-year-olds.
In recent years, credit income has made up half of all income for the likes of Nordstrom and Kohl’s.
When bike maker Van Moof started shipping to the US they found a lot of their bikes were being damaged by handlers en route. So they put an image of a flatscreen TV on every box, assuming handlers would care a little more about that. Suddenly shipping damages dropped by 80%.
92% of plant-based meals are eaten by non-vegans who are choosing to reduce their meat and dairy intake.
Contrary to popular belief, Viagra doesn’t increase sexual desire – it only potentiates your natural desire by relaxing the blood vessels in the penis. In other words, you still have to be up for it to be up for it. According to Murray Blacket, a psychosexual therapist, “before Viagra, erectile dysfunction was thought to be up to 90% psychological and 10% organic. With everything put out by the drug companies over the years, that’s now reversed. It’s seen as mostly an organic, physical problem.”
Roy Raymond founded Victoria’s Secret so that he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable buying lingerie for his wife.
VAR has only helped to magnify the subjectivity in Premier League refereeing; it just means those decisions now take several minutes, and they happen in an office not on the pitch.
Across all types of video watching, some people watch a lot and a lot watch a little.
The online marketplace was started by Milda Mitkute, a 22 year old student, who had a wardrobe stuffed full of clothes but couldn’t fit them all in her small flat. What if she could sell them online?
50% of vinyl buyers don’t actually own a record player. Some music fans want to see and touch their favourite albums without wanting to listen to them.
With the goal of ‘putting glamour back in the sky’ but with insufficient money to launch a traditional advertising campaign, Virgin Airlines used the plane itself as a source of publicity; hosting a Victoria Secret’s pyjama party during a flight, and featuring an advanced screening of the HBO TV show Entourage. The constraint brought originality and freshness that a normal campaign would have lacked.
Richard Branson set up Virgin Records when he was only 20 years old. Lacking experience in the music industry – and business more broadly – he promoted music that he thought was cool, even though it was shunned by traditional labels. It was this alternative positioning that built the brand’s fame, helping it sign musicians like the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols.
How could Volkswagen hope to outsell competitors with a cheap, slightly ugly German car? Flaunt your flaws, and ask consumers to ‘think small’.