Adobe increased retention rates by 8% with a simple tweak to their call centre scripts: instead of asking customers why they were cancelling, which had been the default question, agents now asked, “why did you choose Adobe in the first place?” A subtle change that reminded the customer of the reasons they chose Adobe in the first place.
Clever innovation
Creative ideas for growing a brand.
Airbnb recently launched a co-host network to make it easier for hosts to manage their properties. Co-hosts will create a listing on Airbnb, take photos, clean, and manage check-in with guests. It’s an effective way of encouraging potential hosts to promote their properties, and a big step for Airbnb in the battle to find supply.
In 2024 Airbnb introduced ‘Icons’ – experiences hosted by the greatest names in music, film, television, art and sports. Guests can stay in the floating house from Up, the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, Italy and even the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. A brilliant way of making the brand culturally relevant.
It serves more champagne than any restaurant in the UK. The trick? Make it easy: each table is equipped with a “Press for Champagne” button.
In the early days of Bumble, founder Whitney Wolfe Herd noticed signs banning social media apps in university classes. So she decided to hang additional signs, with Bumble included on the list of forbidden apps. “No one knew what Bumble was yet, so when we associated ourselves with these products … we inserted ourselves into the assumption that that would be the app that they would want to use in class,” she said. “All of a sudden, those downloads started going up.”
Domino’s has an “order now for half time” ad that airs just before football matches on Sky Sports. It’s a clever, contextual way of encouraging people to use the product during peak moments.
Duolingo has developed its own official English Test (DET) to help people demonstrate their language skills. The DET is now used for international admissions by more than 5,000 higher education programs worldwide, as well as for visas in the USA. & Ireland.
Stamp a best before date on them. Sales of Tontine pillows tripled as a result of this innovation.
The American diner changed its name to “IHOb” to promote its new range of burgers. A simple tweak to its brand codes, but a powerful way of driving awareness and sales (which increased 4x).
Ikea is almost as famous for its food as its furniture, so in 2024 the retailer capitalised on this; opening a standalone restaurant in London, serving affordable meals as well as its iconic meatballs.
The Netflix autoplay feature led to “by far the biggest increase in the hours watched KPI of any feature we ever tested,” according to the engineer who created it. Different timings were tested – 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds – but 10 seconds turned out to be the sweet spot. Just enough time to catch your breath, but not too long to lose interest.
No one likes being put on hold, so Octopus energy makes it slightly more enjoyable by playing the song that was no.1 in the charts when the customer was 14 (based on the date of birth on the account).
Thomas J. Barratt understood media principles long before they were in textbooks. In the 1860s it was illegal to tamper with British coinage, but French centimes were still legal tender in Britain. So he imported 250,000 centimes, engraved them with ‘Pears’ soap’ – the brand he managed – and put them into circulation.
In 2024, one of London’s most recognisable restaurants marked its 30th anniversary by returning to its 1994 menu (and prices). A great way of appealing to price conscious consumers and standing out in the process.
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%.