Ella Mills founded the nutrition brand Deliciously Ella after she was incapacitated by PoTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). Several hospital admissions and 25 types of medication failed to alleviate her suffering. It was only when she radically altered her diet, cutting out gluten and refined sugar, that she noticed improvements.
All Threads
Deliveroo came from an investment banker who wanted better delivery options when he was working late at the office.
In 1988, the US health department coined ‘Designated Driver’ as part of a campaign to prevent alcohol-related traffic fatalities. The campaign broke new ground when TV writers agreed to insert references to designated drivers into scripts of top-rated television programs, such as Cheers, Dallas, and L.A. Law.
How do you make a 60 year old cereal exciting again? Rotate it. As part of a 2008 campaign, Shreddies turned their cereal 45 degrees, called them ‘Diamond Shreddies’, then filmed focus groups of people saying the ‘new’ product not only looked better but tasted better too.
De Beers has single handedly transformed our notion of engagement rings. On the eve of World War Two, a mere 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds. After the brand’s ‘A Diamond is Forever’ campaign, that figure was 80%. What’s more, the campaign imprinted the idea that a man should spend two month’s salary on the ring.
China’s leading ride-hailing service installed giant touchscreens all around Shanghai so that people (especially the elderly) could still hail a Didi car without having a smartphone.
Chain restaurants scale by offering a consistent experience, but Dishoom bucks the trend; each restaurant has a unique story behind it, that informs everything from the decor and music to the lighting and bar menu. For example, the King’s Cross design is based on the events and people of the independence movement, with anti-colonial posters from the archives on the walls. This approach requires more time and thinking, but it undoubtedly contributes to the restaurant’s cult following.
The unusual exterior of Disney Hall is iconic in the world of architecture, but it’s the result of strict limitations on internal design; Frank Gehry & Yasuhisa Toyota had to create a vineyard-style seating arrangement to make the audience feel close to the orchestra, and there are no boxes or balconies to avoid social hierarchies. As Toyota says, “surround style is more intimate.”
It took Netflix 10 years to reach 100 million subscribers. It took Disney Plus just over one, thanks to Disney’s incredibly strong, century long, brand equity. (Though admittedly Netflix has won the streaming wars for the time being – leading the market with 300 million subscribers.)
In the US, “report cards” provide data on the performance of cardiac surgeons. Unfortunately, they incentivise doctors to avoid operating on the severely ill – instead choosing patients who might not even need it.
Dom Pérignon is synonymous with luxury, but it still needs to reach a big audience. The discount retailer Costco sells more bottles than any other retailer in the US
To solve the challenge of quick and easy delivery, Domino’s Pizza turned to those doing it best – ecommerce leaders. Taking learnings from players like Amazon, it allowed customers to save an ‘easy order’ that they can request in just a few clicks, and created the Domino’s Tracker – the first food delivery service to update customers on their pizza order in real time.
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.
For years, Domino’s Pizza had a promotion that guaranteed delivery within 30 mins or the pizza was free. But it meant delivery drivers often sped to make the deadline and caused a number of accidents, with one crash victim suing Domino’s for $79m. The chain shut the promotion down, citing “public perception of reckless driving and irresponsibility.”
In the 2024 election, Donald Trump made gains of +14 points among Latino voters, despite his condemnation of certain immigrants as “drug dealers”, “murderers” and “rapists.” It turns out that ethnicities don’t always predict attitudes, and the promise of low prices is more important than people think.