Retail & Path to Purchase
When Friction Becomes the Feature (And Why Convenience Was Never the Villain)
About a month ago, I wrote about the good kind of stress — the neuroscience of why hard things stick, why IKEA furniture you assemble yourself feels more valuable than identical pre-built pieces, and why Trader Joe's legendary parking lot chaos is a feature, not a...
When Convenience Killed Quality
There's a question I've been sitting with lately: When did we collectively decide that "good enough, but effortless" beats "excellent, but requires something of you"? Because if you look at how consumers actually behave — not what they say in surveys, but what they do...
Make Them Laugh, Make Them Cry (But Make Sure They Remember You)
What This Sunday's $7M Super Bowl Ads Reveal About Your Brand Every February, brands now spend around $7–8 million for 30 seconds of airtime. Most treat it as a gamble. Smart strategists treat it as the world's largest live experiment in emotional marketing. What...
The Curation Correction: How Brands Turn Overload into Calm
For two decades, most business advice about the paradox of choice has pointed in one direction: offer less. The famous jam study showed 24 varieties = 3% conversion, 6 varieties = 30% conversion. The lesson seemed clear. Trader Joe's built an empire on 4,000 SKUs...
The Good Kind of Stress: Why the Best Memories Come from the Hardest Hunts
If the memory of that first cassette resonates, you were born before 1996. Do you remember your first one? Not the one your parents bought you—the one you discovered. The one you saved for, hunted through record bins to find, brought home like treasure. You didn't...
Choose Your Own Adventure: Why Personalization Finally Stopped Guessing and Started Listening
Remember "Choose Your Own Adventure" books? Turn to page 42 if you want to explore the cave. Turn to page 87 if you run away. See content credentials I've been thinking about those books because of my ongoing war with streaming algorithms. I watch horror. Action...
Food & Beverage Trends & Strategies: Insights from CAGNY 2025
In February, 2025, prominent North American consumer goods companies met at the Consumer Analyst Group NY conference (CAGNY). This presentation explores how some of the best-in-class companies are responding to evolving consumer preferences, leveraging technology, and...
DINKWAD: Unleashing a World of Marketing Opportunities with the Power of Puppy Love
Move over, DINKs; the DINKWADs (Double Income, No Kids, With a Dog) are here, and they're redefining consumer trends and brand loyalty. It's a cultural shift that savvy marketers can't afford to ignore. The Data Behind the Dog-Loving Demographic Young Americans are...
Teen Skincare Trends and The Stress-Free Opportunity
Skincare brands have captivated teens and tweens with their packaging, applications, and social media content, and Gen Z and Gen Alpha are becoming skincare afficionados, able to dive into efficacy and ingredients. In fact, market research companies peg the teen and...