Polaroid's Blue Film, Why the American Smile Is A Lie and the Year of Women Over 50 | Non-Obvious Insights #365

Dear Newsletterest,

This is the 365th edition of this newsletter so I thought I'd celebrate by sharing a reminder that you can always read the full archive of ALL past editions here. This week, I'm back in Brasil for a few events and reminded once more about just how common the challenges and questions that people ask happen to be across the world.

The curated stories this week offer a small taste of this as we'll explore the real meaning of the American smile, why 2023 may be the year of women over 50, an unusual product idea from Polaroid and Hollywood's new movie marketing strategy. To close, as a throwback to my very first edition of the newsletter back in 2016, I'll bring back the same sign off I used back then ...

With curiosity,

Rohit

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More People Predict 2023 Will Be the Year of Women Over 50

When Michelle Yeoh won the Academy Award for Best Actress last month, she offered these inspirational words to older women everywhere: "do not let anyone ever tell you you are past your prime." Now some people are predicting that 2023 could be the year of the 50+ woman - where older women are finally appreciated professionally and respected as important audiences by advertisers.

In other news this week was a story about how Gen X women in their thirties and forties are leaving their corporate roles. Together, these dual stories may signal that women over 50 will embrace their cultural and financial prominence and fill this gap too. Despite the gains, there remain lingering biases and challenges that remain difficult to overcome. For example, as one fashion designer shares: "the only thing keeping my stores open are women 40-plus, but I can’t advertise to them because then the 20-year-olds won’t come in." Unfortunately, until perceptions like these change, there's only so far this revolution will be able to go.

Why the American Smile Is A Lie

The American smile, perfectly signaled by saying "cheese" in photos is one of the most recognizable exports of our culture. Usually meant to indicate friendliness or happiness, it is a gesture that does not send the same signal in other regions of the world. In a fascinating exploration of smile culture and it's effect on AI image generation tools, this article offers a different perspective on the value of the American smile.

If the story of history can be told through the real images that survive, it's important that we appreciate the cultural significance of the contrived smile without applying it to situations where it doesn't belong. In other words history, whether imagined or real, can't always be delivered or understood through a smile.

What Happened When a Writer Tested Generative AI Pretending To Be Him

Given the volume of ChatGPT articles out there, I decided weeks ago to only share the most non-obvious of them that I read. This exploration of the tool from my friend Josh Bernoff is a great example, as he decides to test out a version of the AI tool by directing it to write in his own voice and then shares his observations about the results on his blog called Writing Without Bullshit.

What he discovers is alternately scary, fascinating and will definitely give you a more thoughtful perspective on how ChatGPT (or any other such tool) actually works. In the best case, it might also offer you a useful guide on how to get the best value out of the tool yourself ... while maintaining the right level of skepticism about the content it generates. His bottom line conclusion: what sets good human writers apart is the ability to use wit, humor and (ideally) wisdom in a way that AI has yet to grasp. That and the potential to write without bullshit.

Polaroid Finds Marketing Success In A Chemistry Lab Accident

Happy accidents are one of the reasons people like instant film. In recent years, Polaroid and it's retro products have made a comeback as more younger content creators are shaking their trademark images and using these instant photos to share moments with friends and fans. Recently, the brand took what was supposedly a lab accident resulting in blue tinted film - and chose to launch that flawed film as a unique product called Reclaimed Blue 600.

While the "popularity" of the new product (it's not yet clear whether it is succeeding) will likely be short lived, the thinking behind it offers some good insights for the rest of us. If you can take your own accidents and turn them into opportunities, you could create your own attention-getting "reclaimed" products too.

How Hollywood Is Rethinking Movie Marketing Strategy ... and Why It Is Helping Everyone Win

On the surface, if a movie with a $130M budget only makes $30M during it's box office opening -- that would quantifiably qualify as a flop. These are the approximate numbers right now for the new Ben Affleck film Air, however the movie is widely being considered as a success within Hollywood. Why?

The answer to this question also explains the new economics of movie making in the streaming era. Essentially, the biggest shift is that theaters are no longer the make or break measure of success for a film. Instead, they are increasingly being used as "marketing vehicles" to gain widespread attention and public awareness of films that are destined to quickly move to streaming platforms.

In this model, everyone seems to win. Actors and filmmakers earn a more generous deal from a streamer. The theaters win because they get access to a film that would otherwise have gone straight to a streaming platform. The streamers get a new avenue to promote their film before making the long tail of their profits via streaming agreements. And consumers get to have a choice to watch a movie on the big screen, or wait to watch it for "free" (assuming a subscription) on a streaming platform. Could the future of the movie industry really be a model where everyone wins?

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

Every week I always curate more stories than I'm able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

How are these stories curated?

Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Looking for a speaker inspire your team to become non-obvious thinkers through a keynote or workshop? Watch my new 2023 speaking reel on YouTube >>

Want to share? Here's the newsletter link:
https://mailchi.mp/nonobvious/365?e=f7921ac548

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Polaroid's Blue Film, Why the American Smile Is A Lie and the Year of Women Over 50 | Non-Obvious Insights #365

More People Predict 2023 Will Be the Year of Women Over 50

Why the American Smile Is A Lie

What Happened When a Writer Tested Generative AI Pretending To Be Him

Polaroid Finds Marketing Success In A Chemistry Lab Accident

How Hollywood Is Rethinking Movie Marketing Strategy ... and Why It Is Helping Everyone Win

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

Older messages

The Demise of April Fool's Day, Italy Bans English and a Journey Inside a Brazilian Favela | Non-Obvious Insights #364

Mammoth Meatballs, Doggie Dim Sum, Powdered Beer and Ed Sheeran's Marketing Techniques | Non-Obvious Insights #363

The Fish of the Future, Rise of the DINKS and the Non-Obvious Party Photo Gallery | Non-Obvious Insights #362

The Future Normal Launches, Mullet-Only Salons, Body Doubling and Why Kids Hate Music Classes | Non-Obvious Insights #361

The Most Important Job You Don't Know, Why "Deinfluencers" Matter and the End of the English Major | Non-Obvious Insights #360

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