Scream Tourism, Reduced-Methane Cows, and the Return of the First Robot Many People Actually Loved | Non-Obvious Insights #228

Dear Newsletterest,

This week the Tokyo Olympics would have started and so of course I have a story about the unique marketing challenges they are facing now that it's been postponed. Other stories this week touch on the themes of virtual events, scream tourism, litigious chocolate, reduced-methane cows and a second life for the first robot that many people actually loved.

Beyond these stories, I'm back with my YouTube show this week - from a different location, but with the same collection of non-obvious stories that we have every week. Join me LIVE today at Noon EST on YouTube or Facebook to watch the show and comment on the stories in real time.

Watch the show LIVE at Noon EST on YouTube >>

Tokyo 2020 Is Now The Longest Marketed Olympic Games In History

This week would have been the first of the Tokyo Olympics and I was planning to be there. I'm a big Olympics fan so this week I can't help but think about all the athletes who trained for years only to have their big shot delayed. What I didn't consider, until reading this article, was that the team marketing the Games just had their task extended by a full year. How do you promote a big event that may or may not happen and keep excitement going at a time when people can't imagine gathering for an event of that scale? That is a serious marketing challenge, and I don't envy the team that needs to make it happen - but what they do next will be worth watching.

Today's Perfect Tourism Campaign: Send Your Virtual Scream To Iceland

There are many things these days that might make you want to scream out loud - but it's not always easy to find a place to do it. Now, in a timely new campaign for Iceland tourism, you can send your most heartfelt scream to them and the Icelanders will release that scream in nature for you. The campaign is called "Looks Like You Need Iceland" and it's a perfect way to remind people about the therapeutic effects of a scream but also of being out in a remote place far from others. While people may not be ready or able to book their next holiday right now, this campaign will get people dreaming of making Iceland their next destination when they finally do travel again.

Why CES Going Digital Is A Big Deal

By now, events going digital is not really big news - so you might wonder why I'm singling out this week's announcement from CES. When the world's largest tech conference goes virtual, that's a different magnitude. More importantly, the announcement coming six months before the event will offer plenty of runway for every exhibitor and participant of the show to completely reimagine what they will do to stand out and get business done. I believe several years from now when we look back on how quickly virtual experiences improved, we will see CES 2021 as a tipping point and moment when the possibilities really expand.

Ritter Gets Exclusivity On Selling Square Chocolate, After Ten Year Battle

After a decade long legal battle, German chocolate maker Ritter Sport is now the only brand that is allowed to produce square chocolate bars. Apparently, this battle over the distinctiveness of chocolate bar shapes isn't all that unique: KitKat has had similarly long running battles with other brands that use the "four finger" design. For anyone who doesn't work for one of these brands, the lesson seems to be that when you have a product that looks and tastes the same as the competition, the only thing left to "innovate" on is the shape of the bar itself.

Can Reduced-Methane Cows Save the Planet? Burger King Thinks So ...

Cows, and the methane their flatulence produces, pose a major environmental challenge. A new campaign from Burger King suggests one solution might be to feed cows a diet incorporating lemongrass, which their researchers found reduces livestock methane emissions by 33%. While some scientists dispute the percentage, I love that a solution so simple might create such a major impact. It offers hope that any major problem might have a similarly straightforward fix just waiting to be discovered.

The First Robot Many People Loved Is Getting a Second Life

Last year in this newsletter I featured a story from WIRED about the unexpectedly real sense of loss that many owners of the Jibo robot were feeling when its parent company announced they would no longer be supporting the social bot. Now another company has acquired the rights and patents to Jibo and have plans for a bold new future in healthcare and education for the robot that has become newly relevant thanks to the pandemic. For years Jibo has offered perhaps the most advanced case study of how humans can connect with a machine built with empathy. Now that Jibo is getting ready for a new life of utility that goes beyond the original vision as a social robot for the home, it will be interesting to watch what new lessons Jibo can teach us.

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Scream Tourism, Reduced-Methane Cows, and the Return of the First Robot Many People Actually Loved | Non-Obvious Insights #228

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