| | | | Dear edward,
We are days away from SXSW and so you might have been seeing some of my posts over on LinkedIn about it this week. I will be debuting some ideas from my upcoming book from the stage on Friday and we're hosting several other events too.
This week's email, though, is about fascinating stories as it always is and I have some interesting ones to share. You'll read about the first (and maybe last) song released as a slice of pizza, why Waze getting smarter might not be as great as they suggest, why you get more eggshell bits when you crack them and how the key to selling traditional medicine to a skeptical audience might start with better branding.
All those stories and more in this week's newsletter. Enjoy!
Stay curious,
 | | The Cover Design For Our New Book Is Ready! Get a First Look Below ...  | | | A big thank you to all the people who shared their opinions on the cover design contest, I'm happy to share the final cover of the book and also the new publication date of September 10th, 2024. We are a few weeks away from sharing the early edition of the book ONLY with our advance readers and book launch team. There's still time to join if that's interesting for you ... just click the link below! | | The First (And Maybe Last) Song Ever Released As A Slice of Pizza  | | If you think sales of music in a physical format like a CD are dead, this new single released as a slice of pizza might change your mind. It is the brainchild of thrash metal band Belushi Speed Ball and here's a bit more about it:
"Belushi Speed Ball has a cult following for its headbang-inspiring riffs and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, complete with Spongebob Squarepants references and biting commentary on municipal waste systems. Specifically, the band is a part of the "Pizza Thrash" subgenre of thrash metal, a semi-derogatory name for bands that lean on cultural references from the '80s."
The whole thing makes sense when you read the backstory. It seems a music critic tried to insult the band by writing that they were "the frozen pizza of pizza thrash" -- which inspired this idea. Apparently, this sort of thing isn't new for the band which has done many crazy ideas in the past as well. It's hard to blame them. It's obviously working. | | Mapping Apps Are Getting "Smarter" ... That Might Not Be Good News  | | Waze announced several "improvements" this week including the ability to warn you about emergency vehicles ahead, warnings for sharp turns coming up and alert you about which lane you should be in as you enter a roundabout. In other words, they have launched features to help distract drivers who are paying attention to the road already to look at their phone instead.
If you're feeling the snark from my commentary on this, I admit I'm not impressed by these sorts of additions. Instead, I worry that a phone aggressively alerting a driver about an approaching fire engine makes it more likely that driver will take their eyes off the road to look at the phone at exactly the wrong moment.
The real innovation I would love to see is a mapping app that actively works to minimize the times you need to pay attention to it. Only show me upcoming turns and NOT popups asking me if I want to stop for a coffee or if a speedtrap another driver reported is still there. Reading this, I'm desperately hoping it doesn't take some sort of traffic accident or disaster to show Waze why all these additions might not be helping as many people as they think. | | Why Your Eggshells Might Be Cracking More (And What It Can Teach You)  | | Everything is connected. That's what you might start thinking after reading this fascinating story about why eggshells are chipping more. During the avian flu, many farmers lost a lot of their chicken population and so hens are being kept "in production" for longer. Usually a chicken makes it until about age 2 but today there are older hens around 3 years old laying eggs too. And that makes the eggshells thinner which causes more shell bits when you crack them.
Here's why this is interesting: I actually noticed this ... and I didn't. It was the sort of thing that we encounter often, where a part of our brain registers something new and different but then the other part of our brain tells us it doesn't matter and we should move on. That's a hard habit to break.
But that's kind of the point. Every small detail we notice might have a fascinating backstory behind it. What if we assumed it did? Maybe we would dismiss less things as insignificant and notice more of these details. And maybe that could help us understand more about the world too. | | Why The Key To Bringing Traditional Medicine Back Might Be Better Branding  | | Yes, this headline and the article it references are a conclusion that only a marketer could make. But it does have a point about how people react to beautiful branding in the health and wellness space. Mari Acupunture Clinic engaged an agency to reimagine all their branding the result is absolutely stunning.
It is easy to imagine a design like this helping the business connect their services with more customers and perhaps having more people reevaluate acupuncture treatment itself for their ailments. All of which is clearly the goal of the program.
So whether you believe in the power of branding as I do, it's hard to argue with the idea that this investment of time and resources will certainly pay off for the clinic ... and offer yet another story about how great authoritative design can help offer credibility and legitimacy to a business that it needs to succeed. | | 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 to inspire your team to become non-obvious thinkers through a keynote or workshop? Watch my new 2024 speaking reel on YouTube >> | | Want to share? Here's the newsletter link:
https://mailchi.mp/nonobvious/409?e=ee82cf54c9 | | | | | | | |
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