Grabbing market attention with the unexpected

How many famous accidental product discoveries are you aware of? There’s plenty to fill history books.

Let’s take Post-it Notes: the result of 3M scientist Spencer Silver’s failed attempt to create a stronger adhesive for the aerospace industry. Instead, he ended up creating a weak adhesive that could easily be removed without residue. And voila! A ‘mistake’ that we all use daily.

What about the miracle ingredient in the SK-II skincare line? It was discovered as a result of a chance encounter in the 1970s inside a Japanese sake brewery.  Despite their old age, employees maintained remarkably soft and youthful hands after constant handling of fermented sake “mash”. Scientists used this observation and a naturally derived liquid that revolutionized skincare.

Byron Sharp has shattered many brand growth myths with his books How Brands Grow part 1 and 2. He provided clear empirical data that showed brand choice is rarely driven by passion, but rather by our lazy brains. Brand growth is consistently driven by

• Physical availability: the ease with which we can buy that brands (channels; shelf position; number of facings; etc)
• Mental availability: the ease with which the brand comes to mind in buying situations (driven by how rich the brand is forged in memory pathways with category entry points and ease of recognition by brand assets).

Thanks to Byron Sharp, brands know what they need to build, nurture and measure to ignite consistent brand growth.

But what does this mean for category growth? How did categories such as craft beer, electric vehicles and plant-based milk grow outside their niches and achieve mass appeal? As with brand growth, it’s not some unkowable magical force, but rather there exist consistent growth factors that can be measured and actively reinforced.

Which empirical laws fuel the growth dynamics of entire categories? Last month, a team of researchers from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute have widened their scope with ‘How Categories Grow’.

In the world of consumer psychology, variety-seeking behavior is the tendency of people to look for new and diverse products, services, or experiences. It plays a significant role in how customers decide to buy products and services, but this behavior tends to shift depending on the time of day.

Have you ever wondered why McDonald’s rotates its menus or why Amazon has Lightning Deals that offer huge discounts at certain hours of the day? They don’t do all that for no particular reason. These are strategies influenced by the psychology of seeking variety.

In this article, we’ll cover the importance of variety-seeking behavior and the psychological concept behind it. We’ll also discuss tips you can try to use this principle to improve your marketing and sales efforts.

You're in a cozy café at lunch time. You suddenly surprise yourself by paying notice to the sounds of chirping birds and flowing water. You feel more grounded, calm, connected. You skip the plastic straw (although you know it does a better job) and opt for the vegan muffin. That serene atmosphere? It's not just setting the mood. It's quietly guiding your choices. A shift in your brain’s decision-making process has just taken place.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a bee on Instagram. Not just any bee — @Bee_nfluencer —a quirky, non-human virtual influencer buzzing about environmental change. I laughed, I clicked, I followed. I didn’t expect to feel anything, but oddly enough, I did.

That moment made me pause. Why did I connect with a cartoon bee?

It turns out, there’s a psychological reason for this — and a powerful one at that.