With the psychology of habit formation, Claude C. Hopkins marketed Pepsodent to us. — Why do you use a product? Is it because it is beneficial or enhances your life. Charles Duhigg, in his book The Power Of Habits, paints a different picture. He points out that we use a particular company’s product because of the Cue — Routine — Reward cycle that we…

Mathias Rust’s solo flight from Helsinki to Moscow helped Gorbachev clear hurdles for nuclear disarmament. — It was a sunny afternoon in Red Square, Moscow, and Muscovites and tourists were doing their business as usual. A small Cessna airplane landed on the bridge across Kremlin, and spectators gathered in astonishment. It was not a stunt flight by a Russian acrobat but a flight driven by a…

Last week in India, a fat finger trader faced a 250 Crore INR loss in a single trade — On June 2, 2022, a Thursday, it was an expiry day for the weekly options contract on National Stock Exchange in India. An institutional trader made a trade, and due to a small mistake, he lost about 250 Crore INR. The media call it the fat fingers. But what is…

In May 1997, an Indian Airforce MIG 25 broke the sound barrier over Pakistan and caused an international issue. — It was high above the skies of Islamabad on a sunny afternoon in May 1997. The residents minded their business when a shock wave shook them. It was not an earthquake but a sound wave from an aircraft. An Indian airforce, MIG 25, broke the sound barrier and sent the…

A wrong intel on an ICBM location on India China border would have caused a war but rightly avoided. — Intelligence agencies worldwide suddenly were curious about one particular abandoned railway station in India. Even the Indian government was confused by the sudden rise in interest from international agencies on the location. The location was considered a threat to global peace but turned out to be a hoax. What was…

Targetting Bangladesh National Bank, the hackers were able to launder millions of US dollars via the Philippines. — It was a printer on the 10th floor of the Bangladesh national bank. It was not functioning as technicians tried to fix it. Once the technicians fixed it, it started to spew out tons of documents which shocked the whole financial world. A group of hackers intentionally sabotaged the printer…

Initially marketed as an odor killer Febreze’s marketing strategy changed to tap into human habit creation. — It was the office of P&G, one of the leaders in the US market for consumer products. Their current product has been a disaster, and the company is reeling from a loss of millions of dollars. The company decided to give the marketing team one last chance to save the…

Due to paranoia and false data the Chinese government ordered its citizens to exterminate sparrows. — Villagers drummed in fields all over China. It was not a victory parade but a mass genocide. The drums were supposed to kill a particular bird to exhaustion. The man-made mass extinction in China caused one of the worst famines in human history. Why did the Chinese government want to…

ARM China company seal was with Allen Wu, and the board was not able to fire him — The Chinese unit of ARM faced an issue recently. Though the semiconductor industry is on a boom, this unit was racking losses. The company tried to fire the CEO, but it was not possible. All this was due to a seal. Seal: