JANUARY 15, 2021|HISTORY & CURIOSITIES
How a Postage Stamp Saved the Panama Canal
One of the more brilliant marketing stories I have read in a while was the historical tale of French engineer Philippe Bunau-Varilla and how he successfully lobbied the US Government in 1902 to move their plans to build a canal from Nicaragua to Panama.
How did he do it? A stamp featuring a smoking Momotombo volcano in Nicaragua ended up being enough to change minds. Bunau-Varilla made sure members of congress saw the stamp and then helped them imagine the worst case scenario of an eruption if they went ahead with Nicaragua. They picked Panama instead and the rest is history. Literally.
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How It All Started
A Short Backstory Of This Blog
This is a blog about non-obvious ideas. Originally launched on the Typepad platform in 2005 as the Influential Marketing blog, the stories at first focused mainly on digital marketing while Rohit worked at Ogilvy Advertising. In 2015 Rohit officially rebranded to the Non-Obvious Insights Blog and published his WSJ bestseller Non-Obvious. For the past twenty one years, this blog has coined new terms, introduced future marketing practices and inspired the next generation of non-obvious thinkers and marketers.
