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JANUARY 22, 2006|BRANDS & MARKETING


Something Smells Good at IAD


In the baggage claim at Dulles Airport there are a few cafes selling the usual last minute snack fare.  At IAD, and most other airports, only difference between these vendors is how many steps they are from their customer at any particular time.  Yesterday, as I waited to pick someone up, I (and most of my fellow pick-uppers) noticed the entire east side of the baggage claim was filled with the smell of popcorn.  The cafe selling it has the exact same food as the one on the other side of the terminal, except for the popcorn. Go to the streets of New York late on any night, and you'll see the same phenomenon between the guys with grilles who fill the air with the smell of their kebabs - and those who don't.  These grille guys and the popcorn lady at IAD know something their competitors don't.  Sometimes the only way to stand out in a market where everyone is selling the same stuff, is if yours just smells better.

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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.

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