Sign painter fixed missing freeway sign by installing his own
Richard Ankrom, a sign painter, fabricated a Caltrans-spec sign and installed it himself to fix a missing freeway exit sign.
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDAntikythera mechanism packaged astronomy into a hand crank
Ancient Greek engineers built the Antikythera mechanism, encoding eclipse-prediction arithmetic into gears so anyone could turn a crank and get expert answers.
Read the caseAravind Eye Care ran cataract surgery as a production line, paying for free care
Aravind Eye Care ran cataract surgery like a production line, using paying patients' fees to fund free surgeries for the poor.
Read the caseAsante traders kept internal weights, used European standards for coastal trade
Asante traders kept internal mithqal weights and used European standards only with Europeans, preserving control and interoperability.
Read the caseAthens made rich citizens prove wealth by betting their estate
Athens made rich citizens prove wealth by letting challengers swap estates, so lying cost everything.
Read the caseAthens leased its silver mines to private operators
Athens, unable to mine its silver, auctioned leases to private operators, keeping ownership and a share, then used the windfall to build a navy.
Read the caseAustralia's tax office cut inflated claims by writing to the accountant
Australia's tax office cut inflated work-expense claims by writing to tax agents, benchmarking their client books against peers.
Read the caseAvis admitted being #2 and turned losses into profit
Avis, a distant #2 in car rentals, admitted its weakness in ads, making its 'we try harder' claim believable and turning losses into profit.
Read the caseAXA France added domestic violence to its emergency-relocation clause
AXA France added three words to its home insurance relocation clause, letting abuse victims break leases penalty-free, covering 2.5 million households.
Read the caseAXA covered domestic violence like a house fire by changing three words in a contract
AXA France added 'and domestic violence' to home insurance perils, extending emergency rehousing to victims at no extra cost.
Read the caseAztecs spied on unconquered regions as disguised merchants
The Aztec Empire sent disguised merchants, the naualoztomeca, to gather intelligence on unconquered regions because trade was an expected, tolerated activity.
Read the caseBank of America proved credit cards by mailing 60,000 to Fresno
Bank of America mailed 60,000 live credit cards to all of Fresno to prove ordinary people would use revolving credit.
Read the caseBank of England raised funds by granting lenders a banking monopoly
The Crown raised £1.2 million by incorporating lenders as the Bank of England with a note-issuing monopoly, decoupling value from repayment.
Read the caseBarnum cleared his museum by making the exit an exhibit
Barnum cleared his overcrowded museum by labeling the exit 'Egress,' tricking visitors into leaving and paying again.
Read the caseBBK Electronics split into three companies to avoid internal competition
BBK Electronics' Duan Yongping split three product lines into independent companies, which became rivals OPPO and vivo.
Read the caseBCP let Peruvians freeze their bank account at any corner-store card reader
BCP let Peruvians freeze their bank account at any corner-store card reader, since the stolen phone they'd normally call the bank with was gone too.
Read the caseBetter Shelter applied IKEA's flat-pack logistics to refugee housing
Better Shelter applied IKEA's flat-pack logistics to refugee housing, making durable shelters that ship flat and assemble in hours.
Read the caseBirdseye flash-froze food to fix mushy texture
Clarence Birdseye, after seeing Inuit fishermen freeze fish fast, built a machine that flash-froze food between cold plates, fixing the mushy texture.
Read the caseBlockbuster split rental revenue with studios to stock more hits
Blockbuster, unable to stock enough hit tapes, paid studios a small upfront fee plus a share of rental revenue, aligning incentives to boost circulation.
Read the caseBodyform showed real blood in period ads and won the category
Bodyform/Libresse broke a 50-year taboo by showing real red blood in period-product ads, winning huge earned media.
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