London Underground cut robberies at Elm Park station with classical music
London Underground cut robberies at Elm Park station by piping classical music to deter loitering without alienating commuters.
Read the casegenius.wikiA CASESTUDIES.CHAT ARCHIVE
Good problems.
Brilliant solutions.
Ingenious ideas that solved difficult problems. Explore what made them work.
The full archive, in the appPublished cases
3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDLudicorp turned a dying game's side feature into Flickr
Ludicorp's game was dying, so they pulled out its photo-sharing side feature and built Flickr in eight weeks.
Read the caseMaghribi traders enforced contracts by freezing cheats out of the network
Medieval Maghribi traders kept distant agents honest by sharing word of cheats and collectively excluding them from the network.
Read the caseMalacca ran four harbormasters, one per merchant bloc
Malacca appointed four harbormasters, each from a different merchant community, so disputes were settled by insiders who understood the traders' norms.
Read the caseMarmite's agency turned hatred into the campaign
Marmite's agency turned the product's divisiveness into the campaign, running paired ads showing extreme love and disgust.
Read the caseMediaTek's turnkey kit let small workshops build phones
MediaTek packaged the entire phone stack into a turnkey kit, letting small workshops build phones in months for a few million yuan.
Read the caseMedici Bank dodged usury ban with bills of exchange
Medici Bank dodged the usury ban by issuing bills of exchange, booking profit as exchange-rate spread.
Read the caseMercado Livre turned a stadium pitch into a scannable barcode
Mercado Livre turned the Pacaembu pitch into a giant barcode that fans scanned for discounts during a live match.
Read the caseMetro Trains cut near-misses with a catchy safety song
Metro Trains Melbourne cut near-misses by 21% by burying train-safety lines in a catchy cartoon song, 'Dumb Ways to Die,' instead of another warning poster.
Read the caseMichael Chang beat Lendl with an underhand serve when cramps hit
When Michael Chang's legs cramped in the French Open, he beat Lendl by serving underhand, a legal move that disrupted his rhythm.
Read the caseMichelin rated restaurants to make France drive more
Michelin, a tire maker, boosted driving by publishing a guide to restaurants worth the trip, creating demand for tires.
Read the caseMing dynasty made villages' richest families collect taxes or pay the shortfall
The Ming made each village's ten richest families take turns being liable for neighbors' unpaid taxes, avoiding hired officials.
Read the caseMitsui's Echigoya sold kimono at one posted cash price to all comers
Mitsui's Echigoya posted one fixed cash price for kimono fabric, replacing relationship-based haggling and credit, and sales grew fivefold.
Read the caseMONA didn't try to make the line for its most popular exhibit move faster — it made sure v
MONA didn't try to make the line for its most popular exhibit move faster — it made sure visitors were never standing in one at all.
Read the caseMongol Empire made passports whose material was the entitlement
The Mongol Empire issued paiza tablets whose material signaled rank, so officials could trust bearers on sight.
Read the caseMuyuan Foods bet on vertical integration and won when swine fever hit
Muyuan Foods bet on full vertical integration for uniform biosecurity, which paid off when African swine fever hit.
Read the caseMYbank lent to street merchants from their QR-code payment trails
MYbank lent to street merchants by reading their QR-code payment history instead of demanding paperwork they couldn't produce.
Read the caseNabataeans built hidden cisterns to bypass well taxes
The Nabataeans built and concealed 200 cisterns so their caravans could cross the desert without using rival-controlled wells, eliminating toll leverage.
Read the caseNansen's round ship rose above pack ice, rode the current
Nansen and Archer built the Fram with a rounded hull that rose above pack ice instead of resisting it, riding the Arctic current to the pole.
Read the caseNetflix paid outsiders to beat its own algorithm
Netflix, facing a plateaued engine, published 100M ratings and offered $1M to beat it by 10%.
Read the case