Red Bull kept costly signal despite focus group dislike
Every focus group hated Red Bull's taste, can and price — Mateschitz changed nothing, because the dislike was the point
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDREI skipped Black Friday and paid staff to go outside
REI closed stores on Black Friday, paid staff to go outside, forfeiting the biggest sales day to reinforce its values.
Read the caseRenault gave job seekers in transit deserts a car, payment deferred until they got the job
Renault gave job seekers in France's transit deserts a free car during the trial period, with payment starting only after they got the job.
Read the caseRetraction Watch aggregated retractions into a searchable database
Two journalists built a searchable database of retractions, making scattered public records visible and creating accountability.
Read the caseRhodian sea law made everyone pay for jettisoned cargo
Rhodian sea law made every party whose cargo was saved by jettison contribute proportionally to the loss, turning an arbitrary burden into a shared cost.
Read the caseRitholtz Wealth Management cut fees for clients who stayed three years
Ritholtz Wealth Management cut fees for clients who stayed invested three years, rewarding the behavior that prevents panic-selling.
Read the caseRitz-Carlton gave staff $2,000 to fix guest problems on the spot
Ritz-Carlton gave every employee $2,000 to fix guest problems on the spot, betting that the cost of a lost loyal guest far exceeded any single fix.
Read the caseBerkeley's Rolling Quads broke their own curbs before the city agreed to fix them
Berkeley's Rolling Quads, disabled students, built curb cuts themselves to show the city a working fix, which led to the first municipal curb-cut policy.
Read the caseRolls-Royce sold flying hours, not engines, to align reliability with revenue
Rolls-Royce, in 1962, billed per flying hour instead of selling engines, making reliability the maker's own cost.
Read the caseRoman burial clubs pooled dues to guarantee funerals
Roman slaves and freedmen formed burial clubs, pooling small dues to guarantee each other a proper funeral.
Read the caseDutch gave rivers room instead of raising dikes
The Dutch stopped raising river dikes and instead gave rivers more room, widening floodplains to lower peak water levels.
Read the caseSarfraz Nawaz revived old balls with reverse swing
Sarfraz Nawaz found an old ball still swung if he exaggerated the shine difference, creating reverse swing batsmen couldn't read.
Read the caseThaler and Benartzi boosted retirement savings by tying hikes to future raises
Thaler and Benartzi got employees to save more by letting them commit future raises to retirement, avoiding the pain of a smaller paycheck now.
Read the caseSave the Elephants hung beehives to deter crop-raiding elephants
Save the Elephants hung beehives on farm fences to deter crop-raiding elephants using their instinctive fear of bees.
Read the caseSchiphol etched a fly into urinals and cut cleaning costs
Schiphol's cleaning manager Jos van Bedaf etched a fly into urinals, giving men an involuntary aiming target that cut spillage and cleaning costs.
Read the caseSears bypassed Jim Crow store owners with mail-order catalog
Sears bypassed Jim Crow store owners via mail-order catalog that treated all orders identically.
Read the caseSeljuks funded caravanserais with permanent endowments
Seljuk patrons funded caravanserais through waqf endowments, locking income to maintain them forever, independent of rulers.
Read the caseShanxi banks made clerks partners via service-earned shares
Shanxi draft banks let clerks earn partnership through years of service, not capital, by creating body shares that vested over time.
Read the caseSHEIN tested fashion in 100-unit batches, not forecasts
SHEIN stopped forecasting fashion demand and instead tested each design in 100-unit batches, reordering only what actually sold.
Read the caseSiemens turned MRI noise into a children's audiobook to calm kids
Siemens wrote audiobooks turning MRI noise into story sounds, so kids stay still.
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