Over the weekend I went to visit my friend in Stuttgart, so while on the train I finally got to read Brian Solis’ latest book “What's the Future of Business?: Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences” (abbreviated as WTF – cool, right?). Of course, I read it in one go and I felt inspired by it as I have with each and every his work. Before I share with you my impressions about the book though, I would like to show you today just one particular thing I found absolutely fascinating – an infographic explaining what drives shopping decisions.

In chapter 12 of WTF, Brian Solis argues that to design experiences and trigger emotions brands have to have an understanding of social sciences and the psychology of engagement in order to make sense of the attitude and behaviour of their target audiences.

To help us develop that understanding of “the A.R.T. of Engagement (actions, reactions, and transactions)” Brian Solis presents a rather interesting infographic by TabJuice that was inspired by Robert Cialdini’s work about the Six Principles of Influence and visualises six common brain triggers that influence consumer’s shopping decisions.

You already know about my recent research into sustainability and my passion for fashion, so today I am going to introduce to you an impressive initiative by Greenpeace that aims to tackle one of the most pressing challenges the Earth is facing – water pollution. And because I am a shopping maniac (a pretty bad one as a matter of fact…) I thought this post will make other “shopping queens” think where exactly they spend their money during their next shopping spree because fashion is not just about glamour.

What’s the issue?

Toxic water pollution is extremely harmful to our planet and us as species. No surprise there. But where does that pollution come from? Obviously from the manufacturing of various products, but it is especially the booming fashion industry that has a stake in it.

The following video

Believe it or not, social media has been around for over a decade. Considered just a fad at the beginning, it has invaded our personal and professional lives to a massive extent. Still, the biggest difficulty for brands and people working in social media is to understand its rules. The sheer advice in the form of articles and blog posts available on the Internet doesn’t make that ‘mission’ particularly easy.

We read and hear all the time “follow the trends (e.g. visuals and infographics, Pinterest and Instagram)”, “do that, don’t do that”, “focus on that, ignore that” – oh my! Checking out a few of those articles in a row doesn’t really make it clearer; you get even more confused.

Therefore, when I came across the infographic you can see at the end of this post I was yet again impressed with the power of visuals and how they manage to transmit a number of messages in a quick and easy to understand, yet creative and fun way. Well done to Jeremy Waite for compiling the rules and creating the infographic!

The truth is though,

Over the past decades companies have gained enormous power – some have become more powerful and resourceful than entire countries. Just think of Nestle or Procter & Gamble; you probably don’t even know that you are using products and brands that belong to one of those organisations. Yesterday I came across a chart I had to share with you – it illustrates just how strong and influential corporations are today.

The chart below shows how exactly 10 (yes, just 10!) global corporations control almost everything we buy; from food to household products to clothes.

Isn’t that fascinating?

Only 10 giant multinationals determine the purchase choices we make through a massive network of parent companies.

What would make you change your name? I am not talking about establishing a nickname, a creative name as an author, musician or similar, but legally a new name? I personally have thought about changing my last name – Stareva – to something simpler such as “Star” because living abroad (i.e. in Western European countries where people find it rather difficult to pronounce Slavic names) I’ve always heard people saying or spelling my name wrong. Nevertheless, I still like my name – it brings me back to my routes and it’s my family name that I carry with honour. But what if there was another pretty good incentive besides personal reasons to officially change your name?

That’s what Lufthansa is currently trying to find out by encouraging Swedish citizens to change their names to Klaus-Heidi (a fusion between two very German names). The prize? A brand new life in Berlin. Doesn’t sound bad at all, does it?