Why Optimism Works, Seeing Through Manipulated Headlines and Cheetos’ Brilliant Brand Strategy

Dear Fellow Trend Curator,

Heading back home today from Lima after nearly two weeks on the road, my airport experience here in Peru inspires the first story in this week’s newsletter all about the power of optimism. From my surprisingly smooth experience at Lima’s brand-new airport (despite the headlines) to groundbreaking innovations like sugar alternatives from tropical fruits and revived EV batteries, there are plenty of stories and causes to feel good about the future in this week’s roundup.

You’ll also find a smart marketing lesson from Cheetos’ continued celebration of uniquely shaped snacks, a case study on spotting misleading media headlines, and an unusual book that reexamines our relationship with death.

Enjoy the stories this week and stay curious!

The Secret of Optimism and the New Peruvian Airport

Earlier this week when I arrived in Lima, it was in their brand new airport that is less than two weeks old. People in the city had lots of questions. Did I have issues? All the local news apparently was focused on reporting about the problems. My experience was flawless. The airport was new, fast, easy to navigate and delivered a simple travel experience. That, unfortunately, is a boring story. So the opposite gets reported … and people assume everything is worse than it is.

On stage, after my keynote I agreed to a “rapid fire” session doing 20 second responses to a series of questions. One of them was about the one piece of advice I would give to people who want to imagine the future. My answer was short: choose optimism based on reality.

This week alone I read stories about an ultra-sweet tropical fruit from West Africa called oubli that has a sweet protein called brazzein which some researchers believe could be used at scale as a replacement for sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. It was just honored in Fast Company’s latest fascinating list of World Changing Ideas 2025. Another story featured the promising results of Chinese researchers who figured out a way to bring a dead lithium-ion battery from an EV back to life and restore its lifespan to 98 percent. Yet another focuses on a novel new solution to water scarcity (see the links for additional stories).

These stories alone are potential solutions to some of the biggest problems in the world–obesity, water scarcity and hazardous waste. I read stories like these every week. I also have experiences in real life that are better than what they are reported to be, like traveling through the new Lima airport. Then I talk about them on stage.

That’s why I can see the future with optimism … and why I think more people and leaders should too.

A Lesson In Marketing Strategy From the Cheetos Shape Hunt

Searching for Cheetos that are shaped like anything is a fairly idiotic way to spend your time. It’s also surprisingly popular despite its idiocy. The thing about Cheetos is that people love to see things that aren’t really there in the shape of their Cheetos. At one point, the brand famously created an entire museum to house the most unique discovered Cheetos shapes.

Now in a newly launched campaign there’s a cash prize attached for someone who gets picked because their Cheetos discovery best matches a weekly theme. This is a fun way to win some money, but the brand marketing lesson here isn’t really about this momentary engagement. What stands out to me is the consistency of this and past campaigns going back nearly a decade and how they celebrate a random quirky fact about Cheetos. Lots of food products look like other things. Most don’t choose to make that a defining trait for a marketing campaign.

The fact that Cheetos keeps returning to this quirk illustrates one of the least followed principles of great marketing strategy. Instead of reinventing the message with every campaign, find a positioning for your product that sticks and then keep leaning into that from one creative way to the next.

How To See Through a Manipulated Headline (A Retailwire Case Study)

One thing I often talk about in this newsletter is honing our media literacy. This week I found a perfect case study to illustrate how you can do this. Let’s start with the story headline from a site called Retailwire.com:

Majority of Americans Aware of New Tariffs, but 40% Aren’t Making Any Changes to Purchasing Behavior: Will This Trend Continue?

Right away, I noticed the numbers seem off: 40% is not a majority. It also therefore seemed suspicious that this was already declared a “trend.” Reading further, the article continues to explain who commissioned the survey and that 1,000 consumers participated. Later, the article admits “a majority of respondents indicated that they would be delaying anticipated purchases over higher prices” … which seems like a direct contradiction to the story’s headline.

So what is going on? The answer comes down to the perspective of the media outlet. Retailwire is an industry publication that offers “daily discussions and news for the retail industry.” Clearly they believe it’s their role to offer a positive outlook for the retail industry, regardless of the data. Sadly, I suspect the opposite is true.

People in the retail industry could benefit more from a factual review of survey results and a more honest recap of the data … a view shared by several people who commented on the article. For me, this story has reduced my trust in Retailwire.com as a credible source. Anything I see from the site moving forward will be a story I treat with skepticism and read carefully to draw my own conclusions.

The Non-Obvious Media Recommendation of the Week
The Verge

Aside from WIRED magazine, this is one of my other favorite sources for tech related news. Beyond just reporting on the story, The Verge often shares a valuable perspective or analysis on the stories of the moment as well and the volume of stories they publish to their site is frequent but not attention-destroying. Altogether, it’s a great source to add to your media diet for just the news and perspectives that really matter from the world of tech.

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week
All the Living and All the Dead by Hayley Campbell

The first time I read All the Living and All the Dead, it was an easy pick for the Most Original book winner in the 2022 Non-Obvious Book Awards. Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, the author tells the story of “people who have made death their life’s work.” In a time when the most frequent depictions of death we see are the fictionalized stories of near-heroic serial killers in TV shows and movies, this book offers a unique and non-obvious perspective on a discomforting topic. The vital question at the heart of this book is: are we missing something by letting death remain hidden?

Most of us don’t like to talk about or even think about death. Often, the only time we do it is when the worst happens. For anyone who has been told (or believes) death is still only something to be feared, this book offers an eye-opening alternative narrative. In doing so, it’s not like any other non-fiction book you’re likely to read. For that reason alone, I think it’s worth reading and why I recommended it as this week’s pick for the Non-Obvious Book of the Week.

About the Non-Obvious Book Selection of the Week:

Every week I share a new “non-obvious” book selection. Titles featured here may be new or classic books, but the date of publication doesn’t really matter. My goal is to elevate great reads that perhaps deserve a second look which you might have otherwise missed.

Even More Non-Obvious Stories …

Every week I always curate more stories than I’m able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

How are these stories curated?

Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Looking for a speaker to inspire your team to become non-obvious thinkers through a keynote or workshop? 

Watch my 2024 speaking reel on YouTube >>

This Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter is curated by Rohit Bhargava. Copyright © 2024 Non-Obvious, All rights reserved