The100: Rituals, hidden formulas and ‘the freakiest show in town’

What a super market!

Supermarkets are changing – at last!

The first supermarket to have an aisle that is free of any plastic packaging was launched in Amsterdam recently.

And it’s not the only plastic that may disappear from shops soon – that’s if Amazon Go (in the US) and the CoOp (in the UK) can effectively consign that breezy smile of the checkout person to the history books. How’s all that going for the shopper anyway?

More ritual, less routine

Gareth Kay highlights how brands seem to have lost their focus on the importance of rituals and tend to confuse them with routine. One is about informed intent, the other simply about function.

So how might brands build new rituals?

“Well perhaps the first thing we can examine is how people already live their lives.”

Oh yes. That’s certainly a good place to start :- )

The hidden formula behind almost every joke

Not that I want to spoil every punchline you’ll ever hear from this moment on, but it appears there is a reliable way to mass produce jokes.

It’s a video (3’45), but you’ll quickly grasp the concept, give up your day job and become a comedy script writer.

And the rest:

‘We were every inch the freakiest show in town’

If you’re a fan of David Bowie, these marvelous and previously unseen pictures of him are about to go on display in the UK, taken by one of his oldest friends (there’s more background to it here).

Toilet paper Orientation

Causing more than a few debates in the WMT (UK) office is which way a toilet roll should face. It’s not just us – a detailed overview of toilet paper orientation is also available on Wikipedia.#

And finally: a referee turns into a fish. What’s not to like.