30 WTF Facts: Business, Marketing & Other Random Stuff
It takes one type to admit their personality quirks but another to embrace them in their entirety. I’m a hard worker that focuses on getting shit done. It’s in my DNA, I take work home with me and I truly love what I do. A lot of that is because I love to have fun, I’m a kid at heart.
I love random facts, fast quips, dad jokes and making people laugh. If you work with me daily you know I like to balance that randomness with work, which brings us to the first edition of WTF Facts. These facts focus on business, marketing, and general facts that you most likely don’t know and will most likely find cool now that you do.
Fact 1:
A study run by GoldSpot Media discovered recently that roughly 50% of Clicks on Mobile Banners are accidental. Reason? “Fat-finger taps.”
Fact 2:
According to Time Magazine, men are more likely to share their thoughts and feelings with their social-media fans/followers than directly with their partners or real-life friends.
Maybe not a business fact directly but us men are weird and difficult huh?
Fact 3:
72% of the online population of the U.S. over age 29 now uses facebook. This number jumps to 82% for internet users aged 18 to 29 in the U.S. If your business isn’t on Facebook, these numbers should share you into action.
Fact 4:
Everyone uses Apple Computers, right? Nope. As big of a brand that Apple is, Windows PC’s own a whopping 90% of the entire market share.
Fact 5:
Cup of Joe anyone? People in the USA drank roughly 48 gallons of coffee per year in 1948 compared to only about 23 gallons a year today. The decrease is partly due to soft drink companies marketing sugary sodas as healthier and coffee as a poison that caused heart disease and birth defects in the 1970s. Today, soda is now the leading cause of diabetes and obesity.
Fact 6:
The Magazine KIDS DISCOVER does not publish a single advertising in their issues because they don’t believe in marketing to minors.
Fact 7:
Marketing Magic. Diamonds are not rare or valuable, the reason for high demand is because of a marketing campaign created by DeBeers in the early 20th century in order to sell more engagement rings. (reference marketing campaign w/ image and link)
Fact 8:
Orville Redenbacher paid an advertising consultant $13,000 (the equivalent of over $82,000 in 2018) to help him name his popcorn, their thirteen thousand dollar solution? to tell him he should name his popcorn after himself.
Fact 9:
Blogs are 63% more likely to influence a purchase than a magazine article.
Fact 10:
True or False?: There are more golf courses than McDonald’s in the United States.
True. I had to look up sources three times before believing it. As of Nov. 2017 there are 15,350 golf courses and 14,267 Mcdonald’s in the United States.
Fact 11:
Speaking of the power of the internet, a video post on average gets shared (on social media, in e-mail, etc…) 267% more than a normal posts.
Fact 12:
The 67th richest country in the world is Bill Gates. Okay, so that’s not exactly accurate, but, if Bill Gates was a country he would be the 67th richest one.
Fact 13:
The Iphone is the best-selling product ever, in a close second place is the Harry Potter series, followed shocking by the humble rubix cube.
Fact 14 & 15:
Two FedEx Facts: FedEx delivers more than 1.2 billion packages every year in over 220 countries. However, that fact would not be true if it wasn’t for this one: In the 1970’s when the company was in debt, the founder managed to save the company by flying to Vegas and winning enough money in blackjack. Full Story Here
Fact 16:
94% of the worlds population recognizes the red and white Coca-Cola Logo.
(#marketinggoals)
Fact 17:
We use 100% of our brains. Not 10% as the myth or this movie will lead you to believe. (I enjoyed the movie BTW)
Fact 18:
The original name for Google was Bathtub. Wait, that’s a lie, even more surprisingly, it was actually called BackRub.
Fact 19 (and a personal favorite)
The Song “Happy Birthday” is actually copyrighted. Warner Music owns the rights and technically royalties are suppose to be paid everytime that it is sang. This is the largest reason you’ll typically see large chains singing their own custom Birthday song. EXCEPT! Everything we thought we knew was proven wrong in 2016 when warner brothers settled a lawsuit admitting that they never legally obtained the rights to the song and returning over 14 million in royalties to a small group of people who realized they had paid for something that was always meant to be free. Check here for the full and fascinating story.
Fact 20:
If you have zero debt and $10 in your pocket, you are wealthier than 25% of Americans.
Fact 21:
Candy Crush, the addictive phone app that you used to play, or still do, or at least mildly know about…. It reportedly brings in about $633,000 in revenue per day.
Fact 22:
70% of small businesses are owned and operated by one single person.
Fact 23:
Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Audi, Ducati, and Porsche are all owned by The Volkswagen Group.
Fact 24:
Approximately 543,000 new businesses start up every month.
Some Ugly Business Truths
Fact 25:
The average revenue (not profit) for a small business owner is in the range of $44,000. This includes new business as well as already operating ones. No one said small business was easy.
Fact 26:
In 1977 Roy Raymond built Victoria’s Secret from the ground up, setting out to create a lingerie store that men would feel comfortable shopping for their wives in, the model worked well on a small scale, until it didn’t and Roy was forced to sell the company for the modern equivalent of one million dollars, which isn’t much when you know that after the sale Victoria’s Secret has grown to making almost seven billion dollars world wide every year.
Fact 27:
If a small company cannot resume business within 10 days of a natural disaster, it will likely not survive. Yikes.
Fact 28:
A customer in a wheelchair successfully sued Chipotle in 2010, claiming its tall ordering counter prevented him from fully enjoying the “Chipotle experience.”
Fact 29:
On Average, Walmart generates $1.8 million of profit every hour.
Fact 30
Ronald Wayne left Apple shortly after its inception because he had a passion for changing the world that differed from that of Apples other two founders, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Obviously, Apple has changed the world massively since it’s creation, but to make matters worse for Wayne, he sold his 10% share of the company for $800, and as of today that $800 would be worth roughly 75 billion dollars. Ouch.
