February 18, 2026
GROUNDHOG DAY
Earlier this month, less than 200 miles from Pulsar's offices in York, Pennsylvania, an annual tradition was carried out in Punxsutawney. This small, Pennsylvania town becomes the focus of the whole world every year on the second day of February. A group of bearded men in top hats lifted a plump groundhog from its stump, held it high for the crowd to see, and declared that there will be six more weeks of winter. It's a quirky and antiquated ritual that occurs in an obscure, little town. There appears to be no reason for its widespread recognition and popularity, until you realize the entire thing is a masterclass in marketing.
January 24, 2026
PAD THAI
According to a recent study, Thai cuisine is third most popular ethnic food in the United States, behind Chinese and Mexican. In 2023, there were approximately 340,000 people in the United States that identified as Thai. There were also over 10,000 Thai restaurants in the US, making Thai cuisine the highest population-to-restaurant ratio in the country. And the most iconic food on any Thai menu is pad thai. Yes, the dish is unique and appealing to consumers all over the world, but that's not an accident. The government of Thailand first marketed the dish to its own people, then successfully sold it to the whole world.
December 15, 2025
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
The 103rd National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony occurred on December 4 this year in Washington, DC on the Ellipse near The White House. Over 60,000 lights cover the 35-foot-tall red spruce tree. The event was sponsored by GE Lighting, who not only created the first National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, but were single-handedly responsible for making decorating with Christmas lights a tradition.
November 26, 2025
JEANS
There may be no other symbol that better represents American culture than denim jeans. Globally, the jeans market was valued at almost $100 billion the past several years, and is expected to approach $130 billion in the next three years. But the origin of denim is not American, and its popularity around the world was definitely engineered.
September 17, 2025
WRIGLEY
Imagine this scenario. You receive a sales flyer in the mail that highlights several deals at your local grocery store. Realizing you need some of those items, you go to the store to pick up a few things. At the checkout, you see some gum and candy, and grab a few of those. Then your items are scanned and quickly bagged, and you're on your way in a matter of minutes. This sequence of activities is played out millions of times every day all over the world. And every one of them was invented by one man who was trying to sell chewing gum to you.
August 6, 2025
SPAM
It has been estimated that 160 billion spam emails are sent every day, meaning the average user receives 1825 spam emails every year. Almost half of all email traffic is spam, and spam has been a significant portion of email since its inception. But to understand the origin of the practice and the name, we have to look at three different stories.
June 11, 2025
PEDOMETERS
In 2006, Apple and Nike partnered to release the Nike+iPod, which added an accelerometer to the popular music player that allowed tracking a user's activity, but like many Apple products, it was never embraced because it was ahead of its time. Three years later, a startup tech company named Fitbit released its first activity tracker, and revolutionized the exercise industry. Through gamification which corresponded to developments in the video game industry, along with strategic partnerships with corporate wellness programs, Fitbit quickly became the leading solution for activity tracking. And the device's goal became even more popular: 10,000 steps per day. By 2014, Fitbit owned 67 percent of the step-tracking marketplace. The next year, Apple released the Apple Watch, and began carving into Fitbit's market share. But the 10,000-step mantra had been firmly implanted into the cultural zeitgeist, and remains to this day. It is not a number based on science or experimentation; it's a number based on superstition and marketing.
July 17, 2024
MR. POTATO HEAD
According to a study released by Harvard, social media companies made almost $11 billion from children in 2022. The most frequently cited figure on children's exposure to media advertising claims that, on average, children are targeted more than 3000 times every day. That doesn't represent how many times children actually see ads, obviously, because that figure is ridiculously high, but it demonstrates the importance children play in the minds of advertisers. Children under 18 account for $180 billion in spending every year in the United States. But this wasn't always the case. As recently as 70 years ago, no company dreamed of advertising directly to children. But a textile company that had evolved into a toy company, Hassenfeld Brothers, changed everything the moment they decided to experiment with a brand new medium: television.
June 22, 2024
ALUMINUM
There are several examples of differences that exist between American and British English. Americans do not spell color or favorite with the letter "u." Brits spell colonize and apologize with an "s" rather than a "z," and would add that the letter is actually zed. British pronunciation differs for words like garage, privacy, and controversy. While a lot of speculation exists that tries to explain the origins of these differences, much of it is shrouded in history and mystery. Some of it is timing, some of it is the isolation of an ocean, some of it is resentment of colonization, and some of it is just the natural evolution of language. But there's one word that we know definitively when and how it changed in America. And it was changed by a company.
May 10, 2024
WINE
In 2022, California shipped almost 270 million cases of wine around the world, collecting over $50 billion. The United States is the fourth largest producer of wine (behind France, Italy, and Spain) and the number one consumer of wine. But this wasn't always the case. In the early days of the country, Thomas Jefferson fought to create a culture that enjoyed wine, believing the United States would become more refined as a society if it were more like France. His dream would become a reality, but only after two key marketing ideas were introduced in the 20th century.
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