Behavioral Science For Brands: Leveraging behavioral science in brand marketing.
The Consumer Behavior Lab is dedicated to teaching marketersacross the United States how behavioral science principles can beapplied to help their brands. By decoding the underlying motivationsof how consumers make decisions, the CBL seeks to make a betterindustry - where both brands and agencies put proven sciencebehind their decision making.
Episodes
65 episodes
How GEICO use the principle of concreteness to make memorable ads
GEICO have created some of the most effective US advertising in recent years. The GEICO gecko is one of the most popular characters in advertising. But what makes him so memorable? In this episode we discuss Ian Begg’s research int...
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Season 1
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Episode 65
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29:04
Interview with Gareth Harvey: former professor of consumer psychology turned behavioral science consultant
In this episode we talk with Gareth Harvey. Gareth was previously a professor of consumer psychology but now advises companies about how they can apply findings from behavioral science. In this episode he discusses some of his work with retaile...
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Season 1
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Episode 64
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48:17
How Hendrick's distinctive use of nostalgia explains their marketing success
In this episode we look at one of the world’s most successful gins: Hendrick’s. We explore three behavioral science principles that explain their growth: distinctiveness, consistency and nostalgia. In particular, we look at the experimental evi...
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Season 1
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Episode 63
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28:24
Interview: Melina Palmer, author of What your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You
In this interview, we catch up with Melina Palmer who has released a new book: The Truth About Pricing. She discusses how brands like Hermes and Costco have applied principles from behavioral science. We cover ideas like scarcity, reciprocity a...
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Season 1
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Episode 62
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37:38
How Zoom proved that behavioral science is just as effective in B2B settings as it is in B2C
In this episode, we discuss how behavioural biases can be applied by brands in a B2B setting. In particular, we look at how Zoom credibly used social proof in their earliest days and the evidence that suggests this works well in a professional ...
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Season 1
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Episode 61
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34:16
Interview: Charles Spence, author of Gastrophysics, on the science of taste appeal
In this week's episode, we chat with Charles Spence—Oxford professor, author of Gastrophysics, and the world’s leading expert on how our senses work together to shape flavor. We discuss how brands are leveraging sensory cues to make their produ...
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Season 1
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Episode 60
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56:51
Interview: Nir Eyal, author of Hooked, on how to form lasting habits
In this episode we talk with Nir Eyal, author of Hooked, and one of the world's leading experts on the topic of habits. His work is of particular interest as his focus is on how brands (rather than individuals) can create habits. Nir walks us t...
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Season 1
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Episode 59
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49:31
How using humor helped Aviation gin laugh all the way to the bank
In this episode we explore the behavioral science principles behind Aviation Gin’s success. In particular we look at why humor is such an effective (but underused) tool for brands. We cover work by Nisbett on the halo effect that s...
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Season 1
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Episode 58
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24:30
Interview: Roger Dooley, author of Brainfluence, on the practical marketing lessons from behavioural science
In this episode we talk with Roger Dooley author of Brainfluence. In a wide-ranging conversation, we start by covering the importance of focusing on making whatever behaviour you want to encourage as easy as possible. Then we move on to the imp...
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Season 1
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Episode 57
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35:43
How Eleven Madison Park applied the peak-end rule to become the best restaurant in the world
In this episode we look at the rise of Eleven Madison Park to become the most critically acclaimed restaurant in the world. In particular we focus on their legendary customer service and how they used techniques like the peak-end rule to enhanc...
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Season 1
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Episode 56
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30:40
Interview: Sarah Carter, co-author of How Not to Plan, on using behavioural science to improve health and sustainability
In this episode we sit down with Sarah Carter and discuss how marketers can best use behavioural science. We focus on using behavioural science for good, whether that’s encouraging people to eat veg, take the train or practice safe sex. During ...
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Season 1
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Episode 55
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1:00:04
How Kraft kept their healthier product secret to avoid the problem of expectation assimilation
In this episode, we look at the behavioral science secrets behind the success of Kraft Mac and Cheese. We focus on two broad areas. First, how they managed to launch a new version of the product (with all the artificial colourings removed) with...
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Season 1
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Episode 54
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29:28
Interview: Todd Rogers, Harvard psychologist and author of Writing for Busy Readers, on the psychology of great copywriting
In this episode Richard interviewed Harvard professor Todd Rogers. Todd’s experiments apply behavioral science principles to copywriting to make it more effective. In this discussion we cover Todd’s key findings, such as the proven value of bre...
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Season 1
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Episode 53
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36:16
How Pret a Manger harnessed variable rewards to recover from the pandemic
In this episode, we look at the success of Pret a Manger – especially how they managed to recover so strongly after the pandemic, despite increasing numbers of office workers staying at home. We look at two main biases that they have successful...
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Season 1
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Episode 52
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23:03
Interview: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of Everybody Lies, on how to uncover hidden consumer motivations
We talk with Seth about how to best understand people's motivations and why direct questioning sometimes fails. We cover ideas like the illusion of effort, the curse of knowledge and how to respond when different datasets give conflicting answe...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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49:01
The replication crisis: How to avoid basing your marketing on bogus findings
In this episode, we discuss the replication crisis. By that we mean, when academics have re-run some behavioural science studies, they have found different results to the original experiment thereby invalidating it. We cover some of the most fa...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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24:38
How to change habitual customer behaviour in the New Year
In this episode we return to the question of how to break old consumer habits and build new ones. We cover four new studies, each of which has practical implications for brands. We begin by looking at when people are open to changing their beha...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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27:52
Interview: Phil Barden, author of Decoded, on how to apply neuroscience to marketing
In this episode MichaelAaron and Richard sit down with Phil Barden, author of Decoded and Managing Director at DECODE Marketing. His excellent book was one of the earliest to look at how ideas from neuroscience and behavioral economics...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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49:09
The behavioural science behind the perfect gift
In this episode we look at a range of behavioral science experiments that shed light on effective gift giving. These are useful because our intuition about what receivers want is often off the mark. In particular, we cover experime...
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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29:23
Interview: Les Binet, co-author of The Long and the Short of It, on the secrets behind effective advertising
In this episode we talk with Les Binet, co-author of The Long and the Short of it about his research into effective advertising. We discuss some of his best-known findings, such as the value of emotional campaigns. But we also cover some lesser...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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59:24
Get Out the Vote: How behavioral science can boost voter turnout
In this special episode, we discuss how behavioral science can be used to encourage voter registration and turnaround. We cover well known ideas like social proof including some of the most relevant nuances and how it’s often misused by campaig...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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26:54
How indulgence brands can benefit from moral licensing
In this episode, we explore how indulgence brands like soft drinks and ice creams can use behavioral science principles. We discuss moral licensing, where people overcompensate in one area after behaving virtuously in another, and how brands li...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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19:02
Interview: Matt Johnson, author of Blindsight, on the behavioral science lessons of Pret a Manger and Perrier
We talk with Matt about his favorite practical examples of behavioural science being applied by brands. We cover how Pret a Manger use uncertain rewards to excite customers, how Perrier harnessed the principle of essentialism to launch in the U...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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44:07
Interview: Kate Waters, director of client strategy at ITV, on how the AA, Zoe and Spotify use behavioral science
In this episode, we talk with ad agency founder Kate Waters on how the AA, Zoe and Spotify apply behavioral science. We cover a wide range of principles: from language reframing to social proof, concreteness to choice paralysis
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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48:10
