UnicornyHow to create valueThese episodes go deep into how purchasing decisions actually get made: the neuroscience of perceived value, the role of memory and emotion in brand preference, the specific mechanics of anchoring and self-herding in B2B buying. Phil Barden, Carmen Simon, and Felipe Thomaz bring research that should be reshaping how marketers work. The gap between what the evidence says and what the industry actually does is large. And expensive.
What if your marketing campaigns could achieve more with less? Dr. Felipe Thomaz, Associate Professor of Marketing at Oxford's Saïd Business School, challenges the widespread belief that maximising reach guarantees success. Drawing insights from his ground…
In this episode of The Unicorny Marketing Show, Dom talks to Tas Tasgal, Keynote speaker, author and trainer about the intricacies of human behaviour in marketing. Tas challenges common perceptions in marketing, emphasising that decision-making is often…
In this episode, Dom Hawes interviews cognitive neuroscientist Carmen Simon, uncovering how brain science can help marketers ensure their content is remembered. Carmen highlights the importance of focusing on distinctiveness and emotion to make sure your…
Join Dom Hawes and Phil Barden as they continue their exploration of decision science in B2B marketing. Discover how subtle elements like perception and pricing can significantly influence buyer decisions. Learn how distinctive branding and pricing strategies…
Join Dom Hawes and Phil Barden in this episode of Unicorny as they dive into the power of decision science in B2B marketing. Understand decision science's role in marketing Explore how scientific principles can be applied to enhance marketing creativity and…
Today's show is a little different. It's not your standard interview style discussion, because today's guest is not our standard guest. He is an Emmy Award winner, an entrepreneur, inventor, and researcher. He's a master of advertising and marketing…
Phil Barden, then at T-Mobile, worked with a neuroscientist and a cognitive psychologist to build the brand relaunch on principles of human motivation. The resulting Liverpool Street flash mob ad doubled store footfall within 48 hours, lifted sales 49%, grew share 6% and tripled brand consideration. Applying the same principles to stores, service and propositions halved customer churn over two years. Hear the full discussion in episode 50
Driver tags are 265 psychological descriptors, such as values, personality traits and need states, used to code ads, programmes and audiences. Bill Harvey's team had 22 coders comb the Oxford dictionary for psychological words, narrowing a million words to 1,562. A 1997 machine learning recommendation engine in cable set-top boxes then weighted the words by which ones predicted people watching recommended shows, raising conversion from 3% to 18% and leaving 265 words that mattered. Hear the full discussion in episode 42
Phil Barden describes the decision interface as the point where a person meets the purchase. Perception beats cognition, so the brain pattern-matches what it sees against memory, which is why consistent distinctive brand assets like Coca-Cola's red script or Cadbury's purple matter. Price signals both pain and quality; Deutsche Telekom boosted sales of its third bundle by adding a pricier fourth bundle shown first, which anchored buyers and made bundle three look like good value. Hear the full discussion in episode 51
Daniel Kahneman's System 1 is fast, automatic and dominant in everyday decisions; System 2 is slow, conscious and effortful, like a pilot who mostly lets the autopilot fly. Phil says the brain is the same at work as at home. He tells of a finance director who built a spreadsheet to choose a company car, but only to justify the BMW he had already chosen for status, showing that System 1 often decides and System 2 rationalises. Hear the full discussion in episode 50
Yes, according to the studies Bill describes. When the driver tags in an ad closely aligned with the programme it ran in, the sales effect measured by Nielsen Catalina rose 36% on average. A large CPG study found purchase intent up 37% and first brand mention up 62%, and showed well-placed ads needed far less frequency, which could save significant media spend. Hear the full discussion in episode 42
Yes. A US 'five a day' campaign quadrupled the share of people who agreed they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables, but actual eating did not change at all. In contrast, a university canteen changed behaviour through layout alone: putting broccoli first raised its sales 11%, an opaque lid on the ice cream cut sales by a third, and moving sugary drinks behind the counter reversed drink choices. Hear the full discussion in episode 51
Bill cites a Meta study showing scrolling environments like Facebook and Instagram often allow only one or two seconds of attention. That is enough to remind existing customers to buy, but not enough to tell a story that creates positive emotion, brand attraction and long-term memory. He concludes TV and magazines do a better job of growing a brand with new customers, though using all media types together is best. Hear the full discussion in episode 42
Phil says human behaviour is goal-directed, and brands win by helping people achieve both functional and implicit goals, which is why Ariel and Persil hold different positions despite similar performance. A Big Four accountancy firm competing for CFOs was advised to understand each CFO's implicit goals: security and discipline, ambition to become CEO, or novelty and excitement. Each goal leads to different propositions, messaging, events and even corporate gifts. Hear the full discussion in episode 51
Stanford fMRI research found that seeing a desirable product activates the brain's reward centre, while seeing the price activates the insula, which is linked to pain and disgust. Net value equals reward minus pain, and researchers could predict purchase decisions from brain activity. Marketers can increase the expected reward or reduce the pain of paying; for example, removing currency symbols from prices has been shown to reduce the pain. Hear the full discussion in episode 50