Hugh Carling
Co-founder of Liveminds. I love to bring like-minded people together. Whether that's growing businesses, running online communities, staging events or captaining my village cricket team, nothing makes me happier than seeing people with a shared passion, coming together and making the most of it.
To keep nourishing my mind and because everyone in the office finds my music selection a bit weird, I have been listening to quite a few podcasts recently. This thought provoking Freakonomics podcast on behavioural research struck me as particularly relevant.
Freakonomics Radio – The Maddest Men of All
“Advertisers have always been adept at manipulating our emotions. Now they’re using behavioural economics to get even better.”
The first part of this podcast explores how Ogilvy (& Mather), the global marketing and advertising giant, is pushing the limits on applying behavioural insights in the real world. We find out that academics have only recently come to focus on something that advertisers have known for years – that the human brain is lead by emotions when making decisions. This is hardly a new insight and something that researchers are also very familiar with. It is clear that by gaining behavioural insight and a greater understanding of peoples emotions you will have a much easier time, whether you are trying to sell to them or persuade them to do something important.
Many people feel uncomfortable when they realise how advertising plays to their emotions and manipulates them. Rory Sutherland, O&M, puts the case that the world would be a much more pleasurable place if behavioural insight were used more in design and decision-making. Behavioural insights can save time, money and ultimately make people happier. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on this episode…
Visit Freakonomics for more podcasts or download them from iTunes.
