Behavioral Psychology's case for Advertising in a Recession

Most everyday purchases aren't weighed up at all; people simply repeat what they did last time. Habits help a brand that already has the customer and stand in the way of one that wants to win them. Richard Shotton, author of The Choice Factory, has spent years running psychology experiments for brands. In this 2020 talk he explains when habits break, how to build them in your favour, and why brands shouldn't cut advertising coming out of lockdown.

You'll learn why people are 2.5 to 3 times more likely to try a new brand after a life event, even in categories unrelated to it. Richard breaks habit formation into a cue, a reward and repetition, illustrated with Pepsodent, Pret's random free coffees and Phillippa Lally's finding that a habit takes 66 days on average to form. In the Q&A he covers target context, differentiation versus distinctiveness, price relativity using Seedlip, and the pratfall effect.