BrainCandy English

In a world characterised by constant more, "The Untapped Science of Less" offers a refreshing perspective on the potential of subtraction. Based on Leidy Klotz's fascinating work "Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less", this BrainCandy takes an entertaining dive into the neglect of subtraction as a tool for change - an area that is systematically overlooked in our society.

 This article is not only a thought-provoking call to action for everyone in marketing, but also offers practical insights into how the principle of taking away can lead to innovative, efficient and ultimately effective marketing strategies. It could fundamentally change the way we think about problem-solving, product development and brand strategy.

 Show notes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-104_The-unused-science-of-less.pdf

This year's Super Bowl recorded the highest number of viewers ever and featured over 70 adverts. Can we learn from the best adverts? On the Monday morning after the event, rankings were published by reputable sources, including the famous USA Today Ad Meter, the Kellogg School of Management's Super Bowl Advertising Review, as well as rankings from prestigious publications such as Forbes and the New York Times. Interestingly, these rankings showed little consistency, which may not be a particularly valuable insight for us marketers. But in my opinion, there are at least three spots that you should know about because they are particularly brain-friendly. This short BrainCandy introduces them. Have fun listening and hopefully watching!

 I had to use a new voice talent, as my previous one is currently unavailable.

Please find the show notes with all the links here: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-103_Super-Bowl.pdf

I recently came across the essay "We will all become boring" by bestselling author Louise Perry. And it has stayed with me ever since. Perry deals with the increasing loneliness in the modern Western world. She finds causes in liberal individualism and prosperity, among other things. Her analysis is certainly gloomy - but she sees opportunities if we realize the impending consequences in good time and take active countermeasures.

For me, the essay is a perfect impulse for the new year and perhaps also a motivator for a good resolution. The year is still young. And it certainly won't be boring.

Show notes with all the links: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-102_We-are-all-going-to-get-bored.pdf

At Christmas, we long not only for wonder and miracles, but also for love. But the reality of love is complex and sometimes requires support. Social relationships have a significant impact on our well-being, health and even survival, with men benefiting even more than women.

Recently, the New York Times published a fascinating article on this topic. The author interviewed 14 psychologists and therapists for book recommendations on couples issues. I was particularly impressed by the nuanced approach the article took in looking at advice books for different couple contexts. I have compiled the recommendations in this short BrainCandy episode.

Please find the show notes with all links to all books here: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

In this 100th edition of BrainCandy, we delve into the fascinating world of 'awe' as explored by Dacher Keltner in his exciting book. Let's discover together how this powerful feeling influences our perception and well-being, and how we can experience more of it. Christmas is the ideal time to take a closer look at wonder. And perhaps also to find new motivation to look for more wow effects in marketing. Amazement works wonders.

Show notes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-100_Awe_by_Dacher_Keltner-the_transformative_power_of_wonder.pdf

You almost feel like a traitor to the good cause when you criticise the Purpose religious community of consultants, agencies and brands. How do I even come to this when consumers repeatedly emphasise in surveys how important the purpose of brands and companies is to them in their purchasing decisions? In the meantime, the wall of the convinced is showing clear cracks. Even when it comes to purpose, dreams don't really want to materialise. One reason for this is that naive survey results have nothing to do with behaviour. And that in some places there is an almost romanticised image of people's considered, socially oriented purchasing decision behaviour. Marketing seems to be too weak a force to make human behaviour truly sustainable. This BrainCandy shows what can be done better

Shownotes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

Recent events have motivated me to write about the topic of "evil". It may not be a really relevant topic for brand, marketing or self-management, unless you are interested in the supposed evil nature of all marketing activities.
 A few hours before the terrorist attack on Israel, psychologist Rob Henderson published a summary of Professor Roy Baumeister's book Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty. For me, this was a real aha moment, as I have believed some myths about evil myself.
In this BrainCandy, I summarise the most important points, resisting the temptation to go directly into the Hamas terrorist attack and its consequences. You will do that automatically in the right places as you listen.
Baumeister's book is about the psychological understanding of evil, not a philosophical or moral treatise on what evil is. The hardest part of this is to realise that you yourself would be capable of committing evil acts under certain circumstances.

I will refrain from wishing you a lot of fun while listening, but I hope you will have a few aha-experiences in return.

Shownotes with link to Hendersons post: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-98_Bad-people.pdf

If you currently follow the discussion about male psychology in the media, this gender seems to like to be considered the cause of most current problems. Toxic masculinity, patriarchy and of course the Old White Men are labels that are quickly held up. Even at elite universities, this currently seems to be a field where many don't want to get their fingers burned by the zeitgeist.

Recently I read an interview between English psychologist Dr. John Barry, an expert in male psychology, and the psychologists you are already familiar with, Rob Henderson. There were some insights there that surprised me quite a bit. Learn more in this compact BrainCandy.

Shownotes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

Richard Koch, a self-made billionaire and prominent proponent of the 80/20 principle, has written profoundly over the years about the effective application of this approach, also known as the Pareto principle. It is remarkable that someone with such a fortune would take the time to write such in-depth non-fiction. This suggests that he not only understands the principle but also applies it masterfully. A recent interview with him on the Tim Ferriss Podcast impressed me. In BrainCandy I have summarised key insights from that podcast. For anyone returning from holiday fresh and motivated, Koch offers valuable inspiration for a more efficient path to happiness and success. At a time when the AI revolution is upon us with its almost limitless possibilities, a little more 80/20 insight could benefit us all. Personally, I'm looking forward to reading Koch's latest book on my upcoming holiday.

Shownotes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

If people are behaving more and more like bots on the web, then one of the drivers for this behaviour is the attempt to possess the 'truth' in the information overload in the simplest possible way. The blogger Gurwinder, who deals with the interplay of technology and psychology in the attempt to deceive us, has made an exciting typification and found an almost ingenious explanation for the observable behaviour. His advice on how we ourselves can resist the temptation to cultivate more bot-like behaviour is particularly helpful.

If you follow the typification, what does this mean for marketing in social media channels? Should you adapt to the particular context of these types?

 15 minutes well spent

Shownotes with lots of links: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

Small talk is a widely underestimated form of getting to know people and maintaining relationships. Many intelligent people think that small talk is a waste of time.

But small talk plays a central role in how we are intuitively evaluated by others. This BrainCandy shows an exciting insight from science and in the second part gives a few tips on how to get more small talk practice. Maybe a good opportunity to try this out on holiday.

Have fun listening - 12 minutes well spent

Shownotes and links: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-94_How-to-become-a-better-conversationalist.pdf

Mind reading - A look into the future of the mind

Since time immemorial, we humans have been fascinated by the idea of being able to read the minds of others. The idea of better understanding our partner's feelings and avoiding misunderstandings excites us. Recently, the topic has again attracted a lot of attention in the media due to new studies. And so-called neuromarketing also jumped on the bandwagon a long time ago. But what is really behind decoding people's secret thoughts via new methods? This BrainCandy gives a quick classification of the state of the art. Enjoy the listen.

Shownotes:

Dopamine, which is considered a happiness hormone, can influence our mood. But we often intuitively misunderstand the mechanisms that can lead to dopamine release. Neurologist Andrew Huberman recently published a detailed explanation of how we can more reliably get dopamine releases. In this exciting BrainCandy, I show you what I consider to be the most important insight from his explanations. And it touches on no less than the question, what role do goals and rewards play and what role does effort play in goal achievement. Is the goal the goal or is it the path?

8 minutes of relevant insights

Shownotes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

My last BrainCandy on egalitarian behaviour among hunter-gatherers was thematically polarising, as egalitarian behaviour developed mainly among men, while at the same time children and women were hierarchically less privileged.

In exchange, today as a counterbalance, the extremely entertaining book by British Lucy Cooke, a renowned zoologist, who dedicates herself to male-dominated zoological science and dismantles the many myths about female behaviour in the animal kingdom with profound knowledge and extremely entertaining linguistic wit.

In chapters bursting with x-rated facts, Cooke gleefully dispels one myth after another about our wild sisters. Cooke recognises, "Females are just as promiscuous, competitive, aggressive, dominant and dynamic as males."

I hope I can whet your appetite to read this long overdue book.

Ralph Shownotes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-91_Slut-what_it_means_to_be_female.pdf

Human beings are chronically conflicted animals. A few months ago I read a long newsletter by the psychologist Rob Henderson that touched me deeply. Anthropology is not normally my hobby. But the parallels to today's political discussions motivated me to share the main points with the tribe of BrainCandy listeners. It explains why Homo Sapiens has lived most of the time in an egalitarian and monogamous way. And what the art of communication and killing has to do with it. And it provides the background for the current political discussion, which promises a seemingly egalitarian world view.
 
Have fun on a quick but exciting journey through time

Show notes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-90_Man_is_a_chronically_ambivalent_animal.pdf

Brand consultant Richard Shotton is back with another masterclass in behavioural economics. In "The Illusion of Choice: 16½ Psychological Biases That Influence What We Buy", he reveals an irrational tendency in our behaviour in real-life contexts in each of the eighteen entertaining chapters. Especially with his many examples, he makes learning very entertaining. In the BrainCandy I give some tasty appetisers that are immediately applicable in brand work.

I've gotten a few copies of the book. Email me and take part in the draw for a free copy with #Illusion: r.ohnemus@ka-brandresearch.com

Shownotes: https://ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

A few weeks ago, the long-awaited new book by marketing professor Jenni Romaniuk was finally available: Better Brand Health. Already a bestseller with great international interest. In this BrainCandy, I have summarised the most important findings for me in a short and crisp way. And the topic fits particularly well into BrainCandy because Romaniuk's findings focus on how the brain stores brand knowledge and when it reactivates this knowledge. An episode for marketing and market research experts.

Have fun listening

What could be more exciting than human mate-seeking behaviour? I recently read a lengthy paper by psychologist Rob Henderson. He looked at the effects of different contexts on the behaviour of the sexes when looking for a partner. We like to assume that our behaviour is guided primarily by our inner standards. It is fascinating to understand how strongly our environment, our contexts influence our behaviour. And the dating game is no different. Enjoy listening. 

Show notes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

Three years of Corona are now behind us. And the question arises, what has this done to us? What has changed in us? And how will this influence our behaviour in the future? A recent interview with Bamberg psychology professor Carbon motivated me to look into this topic again. After all, we want to understand to what extent we should respond to the Corona experience in our brand strategies. Just this much in advance: there is good news. Enjoy listening

What is a New Year's Eve without fireworks and a New Year without good resolutions? Unfortunately, new resolutions are only easy to imagine. Most of them almost certainly fail when it comes to putting them into practice. All you have to do is follow James Clear's brain-friendly tips from BrainCandy 63. Or you can choose a completely different approach: the Last Year Review by author and lifestyle guru Tim Ferriss. A tool that is as simple as it is powerful, and which should reliably lead to a year with more happiness than the lists of good resolutions. Have fun listening

After years of the pandemic, the now galloping inflation, the terrible war in the East, we should all be longing for more feelings of happiness in our everyday lives. A podcast by the neurologist Huberman, who deals with the latest findings of happiness research and recommends tools with which we can consciously increase our sense of happiness, comes at just the right time. I'll summarise his key points here as succinctly as possible. As a little nudge to get involved with the topic and become active.

Enjoy listening and good suggestions for the hopefully contemplative and beautiful holidays.

Transcript: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wir-verstaerken-marken/

Are you still trying to manage time? The New York Times bestseller '4000 Weeks' concludes that with the leading time management systems we try to squeeze far too much into our time. In the process, we lose sight of what is really really important to us. The author, Oliver Burkeman, wittily and entertainingly demonstrates how we should better counter the pressure for efficiency. And thus make more out of our incredibly short lives. One with only 4000 weeks. A good topic for the coming reflective days.

Our intelligence declines much sooner than we ourselves can perceive. Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks takes no prisoners in his new bestseller. It almost hurts at first to deal with his many examples. When you have to realise that even Nobel Prize winners don't usualy make any great discoveries after their fiftieth birthday. But - his book is also a self-help book and it is very worthwhile to read the second encouraging part carefully. Even if you yourself are perhaps (still) at the peak of your creative powers.

Negotiations get on your nerves? 

With a quite clever method you get the maximum for you AND your negotiating partner - fairly and comprehensibly.

Who doesn't know them: Tough, laborious negotiations in which no common denominator can be found and each side insists on its position. Barry Nalebuff suggests a different, amazingly simple method: Define the profit pie and share it fairly.

Actually too simple to be true? But listen for yourself how this works in practice. Among others in real negotiations between Coca Cola and a much smaller company.

Show notes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

When the proverbial bear is roaring around you - how do you manage to reliably increase your own focus and concentration? Science helps with up-to-date tips. I have prepared my notes from a long podcast by neurologist Huberman for you here. Have fun trying them out. 

And one more piece of information on my own behalf. I'm going on holiday for a few weeks in the next few days. I have asked my colleague Andreas Putz to write a BrainCandy about a book that has fascinated me. It's about a new negotiation method: Split the Pie. I look forward to being able to enjoy this BrainCandy while on holiday.

Shownotes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/braincandies/

Some time ago, Rob Henderson came to my attention. Henderson is a doctoral student in psychology at Cambridge and studied psychology at Yale before that. He runs a very good blog on Substack. Most of it as premium content. A promising young scientist. Henderson has a very unusual CV and develops exciting ideas. Like the insight of Luxury Beliefs.

Luxury Beliefs are ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class while often imposing costs on the lower class. His article on these Luxury Beliefs has attracted a lot of attention. 

In this short podcast I summarise the article with pleasure

Shownotes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/BrainCandy-79-EN_Luxury-Beliefs.pdf

Link to Hendersons blog https://robkhenderson.substack.com/p/status-symbols-and-the-struggle-for?utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F4694826-rob-henderson&utm_medium=reader2

What does it do to us when we are caught incessantly by disaster headlines? A respected journalist explains to us how she herself deals with this problem and what journalism could do to report on the disasters on the one hand, but at the same time better value people as processors of news. Exciting insights with good recommendations for our mental health. Enjoy reading and empathise.

Link to the original article of Amanda Ripley:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/08/how-to-fix-news-media/

Was macht es mit uns, wenn wir unablässig von Katastrophenschlagzeilen erwischt werden? Eine angesehene Redakteurin erklärt uns, wie sie selbst mit diesem Problem umgeht und was der Journalismus tun könnte, um einerseits über die Katastrophen zu berichten, aber gleichzeitig den Menschen als Nachrichtenverarbeiter besser wertzuschätzen. Spannende Einsichten mit guten Empfehlungen für unsere mentale Gesundheit. Viel Spaß beim Lesen und mitfühlen. 

Länge 12 Minuten

Link zum Artikel von Amanda Ripley https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/08/how-to-fix-news-media/

Today I serve my listeners a harder nut to crack. It is obvious to more and more citizens that the republic urgently needs to transform itself. This is also being addressed. But well intended is not yet well done. I experience that the linearity bias, which makes evolutionary sense, is likely to lead us straight into massive problems. The 10 minutes of listening time are well invested in being able to better recognise the effect.

Show notes: https://en.ka-brandresearch.com/wir-verstaerken-marken/#accordion-braincandies

One of the most experienced and successful marketing bloggers in the world, Bob Hoffman, just delighted me with one of his latest essays. He took on the topic of what role brands really play in consumers' lives and how people actually make most purchasing decisions.  It follows, for him, that fame must be the central goal of advertising for brand success. Bob knocked down wide open doors with me, and that gave me the idea to let him speak directly to you himself. This BrainCandy summarizes his central statements. I myself have added a central point at the end, which in my view is an indispensable side condition, but listen for yourself. Have fun.

This is the link to Bobs essay: https://createsend.com/t/d-D10C440F1B773C602540EF23F30FEDED

We hear a lot about the anger of the vaccinated over the unvaccinated. It occurred to me only a few months ago that we are dealing with an ingroup versus outgroup phenomenon. Namely, a very powerful positional 'war' that is preventing a fruitful synthesis process. I hope this is really my last BrainCandy on Corona, but it is worthwhile once again to shed some behavioral scientific light on this camp war - and thus finally give more space to the search for truth and real insights.

Stay healthy and asymptomatic

As always, the text is available at: https://ka-brandresearch.com/category/news/

With 'Nudge' one of the most important books in behavioral science has been re-published and extended by important topics. The result is a book that is well worth reading. And a new buzzword that will certainly enter the management language: Sludge. You can never know enough about human behavior - and especially about how to get people to make better decisions for themselves. Learn more in this short podcast

Recently, I was able to listen to a powerful lecture by Prof. Dr. Maren Urner on 3Sat a German TV station. She researches media psychology at the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne. Prof. Urner explains in a comprehensible way why we all have a far too negative image of the world. It's all about the information overload of the media, which encounters an evolutionarily outdated processing system in the brain. But neuropsychology can help us acquire a higher level of resilience and thus more joy in life. In this BrainCandy, I have summarized what I consider to be the most important and exciting points of Prof. Urner's lecture in a short and crisp way. Have fun listening.

The famous psychologist, Nobel Prize winner and best-selling author Daniel Kahneman has just published his latest work. Together with professors Sibony and Sunstein (Nudge), he takes care of an important human decision-making error. This time it's not about the downright entertaining biases, i.e. the automatic thinking errors / rules of thumb that explain non-rational behaviour, but about a hitherto largely underestimated phenomenon of human decisions. It is about noise, that is, noise that one recognises, for example, when experts assess certain facts completely differently, although one would expect them to come to the same conclusions. These are really new ideas, so important that you want to put them into practice immediately.

I give here a brief insight into the core of the book, and hopefully make you want to deal with this important book in more detail.

Internationally known marketing expert, Mark Ritson, recently published his crowd-sourced Top 10 Marketing Bullshit list. On the one hand, it's great fun - if only some of it wasn't real crap and can actually prevent marketing from working successfully. In his list, it actually caught not only brands, but also thinking models we're all familiar with that can lead to dead ends with momentum. And yes, I have sacrificed quite a bit of time to some of these thought models as well. Even experts are not free from error 😉

If you look to Berlin at the moment, some people wish that common sense would finally rain down from the sky. But it's not just politics, companies also seem to be becoming less and less humane and instead are drawing up ever more detailed rules for action that can drive not only employees but also customers crazy.

I just came across the latest book by international consultant Martin Lindstrom and the topic caught me right away. He wants to motivate companies to establish a Ministry of Common Sense. What an exciting idea. In this BrainCandy, you'll find out if his ideas could be worthwhile for your company, too.

Again, I've set aside five books for my Brainies. Just email r.ohnemus@ka-brandresearch.com with the #Ministry. And if you want to hyperventilate a bit: What drives employees up the proverbial wall at your company?  Greatest possible anonymity at least on Google standard is assured.  The lot decides, I should have again more than five readers and listeners 😉

We always overestimate the changes that are supposed to happen over the next two years, But we underestimate the change that happens over the next ten years." Bill Gates.

I was fascinated by Frank Thelen's new book. I'm a self-confessed technophile and find tech developments really exciting, and Thelen is a competent insider, startup investor and known to many from his time as an investor on Höhle der Löwen (Dragons' Den/Shark Tank). Entertaining and highly knowledgeable, Thelen describes the major technological developments and why their effectiveness must develop exponentially over the next 10 years. Of course, he will be at least somewhat wrong with most of his forecasts; that is due to the complexity of the matter, whose development cannot be predicted. But it's worth understanding the main forces - and also what that may well mean for us privately, for our jobs, and for our investment strategies. In this BrainCandy, I will discuss Thelen's central theses and hope that I can motivate you to read the book.

Und warum das so wenigen auffällt. Und warum ein Schweizer Käse unser Denken beflügeln würde.

60% der Bevölkerung sind mit dem Regierungshandeln in Sachen Corona zufrieden. Ich erkenne an zu vielen Stellen starkes Politikversagen. Spannend aber finde ich, dass die Schwächen des politischen Handelns und das Nichterkennen der Bevölkerungsmehrheit auf typische ‚Fehler‘ unseres Gehirns zurück geführt werden können. Manche Experten schlagen deshalb vor, die Komplexität der Pandemie mit einer Schweizer Käse Strategie zu bekämpfen. :-) Mehr dazu im BrainCandy.  Stichwort Komplexität: Dieses BrainCandy ist deutlich länger ausgefallen, obwohl ich viele Themen nur kurz anreiße. Aber Komplexität bedingt auch vielschichtiges Denken. Ich habe versucht, das kurzweilig zu gestalten. Einfach in Etappen hören, wenn die Zeit kapp ist.

Themen in diesem BrainCandy sind zum Beispiel:

1. Der „eine Pandemie braucht die beste Lösung“ Denkfehler

2. Der starke Personen Trugschluss

3. Der Herdentrieb (Band Waggon Effect) hat die Politiker im Griff.

4. What you see is all there is

5. Politik und Wissenschaft nutzen zu starkes Framing – und die Medien spielen mit

6. Der Einfachheits-Bias

7. Der Virtue Licensing Effect

8. Die schwache Datenlage macht fundierte Regierungsarbeit schwer und Oppositionsarbeit unmöglich.

9. Das „der sensitivste Test ist der beste Test ist der beste Test“ Dogma

10. Die Sündemie wird ignoriert

11. Ein paar Tipps zum besseren persönlichen Schutz

Die Shownotes mit sehr vielen Quellenangaben finden Sie wie immer auf unserer Website: KA-BrandResearch.com/Publikationen

When we make a firm resolution to change a behavior, we do it consciously and
with a lot of motivation in our System 2 (Kahneman).
However, we naturally want to create a behavior change in our autopilot  (System 1), and we consciously try to force that and 92% fail with it.

This BrainCandy provides important guidance - and refrains from leading  you astray with the lifestyle media's 'ten best tips for your  resolutions'.

Use this short BrainCandy. It works.

Take good care of yourself – and if you can, take care of somebody else

Shownotes: https://ka-brandresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/BrainCandy_63EN_Fail-at-their-New-Years-Resolutions.pdf?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=remail&utm_campaign=braincandies&utm_content=bc63

The new lockdowns across Europe are a very bad threat to our mental health. We can and should do more for our mental wellbeing. There is one thing of particular power to help us get through lockdowns in better shape. What that is will be explained in this short podcast. Stay well.

Transcript:  https://ka-brandresearch.com#brain-candy

When we watch the behavior of others we automatically make a character judgement. As if life was a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) affair. We simply don't realise the big impact of the situation, the real live context. Most often context has a far bigger influence on our behavior than our treasured personality / character. This podcast uses many entertaining examples to make you more aware of the hidden workings of contexts. And how one could limit the power of context. 

Listening time about 13 minutes.

Script: https://ka-brandresearch.com#brain-candy

Our monkey minds expects that our behavior past Corona will be changed, a lot. Many consultants jump on the band waggon and push brands to change or die.  Listen to this podcast where I'm going to explain why behavioral economics and psychology suggest that a new NORMAL is the most likely situation past Corona.  

“You have to respond immediately, because your customers are changing forever.” A claim which is as plausible as it is wrong. Just listen to my 10 minute rant to find out why

It’s only a matter of time before it gets on the nerves of the target groups. Why it's becoming an ever less attractive idea to focus on Corona related brand messages is being discussed in this BrainCandy