How Starbucks Made Pumpkin Spice Latte a Cult Favorite with Scarcity

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 could be used to improve marketing. Phil covers how best in class brands like Apple apply these principles but also how he has personally used behavioral science in his work at T-Mobile. 

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 experiments showing how spending on others is a better way for givers to boost their own happiness than spending on themselves and why receivers tend to prefer experiences rather than material gifts. While there are plenty of personal applications for these findings we also focus on the implications for brands.

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-known areas such as whether wear out is a myth, why music in ads should get more attention and finally what he calls the “dark matter of effectiveness”: price effects.

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 campaigns for good. We also turn to lesser known research by Bryan on how we label behavior can have a significant effect on whether it occurs.

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 like Miller and L'Oreal have applied this insight. Lastly, we examine a study by Read, showing how shoppers make different choices when picking for their current versus future selves.

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 US and why more brands should think about marketing to groups rather than individuals.

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

In this episode, we uncover how Starbucks turns the Pumpkin Spice Latte into a cult favorite through the power of scarcity.

In this episode, we examine how Disney uses behavioral principles to manage queues, process payments and create moments of joy inside their parks.

In this episode, we have Owain Service, cofounder and former managing director of the UK's Behavioral Insights Team and former deputy director of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, joining us to explore the possibilities of behavioral sciences in other sectors.