As someone who decided to specialize in marketing by choice, I’m well aware of the allure that accounts of behavioral insights being employed effectively in marketing & advertising naturally possess. After all, it’s not everyone’s cuppa tea. The neat fits I’m referring to are far and few. You and I are possibly bored to death by the millionth LinkedIn post about how Nestle rejigged the coffee code in Japan thanks to Clotaire Rappaile, but there’s a reason for its legendary status. It is quite something.
The Choice Factory: 25 Behavioural Biases That Influence What We Buy
by Richard Shotton, former media planner and behavioural insights expert acts as a nice, little gateway into this spectrum. The book doesn’t intend to be a thesis about the application of behavioural economics but feels more like a primer. Shotton uses some really straightforward yet interesting tidbits to take the reader through a bunch of concepts ranging from brands leveraging social proof to the slightly less-known Pratfall effect. Each of the biases is prefaced by a relatable example and followed-up by an analysis of thought experiments that support/dismiss said bias. All of this is tied into various aspects of marketing and advertising, right from the seeming insecurity of the brand purpose to the importance of context in the media mix. Shotton leverages prominent brand names, classic examples ( the likes of Avis, Stella Artois), and blurbs from experts in leveraging behavioral science for marketing & advertising to explain each bias through and through while also pointing out the pitfalls that marketers need to tread carefully. My favourite portion of the book is the concluding monologue where Shotton warns us about the allure of anecdotal evidence and how an interesting story could paper over the absolute truth. He opens and closes the book using the biases and actual events around the infamous Kitty Genovese murder and I don’t think he could have said it any better. As Shotton says it himself, don’t take anyone’s word for it, go test it yourself.
The read: This was the easiest read for me in 2021 so far; can be easily pinpointed to the familiarity with the context and due credits to Shottonfor curating a guide that’s extremely accessible. In fact, I would love if there was a complex variant or follow-up that one could delve into, mostly cause of how engaging the subject matter is. The list of references and suggested reads that Shotton offers at the end is where I will dig in perhaps. Between all of those listed, there is quite the choice factory.
18/365.
Trivia: Shotton runs a behavioral research firm named Astroten. Here’s how it came to be named, quite interestingly considering the field they operate in.
Documentation:
Book: The Choice Factory: 25 Behavioural Biases That Influence What We Buy
Author: Richard Shotton
Year of Release: 2018
Publisher: Harriman House