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🎉 Episode 100: The Top 7 Episodes You Need to Send to a Friend

Brain Driven Brands

Release Date: 09/16/2025

Consumers Got Weird This Year: 5 Truths Marketers Aren’t Ready For show art Consumers Got Weird This Year: 5 Truths Marketers Aren’t Ready For

Brain Driven Brands

This week on Brain Driven Brands, Sarah and Nate crack open 25 Core Identity Maps (CIMs) collected across nearly every category — supplements, apparel, home goods, tech, sleep, skincare — and uncover the five global consumer behaviors defining 2026. These aren’t the usual “people want convenience and trust” surface takes. They’re weird, psychologically sideways, deeply human patterns emerging across thousands of responses
 the kind of stuff your attribution dashboard will never show you. Inside the episode, they break down: Why customers want the feeling of improvement, not the...

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Brain Driven Brands

Some myths haunt the ad industry like immortal raccoons rifling through the garbage. In this episode, Sarah and Nate crack open a tweet that asked a simple question: “What’s the dumbest take you’ve heard about running ads?” Turns out
people had thoughts. They wade through the greatest hits — “never turn off an ad,” “you gotta season the pixel,” “ads hurt organic,” “just follow Andromeda best practices,” “DR can’t build brand,” “scale winners 15% a day,” — and then get into the deeper psychology behind why these ideas still survive in 2026. Along the way,...

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Brain Driven Brands

  When a PepsiCo-trained behavioral scientist crashes the studio, things get weird
and wildly useful. In this episode, Will Leach walks us through the emotional math behind why customers buy, why brands plateau, and why most marketers have their goals entirely backward.  We dig into why value ≠ “saving money,” how DiGiorno tricked America by anchoring against delivery pizza, why buyers change personalities between Monday and Friday, and the surprising reason your brand matters way less than you think. Come for the spicy takes on Coke vs Pepsi, stay for the “Batman vs...

info_outline 99% of Marketers Are Using AI Wrong (Including YOU) show art 99% of Marketers Are Using AI Wrong (Including YOU)

Brain Driven Brands

Most marketers are using AI to replace their thinking instead of sharpen it—and it’s showing. In this episode, Sarah and Chase break down why lazy prompting is the reason your creative feels stale, your tests flop, and your “winners” die in two weeks. They’ll walk you through 50 wild “what if” experiments that flip marketing psychology upside down and show you how to use AI as a thinking partner, not a content mill. Here’s a taste: đŸ€Ż What if checkout pages showed how long you’ve wanted that product—and how long you’ll regret not buying it? 💡 What if loyalty...

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Brain Driven Brands

Sarah and Nate dive into one of marketing’s strangest scientific findings: launching [secret product] can make your brand 20% cooler. So which product is it? No hints on this one
you’ll just have to listen and find out! Source: 👉 Join my community: CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: LinkedIn: Tactical and Practical Podcast: CoHost: Sarah Levinger Learn more at: Twitter: Linkedin: Instagram: Watch me on YouTube:  

info_outline The 8 Marketing Mistakes We Made in 2025 (and How to Fix Them in 2026) show art The 8 Marketing Mistakes We Made in 2025 (and How to Fix Them in 2026)

Brain Driven Brands

2025 was a weird year for marketers..an avalanche of AI hype, output obsession, and soulless creative cycles. In this episode, Sarah and Nate dissect the biggest missteps brands made this year and what needs to change before 2026 hits.  From mistaking outputs for outcomes to realizing AI isn’t ready to think for us, they break down why “volume” culture is killing creativity and how to rebuild your strategy around clarity, authenticity, and actual human intelligence. Expect hard truths, some laughter about naming cows “Ribeye,” and a challenge to run your own “What Could Go...

info_outline Two Truths and A Lie: Why the Weirdest Ads Work (and Yours Don’t) show art Two Truths and A Lie: Why the Weirdest Ads Work (and Yours Don’t)

Brain Driven Brands

Ever seen an ad so bizarre you couldn’t look away? A woman eating a boiled egg for 90 seconds. A cigarette brand that never showed the cigarette. A $40M Burger King campaign about a guy named Herb who’d never eaten there. In this episode, Nate and Sarah play Two Truths and a Lie: 1980s Ad Edition and then break down why the strangest, most nonsensical ads of the decade actually worked. We’ll talk about: 🧠 Semantic Closure — why your brain can’t stand an open loop. đŸ§© Processing Fluency — how confusion turns into curiosity. 💀 Fear vs. Wonder — and why one still...

info_outline Stop Staring at Me: The Weird Psychology of Eye Contact in Ads 👀 show art Stop Staring at Me: The Weird Psychology of Eye Contact in Ads 👀

Brain Driven Brands

In this Brain Driven Brands episode, Nate and I unpack a wild little study that found ads can be 30% more effective depending on where your model’s eyes are looking. Turns out, the difference between “I trust this brand with my organs” and “why is she looking at me like that?” comes down to whether your product is utilitarian or hedonic (fancy words for “practical” vs “fun”). We break down why eye contact builds trust for supplements and skincare—but looking away sells fashion and for-funsies products. TL;DR: Your model’s gaze might be the cheapest conversion hack...

info_outline Sarah’s $2,000 Haircut: Why “When” Beats “Why” in Marketing Every Time show art Sarah’s $2,000 Haircut: Why “When” Beats “Why” in Marketing Every Time

Brain Driven Brands

On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah’s bad haircut spirals into a four-week behavioral case study—and an accidental masterclass in consumer psychology. From identity triggers (“am I that kind of person?”) to timing misfires and disqualifying sales moments, this story exposes how every brand loses money by misunderstanding when a buyer is ready—not why. In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah and Nate dissect: → Why “when” your customer feels safe matters more than “why” they buy. → How bias, timing, and trust signals silently make or break conversions. →...

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Brain Driven Brands

What if your next viral ad came from your meanest review?  In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah and Nate dive headfirst into the world of negative feedback, brand psychology, and emotional resilience—starting with a spicy listener review about Sarah’s voice. 😅 From Liquid Death’s savage comment campaigns to Domino’s “We’re Sorry for Sucking” rebrand, they unpack how smart brands turn criticism into currency (and why most founders take it way too personally). You’ll learn: → Why consumers trust brands that own their flaws → The psychology behind “reversal...

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More Episodes

In this episode of Brain-Driven Brands, Nate and Sarah kick off Season 3 by reflecting on some of our favorite episodes from past seasons, share the lessons that stuck with us, and give you a preview of what’s coming next. If you haven’t listened to Brain Driven Brands for long, or if you jut wanna send your friend some good content this week, SEND THEM THIS.

🔑 Key Takeaways

  • Why “just spending more on ads” is the wrong lever—and the surprising shift that actually drives scale.

  • The one theme that secretly connected our favorite past episodes (storytelling, bias, and identity)
 and why we didn’t see it until now.

  • A behind-the-scenes look at what we’re building for Season 3—something we’ve never shared publicly before.

🔑 Episodes Referenced:

  • The “When” Episode – about when people are primed to buy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000675762314
     
     
    $100M Marketing Challenge – a live experiment episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000693460164
     
    The Orange Episode / Apples vs. Oranges – about the seriously shady business of orange juice vs apple juice (juice/consumables): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000702690496
     
    Ford to Range Rover Episode – identity-based buying contrast episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000702997660
     
    Sarah Makes Snake Cry – a memorable/funny one that might change copywriting forever: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000710416478
     
    Gut Driven Brands – spinoff episode when Sarah was out, so Scotty & Nate ran it: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000679071306
     
    The “Because” Episode – got notable (kinda negative) listener reactions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000687116891
     
    BONUS: BPE Episode – people couldn't get enough of this one: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000700103181
     
    BONUS: Valence of Testing – one of the best episodes we've done by far! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000710416478

👉 Learn more how to apply psychology to your ads: skool.com/tether-lab

CoHost: Nate Lagos

Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/

Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

 

CoHost: Sarah Levinger

Learn more at: https://www.tetherinsights.io/

Twitter: https://x.com/SarahLevinger

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.levinger/

Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg