11 Psychology Tricks From the World’s Best Brands - Richard Shotton - #1053

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2026

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Richard Shotton is a behavioural scientist, founder of Astroten and an author. How do billion-dollar brands actually do it? From genius marketing tactics that make them instantly memorable to some of the funniest mistakes you’ve ever seen, there’s a psychology behind why certain brands stick. What are the principles top brands use, and how do they create content that people remember long after they’ve seen it? Timestamps: (0:00) How Five Guys Manipulated the Market (7:43) Is Price Relativity the Best Marketing Trick? (18:51) The Illusion of Effort in Marketing Psychology (25:00) Is AI About to Change the Market Forever? (29:30) The Genius Behind Splitting the G (34:09) How Liquid Death Built Killer Branding (42:38) Why Reducing Frequency Increases Enjoyment (48:54) Does Influencer Marketing Actually Work? (55:01) KFC's Secret of Scarcity (01:02:25) Positive vs Negative: Why Framing is Everything (01:08:21) Hacking the Smart Consumer (01:20:25) Why Taglines are So Effective (01:24:57) Are Marketers Still Fighting the Semmelweis Reflex? (01:31:54) Where to Find Richard Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: ⁠https://chriswillx.com/deals⁠ Get a free sample or 30% off a one-month supply of Timeline at https://timeline.com/modernwisdom30 Get 15% off your first order of my favourite Non-Alcoholic Brew at https://athleticbrewing.com/modernwisdom New pricing since recording: Function is now just $365, plus get $25 off at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Get up to $50 off the RP Hypertrophy App at https://rpstrength.com/modernwisdom Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: ⁠https://chriswillx.com/books⁠ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: ⁠https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom⁠ Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins⁠⁠⁠ #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson⁠⁠⁠ #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Huberm - Get In Touch: Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast⁠ Email: ⁠https://chriswillx.com/contact⁠ - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good news. I'm going back on tour with a brand new live show in Australia, New Zealand and Bali.
0:04.7	If you are interested in learning how to overcome imposter syndrome, reach your goals while not missing
0:09.8	your entire life, my perspective on where true confidence comes from, everything I've ever
0:14.8	discovered about discipline plus brand new insights that I've never spoken about on the podcast,
0:19.2	then join me on stage as I explore
0:21.4	all of these topics with you. And you can get involved during an extensive Q&A where we work
0:26.4	through the biggest questions that you have right now. Perth and Brisbane are completely sold out,
0:31.7	but there are still tickets available for Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Christchurch, Auckland and Bali.
0:36.1	And you can get yours right now by going to the link in the description below or heading to chris Williamson.
0:41.2	Dot live. What did you learn from Five Guys?
0:44.6	So Five Guys is the opening chapter and we talk about something that they did very powerfully, which is when they launched, they were relentless
0:55.0	at focusing on just doing burger and chips. So people like McDonald's have got seduced by the
1:00.8	fact that they could launch filet of fish and chicken burgers. But the five guys relentlessly honed
1:07.9	down on just doing burgers. Now, some of the benefit of that is a ability just to get better at cooking, better at producing your core product.
1:19.7	But psychologists argue there's something else on top of it.
1:22.9	So there's an idea called the gold dilution effect.
1:25.8	And the first studies were done by Zang and Fishback back in
1:28.3	2007. And they did a very simple experiment. Recruit a group of people, randomize them into two
1:35.8	subgroups. And the first set of people are told, if you eat tomatoes, it's very good for your
1:42.3	heart health. Here are the reasons. And that group are asked
1:45.9	to say whether they think eating tomatoes is worth doing for their heart health. Second group of
1:51.7	people, they see exactly the same text, exactly the same reasons and logic and facts about why
	...

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