Nudge

In a fairly inconspicuous SXSW podcast, two marketers shook the music industry. 

Jesse Coren and Andrew Spelman, two co-founders at Chaotic Good, explained how they make bands go viral. 

Their methods shocked people. 

Today on Nudge, I reveal how these two marketers use psychological hacks to manipulate the masses and make 'indie' bands mainstream. 

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Listen to the Billboard podcast: https://youtu.be/v1rP3cpilkM?si=iF2B9zzMQEZ5tSVb 

Listen to the Guardian podcast: https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2026/may/05/fake-fans-fake-buzz-how-your-favourite-band-got-big-podcast 

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Today’s sources: 

Mallinson, D. J., & Hatemi, P. K. (2018). The effects of information and social conformity on opinion change. PLOS ONE, 13(5), e0196600.

Muchnik, L., Aral, S., & Taylor, S. J. (2013). Social influence bias: A randomized experiment. Science, 341(6146), 647–651.

Salganik, M.Salganik, M. J., Dodds, P. S., & Watts, D. J. (2006). Experimental study of inequality and unpredictability in an artificial cultural market. Science, 311(5762), 854–856.

In 2007, two Harvard researchers added a splash of balsamic vinegar to beer. 

When drinkers knew the beer contained vinegar, they hated it. 

But when the researchers told them “this is our MIT brew," the majority loved it. 

The study reveals the secrets behind marketing. 

On today’s episode of Nudge with award-winning science writer David Robson, we explain how good marketing can shape our perception. 

Link to the bonus episode: ⁠https://nudge.kit.com/86d3e39845⁠ 

Become an FSB member: https://get.fsb.org.uk/nudge/

Read the Expectation Effect: https://amzn.to/4dvkb3s 

David’s website: https://davidrobson.me/ 

David’s Substack: https://davidarobson.substack.com/ 

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Today’s sources: 

Amar, M., Ariely, D., Bar-Hillel, M., Carmon, Z., & Ofir, C. (2011). Brand names act like marketing placebos. Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Clark, A. (2016). Surfing uncertainty: Prediction, action, and the embodied mind. Oxford University Press.

Crum, A. J., & Langer, E. J. (2007). Mind-set matters: Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science, 18(2), 165–171.

Faasse, K., Martin, L.R., Grey, A., Gamble, G., and Petrie, K.J. (2016). Impact of brand or generic labeling on medication effectiveness and side effects. Health Psychology, 35(2), 187.

Grabenhorst, F., Rolls, E. T., & Bilderbeck, A. (2008). How cognition modulates affective responses to taste and flavor: Top-down influences on the orbitofrontal and pregenual cingulate cortices. Cerebral Cortex, 18(7), 1549–1559.

Lee, L., Frederick, S., & Ariely, D. (2006). Try it, you'll like it: The influence of expectation, consumption, and revelation on preferences for beer. Psychological Science, 17(12), 1054–1058.

Lidstone, S. C., Schulzer, M., Dinelle, K., Mak, E., Sossi, V., Ruth, T. J., & Stoessl, A. J. (2010). Effects of expectation on placebo-induced dopamine release in Parkinson disease. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(8), 857–865.

Plassmann, H., O'Doherty, J., Shiv, B., & Rangel, A. (2008). Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(3), 1050–1054.

Quattrone, A., Barbagallo, G., Cerasa, A., & Stoessl, A. J. (2018). Neurobiology of placebo effect in Parkinson's disease: What we have learned and where we are going. Movement Disorders, 33(8), 1213–1227.

Robson, D. (2022). The expectation effect: How your mindset can transform your life. Canongate.

Spence, C., & Piqueras-Fiszman, B. (2014). The perfect meal: The multisensory science of food and dining. John Wiley & Sons.

Imagine you’re a chef. 

You are shown the recipe for a soup. It has five ingredients. 

You’re told to improve the recipe. 

What do you do? 

96% of people reveal a bias when answering this question. And that bias makes marketing less effective, communication less engaging and products less appealing. 

Find out why in today’s episode of Nudge with the award-winning professor Leidy Klotz. 

Warning: this episode contains explicit language. 

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Leidy’s latest book, In a Good Place: https://amzn.to/4tzjCvE 

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Today’s sources: 

Adams, G. S., Converse, B. A., Hales, A. H., & Klotz, L. E. (2021). "People systematically overlook subtractive changes." Nature, 592(7853), 258–261.

Rogers, T., & Lasky-Fink, J. (2023). Writing for busy readers: Communicate more effectively in the real world. Dutton.

Zhang, Y., Fishbach, A., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2007). The dilution model: How additional goals undermine the perceived instrumentality of a shared path. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(3), 389–401

The British government recently announced a ban on all social media usage for children up to the age of 16. 

But will the ban work? 

Today on Nudge, I explore the psychology of restrictions, bans and friction. 

Warning: this show is restricted to those aged 16 or over. 

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Today’s sources: 

Driscoll, R., Davis, K. E., & Lipetz, M. E. (1972). Parental interference and romantic love: The Romeo and Juliet effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24(1), 1–10.

Freedman, J. L. (1965). Long-term behavioral effects of cognitive dissonance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1(2), 145–155.

Mazis, M. B., Settle, R. B., & Leslie, D. C. (1973). Elimination of phosphate detergents and psychological reactance. Journal of Marketing Research, 10(4), 390–395.

Spence, C., & Wang, Q. J. (2017). Assessing the impact of closure type on wine ratings and mood. Beverages, 3(4), 52.

Zellinger, D. A., Fromkin, H. L., Speller, D. E., & Kohn, C. A. (1975). A commodity theory analysis of the effects of age restrictions upon pornographic materials. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(1), 94–99.

Zhang, K., Allard, T., & Bagchi, R. (2025). The token-effort effect: Trivial redemption effort increases price promotion effectiveness. Journal of Marketing.

World-leading behaviour change expert Katy Milkman details how to change your habits. 

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Katy’s book: https://amzn.to/3RF63xA 

Katy’s podcast: https://www.schwab.com/learn/choiceology 

Katy’s newsletter: https://www.katymilkman.com/newsletter-milkman-delivers 

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Today’s sources:

Beshears, J.Beshears, J., Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Benartzi, S. (2021). Using fresh starts to nudge increased retirement savings. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 167, 72–87.

Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563–2582.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Fishbach, A., & Duckworth, A. L. (2018). Dear Abby: Should I give advice or receive it? Psychological Science, 29(11), 1797–1806.

Eskreis-Winkler, L., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2019). A large-scale field experiment shows giving advice improves academic outcomes for the advisor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(30), 14808–14810.

Schroeder, S. A. (2007). We can do better — Improving the health of the American people. New England Journal of Medicine, 357(12), 1221–1228.