Brain Driven Brands

This episode was supposed to be about something else entirely…but TikTok's algorithm had other plans. Sarah and Nate fall headfirst into a conversation about why our For You Pages are changing how people perceive content, other people, products, and the world…and what that means for the ads we create in 2026.

From cave-death phobias to zoo-bear attack headlines, we unpack why humans are magnetized to bizarre, emotionally charged micro-stories, and why traditional "polished" ads have no chance against that dopamine roulette.

They break down: → How the TikTok algorithm broke the entire marketing industry → What it really takes to stop a scrolling brain trained on chaos → Why identity-based ads are exploding (and why the platforms are rewarding them) → The truth about personas: how more of them, narrower, and built for one emotional moment at a time is the only way to win → The surprising shift from "better" ads to accurate ads…ads that lock onto a universal story the brain can't ignore

The episode ends with a simple question that might reshape your 2026 creative strategy: What's the repeatable story your customers will always stop for, no matter the platform?

This one is a wonderfully unplanned, unnervingly honest look at where attention is going and how brands can evolve with it.

Today's episode cracks open one of the most unintuitive persuasion effects hiding in plain sight: customers are 149% more likely to say yes to an offer… when it's presented as something that wasn't meant for them.

Sarah and Nate break down the original Journal of Marketing Research study (2013), walk through real examples from DTC, SaaS, and Nate's own infamous bar-tab email campaign, and show how brands accidentally stumble into this effect all the time.

We explore: • why "this isn't usually for you, but…" is irresistible to new customers • how pro-level products trigger aspiration psychology • the difference between unintentional offers vs. unlock offers • how TetherOS and Adapt could test this framing immediately • why this fits under the broader umbrella of "pre-purchase surprise & delight"

If you've ever run a "we weren't supposed to do this but…" promo (or fallen for one) this episode makes the science obvious…and profitable.

Marketers love to argue about tactics: structures, caps, creatives, bids, funnels. But the data from this year paints a different picture: every winning campaign in 2026 will be powered by the same three forces… and almost nobody is preparing for them.

In this episode, we pull together the most revealing moments from the show; the ones where emotions spike, buying behavior becomes predictable, and the old rules of persuasion fall apart. You'll hear how valence and intensity shape conversions, why WHEN someone sees an ad matters more than WHO they are, and how abstract language can increase willingness-to-pay by 35% without changing the product.

If you want your 2026 campaigns to scale instead of stall, these are the forces you need to master emotion, timing, and framing. Everything else is noise.

In this episode, we dig up the wild (but true) story of Borax — yes, Borax — and how a forgotten cleaning brand quietly rewired consumer psychology long before Meta ads, hooks, or CTR dashboards existed. What they did was shockingly simple: they stopped selling "soap vs. better soap," and started selling a system their product could sell itself in… while naming an enemy you couldn't see but desperately wanted to defeat.

This one hits everything marketers secretly crave: • How to pick a real psychological villain (not your competitor) • Why "incomplete solutions" convert better than "new solutions" • The hidden power of systems-based marketing • How this translates directly to watches, wellness, supplements, luxury, and your brand right now

By the end, you'll rethink your product, your positioning, and maybe your entire funnel.

The Orange is a Lie Episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629?i=1000702690496

On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah and Nate dig into what actually helps most during BFCM week: simplifying your work, limiting decisions, touching grass (literally), planning something fun, rewarding yourself for non-revenue wins, and keeping alcohol out of the mix until the storm passes.