Business Daily Why you buy what you buy
13 snips
Jan 29, 2026 
Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman of Ogilvy and behavioural science pioneer, and Ben Jones, behavioural scientist at The Behaviour Architects, explore how science quietly steers choices. They discuss authority effects in ads, nudging in policy and business, sensory cues that alter taste, and real-world projects from plastic bag taxes to TV dramas changing behaviour.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Doctors Selling Products Past And Present
- The 1940s Camel ad used doctors to endorse smoking, showing historical power of authority in marketing.
- Rowan Bridge contrasts that with a modern toothpaste dentist endorsement to show continuity.
Design Reduces Judgment And Raises Spend
- Self-service terminals reduce social judgment and give customers more time, boosting upsell success.
- Dean Ward reports typical basket spend increases around 25–30% from changed interaction design.
Shape Changes How Food Tastes
- Sensory cues like shape influence taste perception; sweet maps to round, bitter to angular.
- Charles Spence shows such crossmodal associations repeatedly appear in experiments.