Charlotte Blank, Chief Behavioral Officer at Maritz, says her job is 'selling science.' In this interview, held immediately before our meetup gathering in Minneapolis in February 2018, Charlotte describes research she conducted with Leslie John, Tami Kim, and Kate Barasz to create a recent HBR article titled "Ads That Don't Overstep." Their work yielded two very simple and important messages about communication: 1. Don't talk behind someone's back, 2. Don't make assumptions. In the world of big data, machine learning and algorithm-driven communication, marketers need to pay close attention to these.
An early part of our discussion was on Charlotte's fascination with Franz DeWaal's work with monkeys, bonobos and the mysterious octopus! This led to a discussion about fairness as a key principle in program design and if you're not familiar with DeWaal's seminal work with capuchin monkeys, check it out here.
We discussed the now-famous Target advertising case where the company promoted pregnancy-related products to young women based on their buying habits and in one case, neither the woman nor her parents knew she was pregnant. There's a line to pay attention to and it has to do with the two guidelines noted above.
Charlotte also mentioned a couple of excellent books that she's recently read: Melissa Dahl, publisher of Science of Us, has a new book called "Cringeworthy, A Theory of Awkwardness" and Seth Stephens-Davidowitz's new book called "Everybody Lies" are top picks for those curious about human behavior.
The theme music in this episode, like all the other Behavioral Grooves music, is composed and played by Tim Houlihan. We are grateful to Jon James allowing us to use his work "Transfiguration" during intro and outro of the interview.
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Covid-19 Crisis: Elizabeth Gilbert, PhD on Adaptability, Imaginal Exposure and Lists
John Bargh: Dante, Coffee and the Unconscious Mind
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Grooving: Protests Sparked by the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis
Covid-19 Crisis: Chris Pfeiffer on Tips for Adjusting Sales Comp Plans
Dan Hill, PhD: On the Facial Coding of Trump, Hendrix, Prince, Gretzky and the Beatles
Covid-19 Crisis: Claire Bidwell Smith on Grief During the Crisis
Covid-19 Crisis: Kristen Berman on Remote Work, Quaranteams and Marinades
Covid-19 Crisis: Stephen Curtis on Neuroplasticity and Creating the Ideal
Gary Latham, PhD: Goal Setting, Prompts, Priming, and Skepticism
Covid-19 Crisis: Mariel Beasley on Increasing Short Term Savings During the Crisis
Samuel Salzer: Benefits and Perils of Streaks
Covid-19 Crisis: Kaveh Yasdifard on Uniting Innovators from Tehran
Covid-19 Crisis: Gretchen Chapman, PhD on The Psychology of Vaccinations
Covid-19 Crisis: Jules Nolan on The Kids are Alright - Insights on Coping Through the Crisis
Thanks For No Memories During the Coronavirus Pandemic
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