Richard Shotton introduces behavioural science as a practical toolkit for marketers—essentially applied psychology focused on what actually drives behaviour, not what people say does. Rather than surveying the entire field, they concentrate on findings with direct implications for audio.

First, they highlight the fundamental attribution error: marketers over-weight “who” (target audience) and under-weight “where/when” (target context). Citing the classic Princeton seminary experiment, the talk explains that whether trainee priests stopped to help a person in distress wasn’t predicted by their professed altruism but by context—time pressure. Only ~10% helped when rushed versus ~63% when unhurried. The lesson: briefs should specify target contexts, not just target audiences.

The first high-impact context is mood. In a large study, readers who were happy/relaxed recalled ~50% more ads than those stressed/unhappy, showing mood widens attention to messaging. Building on this, the speaker’s own research finds mood also lifts liking (a 61% swing in favourability for those in a good mood) and, drawing on other psychologists’ work, trust (good mood signals “low threat,” reducing hyper-critical processing). A further study with a major agency shows mood shapes price perceptions: exposed to identical promotions, 76% of people in a good mood judged the deals “good value” versus 60% in a bad mood—a 26% swing. The mechanism: when choices are complex, people substitute the hard question (“Is this objectively good value?”) with an easier one (“How do I feel about this?”).

Implications for audio: reach people when they’re more relaxed (a common listening state) and consider dayparting (evenings/weekends can be more positive). Better still, create the mood: use humour and enjoyable storytelling to put audiences in a receptive state. Despite strong evidence, humour use in ads has fallen markedly over time, suggesting brands may be moving against what works.

The second context is distraction. Drawing on work associated with Leon Festinger, the talk shows that mild distraction can weaken confirmation bias—our tendency to defend existing views by generating counterarguments. Participants who heard an argument while doing a secondary task were more open to changing their position than those concentrating fully. For marketers trying to shift entrenched perceptions (e.g., brand rejectors), audio’s companion nature—heard while driving, cooking, or doing chores—can be an advantage, softening counter-arguing.

Creatively, this supports implicit communication. Rather than explicit claims that trigger resistance (“We’re premium”), use cues that signal the idea (e.g., music, tone, setting)—an approach popularised by scholars of low-attention processing. Such signals can recalibrate brand meaning without inviting rebuttal.

The closing message: marketing is behaviour change. If we accept that, it’s rational to borrow from 130 years of experiments on how context, mood, attention, and message framing shape real-world decisions—especially in audio, where mood and mild distraction can be designed for and leveraged.

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