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April 23, 2025 10 mins

What's the connection between economics and communication? We explore that question, the theme of Chapter 2 in Kai D. Wright's insightful business book "Follow the Feeling: Brand Building in a Noisy World." Learn how Nobel laureates Daniel Kahneman and Gary Becker influenced brand strategy, consumer behavior, and demographics. 

Using our 3x3 format, we give you three (3) things to know, three (3) things to do, and three (3) things to share with others.  

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Produced by Kai D. Wright. Follow Kai on LinkedIn

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever read a book and thought, wow, someone
really gets it?
Well, that's what it felt likereading Kai D.
Wright's book Follow theFeeling Brand Building in a
Noisy World.
It's like he's giving you thecheat sheet to really
understanding why some brandsyou know they just stick with
you and others kind of fade intothe background.
And the cool thing is Wright'snot just, you know, coming up
with theories here.
He's been doing this work foryears, from teaching at Columbia

(00:27):
to advising Fortune 100companies and startups and
advertising PR media, so hereally brings that real world
experience to the table.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
And what I find really fascinating about his
book is that he starts with thisreally compelling idea that the
most powerful element of anybrand isn't you know the facts
or the features.
It's actually how it makes youfeel.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
And it kind of turns things upside down and says
we're more feeling machines thatthink than thinking machines
that feel.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
And that tapping into those emotions is the real
secret to standing out intoday's you know super crowded
market Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
And the best part is he breaks down this whole
emotional branding thing into asystem that's, you know,
surprisingly simple to grasp.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So, because we know you're all busy people, we're
going to use our three by threerecap format to really break
down these key insights from thebook.
That means three essentialthings to know, three things you
can actually do and threepoints that are totally share
worthy.
All right, so are you ready tojump into chapter two of Follow
the Feeling?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I'm ready, let's go.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Okay, cool.
So chapter two is titled GoingHaywire and it asks this
fundamental question what's therelationship between economics
and communication?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Hmm Interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
All right.
So let's start with those threekey insights from this chapter,
shall we?

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Okay, so first up, Wright takes us back to his time
studying economics at theUniversity of Chicago.
You know that school with allthe Nobel Prize winners.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
And he's pretty honest about you.
Know what drew him there, Likeall those brilliant minds, and
let's be real, he got waitlistedat Harvard.
So Chicago it was.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Oh, so he ended up, you know, at the other
prestigious school.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Exactly, and it wasn't just about the name.
You know, he really got toengage with some top minds in
economics.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
He ended up diving deep into demographics with
Professor Gary Becker, who sadlyhas since passed away.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Like you're not just looking at economic models,
you're actually trying tounderstand people.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Exactly, and that leads us perfectly to the second
key takeaway of this chapter,which is that economics and
communication are actuallydeeply connected through this
idea of influence.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh, how so.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well, in economics, you often think about influence
in terms of, like incentives andpenalties, right.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Financial push and pull.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, makes sense.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
But in communication it's about something a little
more subtle.
It's about driving action andshaping behavior, interesting
Right.
Actually, it gives credit tosomeone named Frank at Columbia
for really emphasizing thispoint that in marketing strategy
, communication, brand building,the ultimate goal isn't just
awareness, you know, it'sgetting people to actually do
something.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh, that's a huge difference, like it's not enough
for people to just recognizeyour logo or know your name
Right.
The real magic happens whenthey actually choose your
product, recommend your serviceor become a loyal advocate for
your brand.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Right, you want them to take action.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
It's about moving beyond informing to actually
inspiring a change of behavior.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Exactly.
And the third really crucialpoint Wright brings up in this
chapter is the dual systemtheory from Nobel laureate
Daniel Kahneman's work inbehavioral economics.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Oh yeah, he's like a legend in the field.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Total legend and he basically explains that our
brains have these two modes ofthinking.
One is that logical, deliberatesystem.
Two is that intuitive,automatic system.
It's like the mental autopilotthat's always running in the
background.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
So true.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
And what's mind blowing is that Kahneman's
research suggests that awhopping 95 percent of our
decisions are made in thisautopilot mode.
Wow, ninety five percent drivenby emotions, instincts and all
these subconscious cues that webarely even register.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
That's incredible.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
It makes you wonder are brands, you know?
Are they spending way too muchtime trying to appeal to that
rational 5% with all thosefeatures and benefits?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
When the vast majority of our decisions are
based on feeling.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Exactly right.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, it's a fundamental question for anyone
in marketing or branding, youknow.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Totally reframes how you think about connecting with
people, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
It really does.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
All right, so we've got those three key things to
know.
Now let's move on to the whatto do part, the actionable steps
we can take based on theseinsights.
Okay, sounds good.
What would you say is the firststep people can take?

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, I think the first thing is to really rethink
those traditional economicrules of behavior that have
shaped marketing for so long,the old playbook that assumes
we're all perfectly rational andwe know exactly what we want.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Right Like.
We make these carefullycalculated decisions.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, we weigh every option and we act purely out of
self-interest.
But, as Wright points out,that's not really how people
work.
You know, drawing on Kahneman'sresearch, he shows that it's
way more nuanced than that ourrational brain.
It mainly kicks in when we'refacing something new or risky
and we're heavily influenced bythis need to belong and fit in.
And you know, we need both thedesire and the ability to make

(05:18):
lasting changes and we reallystruggle to grasp those
long-term consequences.
And, believe it or not, we'reactually more altruistic than
those purely rational modelswould suggest.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
So it's not just about logic.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
No, not at all.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
It's about understanding the complexity of
human behavior.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Exactly.
And that brings us to thesecond thing you can do, which
is to start actively tappinginto emotion to drive those
behaviors you're looking for.
You know you don't always needa bullet point list of logical
reasons why someone shouldchoose you.
Instead, focus on understandingand triggering those emotional
responses.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Like appealing to their gut feeling.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right.
It's about finding that sweetspot between familiarity and
novelty to connect with peopleon that, you know, automatic,
intuitive level.
And this is where Wrightintroduces his LAVC framework,
or LAVEC as he pronounces it.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
I love the LAVEC framework.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah it stands for Lexicon, audio Cues, visual
Stimuli, experience and Culture.
And by thoughtfully shapingthese five brand elements you
can really influence behavior ina powerful way by speaking
directly to that intuitive partof the brain.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Wow.
So LEVEC really gives you atangible way to apply all of
this.
It really does.
And the third actionable pointties in directly with Kahneman's
research on loss aversion.
Actionable point ties indirectly with Kahneman's
research on loss aversion andyou know how we as humans are
wired to feel the pain of a lossmuch more strongly than the
pleasure of an equivalent gainand we tend to zero in on that
negative feedback.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, it's like that one negative review can
overshadow 100 positive ones.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Exactly, and so for brands, this means being super
proactive about consistentlycreating those positive feelings
around your brand.
You know, building that strongemotional connection, it's like
building a brand moat that setsyou apart.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
And equally important is creating a system for
quickly identifying andaddressing any negative feedback
, because you know thosenegative experiences, they tend
to stick in our minds more andthey can really
disproportionately impact how weperceive a brand.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Okay, so we've covered the what to know and the
what to do.
Now let's move on to thoseconversation starters, those key
insights that are worth sharingwith others.
Okay, what would you say, isthe first one that comes to mind
.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Well, I think Wright's analogy of the crowd
wave in a stadium to illustratehow media buys work is really
brilliant.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Oh yeah, that's such a good one.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
He points out that not everyone in the stadium
needs to start the wave for itto be successful, and everyone
who joins in later still gets toenjoy the experience.
And he uses this to explainthat.
You know, in today's crazy,noisy environment, your brand
doesn't need to reach absolutelyeveryone right away.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
What really matters is that the experience you're
offering truly resonates withwhoever encounters it, whenever
they do.
I love that.
And what's even moreinteresting is that he mentions
the statistic that as few as 15percent of people can create
that tipping point for massadoption.
So the real focus should be onbuilding those positive
emotional triggers with thatcore group.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
That's fascinating.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
OK, so what's another point worth sharing?

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, the example of President Obama's 2008 Hope
campaign is just so compelling.
It shows how this campaignmanaged to capture a central
feeling hope.
And then they wove that feelingthrough every single aspect of
the brand.
You know the language they used, the visual imagery, the audio,
the experience of the rallies,even the underlying campaign
ethos it all pointed back tohope.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah, and that consistent emotional resonance
was so powerful it brought inmillions of new voters.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
Really shows the power of a core emotion when
it's authentically andconsistently expressed.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Across all those touch points.
Exactly All right.
So for our last shareable,nugget, Wright actually gives us
a little sneak peek into what'scoming next.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Oh yes, he mentions that he's releasing a workbook
companion to follow the feelingthis summer, which sounds super
useful for putting theseprinciples into practice.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
That's great.
I'll definitely be checkingthat out.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Me too, and for daily and weekly inspiration.
You know he also recommendsfollowing the Brand Builder Lab
podcast and following Kai onLinkedIn.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
So, as we wrap up our look at Chapter 2 of Follow the
Feeling, the key takeaway hereis that understanding that
dynamic relationship betweeneconomics and the emotional
drivers of human behavior.
It's not just some abstracttheory.
It's really essential forbuilding a strong and impactful
brand in today's world.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, it really makes you think about your own brand,
right?
What is that one core feelingthat's at the heart of it, and
how intentionally andconsistently are you activating
that feeling across those fiveelements of the Levesque
framework Lexicon, audio cues,visual stimuli, experience and
culture?

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, are you really connecting with people on that
emotional level?

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Exactly Consider how focusing on that emotional
connection can lead to deeperrelationships with your audience
and, ultimately, thosemeaningful and lasting
behavioral outcomes that you'relooking for.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Food for thought.
All right, that's it for ourthree by three recap of chapter
two of Follow the Feeling.
Stay tuned for more insightfulretaps into the world of
branding.
See you next time.
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