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Nudge

Nudge

By: Phill Agnew
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 Nudge is the UK's #1 marketing podcast, breaking down the hidden psychology behind what we do and why we do it. No BS, just smart, science-backed insights that actually work.Phill Agnew Economics Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • Are we all just status-seeking monkeys?

    Are we all just status-seeking monkeys?
    Mar 2 2026
    Today on Nudge, Professor Katie Slocombe shares how chimpanzees handle power, build alliances, and jostle for status in their troop. It’s the first time on Nudge that we’ve looked at the primate roots of leadership and influence, with plenty of insight into how we humans behave at work (and everywhere else). Don’t miss it. --- Subscribe to the Nudge Newsletter (and get a surprise gift): https://nudge.kit.com/subscribe Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/ Watch Nudge on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nudgepodcast/ --- Today’s sources: Slocombe, K. E., & Zuberbühler, K. (2007). Chimpanzees modify recruitment screams as a function of audience composition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(43), 17228–17233.Slocombe, K. E., Waller, B. M., & Liebal, K. (2011). The language void: The need for multimodality in primate communication research. Animal Behaviour, 81(5), 919–924.
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    30 mins
  • “These two words increased sales by 18%.” Robert Cialdini

    “These two words increased sales by 18%.” Robert Cialdini
    Feb 23 2026
    16 years ago a chain of Chinese restaurants wanted to increase sales without changing the price. They didn’t change the product. The service. The chef. The food. Instead, they changed two words on their menu and increased sales by 18%. The restaurants used the advice of today’s guest on Nudge, Robert Cialdini. Today, Cialdini explains the social proof principle, sharing how changing just two words could increase your sales. --- Unlock the Nudge Vaults: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/vaults Read Cialdini’s bestseller Influence: https://amzn.to/4prHb7Y Read the new and expanded Influence: https://amzn.to/43TY0jI Read Pre-Suasion: https://amzn.to/48hA6Qr Read Yes! (Containing 60 Psyc-Marketing Tips): https://amzn.to/48ddNNf Join 10,428 readers of my newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/ --- Today’s sources: Aune, R. K., & Basil, M. D. (1994). A relational-obligations approach to fund-raising: The effects of guilt and credibility appeals on compliance. Communication Research, 21(4), 486–498. Binning, K. R., Kaufmann, N., McGreevy, E. M., Fotuhi, O., Chen, S., Marshman, E., Kalender, Z. Y., Limeri, L. B., Betancur, L., & Singh, C. (2020). Changing social contexts to foster equity in college science courses: An ecological-belonging intervention. Psychological Science, 31(9), 1059–1070. Boh, W. F., & Wong, S.-S. (2015). Managers versus co-workers as referents: Comparing social influence effects on within- and outside-subsidiary knowledge sharing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 126, 1–17. Borman, G. D., Rozek, C. S., Hanselman, P., & Destin, M. (2019). Reappraising academic and social adversity improves middle school students’ academic achievement, behavior, and well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(33), 16286–16291. Cai, H., Chen, Y., & Fang, H. (2009). Observational learning: Evidence from a randomized natural field experiment. American Economic Review, 99(3), 864–882. Frank, R. H. (2020). Under the influence: Putting peer pressure to work. Princeton University Press. Goldstein, N. J., Cialdini, R. B., & Griskevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint: Using social norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3), 472–482. Hallsworth, M., List, J. A., Metcalfe, R. D., & Vlaev, I. (2017). The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance. Journal of Public Economics, 148, 14–31. Jung, J., Busching, R., & Krahé, B. (2019). Catching aggression from one’s peers: A longitudinal and multilevel analysis. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(4), e12440. Linder, J. A., Meeker, D., Fox, C. R., Friedberg, M. W., Persell, S. D., Goldstein, N. J., Knight, T. K., Hay, J. W., & Doctor, J. N. (2017). Durability of benefits of behavioral interventions on inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in primary care: Follow-up from a cluster randomized clinical trial. JAMA, 318(14), 1391–1392. Meeker, D., Linder, J. A., Fox, C. R., Friedberg, M. W., Persell, S. D., Goldstein, N. J., Knight, T. K., Hay, J. W., & Doctor, J. N. (2016). Effect of behavioral interventions on inappropriate antibiotic prescribing among primary care practices: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA, 315(6), 562–570. Murrar, S., Campbell, M. R., & Brauer, M. (2020). Exposure to peers’ pro-diversity attitudes increases inclusion and reduces the achievement gap. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(9), 889–897. Nolan, J. M. (2021). Social norm interventions as a tool for pro-climate change. Current Opinion in Psychology, 42, 120–125. Peterson, R. A., Kim, Y., & Jeong, J. (2020). Out-of-stock, sold out, or unavailable? Framing a product outage in online retailing. Psychology & Marketing, 37(4), 535–547.
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    24 mins
  • When you can’t stop seeing the thing you’ve just discovered

    When you can’t stop seeing the thing you’ve just discovered
    Feb 16 2026
    I watched Home Alone and suddenly started hearing the theme tune everywhere. I thought I was going insane. But Tom Bowden-Green and Luan Wise explained that I actually fell for a fairly well-known bias. A bias you’ve almost certainly experienced as well. --- Come to Uplift Live: https://uplift-live.com/ (Use code NUDGE to get £50 off) Tom and Luan’s book: https://amzn.to/49aZnh3 Unlock the Nudge Vaults: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/vaults Join 10,428 readers of my newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/ --- Today’s sources: Costello, J. P., Garvey, A. M., Germann, F., & Wilkie, J. E. B. (2024). The Uptrend Effect: Encouraging healthy behaviors through greater inferred normativity. Journal of Marketing Research, 61(1), 110–127. Cruz, R. E., Leonhardt, J. M., & Pezzuti, T. (2017). Second person pronouns enhance consumer involvement and brand attitude. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 39(1), 104–116. Khan, U., & Dhar, R. (2006). Licensing effect in consumer choice. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(2), 259–266. Lim, S., van Osselaer, S. M., Goodman, J. K., Fuchs, C., & Schreier, M. (2024). The Starbucks effect: When name-based order identification increases customers’ store preference and service satisfaction. Journal of Retailing, 100(2), 316–329. Sahni, N. S., Wheeler, S. C., & Chintagunta, P. (2018). Personalization in email marketing: The role of noninformative advertising content. Marketing Science, 37(2), 236–258. Van Boven, L., Dunning, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2000). Egocentric empathy gaps between owners and buyers: Misperceptions of the endowment effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(1), 66–76. van der Meulen, M. (2022). Are we indeed so illuded? Recency and frequency illusions in Dutch prescriptivism. Languages, 7(1), 42. Zwicky, A. (2006). Why are we so illuded. Retrieved from https://web.stanford.edu/~zwicky/LSA07illude.abst.pdf
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    27 mins
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