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Marketing & Psychology - Must Have 2026 Book - Luan Wise & Tom-Bowden Green

Season #5

Marketing & Psychology: Understanding Customer Behaviour with the ABC Approach

In this episode, Ruth Dale is joined by Luan Wise and Dr Tom Bowden-Green to explore their new book, Marketing and Psychology: Understanding Customer Behaviour with the ABC Approach — a practical, evidence-led guide for anyone working in marketing, communications, public health, or behaviour change.

This conversation bridges academic psychology and real-world practice, cutting through guesswork and pop psychology to show how behavioural science can be applied with confidence, clarity, and integrity.

If you work in comms, health promotion, social marketing, B2B or B2C, this episode is for you — regardless of whether “marketing” is in your job title.

 

🧠 What you’ll learn in this episode

  • Why this book needed to exist — and why now

  • How the ABC framework (Audience, Brand, Choice) helps structure behavioural thinking

  • Why behaviour change is about marginal gains, not silver bullets

  • The danger of guessing behaviour based on demographics alone

  • How to use personas properly (with evidence, not stereotypes)

  • Why marketers often are using behavioural science — without realising it

  • How academics and practitioners can (and should) work better together

  • What it really takes to turn a huge academic field into a practical, usable book

 

💬 Standout quotes from the episode

“There isn’t a silver bullet. Behaviour change is about marginal gains — lots of small shifts that add up to something meaningful.”
— Tom

“Most marketers are already doing behavioural science — they just don’t realise there’s evidence behind what they’re doing.”
— Luann

 

🚫 Room 101 (what they’d happily bin)

  • Over-simplified generational labels that flatten human behaviour

  • Algorithm-chasing instead of focusing on real people and real decisions

 

📚 BrainFuel Book Club

This book is officially on the reading list for the BrainFuel Book Club — a space for people who want smarter, evidence-led thinking without the academic fog or marketing gimmicks.

If you like books that make you better at your job, not just better at sounding clever, this one’s for you.

 

🔗 Useful links

 

If this episode sparked a new way of thinking, share it with a colleague or friend — and don’t forget to hit subscribe. It really helps 💛🔥