Matt Johnson, PhD
@neuroscienceof.bsky.social
Author: Blindsight (2020) & Branding That Means Business (2022)
Consumer Psychology, Neuroscience & Neuromarketing at Hult and Harvard | @thinkers50 2023
neuroscienceof.com
Consumer Psychology, Neuroscience & Neuromarketing at Hult and Harvard | @thinkers50 2023
neuroscienceof.com
Neal Arthur: "It wasn't a celebrity meal, it was a community meal." @marctothec (For The Culture) nails this - McDonald's democratized ordering. Your meal could be famous. They celebrated the ritual, not the celebrity. That's culture, not marketing.
December 6, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Neal Arthur: "It wasn't a celebrity meal, it was a community meal." @marctothec (For The Culture) nails this - McDonald's democratized ordering. Your meal could be famous. They celebrated the ritual, not the celebrity. That's culture, not marketing.
Travis Scott eating McDonald's on his Bugatti wing sparked a $10B market cap increase. Not because of celebrity power. Because McDonald's understood something others didn't: It's not about famous people. It's about famous orders. The meal could've been yours. That's the genius🧵
December 6, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Travis Scott eating McDonald's on his Bugatti wing sparked a $10B market cap increase. Not because of celebrity power. Because McDonald's understood something others didn't: It's not about famous people. It's about famous orders. The meal could've been yours. That's the genius🧵
@marctothec would call this cultural invention at its finest (For The Culture). Every engagement ring proves culture can be manufactured. Traditions can be created. Meaning is whatever we agree. The most powerful products don't fulfill needs. They create them.
December 3, 2025 at 9:35 AM
@marctothec would call this cultural invention at its finest (For The Culture). Every engagement ring proves culture can be manufactured. Traditions can be created. Meaning is whatever we agree. The most powerful products don't fulfill needs. They create them.
"Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill." - Former De Beers chairman. Before 1948, nobody proposed with diamonds. Now 80% do. De Beers created a global tradition younger than your grandparents. The greatest marketing heist ever. 🧵
December 3, 2025 at 9:35 AM
"Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill." - Former De Beers chairman. Before 1948, nobody proposed with diamonds. Now 80% do. De Beers created a global tradition younger than your grandparents. The greatest marketing heist ever. 🧵
This flips everything. Stop chasing potential customers/voters/donors. Find people who already believe what you believe. Give them a way to connect. You don't create communities. You reveal them. The congregation already exists. They just don't know each other yet.
November 29, 2025 at 11:41 AM
This flips everything. Stop chasing potential customers/voters/donors. Find people who already believe what you believe. Give them a way to connect. You don't create communities. You reveal them. The congregation already exists. They just don't know each other yet.
Marcus Collins, who ran Beyoncé's digital strategy, drops this truth in "For The Culture": "We were looking for fans when we should have been looking for believers." The Beyhive wasn't built. It was revealed. They already shared a worldview. The music just connected them. 🧵
November 29, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Marcus Collins, who ran Beyoncé's digital strategy, drops this truth in "For The Culture": "We were looking for fans when we should have been looking for believers." The Beyhive wasn't built. It was revealed. They already shared a worldview. The music just connected them. 🧵
Features tell. Stories sell. But worldviews transcend price. The car still had broken cup holders. But it became a middle finger to conventional luxury. Sometimes the worst product makes the best identity statement.
November 26, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Features tell. Stories sell. But worldviews transcend price. The car still had broken cup holders. But it became a middle finger to conventional luxury. Sometimes the worst product makes the best identity statement.
1996 Honda Accord. 140K miles. Broken cup holders. Listed for $500. Sold for $150,000. How? Max Lanman made a video: "You don't need things... This is not a car. This is you. Luxury is a state of mind." The buyer paid 150K to say "I'm above materialism." Peak paradox.
November 26, 2025 at 9:35 AM
1996 Honda Accord. 140K miles. Broken cup holders. Listed for $500. Sold for $150,000. How? Max Lanman made a video: "You don't need things... This is not a car. This is you. Luxury is a state of mind." The buyer paid 150K to say "I'm above materialism." Peak paradox.
@marctothec explains in "For The Culture": REI found their congregation - people who already shared their beliefs - and gave them permission to act. True differentiation isn't what you sell. It's what you'll sacrifice for what you believe. That's culture.
November 22, 2025 at 11:41 AM
@marctothec explains in "For The Culture": REI found their congregation - people who already shared their beliefs - and gave them permission to act. True differentiation isn't what you sell. It's what you'll sacrifice for what you believe. That's culture.
REI closed all 142 stores on Black Friday 2015. Paid employees to go outside. Suspended online sales. Chose conviction over the biggest shopping day of the year. Result? 1.4M people joined #OptOutside. And REI had its highest Black Friday sales weekend ever. How? 🧵
November 22, 2025 at 11:41 AM
REI closed all 142 stores on Black Friday 2015. Paid employees to go outside. Suspended online sales. Chose conviction over the biggest shopping day of the year. Result? 1.4M people joined #OptOutside. And REI had its highest Black Friday sales weekend ever. How? 🧵
Brands evolved from ownership marks (livestock) to identity markers (lifestyle). The winning ones don't just sell products. They provide artifacts for identity construction. Ways to say who we are without words. That's not marketing. That's meaning.
November 19, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Brands evolved from ownership marks (livestock) to identity markers (lifestyle). The winning ones don't just sell products. They provide artifacts for identity construction. Ways to say who we are without words. That's not marketing. That's meaning.
@marctothec in "For The Culture": Brands like Nike aren't companies we buy from. They're "totems" of identity. Having worked with Nike, I saw this. People don't wear the swoosh for the polyester. They wear it to signal who they are & what they believe about potential. 🧵
November 19, 2025 at 9:35 AM
@marctothec in "For The Culture": Brands like Nike aren't companies we buy from. They're "totems" of identity. Having worked with Nike, I saw this. People don't wear the swoosh for the polyester. They wear it to signal who they are & what they believe about potential. 🧵
We're all interpellated into something. Family values, company culture, national myths. These aren't ideas you have. They're ideas that have you. The question isn't IF you're in a cult. It's which ones, and whether you chose them consciously.
November 15, 2025 at 11:41 AM
We're all interpellated into something. Family values, company culture, national myths. These aren't ideas you have. They're ideas that have you. The question isn't IF you're in a cult. It's which ones, and whether you chose them consciously.
Marcus Collins in "For The Culture" asks the uncomfortable question: What's the difference between a cult and a culture? Neurologically speaking... not much. We watch cult docs asking "how could they?" while sitting in our own invisible belief systems we never chose. 🧵
November 15, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Marcus Collins in "For The Culture" asks the uncomfortable question: What's the difference between a cult and a culture? Neurologically speaking... not much. We watch cult docs asking "how could they?" while sitting in our own invisible belief systems we never chose. 🧵
Kodak changed this by repositioning photos from "serious art" to "capture joy." Smiles appeared in the 1920s. Not because teeth improved. Because meaning shifted. This is the lesson: Want behavior change? Don't change the logic. Change the social meaning.
November 12, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Kodak changed this by repositioning photos from "serious art" to "capture joy." Smiles appeared in the 1920s. Not because teeth improved. Because meaning shifted. This is the lesson: Want behavior change? Don't change the logic. Change the social meaning.
Reading Marcus Collins' "For The Culture" & this blew my mind: People refused to smile in photos for 100+ years. Not because of bad teeth or slow cameras. Smiling meant you were lower class. "Peasants, dimwits, drunks, or children." Social meaning overrides everything.
November 12, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reading Marcus Collins' "For The Culture" & this blew my mind: People refused to smile in photos for 100+ years. Not because of bad teeth or slow cameras. Smiling meant you were lower class. "Peasants, dimwits, drunks, or children." Social meaning overrides everything.
It all comes down to contrast
Some quick fire science on human attention: what stands out, what doesn't, and why
Some quick fire science on human attention: what stands out, what doesn't, and why
September 23, 2025 at 5:35 PM
It all comes down to contrast
Some quick fire science on human attention: what stands out, what doesn't, and why
Some quick fire science on human attention: what stands out, what doesn't, and why
The brutal truth, as Klosterman distills it: "To matter forever, you need to matter to those who don't care."
Shakespeare endures not just because scholars study him, but because people who never think about literature still know his name.
Shakespeare endures not just because scholars study him, but because people who never think about literature still know his name.
September 21, 2025 at 10:21 AM
The brutal truth, as Klosterman distills it: "To matter forever, you need to matter to those who don't care."
Shakespeare endures not just because scholars study him, but because people who never think about literature still know his name.
Shakespeare endures not just because scholars study him, but because people who never think about literature still know his name.
You'll actually be enforcing a tautology: As Chuck Klosterman describes, "Shakespeare is better than Marlowe and Jonson because Shakespeare is more like Shakespeare, which is how we define greatness in playwriting."
September 21, 2025 at 10:21 AM
You'll actually be enforcing a tautology: As Chuck Klosterman describes, "Shakespeare is better than Marlowe and Jonson because Shakespeare is more like Shakespeare, which is how we define greatness in playwriting."
Most believe that Shakespeare was objectively better than any other playwright of his time. The answer feels intuitive, but there's something else happening here..
A quick 🧵 on cultural evolution, taste, and tautology
A quick 🧵 on cultural evolution, taste, and tautology
September 21, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Most believe that Shakespeare was objectively better than any other playwright of his time. The answer feels intuitive, but there's something else happening here..
A quick 🧵 on cultural evolution, taste, and tautology
A quick 🧵 on cultural evolution, taste, and tautology
The older we get, the better we were.
Nostalgia Marketing is everywhere. But how does nostalgia actually work? Why does the past feel better and better as we get older?
This comes down to a phenomenon known as rosy retrospection
Nostalgia Marketing is everywhere. But how does nostalgia actually work? Why does the past feel better and better as we get older?
This comes down to a phenomenon known as rosy retrospection
August 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
The older we get, the better we were.
Nostalgia Marketing is everywhere. But how does nostalgia actually work? Why does the past feel better and better as we get older?
This comes down to a phenomenon known as rosy retrospection
Nostalgia Marketing is everywhere. But how does nostalgia actually work? Why does the past feel better and better as we get older?
This comes down to a phenomenon known as rosy retrospection
From Adam Alter’s excellent Anatomy of a Breakthrough.
The book is a must-read.
The book is a must-read.
July 12, 2025 at 10:41 AM
From Adam Alter’s excellent Anatomy of a Breakthrough.
The book is a must-read.
The book is a must-read.
The most liberating creative truth you’ll ever hear:
You don’t need to be profoundly original.
In fact, trying to be 100% original is a fast track to paralysis.
A quick 🧵 about recombination, and how real breakthroughs actually happen.
You don’t need to be profoundly original.
In fact, trying to be 100% original is a fast track to paralysis.
A quick 🧵 about recombination, and how real breakthroughs actually happen.
July 12, 2025 at 10:41 AM
The most liberating creative truth you’ll ever hear:
You don’t need to be profoundly original.
In fact, trying to be 100% original is a fast track to paralysis.
A quick 🧵 about recombination, and how real breakthroughs actually happen.
You don’t need to be profoundly original.
In fact, trying to be 100% original is a fast track to paralysis.
A quick 🧵 about recombination, and how real breakthroughs actually happen.
This thread was inspired by a brilliant example from Adam Alter’s Anatomy of a Breakthrough.
Highly recommend it if you're interested in how real change happens - especially when you're feeling stuck.
Highly recommend it if you're interested in how real change happens - especially when you're feeling stuck.
July 10, 2025 at 8:51 AM
This thread was inspired by a brilliant example from Adam Alter’s Anatomy of a Breakthrough.
Highly recommend it if you're interested in how real change happens - especially when you're feeling stuck.
Highly recommend it if you're interested in how real change happens - especially when you're feeling stuck.
Ever heard of a friction audit?
It’s like a financial audit—but instead of money, you’re tracking moments where people get stuck.
And those small sticking points? They can cost businesses millions.
🧵👇
It’s like a financial audit—but instead of money, you’re tracking moments where people get stuck.
And those small sticking points? They can cost businesses millions.
🧵👇
July 10, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Ever heard of a friction audit?
It’s like a financial audit—but instead of money, you’re tracking moments where people get stuck.
And those small sticking points? They can cost businesses millions.
🧵👇
It’s like a financial audit—but instead of money, you’re tracking moments where people get stuck.
And those small sticking points? They can cost businesses millions.
🧵👇