Move more minds?
Engage, inspire and persuade smarter
with behavioural science.
Want more yes decisions? Make science work for you.
ThinkWorks takes the guesswork out of influencing the human mind. And makes sure marketing money isn’t wasted. Trusted since 2012, we’ve helped organisations like yours apply foolproof behavioural science to branding, marketing, sales, and employee engagement.
For a surefire way to drive up market share, boost sales, or inspire employees, contact us to explore best fit options. No obligations.
The Bottom Line.
Our monthly blog gives you key behavioural science tactics to apply to your brand stories, campaigns, and communication. So you can influence smarter. Subscribe to be the first to know more. Unsubscribe anytime.
For sweeter attention, add lemon.
Top line. Volkswagen leveraged the brain’s incongruity resolution bias to send Beetle sales soaring by 1500%. But the same subconscious trigger that fuels curiosity can also backfire spectacularly. Learn how to harness this powerful bias safely — to spark attention, shape emotion, and make your brand story impossible to ignore.When Volkswagen’s...
Read More
Better vision doesn’t sell. A better image does.
Top line. Science shows people don’t buy products. They buy versions of themselves. Identity — not logic — drives the vast majority of decisions. When brands speak to who people are (and who they want to be), they bypass reason and plug straight into the subconscious engine that really sells.Erol Demir...
Read More
The best way to look forward is backward
Top line. Science says the odds of making good choices now for your future self are slim. Why? The brain sees its future self as a stranger. Behavioural science exposes this flaw—and shows how to use anticipated regret to bridge the gap, trigger emotion, and drive smarter, lasting decisions.At 37, I...
Read More
What Elliot should have taught brands about emotion. But hasn’t.
Top line. Despite clear neuroscientific proof that emotion—not reason—drives decisions, most brands still aim messages at the rational mind. And continue to fail. The Elliot case proved that without emotion, the brain can’t choose or react. Read to discover how to strategically leverage the brain’s emotional system for a neural edge over...
Read More
The brain is a black box
Top line. We think the brain sees the world as it is—but it doesn’t. It reconstructs it. Read on to understand how reality is assembled inside the brain’s black box using sensory input, memory, emotion, and expectation—and how brands can shape perception and influence decisions by leveraging this process.The brain doesn’t...
Read More
Numbers have their own story
Top line. Pricing is never just a number. It’s a story the subconscious tells itself about value and worth. Read this for science-led pricing tactics—like anchoring, decoys, and scarcity—that shape perception and drive action. Use them to reduce friction, boost conversions, and gain a powerful neural edge over rivals.To drive up...
Read More
What is a story really worth?
Top line: Most execs dismiss storytelling as fluff. But the Significant Object experiment proves otherwise: attaching a story to worthless items raised their value by over 6100%. This article unpacks how emotion, narrative, and meaning fuel buying behaviour—and why story may be your brand’s most underused profit lever.Many business execs write...
Read More
In two minds
Top line. In the 1970s, Kahneman and Tversky discovered that the brain integrates a conscious and subconscious system to make decisions. But the big, Nobel-winning surprise? Not the rational mind—but the subconscious—is the brain’s true decision-making mastermind. Read this to unpack how the two systems work, and how brands can influence...
Read More
The more they warned, the more they smoked
Top line. Gruesome cigarette warnings backfired—driving smoking rates up instead of down. The reason? Hidden mental frictions like the reactance bias, which blocks persuasion when freedom feels threatened. This article unpacks five subconscious stumbling blocks, drawn from Jonah Berger’s The Catalyst, and offers tactics to help shift stubborn mindsets.Gruesome images and...
Read More
Unconscious branding in 7 steps
Top line. Douglas Van Praet’s research, published in Unconscious Branding, reveals a hard truth: 95% of human decisions happen preconsciously—and they stick. This article unpacks what his research shows and how to apply 7 proven steps to influence the subconscious. Use them to build brand strategies that trigger instinct, shape feeling,...
Read More
Pictures paint a thousand words
Top line. Images don’t decorate your message—they direct it. The brain relies more on visuals than any other sense to frame meaning and trigger decisions. A simple image swap on a diet website lifted conversions by 52%. Read on to learn why visuals steer the subconscious—and how to use them strategically.Why...
Read More
How to frame the mind
Top line. In 2016, smart behavioural scientists created an ad campaign that bypassed the logic of millions of UK voters entirely. By targeting the brain’s subconscious framing system, they nudged millions to support Brexit. This article unpacks how they did it—and how brands can use the same smart science to influence...
Read MoreMore yes decisions with science.
ThinkWorks helps organisations - big and small - get into people’s heads. Since 2012, our neuromarketing expertise has shaped successful branding, sales, communication, and employee engagement strategies across a wide range of industries.
Our precision influence work slashes marketing waste, strengthens brands, and ramps up market share, revenue, and team performance. And it delivers a lasting neural edge.
Big results for clients have earned big awards, including IMM Marketing Company of the Year, Deloitte Best Company to Work For, and PSA Innovator of the Year.
We’re a privately owned consultancy based in the heart of Sandton, South Africa’s business capital.