Brain Driven Brands

This episode of Brain Driven Brands is a survival guide for founders, media buyers, and creative teams heading into the chaos of Q4. Sarah sits down with Joanna Wallace (VP of Paid Creative @ Bird Dog, formerly HexClad) to pull back the curtain on what it really takes to prep for Black Friday without burning your team out—or losing your sanity. We dig into: ✅ Why burnout hits creative teams harde...

This week, Sarah and Nate are joined by Alyssa Wallace , retention & lifecycle marketing pro, for a conversation that flips the usual DTC playbook on its head. Here's the hard truth: blasting 100+ AI ads and endless "buy now" emails isn't retention. It's noise. Consumers aren't dumb—they're tired, frustrated, and tuning out. Together, we dig into: Why retention is really about habit-building , not...

This episode of Brain Driven Brands is a wake-up call for every founder, media buyer, and creative who's been told the secret is more ads, more volume, more work. Sarah, Nate, and guest Kevin (Head of eCom at High Camp Flasks) pull back the curtain on the creative hamster wheel and share why "a thousand ads a month" isn't just unrealistic—it's wrecking teams, draining budgets, and distracting from...

We kicked off Season 3 with some heat. 🔥 In this episode, Nate and Sarah talk about why the  volume game in ads is broken — and how brands are shooting themselves in the foot by flooding their accounts with 100+ AI-generated ads a week. Spoiler: consumers aren't dumb. They're tired, frustrated, and tuning out repetitive, irrelevant creative. We share some new stats on consumer behavior (61% are l...

In this episode of Brain-Driven Brands, Nate and Sarah kick off Season 3 by reflecting on some of our favorite episodes from past seasons, share the lessons that stuck with us, and give you a preview of what's coming next. If you haven't listened to Brain Driven Brands for long, or if you jut wanna send your friend some good content this week, SEND THEM THIS. 🔑 Key Takeaways Why "just spending mo...

In this episode, Nate and Sarah walk through one of the easiest ways to steal customers from your competitors using psychology and behavior science…by using Consumer Casey as a case study!   JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://...

On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah quizzes Nate on a super secret study that could boost his sales by 42%...if he's only willing to do what Sarah says he should. 😅 Source: https://app.sciencesays.com/p/your-product-benefits-must-seem-related   JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.li...

In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, special guest Joanna Wallace joins Nate and Sarah to look at some of Nate's favorite ads and Joanna chimes in on what she likes and might not like.    JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://...

In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, special guest Joanna Wallace joins Nate and Sarah to discuss some of the marketing strategies, tactics, methodologies and theory we're just not gonna believe anymore…mostly because we were wrong about them.    JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin...

  We don't even know how to describe this episode so...you'll just have to listen to it.   JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534   Learn more at: https://www.tetherins...

On today's episode of Brain Driven Brands, we dissect a brand new psychological topic: Nash Equilibrium One that might mean the difference between    JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-pr...

ON this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah has beef with Nate, we talk about the Tampon ad that changed a nation, and dissect the real reason your ads aren't working! All this and more… JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://po...

Sarah and Nate are back for another round of "guess the study"! This time, Sarah quizzes Nate on a marketing study that showed one super secret hack for increasing customer's likelihood to buy by 5.43X!   JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Pod...

On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, special guests Grace Clarke (Head of Community at Shopify) and Emmett Naughton (Full Stack Developer at KnoCommerce)  join Sarah in a deep conversation that every ecommerce operator should be having right now. With the advent of AI, and it's speedy injection into every workflow across industries, we've seen the productivity power and growth potential behind...

On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Nate and Sarah take a good look at his bundling strategy and break down the science behind the sell. Nate also makes a sneaky move when he announces a product that might change everything for Original Grain… JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.c...

Sarah and Nate break down a super strange, but very psychology-based CRO test, we chat about how bundles have completely changed Original Grain's whole business strategy, and contemplate the meaning of brand. All this and more, on this episode of Brain Driven Brands.   JOIN The TETHER Community- https://www.skool.com/tether-lab/about   CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn:...

Where did all the customers go? Did the economic downturn really crush DTC? And what does that mean for e-commerce brands? (Especially ones who might not be considered a "necessity" product? In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, we dissect the basics of what it takes to survive an economic downturn as a brand, and why it all comes down to management of your customer's psychological perception.  ...

On this episode of Brain Driven Brands, we dive deep into the waters of creative strategy with a talented strategist who's fronting one of the largest brands in the industry (and doing it with a great sense of humor). We talk about: How to hire naturally talented creators (and why delivery is more important than scripts). Why you should hire for personality over metrics. The number one thing Sarah...

After being in business for 12+ years, Original Grain finally made a massive breakthrough that will help them blow past their $30M mark this year. Nate and Sarah walk through one of the most impactful strategies Original Grain has implemented in 2025…one that's so simple, it gets completely overlooked by 99% of brands. Have a listen, take some notes. This one is GOLD. JOIN The TETHER Community- ht...

Your customer isn't doing math. They're doing emotional accounting to justify every decision they make! In this episode, we break down the weird, emotional, and totally irrational world of pricing psychology: why $50 for shipping feels outrageous, but $50 for same-day delivery feels like a luxury…and why a $7 deodorant gets pushback, but a $7 smoothie gets the go-ahead every time. In this episode...

We dive in this week with another science quiz! Sarah stumps Nate this week with a scientific study that even she didn't see coming. We break down how this study affects brands (from start ups to 9-fig) and why every marketer should be using this tactic TODAY to increase their customer's willingness to pay by 18.3%! Study source: https://app.sciencesays.com/p/color-saturation-perceived-size JOIN T...

Do you love Brain Driven Brands but only have 20 minutes to spare today? We've got some great news for you - in this episode, Sarah and Nate break down the top 3 simple messaging tweaks Original Grain has put in place this year that has made them well over $1M…and they're all psychology-based. Studies referenced: "The effects of repetition frequency on the illusory truth effect" (Hassan & Barber,...

In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah sits down with an expert to talk about creative strategy, why most people are bad at using humor in ads, and why the "volume" conversation might be doing more harm than good. Joanna Wallace from Hexclad joins us for an epic conversation…get ready to take notes.   Guest: Joanna Wallace  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannasloamewallace/ CoHost:...

In this episode of Brain Driven Brands, Sarah makes Nate cry with ad copy she created from a super secret prompt. We dive deep into how the prompt works, and why it might just be the best creative strategy tool of 2025! CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-...

What if your product layout was costing you conversions…and you didn't even know it? In this episode, we unpack the psychology behind horizontal vs. vertical product displays, and how Amazon quietly uses this principle to push higher-quality, higher-priced items—boosting premium conversions by up to 25.7%. You'll learn: Why horizontal layouts make people focus on quality, not price How vertical la...