New Book "Hacking the Human Mind" Unpacks Method1's Founding Approach

Why do some campaigns convert brilliantly while others—equally clever, equally funded—underperform? The answer lies in understanding the emotional triggers and mental shortcuts that actually drive human decision making.

Method1 President MichaelAaron Flicker and Senior Behavioral Science Partner Richard Shotton explore the power of behavioral principles in their new book, Hacking The Human Mind: The Behavioral Science Secrets Behind 17 of the World's Best Brands, set for release on September 30th.

Flicker and Shotton founded the Consumer Behavior Lab and co-host the “Behavioral Science for Brands” podcast, and both have spent years bridging the gap between academic research and marketing reality.

As CEO of XenoPsi Ventures, Flicker has built multiple successful businesses by applying behavioral science, including Method1. And through our agency, these principles have fueled clear growth for new and established brands. A strategic brand redesign (including the bottle) for Elijah Craig bourbon, for example—guided by cognitive science rather than aesthetics alone—resulted in a 7x sales increase.

Shotton is the founder of Astroten and author of bestselling books The Choice Factory and The Illusion of Choice, which explore how behavioral biases shape consumer decisions. He’s an honorary IPA fellow and associate at the Moller Institute, Churchill College, Cambridge University, and he has advised brands from Google to BrewDog.

Together, Shotton and Flicker are now sharing the behavioral principles that make brand choice less considered and more automatic—the foundational knowledge Method1 applies to make brands irresistible.

The Behavioral Science Behind What Actually Works

While plenty of marketers have heard of behavioral economics, few know how to apply it when the brief hits their desk. This book changes that, translating rigorous research into practical strategies that move needles—aka product at shelf, short and long-term.

“It doesn’t matter if you are marketing bourbon, socks or even politicking, understanding the science behind consumer behavior is a marketer’s best secret weapon,” Flicker recently explained in Fast Company. “We take academically rigorous, double-blind studies and apply them to everything we do.”

The payoffs? Brands that both convert better and command higher prices with fewer touches. Campaigns that deliver more impact without bigger budgets. Creative that works harder because it's grounded in how people actually behave, not how marketers assume they will.

“Using behavioral science gives us a leg up because it makes everything we do more likely to be successful,” Flicker noted. “You can have confidence in what we do because it’s backed by science.”

Pre-Order Your Behavioral Advantage

Hacking The Human Mind is available for pre-order on Amazon.com now.

For weekly insights from both authors, follow the “Behavioral Science for Brands” podcast from the Consumer Behavior Lab.

To see behavioral science in action making indulgence brands irresistible, explore Method1’s work.