Psychological Tricks I Used To Sell $1 Billion in Products Online - Craig Clemens

1. 0:00 – 4:00

   Intro

   1. SPShaan Puri0:00

      All right. I'm not jealous of many people on Earth, but I think I'm jealous of Craig Clemens because not only has he built a successful billion-dollar company with no outside investors, but he has made hit after hit after hit. And I asked him to come on the podcast. He thought it was just gonna be a normal episode, but then when we started talking, I realized that I wanted him to give me a masterclass. And when he's giving it to me, he's giving it to you, which is to teach us the seven ways that h- he as a marketer has sold over a billion dollars of products online. He calls these The 7 Human Hijacks, and he goes through example after example of how great products and things that we take for granted, like brushing your teeth or how people eat bacon for breakfast. Those weren't things people did back in the day. It was guys like him, marketers, that used specific tactics in order to make those a thing. And if you're an entrepreneur who's, uh, you know, wants to be successful, you need to be good at marketing. You gotta be able to sell your product, and it's very rare to be able to sit with somebody like Craig, who's actually one of the best to ever do it, and ask him, "How did you do it?" I, I mean, I feel lucky he's doing this. He doesn't have to tell us these secrets. Like, you know, I think he's at that sweet spot where he's been running his company for 15 years. He's been doing this for a long time. He's s- you know, the company's super successful. I don't feel like he has to, like, guard those secrets anymore. So I told him to give them to us. [laughs] And I don't know about you, but I've had professors in school. I've took marketing classes. But those were not people who have actually been in the game, done it. People who have actually created categories, sold hundreds of millions of dollars of single products that a year ago nobody had ever heard of. And so Craig tells the story of how others did it, and at the end he tells the, a, a story about how he helped create the probiotics category. If you've ever had probiotics, you can thank Craig because he was the one who created, uh, that category and made it mainstream. So enjoy this marketing masterclass on The 7 Human Hijacks: How Marketers Have Hijacked Your Brain, with Craig Clemens. [upbeat music] What's up, dude? You, uh... I have this theory now of guests who come on the podcast. The more their video setup looks like they were either taken hostage or are, like, you know, in some motel somewhere, uh, the better the guest is. Uh, we had Balaji on, and he was, like, white wall, nothing in the room, and he was just like... You know, l- at the time he didn't have his, like, video setup. Like, you know, he was at, not in his home video setup. And, like, the higher your IQ, the worse your video setup. And the opposite is true, unfortunately, for me, which is the more HD and beautiful your video setup, the less interesting things you usually have to say.

   2. CCCraig Clemens2:28

      A l- Yes. Yes.

   3. SPShaan Puri2:29

      And the cool thing is you're like the real-life Mad Men. You're, you're, you're an ad guy and a copywriter who translated those skills into a billion dollars of sales, which is why when you were coming on this time we started talking and we kinda realized that you have a masterclass in you. So normally we hang out and we just shoot the shit about business ideas, but occasionally w- we just drop a knowledge bomb. And the knowledge bomb is what we call a masterclass, which is just let somebody do their thing for 30 minutes. And the cool thing about this is you said you had given a talk internally to your team, to your company, to pump them up, and it sounded so dope that I just said, "Can you just please do that on the pod?" And you, you agreed. And so, my friend, the floor is gonna be yours. I'm here when you need me. I might chime in here and there, but I'm really gonna let you cook during this and, uh, let Craig Clemens do this masterclass. So take it away.

   4. CCCraig Clemens3:18

      So Shaan, did you brush your teeth this morning? Did you take an elevator, or are you wearing sneaks right now? Any, any yeses-

   5. SPShaan Puri3:27

      One of, one of three ain't bad. One of three ain't bad. [laughs]

   6. CCCraig Clemens3:29

      One of three ain't bad. Okay. Well, marketers created all of that. Marketers created so much of our daily behavior that, uh, people that I tell these stories to don't even wanna accept it. And, you know, it's, it's okay though. I mean, that's, that's, uh, that's the case for everyone. You're not alone. So do you know who this guy is on the left here?

   7. SPShaan Puri3:54

      I do not, but he looks very sophisticated. Who is that?

   8. CCCraig Clemens3:57

      This is, uh, this is a smart motherfucker. This is Sigmund Freud.

2. 4:00 – 7:00

   The Illusion of Choice

   1. SPShaan Puri4:00

      Oh.

   2. CCCraig Clemens4:01

      And this gentleman on the right, do you know who that is? I'm guessing you don't.

   3. SPShaan Puri4:08

      I do not.

   4. CCCraig Clemens4:09

      Okay. Well, this guy has changed your life. This guy is a man named Edward Bernays. He's often called the father of public relations, and he is actually Sigmund Freud's nephew. So I don't know, uh, what exactly kinda, kinda shirt you're wearing over there, Shaan, or if you, uh, put some, some style into it, but this guy is, has his, his hands in so much stuff that he, he literally created consumerism. So quick example. Before Bernays, people would buy clothes, uh, as... You know, unless you were in, like, the, the upper classes, people would buy clothes to go to work. Um, he's h- the one who got together with a bunch of other people and they were like, "Wait a second. These work clothes, people aren't buying enough of them." If people use clothing for expression, then people would buy more clothes, and he got the expression, uh, vibe to go all the way down the line from anyone who could afford clothing to be buying more clothing and then buying more things when they came into season and this and that.

   5. SPShaan Puri5:12

      Now it's people who don't have the means that buy, buy, buy more clothing they can, they can afford, right? [laughs]

   6. CCCraig Clemens5:16

      Well, let me just get into some of the, the examples here and then you'll see that this guy was operating on a level that, uh, is, is unfathomable. So in this presentation I'm gonna share with you what I've discovered studying and creating marketing campaigns that have caused world change. And I call them The 7 Human Hijacks because when you use these seven things, you are hijacking the limbic system of the brain. And a, a human cannot help themselves but to pay attention and either respond or at least log what you're going to do or say into their brain and maybe they respond the next time. But- These seven hijacks, I'm gonna share each of them after I share these marketing campaigns, and you're gonna see how they repeat. And not every campaign uses all seven, but, um, you'll see that some of them are extremely powerful. And then when you put them all together, that's when you can really do this type of thing yourself. So if you're watching this right now and you're excited about you possibly changing the world forever, this is the recipe. Let's go. [upbeat music]

   7. SPSpeaker6:34

      Our software's the worst.

   8. SPSpeaker6:36

      Have you heard of HubSpot? See, most CRMs are a cobbled-together mess. But HubSpot is easy to adopt and actually looks gorgeous.

   9. SPSpeaker6:43

      I think I love our new CRM.

   10. SPSpeaker6:45

       Our software is the best. HubSpot. Grow better.

   11. CCCraig Clemens6:49

       Okay, one of the most interesting marketing campaigns of all time was created by a guy named Claude Hopkins. So Claude Hopkins was approached by a toothpaste

3. 7:00 – 12:00

   Pepsodent: Make it about them

   1. CCCraig Clemens7:00

      company called Pepsodent, and they said, "Claude, we wanna s- sell more of our toothpaste." And he l- looked at the lay of the land and he realized there was a problem. He said to Pepsodent, he said, "Look, only 5% of people brush their teeth on a daily basis. So why are you even in this business that not a lot of, uh, people are taking part in?" Can you believe that, Shaan? 1920s.

   2. SPShaan Puri7:24

      [laughs]

   3. CCCraig Clemens7:25

      95% of the women that you kiss are gonna have terrible breath. No one brushed their teeth back then. And so Claude tells the, the founders of Pepsodent, he's like, "Look, if you guys really wanna sell some toothpaste, you're gonna have to get people brushing their teeth." And so he created this masterful ad campaign that built Pepsodent into the, the dominating toothpaste brand for, for decades. And this is the ad. The ad says, "The film that discolors the whitest teeth." And then he has you do a demonstration. So do this with me, Shaan. Take the tip of your tongue-

   4. SPShaan Puri8:02

      Yep

   5. CCCraig Clemens8:02

      ... put it over the, the, the fronts

   6. SPShaan Puri8:05

      My front teeth

   7. CCCraig Clemens8:05

      ... put it over these gold fronts you got under there.

   8. SPShaan Puri8:08

      Mm-hmm.

   9. CCCraig Clemens8:08

      Okay, do you feel that film there on your teeth?

   10. SPShaan Puri8:11

       Yeah, I kinda do.

   11. CCCraig Clemens8:13

       Okay.

   12. SPShaan Puri8:13

       Kinda do.

   13. CCCraig Clemens8:14

       So the ad goes on to say that brushing with Pepsodent is gonna remove that film, and behind that film is a movie star smile.

   14. SPShaan Puri8:22

       [laughs]

   15. CCCraig Clemens8:26

       And it's so genius, right? Because everybody wants that movie star smile. Everybody has that film, whether you just brushed your teeth five minutes ago or not. Then you feel that and you're like, "Oh, shoot, I got this film," you know? And then it talks about how Pepsodent is the way to get rid of that film. So the result of this ad, within a decade, 85% of Americans then brush their teeth on a daily basis. And Pepsodent is still around today. Um, they ran this ad campaign for, I don't know, 50 years, something like that. Um, and I'll tell you something interesting is about 10 years in, there was other companies trying to compete with Pepsodent, and they were using a similar ad campaign. You know, it's very common to steal an ad campaign. But they couldn't get the repeat orders. And they did a, a focus group and they found out that people loved Pepsodent because it had this, like, minty flavor that made their mouth tingle after they brushed with it.

   16. SPShaan Puri9:20

       Right

   17. CCCraig Clemens9:20

       And then the toothpaste companies, the other ones, started knocking that off. And when people felt the tingle, then they would stick with the other companies, otherwise they'd try the other one, they would feel, wouldn't feel the tingle and they'd be like, "Oh, it's not actually working," you know? So they'd go right back to Pepsodent. So they, they owned it for, like, 10 years and then it got actually competitive, 'cause then people were not only stealing their ads, they were stealing, uh, you know, their, their secret of the tingle. So-

   18. SPShaan Puri9:44

       [laughs]

   19. CCCraig Clemens9:44

       ... what are the, the human hijacks that Claude Hopkins used? One, he sold the dream of the movie star smile. And you're gonna see this theme reoccurring throughout this presentation. Uh, second, he created a powerful demonstration that anyone could do, and that's just rubbing your tongue over the, the front of your teeth. And then the next thing he did is he made it about them. He made it about the potential user, and this is a, a big thing that, uh, a lot of companies mess up, is they just talk about their own product and, you know, why they're so excited about it. But they don't talk about why it's gonna be exciting for the user. And Claude did a really great job of that, sharing how it's gonna give them that movie star smile. So-

   20. SPShaan Puri10:29

       So that's, that's like the... There's this diagram that I love that's like, um, the, I, I call it the Mario marketing. I, I don't know who inv- originally created this. I saw it from that company Buffer, but I don't, I don't know if they created it originally. But it's little Mario, um, you know, Mario when he's small, then it's the fire flower, and then when Mario gets the fire flower, he's able to shoot fireballs out of, you know, out of his hands. He's running around, he's huge, he's got, he can shoot fireballs. And basically it says, uh, "Don't sell this," the fire flower, which is your product, "Sell this," which is the customer going from little Mario to being big Mario who can shoot fireballs. Uh, right? And it's like, that's what you wanna sell, is the, how the user will be more badass, rather than all the features and, uh, facets about your product.

   21. CCCraig Clemens11:12

       Yes, exactly. So think about benefits. What's the benefit? What's in it for them? You know, these people are busy. Right now, Shaan, I think people see something like 4,000 ads a day. And they did a study and it showed that the human brain has the, um, uh, same intelligence span as a goldfish. It's like less than-

   22. SPShaan Puri11:31

       [laughs]

   23. CCCraig Clemens11:32

       ... you know, uh, uh, the ability of a goldfish to pay attention. So how do you grab their attention? Well, you have to talk about something that's exciting to them, something that keeps them up at night or something that they, you know, have a deep dream, hope, and desire for. So I wanna get back to that demonstration. Where did Claude get the idea for this demonstration? So 1854, there's a guy named Otis, and Otis gets into the

4. 12:00 – 24:00

   Otis: A Powerful Demonstration

   1. CCCraig Clemens12:00

      elevator business. And he didn't invent the elevator, but he came up with a, a, a braking system for the elevator. So back then, people- We're afraid to use elevators because every once in a while, just like today you hear about a car accident, you hear about a elevator accident where, you know, people get on and the elevator falls down, right? So Otis creates this great braking system. First year out, he only sells three elevators. The next year out-

   2. SPShaan Puri12:25

      [laughs]

   3. CCCraig Clemens12:25

      ... he sells seven elevators. Like, no one cares, you know? He, he doesn't, doesn't, uh, have the ability to get the word out. And then he meets this guy named P.T. Barnum. And so everyone probably now knows, uh, P.T. Barnum, one of the, the greatest, uh, marketing and showmen of all time. And P.T. Barnum says, "This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna go to the Crystal Palace in New York City," which was this big exhibition hall, "and we're gonna do a grand demonstration." So Otis gets up there on this elevator shaft, and he has his assistant get up there with an ax. And so he's standing on it. The, the elevator goes up the shaft just like it normally would in a building, and he's like, "Cut the cord, Jim!". He goes, boom.

   4. SPShaan Puri13:12

      [laughs]

   5. CCCraig Clemens13:12

      But he cuts the first cord, the elevator drops, like, just a little bit, and then there's one more cord hanging, and everyone's looking out, and they're like, "Oh, shit. What's he gonna do?"

   6. SPShaan Puri13:19

      [laughs]

   7. CCCraig Clemens13:20

      "This, this is the cord." And then, boom, he puts actually the second cord, and the elevator , only two feet, and stops. And he's like, "All safe here, gentlemen. All safe." Uh, and those are, like, the famous words that were published in the newspaper, "All safe here."

   8. SPShaan Puri13:38

      [laughs]

   9. CCCraig Clemens13:39

      And it showed that Otis had invented a braking system for elevators that worked. So over the next decade, he sold 2,000 elevators. He got all the greatest commissions. He did the, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building. And even today, if you look at your elevator, I've found about half of the elevators I get into have this little Otis logo. Uh, that-

   10. SPShaan Puri14:03

       Totally

   11. CCCraig Clemens14:03

       ... Otis is, is still crushing elevators.

   12. SPShaan Puri14:04

       All my zippers, all my zippers say YKK, and all my elevators say Otis. That's all, those are the only two things I know.

   13. CCCraig Clemens14:10

       Yeah. So, uh, so that's the power of a great demonstration. So what did, what did Otis do? The, the powerful demonstration stands in people's minds, and he also made it an event, you know? So what's great about an event? Well, one, people are gonna show up, and two, it's gonna get covered by the newspaper. But if you think about it on a, on a more primal level, have you ever heard the phrase, Shaan, "Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd"?

   14. SPShaan Puri14:38

       [laughs] No, but I like that.

   15. CCCraig Clemens14:42

       One of my favorite, favorite sayings, and it, it just shows that humans cannot resist an event, you know? If you're walking down the street and then you see, like, a big crowd of people and something's going on over there, there's a band or whatever, it's like you gotta see what, what's going on. It's just, just natural. And so if you make your advertising an event, then people cannot not pay attention to it. And then he also showed unquestionable proof using that demonstration and putting his own body on the elevator. He didn't use a dummy. He didn't use a monkey. Himself was on that elevator while his assistant was, was cutting the cords. And so that's the type of unquestionable proof that lead people to go ahead and take, take a, a action to buy without questioning it. And of course-

   16. SPShaan Puri15:31

       Right

   17. CCCraig Clemens15:31

       ... he made it about them. He didn't get up there and show his fancy braking system or how it worked, you know. He addressed the fear in everyone's mind that was about the safety of, of getting on an elevator, and he did it with a powerful demonstration. So Otis-

   18. SPShaan Puri15:47

       Let me show you, uh, let me show you something. Hold on. All right. Do you know this brand, Mini Katana? Have you seen them, Craig?

   19. CCCraig Clemens16:04

       I have not.

   20. SPShaan Puri16:05

       All right. So I am about to, uh... YouTube, don't be alarmed. This is, inside here is a giant sword. And, um, this company, so this brand, they sell these... It's called Mini Katana, but it's actually humongous. So they sell these swords. Now, the problem with selling swords is that Google and Facebook don't let you do it. [laughs] You can't advertise weapons. So how does an e-commerce brand work when you can't advertise weapons? Well, what they did was they started, they hired, like, 20 YouTubers and TikTokers, and they would have them do what you just described, the powerful demonstration. So they would take this, they would take this sword, and they would, instead of saying, you know, why you need a sword, because most people don't need a sword, let's be honest. Uh, instead of s- talking about how long it is or how sharp it is or whatever, they would show that the sword could cut through a bullet that was fired at them.

   21. CCCraig Clemens16:57

       Wow.

   22. SPShaan Puri16:57

       So this video starts with a guy's holding the sword, and there's a bullet aimed at him, and he's gonna try to split it in half. And, uh, and then when he does it, it's a powerful presentation about, like, how badass these swords are. And he, they, all of their marketing, they'll take a steak, they'll, you just see a steak plop down on a cutting board, and then a giant sword cutting through it, which is completely unnecessary, but it is a powerful demonstration. Um, and you know, I, I remember seeing those TED Talks where guys take a glass and they s- you know, it's like, "Here's dirty water. Would you drink this water?" It's like, "No way." And then they put it into their filter and they, like, with their bottle filter, and then they start to drink it. And I don't know who this was, Bill Gates or somebody.

   23. CCCraig Clemens17:35

       Yeah.

   24. SPShaan Puri17:35

       And he chugs this-

   25. CCCraig Clemens17:36

       And sometimes they pee in the water first, right? For, for real.

   26. SPShaan Puri17:38

       Yeah, exactly.

   27. CCCraig Clemens17:39

       Yeah.

   28. SPShaan Puri17:39

       They make it disgusting. And then the whole crowd is gasping.

   29. CCCraig Clemens17:42

       Yeah.

   30. SPShaan Puri17:42

       And, like, they could tell you how the filter works, or they could show you that they're willing to drink the water through this filter that was, like, disgusting water. And I still remember, that was, like, 20 years ago. I still remember that video because it's just hi- you're right, it hijacked my brain.
5. 24:00 – 35:00

   Lucky Strike Cigarettes: Help them rebel

   1. CCCraig Clemens24:00

      hooked on smoking that there was no room for growth. So the cigarette companies come to Eddie Bernays, uh, Lucky Strike in particular is who, who came to him, and they're like, "Hey, we need more customers." He's like, "Well, you already got all the men." But at that time, Shaan, it was illegal for a woman to smoke in public. It was- Literally fucking illegal.

   2. SPShaan Puri24:19

      [laughs]

   3. CCCraig Clemens24:20

      And there was like cafes in New York City where the, you know, there's, there's stories of, of like high society women getting asked to leave. And then women that could afford it would have like special smoking rooms in their homes that would, you know, that, that really liked it 'cause they weren't allowed to do it in public. Oh, and I should add something too. Women didn't really wanna smoke, uh, mo- for the most part. You know, they, they weren't really pushing back against it. Yes, it was illegal, but it was also considered unladylike. It was a, it was a man thing, you know? So he says to Lucky Strike, he's like, "Look, you know, you gotta, you gotta get the women smoking." So what was going on at the time was the women's rights movement, you know? So women were out in the streets marching about, you know, wanting the right to vote and, and Bernays capitalized on that. So the big social event of the day, kind of like the Oscars of today, was the Easter Parade, which would go down Fifth Avenue and all the reporters would be standing on the sidelines. And so Bernays organized a float, and he called up all of the, the socialites and debutantes, like the Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians of the day.

   4. SPShaan Puri25:29

      Mm-hmm.

   5. CCCraig Clemens25:30

      And he got them all to go on this float. And they're cruising down Fifth Avenue, the parade's happening, and you know, when they get to the corner where all the reporters were, the women d- uh, go into their stocking, they pull out cigarettes, put 'em in their mouths, and light 'em up. So imagine, you know-

   6. SPShaan Puri25:50

      [laughs]

   7. CCCraig Clemens25:51

      ... Paris and, uh, Khloe and all the Kardashians, and even all the Jenners on one float. They all just start blazing away.

   8. SPShaan Puri25:58

      [laughs]

   9. CCCraig Clemens25:59

      Right? And the reporters-

   10. SPShaan Puri26:00

       [laughs]

   11. CCCraig Clemens26:00

       ... are like, "What is going on here? This is, this is obscene, you know? Women aren't supposed to do this." Bernays and his crew went around to the reporters and they said, "Oh, no, no, no. They're not smoking. They are declaring their rights with these torches of freedom."

   12. SPShaan Puri26:20

       Oh, wow. [laughs]

   13. CCCraig Clemens26:21

       And so the, the, the newspapers ran with that. They were like, you know, w- uh, women s- uh, present torches of freedom to show that they are equal with men and they can smoke too. And so it turned it into a movement. And if you think about smoking to this day, if you think about a women sm- uh, a woman who smokes, um, I think I'm a bit older than you, Shaan, but I think of like Kate Moss and like the, you know, sexy models-

   14. SPShaan Puri26:48

       Yep

   15. CCCraig Clemens26:48

       ... smoking. Now it might be considered gross for a woman to smoke again, [laughs] you know, or anyone to smoke. I don't really know what the kids these days are thinking. But yeah, we, you know, you think of like some like badass, badass woman, and you remember the old movies of Audrey Hepburn, you know, that famous scene, I think it's, uh, Breakfast at Tiffany's-

   16. SPShaan Puri27:05

       Yep

   17. CCCraig Clemens27:05

       ... where she's puffing that long cigarette, you know. So yeah, completely changed the world there.

   18. SPShaan Puri27:11

       That's amazing. I had never heard that story. Um, uh, but I love that. Th- that's like a combination of you got the event, you have, uh, kind of newsjacking, which was jumping on, uh, to an existing trend, but then also, um, the, the co- just the copywriting of the word, the words there of, you know, "These aren't cigarettes. These are torches of freedom." That's really, really powerful.

   19. CCCraig Clemens27:32

       Yeah, the plants. If you like that plant strategy, Ryan Holiday wrote a great book called Trust Me, I'm Lying, and he talks about all these phrases that he planted in the-

   20. SPShaan Puri27:42

       [laughs]

   21. CCCraig Clemens27:43

       ... heads of these reporters when he was promoting things like, uh, Tucker Max books and, and you know, wild stuff back then. So there's a new lesson in here, a new hijack, so to speak, and that is help them rebel or-

   22. SPShaan Puri27:57

       Mm

   23. CCCraig Clemens27:57

       ... feel superior. So people have this tendency in them. They wanna go against the grain. They wanna show that they are not one of the sheep, you know? They wanna show that they are not gonna bow down to the, the mainstream pressure or society standards, things like that, you know? And this is a really powerful concept that you're gonna see appear throughout, uh, some of the, the other demonstrations here. But that's, that's what Bernays allowed them to do, is, is to rebel and, and maybe even feel superior to the rest because they're, they're leading the charge.

   24. SPShaan Puri28:34

       Right. Okay, keep going. I'm, by the way, I'm loving this, so keep going.

   25. CCCraig Clemens28:38

       All right. So Bernays had a problem. Lucky Strike, uh, did this big campaign to get women to start smoking, and they did start smoking, but they didn't smoke Lucky Strikes.

   26. SPShaan Puri28:49

       [laughs]

   27. CCCraig Clemens28:50

       Because if you remember, boop, boop, boop, see the Lucky Strike package there, Shaan? What color is the main color? It's green. Well, green was a very undesirable color back in those days. It was considered an ugly color. And so Bernays got all these women smoking, but Lucky's like, "What the fuck, Bernays? They're not smoking Lucky Strikes." So he has to come up with something new. So he goes back to his, his debutantes and, and socialites and as they say here, women of prominence, and they create the first ever Gala Green Ball at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. And the magazines started following around the Kardashians of the day to see what type of outfits they were gonna wear that were styled in green, and women started bringing green decor into their homes, and it just became a, a big thing, and the gala happens, and the women are photographed in their exotic green outfits. And it, it became the most fashionable color within one year. Going from the, the-

   28. SPShaan Puri29:51

       [laughs]

   29. CCCraig Clemens29:51

       ... the ugliest color to the most fashionable color. And Lucky Strike, without even trying, became the number one selling, uh, brand of cigarettes for women because they subconsciously wanted that green box.

   30. SPShaan Puri30:01

       Holy shit. Wow. Is one of the hijacks, by the way, using people of prominence, or you didn't, you don't include that in the, in the hijacks?
6. 35:00 – 43:00

   Great American Breakfast: Unquestionable proof

   1. CCCraig Clemens35:00

      for lunch. There's another meal here we can take advantage of." So Bernays goes to, uh, his, his on-staff doctor. Or actually no, it was, it was, uh, it was Beech-Nut's on-staff doctor, and he says, "Hey, Doc, would you agree that a hearty breakfast containing bacon would be the best way to start your day?" And the doctor's like, "Oh, of course I agree with you. Do you think some of your doctor friends would agree?" So he has him write 5,000 letters to doctors across the nation-

   2. SPShaan Puri35:33

      [laughs]

   3. CCCraig Clemens35:33

      ... saying, "Hey, I think bacon is the healthiest breakfast and people should be eating a heartier breakfast. Do you agree?" 4,500 doctors wrote back and they're like, "Yes, I agree, that makes perfect sense." They didn't turn this into an ad campaign, but what they did do is they shared that result with all of the newspapers, and so newspapers started publishing headlines, "Doctors agree: a hearty breakfast containing bacon is the best way to store energy to last throughout your workday." And but that's how people started eating, eating bacon for breakfast and, you know, all the, all the bacon companies started going crazy-

   4. SPShaan Puri36:12

      Totally

   5. CCCraig Clemens36:13

      ... 'cause it became a breakfast thing.

   6. SPShaan Puri36:15

      Wow.

   7. CCCraig Clemens36:15

      So what are we doing here? There's, we're selling the dream, you know, of a, of a breakfast that's gonna give you more energy to get throughout your day. You know? So that's making it about them as well. The unquestionable proof, 4,500 doctors can't be wrong, right? And then there's even a little bit of a, um, feeling superior here because i- if your buddy is over there eating a roll, you're like, "Hey, Shaan, got something to tell you about that roll, man. It's not as hearty."

   8. SPShaan Puri36:43

      [laughs] Is this your bacon-

   9. CCCraig Clemens36:45

      Right

   10. SPShaan Puri36:46

       ... memo?

   11. CCCraig Clemens36:46

       So it taps into all these- these same psychological hijacks. You keep seeing them over and over. Okay, so let's take a step back now, uh, a couple decades to the 1910s. Orange juice. Now, I grew up in the '80s, and my mom had us drink orange juice every day for vitamin C. Was this a thing, Shaan, when- when you were a kid?

   12. SPShaan Puri37:07

       Totally. Totally.

   13. CCCraig Clemens37:08

       Okay.

   14. SPShaan Puri37:08

       Orange juice is g- uh, when I was a kid, orange juice is good for you. It's vitamin C, which is, you know, good for your immunity. This is what I was told, and, uh, drank a lot of sugar 'cause of that.

   15. CCCraig Clemens37:19

       Yeah. So orange juice actually has the same amount, uh, of sugar as a Coca-Cola. [laughs] So orange juice is-

   16. SPShaan Puri37:24

       Yeah. [laughs]

   17. CCCraig Clemens37:24

       You know, it's- it's glucose or something. I don't know. Maybe it's a different kind of sugar, but it ain't good for you. So this was all the- the result of a- a marketing man named Albert Lasker, who was probably the, uh, the man responsible for more consumer change, um, in the early 1900s than anyone. Claude Hopkins, Pepsodent. Claude actually worked with Albert. He was his top copywriter. And prior to Claude coming on board, Albert was contacted by the California Growers Association. They're like, "Al- Albert, we got so many oranges here in California. We're having to cut down trees because they overproduce, and then we need to get rid of them, and it brings the bugs and all that stuff. You know, how can we sell more oranges?" And he looked at the lay of the land, and all these orange growers were competing against each other, trying to say, like, "We have the best orange. We have the best orange," or whatever. He goes, "Okay. First of all, you guys are all teaming up."

   18. SPShaan Puri38:15

       [laughs]

   19. CCCraig Clemens38:16

       And so he teamed it all up together, and he put them under one brand name. He called it Sunkist, which I think is a- a pretty genius name.

   20. SPShaan Puri38:23

       Yes.

   21. CCCraig Clemens38:23

       And then as he's- he's meeting with them, he- he notices that what the- the growers would do for their kids as a- as a- as a special treat is they'd take that orange and they'd- they'd squeeze it into a cup, and they'd give their kids little- little shots of the juice. He's like, "Ah, wait a second. How many oranges did it take to make that juice?" And they're like, "Oh, you know, three or four or whatever." So he thought, "What if we- we could make that mainstream?" 'Cause the juice tasted really good. And so he had a, uh, engineer invent this device that you could... You know, cheap, plastic device that you can put an orange on. And then he created this campaign talking about how oranges have all these vitamins in them and, you know, will help you get more of your nutrients from food, tying orange juice to meals. So you think about, "Oh, well, I- I wanna get the nutrients from this food, so I'm gonna drink orange juice with it." And then he had this campaign where you buy a box of oranges and you send in your- your proof of purchase and they send you this juicer thing. So it was like you get something for free. And created orange juice. And so what is he doing? He's selling the dream of getting the more nutrients from your food. The, uh, um, unquestionable proof. You know, if you- if you read- go and actually read that ad, there was like, you know, doctors recommend and- and things like that. Um, he made it about them because it's showing them that they can get some benefit here. And then here's a new hijack that's appearing for the first time. Um, actually, maybe, I mean, I guess it would apply to toothpaste, but, uh, change daily behavior. If you can change someone's daily behavior, you can create something big. So two modern ex- examples of this. Bulletproof coffee. Are you familiar with bulletproof coffee?

   22. SPShaan Puri40:08

       Uh, I'm just familiar with it from the surface level, but yeah, tell me- tell me about it.

   23. CCCraig Clemens40:11

       You know what... Do you know what it is?

   24. SPShaan Puri40:12

       Uh, it's like the butter coffee or the oil coffee.

   25. CCCraig Clemens40:14

       Yeah.

   26. SPShaan Puri40:14

       MCT oil coffee.

   27. CCCraig Clemens40:15

       Yeah.

   28. SPShaan Puri40:15

       Is that what it is?

   29. CCCraig Clemens40:16

       So you walk into any Starbucks in the country. They don't serve bulletproof coffee, but they know what it is. Everyone knows what it is, and the genius that- that Dave Asprey had was he changed the behavior of these, uh, of people that were already doing something. He kinda like, like intercepted their coffee.

   30. SPShaan Puri40:36

       Ah, it's- it's an additive to your coffee-
7. 43:00 – 49:00

   NIKE: Sell the dream

   1. CCCraig Clemens43:00

      quotes. He was a great media figure. He won every college record from, like, 500 meter up to 2,000 meter. Prefontaine was the man, and NIKE was just coming up. It actually just started, like, making their... Going from being a distributor making their own shoe, and fortunately Prefontaine was in Oregon, so were they, and they got him to, to wear their shoes. And it was a, a big thing because the unquestionable proof now. You've got Prefontaine, the top runner in the country, wearing NIKE shoes. Um, tragically Prefontaine passed in a car accident before he could go and, and honor his Olympic glory. But before he did that, he really put NIKE on the map because, you know, running was his thing. Running, what's the one accessory that you need? Shoes. And so this was such a big deal, um, that it actually changed the entire industry. So, so prior to Prefontaine, Prefontaine was around in, like, the '70s, right? Um, if you read Phil Knight's book, he talks about if you went jogging in, like, the '40s, '50s, or '60s, people were, like, throwing bottles at you from your car 'cause they're just, like, mad. They're like, "What is this idiot doing?"

   2. SPShaan Puri44:16

      [laughs]

   3. CCCraig Clemens44:16

      You know, "He's in the road," or whatever. And it was just, like, really hated upon. And Prefontaine comes along and running actually becomes cool again, and so NIKE got to ride that, that tailwind. And then what also happened is, is back then the people were wearing shoes that were, like, uh, you know, kinda like the loafer or work shoe or, or whatever. Like, pretty basic shoes. And people wanted to rebel against that, rebel against the shoes that their dad was wearing. And so they started wearing these athletic shoes, these running shoes, as a part of their daily attire to make a statement that, like, "I'm rebelling and I'm superior." And it changed the entire shoe market. Now athletic shoes are probably the best-selling shoe, and only a tiny percent of them are worn for athletic activities, and that all started in the, in the '70s with, with Prefontaine. And then of course NIKE had the amazing campaign with Jordan, which was more unquestionable proof. You know, making them feel superior 'cause they got the best basketball shoe and sell the dream that they're gonna be able to, to fly like Mike. So that was a, a world-changing campaign that not a lot of people think about when they put on their kicks every morning, you know?

   4. SPShaan Puri45:31

      You know, one of those that I feel like is happening right now in a small way, um... So you remember, like, I don't know, 10 years ago or something like that, those Vibram FiveFinger shoes were, like, getting popular.

   5. CCCraig Clemens45:41

      Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   6. SPShaan Puri45:41

      Do you remember those?

   7. CCCraig Clemens45:42

      Yeah.

   8. SPShaan Puri45:43

      So, like, you would see one and you'd be like, "What is... This person wearing a foot glove. Like, what is this thing?" And then they would immediately go into the spiel about why this is better for you and, like, how they do whatever. And I think this is, like, I, I've seen this a lot now. There's, um, there's a popular YouTuber or, or Instagram guy called Knees Over Toes Guy, and he's basically, like... It's, like, a rebellion. He's like, "Have any of you ever been told when you're working out, like, 'Don't let your knee go over your toe when you're squatting 'cause it's bad form?'" He's like, "Bullshit." Like, um, "I had all these knee surgeries. Nobody could tell me how to d- fix it. I fixed it myself because I started training that way specifically." So it's, like, a rebellion against the fitness industry. Then he's, like, a rebellion against NIKE 'cause now NIKE's the big bad, like, the incumbent.

   9. CCCraig Clemens46:23

      Mm-hmm.

   10. SPShaan Puri46:24

       And so he's like, "Uh, NIKE shoes, those are like wearing high heels." Um, you know, "You shouldn't have, uh, these, like, huge-heeled shoes. You should have low drop n- uh, flat shoes, basically." And so he came out with his own shoe, but also there's just, like, a bunch of these brands now that are kind of, like, uh, flat, more like you're walking barefoot.

   11. CCCraig Clemens46:43

       Barefoot.

   12. SPShaan Puri46:43

       Uh, barefoot shoes, like you're walking on, on the ground. And it's funny that, like, now NIKE's the big kind of status quo that they wanna rebel against and point out why, why you shouldn't be wearing NIKE shoes because of this other reason. Doc- 5,000 doctors agree that the NIKE, uh, you know, cushion is actually bad for you.

   13. CCCraig Clemens47:01

       So yeah. So, uh, you know, a big one was, uh, MacBook launched this ad that was called 1984 and it aired during the Super Bowl, and it, it, uh, was a big rebellion against IBM. Everyone was using these IBMs, and MacBook came out and they're like, "We're the new thing," you know?

   14. SPShaan Puri47:17

       Right.

   15. CCCraig Clemens47:17

       And I think they got the idea from this Volkswagen ad right here. So Volkswagen, when they came out, I think it was, uh, in the '60s, all those cars were huge. You know, if you think of, like, the '67 Chevys. You know, these huge cars that you couldn't get into a parking spot and had all this extra stuff on them that you didn't need. They came out with this Think Small campaign that absolutely crushed it, and it was, like, the, the hipster statement at the time was to, to drive a, a VW Bug, you know?

   16. SPShaan Puri47:47

       Mm-hmm.

   17. CCCraig Clemens47:47

       And made it one of the best-selling cars. Um, there's another ad that just came out from someone who's a master at this, and that's Trump. So this is another video that, that I would suggest you play if you can, 'cause it's really fascinating and they show Hillary talking about how the Trump people ha- have to be deprogrammed. Have you seen this ad? It just came out, like, two days ago.

   18. SPShaan Puri48:10

       No, I haven't seen it. So what, what is it?

   19. SPSpeaker48:12

       [dramatic music] With Trump taking a commanding lead and Bidenomics hurting American families, genius Hillary Clinton has come up with a way for Biden to win.

   20. SPSpeaker48:25

       There needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members. [audio glitching] Formal deprogramming of the cult members. [audio glitching] Deprogramming. Deprogramming. Deprogramming of the cult members. Of the cult members.

   21. SPSpeaker48:35

       Deletia. A brilliant plan, and here's what that would look like.

   22. SPSpeaker48:41

       Pay attention. Joe Biden will defeat him.

   23. SPSpeaker48:44

       One is the answer. Focus.

   24. SPSpeaker48:52

       Biden has done an amazing job, an amazing job

   25. SPSpeaker48:57

       But there's one small problem

   26. SPSpeaker48:59

       The basket of deplorables.

8. 49:00 – 56:00

   Social campaigns: Verbal Kill Shots

   1. SPSpeaker49:01

      Deplorables, deplorables, deplorables

   2. SPSpeaker49:04

      Working Americans aren't idiots, and they know who's on their side

   3. SPSpeaker49:10

      To American workers watching their take-home pay shrink and watching inflation destroy their family and their lives, to all of you, I have your back.

   4. SPSpeaker49:27

      I'm Donald J. Trump, and I approve this message

   5. SPShaan Puri49:30

      Wow. That's so well done

   6. CCCraig Clemens49:33

      Well, I mean, love him or hate him, the, the man is a master marker, and he just rallies his base to, to rebel against, uh, you know, the, the inc- um, incumbents. What's the word? The, what is it called?

   7. SPShaan Puri49:48

      Yeah, the elites. The s- kind of the-

   8. CCCraig Clemens49:50

      The swamp

   9. SPShaan Puri49:50

      ... the, the status quo.

   10. CCCraig Clemens49:51

       Elites. Yeah. Yeah

   11. SPShaan Puri49:52

       Do you think, uh, like in this case, do you think Trump has input on any of that? Or this is just, they hire some ad agency that does these things? Like, is he the master marketer, or is he-

   12. CCCraig Clemens50:00

       It has to be both

   13. SPShaan Puri50:01

       ... hiring master marketers?

   14. CCCraig Clemens50:01

       I mean-

   15. SPShaan Puri50:01

       [laughs]

   16. CCCraig Clemens50:02

       I mean, he, he, he makes the soundbites, you know?

   17. SPShaan Puri50:06

       Right

   18. CCCraig Clemens50:06

       That soundbite I think was live from a speech that they plugged in.

   19. SPShaan Puri50:09

       Right

   20. CCCraig Clemens50:09

       At least, it looks like it was. And, you know, a lot of times these speechwriters, they think about that. So there's a famous, uh, um, speech Barack Obama did, Yes We Can. Do you remember that speech?

   21. SPShaan Puri50:25

       Yep, yep. Of course. That was a huge one.

   22. CCCraig Clemens50:26

       So when the, when the speechwriter first presented Obama with Yes We Can, Obama didn't like it. He didn't wanna give that speech. He thought it was too basic. He's like, "I don't wanna repeat the same thing over and over," you know? "The, the audience deserves something more intelligent." And they had to convince him to, to do this-

   23. SPShaan Puri50:44

       [laughs]

   24. CCCraig Clemens50:44

       ... Yes We Can speech and present it as a rally cry. And, and finally he's like, "Okay, fine," you know, goes out and gives a speech.

   25. SPShaan Puri50:50

       [laughs]

   26. CCCraig Clemens50:51

       And that soundbite, man, I think it was, uh, uh, Will.i.am turned that into that music video that went crazy, you know?

   27. SPShaan Puri50:59

       Right

   28. CCCraig Clemens51:00

       It, it's just a, a, a really powerful soundbite. And, and I find that the best politicians end up speaking in soundbites.

   29. SPShaan Puri51:09

       Yeah.

   30. CCCraig Clemens51:09

       You know, Reagan did it.
9. 56:00 – 1:04:00

   Probiotics: Creating a category

   1. SPShaan Puri56:00

      they're like oddly satisfying to watch, and people just love that c- combination of, of the visual plus the sound. And so we took that, and we remixed that with our product, basically. We, we, we've integrated it in with our product so that the video starts with that rolling thing, and then we just sort of hijack the video and show our product upon the smash. [laughs] And way more people watch that than if we just start with our product, even though it's a complete bait and switch.

   2. CCCraig Clemens56:24

      That's interesting. Yeah, I mean, if you go up to someone on the street and be like, "Hey, do you love physics? Do you wanna study physics?" They're like, "No," but that's actually not the truth.

   3. SPShaan Puri56:31

      [laughs]

   4. CCCraig Clemens56:31

      Humans love physics. We all love physics. We're obsessed with physics, and it starts at age zero.

   5. SPShaan Puri56:36

      [laughs]

   6. CCCraig Clemens56:37

      So interesting. So yeah. So this, this, uh, ad to prevent drunk driving did the, you know, all these, these same things, and it worked. So okay, so here's a, a, a modern story. So 2010, when we were, were starting Golden Hippo, my brother comes to me and he says, "Hey, have you, you heard of probiotics?" And, and I hadn't, and I was like, "What are those?" And he, he says, "Well, you know, you got all these bacteria in you." And I was like, "Okay, what do you mean?" He's like, "You know, your microbiome." I'm like, "What's that?" You know, and he goes on to tell me that, you know, you, you take these probiotics, which are good, beneficial bacteria. It's supposed to do something, right? So I take them, and I started having a lot more regular poops. I don't know who, what I was eating before, but they started working. And I was like, "Why, why is this affecting me? I'm a pretty healthy guy. I'm in pretty good shape. Um, this is, this is actually helping me out." And I started looking into it, and I realized that all of these foods I was eating that I thought were healthy 'cause they said, uh, low fat or whatever on them, had sugars or artificial sweeteners or things like that pumped into them from the food companies. And they were, uh, on the na- on the labels under different names, so you don't know what they are, you know. Like sucralose or, um-

   7. SPShaan Puri57:57

      Right

   8. CCCraig Clemens57:57

      ... you know, agave nectar, things like that, you know. Like, uh, you, you would think it's healthy-

   9. SPShaan Puri58:02

      Right, and it could say zero sugars on the label-

   10. CCCraig Clemens58:05

       Yeah. Dry sugar on the label

   11. SPShaan Puri58:06

       ... but the ingredients would have these, like, substitutes. Yeah.

   12. CCCraig Clemens58:09

       Yeah, but it's got agave, it's got corn syrup, it's got like, you know, natural fruit juices. You know, all those things are, are sugars. And so I started digging into this, and there was some shady stuff, man. There was some, some experiments done where like, like, you know, the sugar companies would, would pay a farmer to, uh, uh, you know, li- food is very expensive for livestock and, and farmers always dreamed that they could give their livestock sugar instead of food, and they'd, they'd be able to use that as a nutrient, so they could stop this big food expense. And like, they'd do that and they'd try it, then the cows would all die, you know. And then they tried it, okay, well, let's take the food and let's add sugar and see what happens. And then the cows would still die. [laughs] You know, uh.

   13. SPShaan Puri58:52

       [laughs]

   14. CCCraig Clemens58:52

       And then they, they'd bury the studies, right? And then the, the, uh, artificial sweetener things were even worse. So there was a company, uh, G.D. Searle, that invented a artificial sweetener called aspartame. It's now known as NutraSweet. What a lot of people don't know is when they, he came up with this artificial sweetener, they knew it'd be a, a billion-dollar product, um, because the sweetener market had already been built out. They started testing it on lab animals, and the lab animals were growing tumors. And the scientists got popped. For the first time ever, the, um, the government filed criminal charges against a food company for falsifying studies 'cause the scientists were cutting the tumors out of the animals and sewing them back up and saying, "Oh, no tumors here." And they got caught doing that.

   15. SPShaan Puri59:34

       Wow.

   16. CCCraig Clemens59:34

       And so I found out about all this, and I was just like completely mystified. And so I wrote this presentation about this, and I talked about probiotics and how a way to combat the artificial sweeteners and, and sugars that are being pumped into your foods, that it'd be impossible for you to, uh, discover them all, you know, is to add good bacteria because those, um, you know, the, the bad bacteria growth that, that happens because of all this consumption that makes the bad bacteria get really frothy, um, need to be offset by good bacteria. And so I put this video together, and it went absolutely bananas. So, uh, it was seen by probably, uh, you know, 100 million people. It's hard to track, uh, but, um, the last we checked, there was over 100 million, and this is in a period of about four months. Joe Rogan tweeted it out, and someone wrote there like, "Hey, Joe, do you realize this is a, uh, actually an advertisement for a probiotic?" And then he wrote back, "Oh yeah, you know, I didn't see that till the end. I, I tweeted it out before I, I got to the end of the video."

   17. SPShaan Puri1:00:43

       [laughs]

   18. CCCraig Clemens1:00:43

       "But you can sit and watch it," or something like that, you know. Um, and it, it created the biggest, uh, probiotic brand in the world at the time, and it was because of this educational component, showing people that the, your food supply is messed up and you have something called a microbiome that's getting affected by your food supply. And one way to aid that is with, with probiotics. And so if you look at the Google Trends, which we didn't have in the '20s, you know, I'm sure if we could do this for Google for the '20s, it'd look at like-

   19. SPShaan Puri1:01:19

       [laughs]

   20. CCCraig Clemens1:01:20

       ... you know, uh, cigarettes.

   21. SPShaan Puri1:01:21

       Too faced. [laughs]

   22. CCCraig Clemens1:01:21

       Right? You'd see like a big spike after the, the, uh, Easter Day Parade, right? Uh, or VW Bug, you'd see the big spike, uh, after the, uh, the Think Small campaign. But we have this now. So if you look at probiotics, you know, probiotics were gaining some steam here, and here's where, um, our ad comes online is, uh, Key Biotics was our brand. So look at the general spike in probiotics. Okay, so what, what happened there? Well, you can see basically the day we get kicked off of Google, and it goes down, and, uh, you see the trend line goes down too. Um, but then you see it, it, it, it goes back up again. And, you know, this is what... We launched our next probiotic brand. Perfect Biotics, uh, you know, did, did okay. It, it wasn't the, the huge banger success that, that Key Biotics was. But fear not, met a guy named Dr. Gundry. In 2016, we launched a brand with him, and look at, look at these spike lines. Look at the probiotic spike lines compared with, with the term Gundry. And the reason people were-

   23. SPShaan Puri1:02:29

       Yeah, perfectly synchronized

   24. CCCraig Clemens1:02:29

       ... searching more Gundry at some days is when the, the campaigns would be running really strong, you know, or the, the, the video's running, running a lot. That's where the, the searches would go crazy. And that was because Dr. Gundry is out there with, with our educational presentations talking about the microbiome and talking about probiotics and prebiotics and really just educating the world on this stuff. And, you know, we didn't bring probiotics to America or, or anything like that, uh, but I like to think we were probably a company that taught more people than anyone about the microbiome. And now, you know, the probiotic trend's, uh, you know, keeps, keeps going, and I think it just keeps going, uh, up and to the right if you, if you find the, the current data, you know? And, and by now the, uh, market has changed. You know, I, I talked about, uh, I did a Twitter thread a ways back where I talked about the three stages of a product market. So there's clueless, which is when you need to create, uh, the, the, the marketing wave 'cause your, your market knows nothing about the, the product, right? So back then when I started, no one knew anything about probiotics. So if I had just said like, "Hey, here's probiotics. Try them out," no one would've cared. But I started with something they did care about, was, it was like, "Hey, is your digestion messed up? Are you having irregularity at the bathroom? Well, here's a reason why." And then the next stage of the market is, um, is curious, where someone's probably heard the term probiotics and, and you can jump in. And so while

10. 1:04:00 – 1:09:12

    Recap: 7 Human Hijacks

    1. CCCraig Clemens1:04:00

       my ads in 2013, 2014, were starting with digestive health, I had an ad in 2018, I believe it was, and the headline was, "Doctor Says Throw Your Probiotics in the Trash." And enough people knew about probiotics by then. They were like, "Oh, that's... Wait, wait, I heard these are good for you," you know?

    2. SPShaan Puri1:04:20

       Right.

    3. CCCraig Clemens1:04:20

       And then you click on it and then it goes on to talk about, oh, most probiotics don't have enough strains of potency, and also, you know, prebiotics are important and, and this and that, you know? So that's just knowing the market where it was and, and, and where you need to jump in. And then the next level of the, uh, market is, is saturation, and that's kinda where the probiotics market is now. I'm not launching new probiotics. Uh, you know, I, I... Every time I go to a conference, someone comes up to me and they're like, "Oh, yeah, I'm launching a probiotic." I mean, good luck. You, you know, it's, it's pretty-

    4. SPShaan Puri1:04:47

       Right

    5. CCCraig Clemens1:04:47

       ... commoditized by now. But there's still some that have, have broken through with, with strong campaigns.

    6. SPShaan Puri1:04:52

       Amazing. And so see, these are the seven hijacks. Uh, I'll read them out here. So number one, make it about them. So that's make it about the customer and the benefits that they're gonna get. Number two, make it an event. That's the, um, you know, nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. Um, then number three is a powerful demonstration. So that's the PT Barnum. That's the elevator, uh, with the ax. That's the sword cutting through the bullet. Um, that's the drinking dirty water. Um, show unquestionable proof. So that's using experts like doctors or, uh, influencers plus, um, you know, like you said, he was willing to be in the elevator while the thing was cut. You know, that's a, a demonstration of proof. Five, change a daily behavior, and I think this was change an existing daily behavior. Um, um, i- is that right, or is it change any daily behavior?

    7. CCCraig Clemens1:05:40

       I mean, it could, it could be either, you know?

    8. SPShaan Puri1:05:42

       Okay.

    9. CCCraig Clemens1:05:43

       So-

    10. SPShaan Puri1:05:43

        And so this is like bulletproof getting you to add something into your coffee, something you were already doing. Or like breakfast, uh, having a hearty breakfast as the start of your day versus a, a, you know, just a coffee and a, and a, and a bread roll. Um-

    11. CCCraig Clemens1:05:56

        Yeah, so we hijack da- hijacked the daily behavior.

    12. SPShaan Puri1:06:00

        Right.

    13. CCCraig Clemens1:06:01

        And what we did with probiotics is we changed the daily behavior. We, uh, encouraged them to take something every day.

    14. SPShaan Puri1:06:07

        So then six is sell the dream. That's the, the movie star smile. That's underneath that film. If only you would start brushing your teeth, or this is, uh, Craig pooping regularly 'cause he now takes, uh, you know, probiotics and prebiotics. That's the dream. And then number seven is help them, um, r- uh, be a rebel or feel superior. And so that's, you know, be able to, to stick a middle finger to the man, whoever the man is, whether it's NIKE or it's, uh, you know, the women not having equal rights or whatever. Um, h- give them the tools and the badge to, to feel like they're superior and, uh, in a rebellion, a part of a rebellion.

    15. CCCraig Clemens1:06:43

        That's right.

    16. SPShaan Puri1:06:45

        Amazing.

    17. CCCraig Clemens1:06:45

        Well said. Well said. You're, you're a, a-

    18. SPShaan Puri1:06:48

        I'm a good student

    19. CCCraig Clemens1:06:48

        ... student. Yeah.

    20. SPShaan Puri1:06:49

        [laughs] Well, this is... I mean, the stuff that's in here is, um, I guess, like this is rare in two ways. Number one, I took marketing classes in college, and I had marketing professors. None of my marketing professors had ever done what you did. They never created a category. They never did a billion dollars in sales. They never sat there and crafted, um, you know, even this presentation. When we talked three days ago, it was gonna be like Marketing Throughout the Decades. No. And then you were like, "No, that's not gonna be the t- title. I gotta think of something good." And you come back with Seven, Seven Human Hijacks: How Marketers Have Hijacked Your Brain. And I'm like, oh God, just seeing you go from two days ago with no title or a shitty working title to like a really strong title is seeing somebody in action or hearing you, you, what you did with the, the, uh, probiotics market. So number one, the opportunity to have a teacher who's actually a master of the game is so rare. So obviously I'm sitting up in my seat, I'm paying attention. Number two, any one of these, like I'm thinking, as you were talking, my brain was like having almost a hard time listening, 'cause I'm firing ideas for any of my companies on like, oh, a powerful demonstration. How could we show this in a way that's exaggerated and would, would, which almost be kind of shocking or add some drama to what we're doing versus just saying the feature or saying it's good. Like now how could we like do, do a powerful demonstration that would give people unquestionable proof, right? So I couldn't even like stop my brain from moving while I'm doing this. Now that's the, I don't know, that's the entrepreneur in me, but I think there's a lot of people who are listening that are like that, that like if you paid attention to this, even one of these hijacks could like literally like change the trajectory of your company. So, uh, anyways, I appreciate you putting this together. This is kind of a, uh, this is amazing to me. Um, I don't know how other people are gonna f- feel about this, but like, as a, as the only student in the room right now, I was, uh, you know, I, I'm pumped about this. This is, this is great.

    21. CCCraig Clemens1:08:39

        Well, I, I appreciate the kind words and, you know, if they s- as they say, if you could change the life of just one person, right? Then your job-

    22. SPShaan Puri1:08:45

        Right

    23. CCCraig Clemens1:08:45

        ... is complete. So I'll take it.

    24. SPShaan Puri1:08:46

        All right. Well, you did it. [laughs] This has been a masterclass, uh, for sure. So thanks for, thanks everyone for watching. That's the pod. [outro music]

Episode duration: 1:09:12