Oliver Atkinson sits down with neuroscientist and ad veteran Christopher Demetrakos to unpack “Gen 3” marketing, how aligning creative to cognitive traits sparks dopamine, cuts through the brain’s ad-blocker, and drives action, not just likes.

Chris breaks down why 95–99% of decisions happen non-consciously and how the brain’s natural ad-blocker (the reticular activating system) bins generic ads while trait-tuned cues slip through.

He also shared the case study that lifted revenue 56% in three months with one tiny framing change that did most of the work; you’ll find out which and why. He also reveals how a quirky soda spot beat a celebrity-crammed Alexa ad on immersion and action, and the simple category marker that made the difference.

With attention shrinking, and budgets under scrutiny, every wasted impression is expensive. Marketers, creatives, and leaders will learn how targeting cognitive traits lifts the actions that matter, clicks, sign-ups, and sales, by pairing the right cues with the right minds and measuring immersion to prove it.

• 00:04:01:02 - The $5 Million Campaign That Failed: Why a Captain America tie-in with massive budget couldn't sell even half the target, revealing traditional advertising is broken and the need for science-based customer creation
  
  
• 00:10:45:09 - The Whiskey Case: 56% Revenue Growth with Zero Media Budget: How identifying that over half the audience were introverts and switching to solo micro-influencer content broke five years of flat sales
  
  
• 00:12:28:03 - The RAS Filter: Your Brain's Ad Blocker: How the reticular activating system blocks most of reality from entering awareness, and why cognitively resonant messaging is the only way to bypass this filter
  
  
• 00:35:54:16 - Gen Two vs Gen Three Marketing: Moving beyond the "cult of like" evaluated by focus groups and awards to the cognitive era that engineers dopamine and oxytocin release through trait-aligned messaging
  
  
• 01:09:26:08 - The Future of AI and Gen Four Marketing: How AI glasses will predict your needs in real-time, offering personalized deals based on cognitive traits—and why agencies will become creative strategists managing cognitive clusters, not just making ads