Read time: 5 minutes

Last week I was holidaying in Bali, and my hotel was on a street with many money exchangers. After exchanging cash at one of them, I walked into a clothing store right on the opposite side of the road. The saleswoman saw me coming from the exchanger and asked me twice if I had counted my money properly. That prompted me to check again, and I realized the amount was less than what I had counted earlier at the exchanger.

So I went back to the exchanger and asked him to do a new transaction. This time I watched him closely. After I had counted the exchanged currency notes, he smoothly touched the stack again and, through a sleight of hand, removed a few notes. That’s when I asked him if I could recount, and he realized he'd been caught, so he refused to proceed with the exchange.

Well, a useful lesson learned for future trips involving currency exchange.

The gentle nudge of the saleswoman was also a nice reminder for me of the power of nudges. Nudges are different from Call to Actions. They are not meant to persuade you to take any action. They are gentle interventions that:

• Appear just before a mistake happens

• Are simple, not overwhelming

• Give control back to the user

Most of us are getting nudged these days by ChatGPT follow-up suggestions that appear right after an answer, keeping the interaction going without you having to think about what’s next.

Another favorite of mine is Gmail's follow-up prompts, which have helped me avoid losing track of ongoing conversations.

The classic book by Sunstein and Thaler’s ‘Nudge’ that popularised the idea, uses the example of changing the layout of food in a cafeteria in order to encourage healthier eating - fruit at eye level, chocolates a little harder to get to.

Nudges are avoidable - the user still has a choice, but the nudge aims to help them to make a ‘better’ decision.

If you are interested in more examples, this file has more than 100 classic nudges.

For growth teams, the most effective way to implement a nudge would be to go beyond static, one-size-fits-all approaches. You can group users by real-time behavior, location, goals, and demographics (age, income, or broad spending patterns) to create dynamic, personalized nudges.

For example, fitness tracking app Strava nudges you to work out to maintain a streak like this:

This is static for all users. A dynamic nudge could be based on a location change detection, and predicting a travel-related streak disruption, leading Strava to nudge:

As Dalecke, S. & Karlsen, R. (2020) in their paper Designing Dynamic and Personalized Nudges point out:

Most nudges fail not because the idea is wrong, but because the timing and context are ignored.

The future of nudging is better situational awareness.

Five questions. That’s it:

Growth Science, at least the way I think about it, comes down to one thing: why do some users move forward while others drop off?

Every user journey is shaped by two forces:

• Friction that slows people down.

• Trust signals that move them ahead.

The Calvin Lens is a way to inspect a product through this equation:

1. Why is this here? forces you to explain the real purpose of a step.

2. Who is this helping? checks whether it matches the user’s motivation or just the company’s.

3. Why do I have to do so much work? exposes friction.

4. Why do we do it this way? usually reveals legacy decisions no one has questioned in years.

5. What if we changed it? opens the door to new behavior.

Most growth teams spend a lot of time analysing metrics such as CTR, conversion rate, and funnel drop-offs. But not enough time thinking about the underlying drivers and barriers in the user experience. The numbers matter, but they’re symptoms. The Lens looks at the cause.

I’ll use Strava’s new Instant Workouts feature as an example to explain further.

Instant Workouts are app-generated training sessions based on your recent activity, designed to tell you what to do today without having to plan it yourself. It has 4 different ‘experiences’ -

1. Maintain (current effort)

2. Build (Harder than current)

3. Recover (lighter than current)

4. Explore (new activities).

1. Why is this here?

Strava’s primary utility has been to record your activities. Instant Workouts pushes it toward coaching. The functional user need it fulfils is to remove the need for planning for someone who wakes up unsure what to do today. For example, if you’re new to running, this is helpful. You open the app, and you have a clear next step.

The deeper need it taps into is identity. People want to feel like they're training consistently, and the feature can help them live upto the identity of being a runner.

2. Who is this helping?

From a business perspective, it’s easy to see. This is a premium feature. More guided sessions mean more in-app engagement and more reasons to sign up for the paid subscription.

From a user perspective, it depends on who you are.

If you’re a beginner, daily recommendations feel supportive. If you’re training for a marathon or a 70.3, a generic workout can disrupt a structured plan.

I use Strava almost daily to train for races. The app’s header used to show my goals. Now it shows guided workouts, and I haven’t used it once. The workouts are personalized based on my past activity, but they ignore my future goals.

Several reviews have questioned how these workouts are generated and how they will sync with devices like Garmin and Apple Watch.

As an athlete, my question is simple: what are these workouts based on? My weekly mileage target? My race date? My taper schedule? None of that seems to factor in.

Since Strava recently acquired Runna and is planning an IPO, this feature signals a move toward goal-based coaching, but it is still quite half-baked in its current form.

3. Why do I have to do so much work?

If I were to do these Instant workouts, I would have to send them to my Apple Watch or Garmin device first for a seamless experience (and not having to reference my phone). This additional step is simply additional friction.

If I have to ignore the suggested workout, open another app, and cross-check my training plan, the friction shifts back to me. The feature was meant to reduce cognitive load. For goal-driven athletes, it adds a small layer of confusion.

4. Why do we do it this way?

Strava has rich data on my past: pace, fatigue patterns, frequency, and injury signals. That data tells the app what I can handle.

Future goals tell the app what I’m trying to become.

Instant Workouts lean heavily on the past. They react to what I’ve done. Serious training plans start with the destination and work backward.

5. What if we changed it?

There are so many other apps that provide workout recommendations based on your future goals. In Training Peaks, you enter a race date and target time, and the system builds a full progression toward that goal. Garmin Coach does something similar if you use a Garmin watch. Runna focuses on runners and structures weekly workouts around a race distance and finish time.

These apps start with the finish line. If your goal is to climb a mountain, they look ahead to the 20 km ascent and build you up gradually so you can handle it. Strava’s Instant Workouts looks at yesterday’s 2 km walk and suggests something similar today.

As a triathlete training for specific races, I care more about where I’m going than what I did yesterday. Instant Workouts feel like a nudge for consistency. What I need is preparation for a destination.

That difference sounds small, but it changes everything. What if Strava redesigns its recommendation system and UI to be more goal-based, that looks something like this:

When I run Strava through the Calvin Lens, it is clear what could drive its growth and what could create barriers to it.

Instant Workouts reduce one kind of friction for beginners - of planning today’s session. For more seasoned athletes training toward a defined goal, new friction appears. The workouts don’t reflect race dates, taper cycles, or long-term progression.

If the app understands where I’m headed, I trust it. If it only responds to what I did yesterday, I hesitate. And hesitation slows growth.

I found it easier to write this newsletter when no one was reading it. Now that I have readers like you, I feel the pressure to meet your expectations. It’s a struggle to find topics worthy of your time. Not complaining. It’s a good problem to have. It’s no joke to churn out outstanding newsletters week after week, like my “invisible mentor.”

Since my last newsletter, published in December, became my most-read to date, I have been seeking inspiration for the next one. I thought the month of Jan would disappoint me, and then this happened…

My kid dressed up as Calvin for his book character week at school. He wanted to turn blonde (for a day 🙄), but I told him acrylic color was a much better idea. 😉

Anyway, seeing him stirred up a long-forgotten memory - of a young 20-year-old me, writing swathes of essays for business school admissions. One day, I got so bored with the pretentious stuff I was gurgling out that I ended up writing a defiant one. I did not care whether I got rejected, but I wanted to be my authentic self. I was quite surprised when it turned out to be my only successful application.

20 years have passed since I wrote this, but every word still rings true…

Imagine a life entirely different from the one you now lead. What would it be (15 lines)?

I often imagine waking up one fine morning to discover that I have turned into Bill Watterson’s famous cartoon character - Calvin.

As Calvin, I will get to be this highly imaginative, energetic and sardonic child that I never was as a 6 yr old. Calvin’s flights of fantasy, his friendship with his toy tiger Hobbes, his misadventures, his views on a diverse range of political and cultural issues and his relationships and interactions with his parents, classmates, educators, and other members of society are so unlike a real world’s child.

The socialization that we all go through to become adults teaches us not to say certain things because we later suffer the consequences. Calvin doesn’t know that rule of thumb yet and thus there’s not much of a filter between his brain and his mouth.

As Calvin I want to experience having absolutely no sense of restraint. I often feel I was born intelligent but education ruined me. So as Calvin I would have complete disdain for learning and would resist being taught anything.

As Calvin I want to escape the rat race of adulthood and experience leading an idyllic life with all the time in the world to lie on grass and watch birds fly in the sky.

The restless soul and the turbulent mind with a bottomless pit of ideas which I possess can only be satiated with endless flights of fancies of Calvin which leads him to imagine himself as other characters with different powers and goals; I would sometimes vanish into a fantasyland to escape a difficult situation!

I would like to see how my creative energies manifest them in whimsical spirit of Calvin. Calvin doesn’t have the experience yet to know the things that one shouldn’t do.

Being Calvin to me means going back to the days of impish innocence. As Calvin I would remain a 6 year old and never grow old. Thus, imagining a life as Calvin is a way to relive my childhood and wishing it would stay forever.

It made me ponder an existential question: why does our growth seem to slow as we grow up? Maybe because, as adults, as we start accepting “how things are done”, the natural curiosity we were all born with recedes.

We stop asking obvious questions because we’re afraid of sounding naïve or being seen as difficult.

Compliance is more comfortable than being curious. But Ginny Rometty famously said, “Growth and comfort cannot co-exist.”

What if someone like Calvin were around at work? He would:

• Have no respect for legacy

• Would not care about “best practices.”

• Would say the first thing that comes to mind, without filters

And that’s exactly why we need his eyes when we think about creating and improving products and experiences.

And so I would like to introduce: The Calvin Lens™

The Calvin Lens is a simple checklist that helps you uncover latent user needs and envision future states that could genuinely delight users.

It consists of asking these 5 questions about a product or experience:

1. Why is this here?

2. Who is this helping?

3. Why do I have to do so much work?

4. Why do we do it this way?

5. What if we changed it to this?

For example, I will assess the Facebook Marketplace through The Calvin Lens™, a product I use often and believe is in serious need of a redesign.

1. Why is this here?

As a user, I have to search for what I am looking for, verify details, and filter for genuine sellers. I find the UX too overwhelming because there is no clear nudge to the next step.

2. Who is this helping?

It seems to me that this current layout feed is optimized to increase time spent rather than successful transactions. So it helps Facebook more than it helps the user.

3. Why do I have to do so much work?

Before I actually buy anything, I have to do a lot of work -

1. Choose the category

2. Check prices

3. Chat with the seller

4. Assess whether it’s a genuine product and seller or a scam

4. Why do we do it this way?

• Why is there a giant feed for everything?

• Why is price the primary signal?

• Why is the location buried in small text?

5. What if we changed it to this?

The above question could spark discussions that better understand user needs and identify alternative ways to serve them. For example, what if the FB Marketplace looked like this instead -

Marketing and product teams could use this as a brainstorming technique to -

1. Question the normal

2. Surface latent user needs

3. Form hypotheses about user behaviour

4. Run growth experiments

5. Redesign user experiences

I will discuss this further in my upcoming newsletters.

It might help to remember that once we stop accepting how things are done, we create space to discover what is needed next.

It’s the moment where growth begins 🌱

Thank you for reading 🙏

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

The same is true in marketing.

We often look sideways at competitors and category trends. We attend marketing workshops, read research reports and books in the hope that they will give us new ideas. But often the most potent ideas could come from what’s happening in our own lives and in the world around us.

I am not saying one should not read books or do training. These are useful in knowing what worked in the past. But to create something truly novel and not done before, one might need to look at what is happening in the macrocosm of the world and the microcosm of our day-to-day lives with a fresh pair of eyes.

In my final newsletter of the year, I want to share three marketing lessons that were reinforced for me - one from a global event and two from experiences of my own life.

1. Zohran Mamdani’s Masterclass

From 1% awareness in the early polls to becoming NYC’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral election win is a mind-blowing marketing case study.

I followed his campaign obsessively, initially because I am a massive fan of his mother, Mira Nair, and her films (I once took her indie film course on Masterclass).

Apart from his personal charm and flair for storytelling, his campaign was so successful because it nailed three marketing fundamentals:

(a) Solve a ‘real’ customer problem

Mamdani focused relentlessly on what he correctly identified as the key pain point of his audience: the cost of living.

His campaign promises to ‘freeze the rent’ and ‘free buses’, etc., effectively created a significant delta between their struggle today and a better tomorrow. I thought it was a perfect example of the Delta 4 framework for predicting successful startups:

“Once the user experiences a significantly better way of using a product, there is no way he or she is going back to the old way of doing things.”

You know a startup is solving a ‘real’ problem when the difference in users’ current vs. future state becomes painfully apparent. Every founder needs to study this idea.

But this is easier said than done. It is hard to pinpoint a real customer pain point because often what a customer says and does differ entirely. How does one identify a real customer insight from a fake one? You might find this an interesting read.

(b) Focused positioning

His message never drifted. He brought every question back to affordability. In every campaign content, personal question, debate, he would get the attention back to the core value proposition.

Founders often falter here, either by making too many promises or by failing to tie their value proposition clearly back to the problem they are trying to solve.

Simple promises hold enormous power.

(c) Speak human, not political

Short emotional videos. Bollywood metaphors. Cultural language. Humor. Personality.

Mamdani’s authenticity was unmatched, and that built his authority.

People can sense when something is genuine. He spoke to everyone in the language they understood best. And he kept it human, focused on the audience, not on himself.

💖  Lesson 1: A new brand can take on Goliaths if they are clear about the problem they are solving, be very clear how they can solve it better than the rest, and talk in a way the customers feel seen and heard. 

2. What Shoes Mean to a Runner

On 14th December 2025, I ran my first marathon. When I crossed the finish line, it was a moment of 6 months of training coming to fruition. I obsessed over many details of my preparation, and one of the key ones was the running shoes. Shoes are a part of a runner’s identity, the tribe you belong to, a quiet marker of trust.

I mainly trained in ON and Asics shoes. I have a couple of Nikes, but I never use them for any serious training. And I notice a similar pattern in the athletic community around me. The market data confirms the trend:

Yet, I’m still a huge admirer of Nike’s marketing. Their six-page love letter to runners after the NYC Marathon was stunning. It genuinely moved me.

But here’s the truth: I don’t trust Nike’s product to give me an edge. And no amount of beautiful storytelling can change that.

This is the most fundamental reminder for marketers:

Marketing — however sexy — cannot save a weak product.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

I’ve seen so many teams hope that their “great marketing” can change the course of business growth and buy them time to improve the product.

It never works.

💖 Lesson 2: Great marketing can amplify a great product. It cannot compensate for the absence of one.

3. The eye and the AI

One of the best marketing ideas of this year, and perhaps all time, is Polaroid’s “The Camera for an Analog Life” campaign. Digital overload and weariness are a global phenomenon, and Patricia Varella, Brand and Creative Director at Polaroid, perfectly sums this human truth:

“We are analog creatures, built to connect through our senses but the more we lose ourselves in digital algorithms, the more we drift away from empathy and real connection. There is something magical in a Polaroid picture. It captures the humanness in all of us, wrinkles and all, and reminds us that the best of life happens in the real, physical world.” -

The Polaroid campaign moved me so much that when I came across a street photography workshop titled “Expand Your Eyes: Seeing More and Making It More,” I signed up immediately.

A group of us walked through the busy streets trying to find a moment worth capturing. Later, as we compared our shots, I was intrigued by the fact that each one of us saw something different in the same street. Ordinary life seemed to hide so many extraordinary moments when seen through different eyes.

That’s when it clicked.

Ever since ChatGPT and its many cousins burst into our lives, I’ve been wrestling with a question:

What can I, as a human marketer, do better than AI?

Perhaps the answer is this - AI sees through a lens of collective wisdom. It’s a powerful reduction of everything that’s been seen, written, and recorded.

But only a human eye can truly see something new through the lens of our life experiences, emotional memory, cultural context, and personal taste.

Today, our edge as marketers is no longer in doing more or faster. Perhaps it lies in showing up as who we are and making sense of the world around us in our unique ways.

So if you are a marketer reading this, I urge you to reflect on these three questions:

1. What moment of feeling can I create for my customer that only a human interaction could spark?

I experienced this at the HSBC booth when a local artist made a quick portrait of my mother and me, and it will stay on my fridge for a while.

2. Who is my customer trying to become — and how can my brand help them feel like that person, even for a moment?

I was ignoring a beggar knocking at my car window for money till she said those words that stayed with me, “Share your blessings. This call to action was so compelling because it invited me to be the kind of person I hope to be: generous.

Brand CTAs don’t have to be Buy Now. They can be ‘Choose what matters’, or ‘Do the honest thing’. That’s all it takes to sound more human.

3. What can I notice about my customer’s life that I can see only because of the life I’ve lived?

I was impressed by Shinhan Bank's campaign offering incentives to its customers for running. And it made me wonder why more brand promotions aren't tied to lifestyle incentives? I think it’s because they don't have insight into how we live. But the solution to this is simple. Just ask the customer to choose three words to describe themselves, as Apple asks you to define your music tastes to refine your recommendations!

💖  Lesson 3:  AI makes marketing faster. But only humans can make it more meaningful. 

Happy New Eyes

When I started writing this newsletter, my goal was to write every week and hit 1,000 subscribers.

This year, I had different goals. Instead of having an external measure of ‘success’ (number of posts or followers), I decided to focus on the inside-out - "What did I gain from thinking and writing about this?"

I wrote when I received a PR kit, which made me wonder when influencer marketing truly felt effective. 25 years of graduation made me wonder how I ended up in marketing. And I obviously had to brag about being featured on a billboard.

My experiences in 2025 have refreshed me, and I’m excited to share more marketing growth ideas that stem from my endeavours next year.

I hope 2026 brings you your own set of experiences that gently reshape how you think, create, and grow.

Love,

Munmun 🎄✨

The portrait turned out super cute and is now on my fridge… which means HSBC basically earned exclusive ad space in my home. This is one of the most creative booth giveaways I’ve seen in a long time. Well done, HSBC! 👏👏👏

Lately, I have felt a certain weariness with everything digital. I am desperately trying to cut down my screen time so I can spend more time IRL. I am switching to analog as much as possible - waking up to alarm clocks, writing with pen and paper, printing photos for albums, and listening to the radio for music.

And after almost two decades in digital marketing, I seem to be developing a fondness for ‘traditional’ forms of marketing. So, in my penultimate newsletter of this year, I want to discuss three offline campaigns that made me smile:

1. How to get your wedding sponsored 🤵

French entrepreneur Dagobert Renouf went viral for getting 26 startups to pay for ad space on his wedding tuxedo!

While some might think that turning a personal milestone into a branding opportunity is weird, I think this is creative genius! This was a good deal for the startups that received attention at the wedding as well as online virality, and Dagobert, who was apparently struggling financially, was able to save some money, make his wedding memorable, and create buzz in his startup community.

Personal and professional bingo!

🏅 It works because the ad spaces are unusual and limited, so people notice and brands become part of the moment.

♻️ How to copy this idea:

While you may not want to wear a sponsored suit at your wedding, you could adapt the concept for other moments where attention is high and the vibe is more playful.

For example, in a tech conference or on a startup demo day, founders could sell patches on hoodie sleeves to promote early customers or as social proof.

Travel vloggers could sell ad space on their suitcases/backpacks.

2. Receipts are micro-billboards

While waiting for my milk tea, I couldn’t help but admire the design of Chagee’s receipt, featuring botanical motifs that give the brand a sense of heritage and luxury.

Usually, we toss receipts into the bin without a second thought. But perhaps the humble receipt is the new branding real estate —a micro billboard to reinforce brand identity post-purchase.

Of course, the impact may only last the first time you notice it. Chinese milk tea brand Mixue takes this further by turning receipts into serialized fan fiction, nudging customers to collect the next chapter across multiple visits.

This went viral as customers eagerly collected chapters, posted updates online, and even crowdsourced missing segments across social media platforms like Weibo, resulting in millions of unpaid brand engagements.

🏅 It works because it creates delight in an otherwise mundane touchpoint, the receipt. And it drives repeat product purchase for the intrigue.

♻️ How to copy this idea:

A bank can turn ATM receipts into micro-engagement moments by printing money tips in an episodic format or quirky “financial fortune cards” that are printed randomly. Grocery Stores could print mini health tips. Cafes could tell stories of beans, farmers, and mascots.

3. A new bottle for the old wine

Newspaper inserts or flyers are usually thrown away after a read. However, this one managed to stand out and was shared online simply because it was cut out differently.

Who said flyers should be square? While it might be more expensive to have it cut into a shape, the incremental spend is worth the differentiation

🏅 It works because the unusual shape interrupts the brain’s autopilot and forces a second look.

♻️ How to copy the idea:

Use shaped flyers that match your product, such as a coffee cup, a sneaker outline, or a phone icon. Keep the message simple and let the shape be the hook.

What’s common across all these campaigns is that they’re built for an offline moment, but they ultimately go viral online. Today, digital feels cluttered, and AI has accelerated the fatigue. Everyone can produce content, but very few can produce creativity.

And maybe that’s why offline now feels fresh again. The new growth hack is simple:

👉 Do something inventive offline, then amplify it online.

That’s the marketing funnel of the future.

While you are here…

Hi, I am Munmun, the person writing this newsletter! I enjoy exploring data and behavioral science to solve growth challenges.

If you are a marketer at an early-stage startup, then this Substack is for you.

You can also find me on LinkedIn, where I occasionally talk about marketing, triathlons, and sometimes my kids.

I do 1:1 consulting - contact me if you’re launching something new or entering a new market, and you’re thinking:
1. Why aren’t people sticking around?
2. Why aren’t users converting?
3. Who exactly is my ideal customer?

Finally, Growth Scientist is now free and will likely remain so in the future. If you find it worthwhile, consider sharing it with a friend.

Love,
Munmun

I'm currently counting the days until December for my first trip to Japan, where I'll participate in my first marathon at Mt. Fuji! 🇯🇵

I have been busy preparing for it - training in my ASICS shoes, packing Uniqlo body warmers, stocking up on Anessa sunscreen, and, of course, eating lots of Genki sushi and Nagi ramen (that counts as preparation, right?)

Which is why a post about ‘fake Japanese brands’ intrigued me immediately. 👀

I then came across two other interesting marketing ideas on LinkedIn that I hope will inspire you too. 💌

#1 Asian Brands Pretend to Be Japanese

As you can probably guess from my marathon prep, I have a fondness for Japanese brands. I believe the Japanese make everything with precision and thoughtfulness. And I am not alone - in many Asian markets, Japanese products are considered trustworthy and aspirational.

This explains why even a “Japanese-sounding” name can influence buying behavior. That’s why many brands adopt pseudo-Japanese names through words ending in -ya, -ko, or -san. I highly recommend reading the full post about it here 👇

THE CHOW

Why Do Asian Brands Pretend to be Japanese?

Imagine this: you are a young Filipino child, traveling to a large Japanese city like Tokyo for the first time in your life. It’s the ‘90s, and people from the Philippines didn’t often travel overseas…

Read more

7 months ago · 49 likes · 13 comments · Patrick Kho

🎯 Why this works: The idea here is “borrowed authenticity” - a Japanese-sounding name gives the product a halo effect that consumers associate with Japanese culture.

🎯 How to execute this idea: While no brand should fake heritage, one can certainly celebrate the culture associated with another country or category. A brand can use signals from another trusted category to elevate its own.

For example, a fintech startup could adopt the visual aesthetics of luxury fashion (clean serif fonts, rich textures) to signal status.

👉 Revolut Metal and Monzo Premium cards utilize metallic gradients and embossed typography, similar to that of a Montblanc pen or a TAG Heuer watch, to convey a sense of premiumness.

#2 Tinder pickup lines as cold email subjects

Typically, the subject lines of cold emails include: “Quick question,” “Following up,” “Let’s connect,” etc. Boring!

A marketer instead used Tinder pickup lines as subject lines in cold emails, and the open rate increased from 12% to 34%.

🎯 Why this works: A flirty and casual subject line piques our curiosity, making us more interested in the email.

🎯 How to execute this idea: You may think that this idea is for a certain type of brand personality. But I am willing to argue that any brand persona can draw inspiration from this and inject personality into otherwise drab email subjects.

👉 To illustrate this, I picked up five random emails from my inbox and tried to Tinderify them:

Actual emails:

Tinder-ified version:

Google Flights: “Bangkok’s calling… should we make it official? 👀”

Jeremy from BNB Calc: “You + Me + 4 days left to learn the STR loophole 😏”

Jaypore: “Let’s make Dhanteras shine ✨ (no gold required)”

Neil Patel: “Can we be honest? You don’t need more people — you need this.

Material Handling: “Your supply chain deserves some attention too 😉”

NDTV Profit: “Redefining leadership — want in?”

See, it’s as simple as that!

#3 The Viral Poop Ad

I will be honest with you - I wish I could unsee this viral ad. See it at your own risk. You have been warned 😉

🎯 Why this works: While most supplement ads focus on generic benefits, this went viral by selling relief from a problem through very creative visuals. In the process, it made an invisible problem visible, thereby making the solution more memorable.

🎯 How to execute this idea: Every product, at the end of the day, is about helping a user achieve a particular emotion. You can make these emotions visible by anchoring them in bodily or sensory experiences. For example, a mental health app could talk about burnout as “carrying a backpack of wet sand.”

Some great campaigns that bring this idea to life include:

👉 UNICEF’s Pain that Lasts a Lifetime campaign, which makes the invisible effect of child sexual harassment visible

👉 Kleenex’s Not All Pains are Visible

While you are here…

Hi, I am Munmun, the person writing this newsletter! I enjoy exploring data and behavioral science to solve growth challenges.

If you are a marketer at an early-stage startup, then this Substack is for you.

You can also find me on LinkedIn, where I occasionally talk about marketing and triathlons.

I do 1:1 consulting - contact me if you’re launching something new or entering a new market, and you’re thinking:
1. Why aren’t people sticking around?
2. Why aren’t users converting?
3. Who exactly is my ideal customer?

Finally, Growth Scientist is now free and will likely remain so in the future. If you find it worthwhile, consider sharing it with a friend.

Love,
Munmun

Since then, I have often grappled with one question:

Did those four years count for anything?

As a high school student, I was pretty clueless about what I wanted to do in the future.

I generally received good grades, so a STEM-related field seemed like a natural choice in those days.

And then, after high school, engineering school also seemed like the only alternative if one did not want to pursue a career in medicine.

When it came to choosing a branch, the idea of understanding how everyday things like refrigerators and cars worked seemed interesting. So I chose Mechanical Engineering.

However, this was followed by four long years of misery.

I didn’t enjoy — and was terrible at — most of the core subjects of Mechanical Engineering. Subjects such as Machine Design were my nightmare - I nearly flunked once, and for someone used to getting good grades, that was a shock.

On the other hand, I was drawn to the non-core courses such as statistical process control and industrial economics.

When it came to extracurricular activities, while most of my peers were interested in robotics contests, I enjoyed writing the college newsletter, leading marketing efforts for college events, and other similar pursuits.

In hindsight, there were clear signs of where my real interests lay.

Thus, after four painful years of undergraduation, I concluded that I was not cut out to be a mechanical engineer.

So, I decided to pivot - I chose to pursue higher studies and opted for a Master's in Decision Sciences. Back then, it was an emerging field that combined data and psychology to analyze how humans make decisions. In hindsight, that is the perfect foundation for a marketing career.

After completing my master's degree, I began working in the field of market research and gradually transitioned into marketing.

But even though I never worked a day as a mechanical engineer, I do believe it equipped me with a few foundational skills that helped me be a better growth marketer:

1. Funnels are systems

As an engineer, I was trained to see any machine as a series of interconnected parts.

If one gear slipped, the whole system failed.

In marketing, funnels function similarly. For example, if app installs are high but conversions are low, we examine each stage of the customer experience to identify what is adding friction.

2. Don’t guess, experiment

As an engineer, I learnt how to conduct controlled experiments—varying one input and observing the resulting output—to understand how they interact with each other.

The same approach is helpful for A/B testing campaigns. For example, when testing ad creatives, we isolate a single variable (such as headline, image, or CTA) instead of changing everything at once. This way, we can pinpoint what’s driving performance, rather than just guessing.

3. Do more with less

Engineering forces you to design within limits—material strength, cost, efficiency.

Growth marketing is no different. Typically, startups have limited budgets but ambitious goals. Therefore, we are always trying to maximize the return on our limited investments.

Here are some more examples of the principles I studied during engineering that often resurface in marketing.

Readers, when I set out on this path 25 years ago, I never imagined it would lead me here. The journey has been full of trials, errors, and unexpected turns. And I am grateful for every part of it.

I will leave you with these words of Forest Gump:

“I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floatin’ around accidental-like on a breeze, maybe it’s both happening at the same time.”

While you are here…

Hi, I am Munmun, the person writing this newsletter! I enjoy exploring data and behavioral science to solve growth challenges.

If you are a marketer at an early-stage startup, then this Substack is for you.

You can also find me on LinkedIn, where I occasionally discuss marketing, triathlons, and share updates about my kids.

I do 1:1 consulting - contact me if you’re launching something new or entering a new market, and you’re thinking:
1. Why aren’t people sticking around?
2. Why aren’t users converting?
3. Who exactly is my ideal customer?

Finally, Growth Scientist is now free and will likely remain so in the future. If you find it worthwhile, consider sharing it with a friend.

Love,
Munmun

Anecdotal evidence suggests it’s around 100.

Which ones do we actually remember? The ones that manage to surprise us. 😯

I recently came across two ads that stuck with me, and in this newsletter, I'll break down the secret principles behind their effectiveness.

1. The Chill Pills

What will your reaction be if you find these pills in your grocery bag?

You will likely wonder - did I order this?

That’s precisely the reaction Urban Company, a home services app in India, wanted when they packed these boxes of fake pills with grocery orders to advertise their on-demand house help services. Each ‘pill’ was named after a chore that it was meant to ‘cure’. The campaign generated a lot of buzz for this delightful creativity.

2. The Real Fortune Cookie

Someone posted on Reddit that they were shocked to find an ad for a lottery ticket inside a fortune cookie.

Although some reactions said that this was the last place a brand should advertise, I thought it was actually the perfect placement for a lottery.

Why? Because typically, fortune cookies have some random bullshit. But this one was actually a chance to earn a fortune.

What are the secret principles behind these ads? ✨✨✨

From my lens, it comes down to these two:

Principle 1: Channel x Message Fit 🎯

If your marketing message is a dish, the channel is a plate it is served on.

And sometimes the plating makes all the difference.

Think of Channel x Message fit as this 2x2 matrix:

1. Shoe ad in a Marathon → Expected + Strong Message = Safe ✅

2. Bank ad in a newspaper → Expected + Weak Message = Forgettable 😒

3. Luxury brand ad on a bus stop → Unexpected + Weak Message = Gimmicky 😕

4. Urban Company Chill Pills → Unexpected + Strong Fit = Magic ✨

🏆 One strong channel > ten scattered ones.

Principle 2: Metaphor Made Real 💖

What happens when you take a catchy phrase and turn it into something your prospects can actually see, touch, or even taste?

It’s one thing to say “Take a chill pill” to your customers. Giving an actual pill box? Memorable!

A good example is KitKat creating branded benches to help people take a break.

If you are a fintech app, turn the metaphor “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” real by delivering your customers a carton with just one egg inside.

If you are a wellness app, bring the metaphor “Bottled-up emotions” to life by sending branded glass bottles with a message inside.

🏆 One lived experience > ten clever taglines.

TLDR:

To make your ad unforgettable, use these two principles:

1. Check for ChannelxMessage Fit: Use an unexpected channel to surprise and delight

2. Make the Metaphor Real: Turn your customer’s thoughts into something they can experience

Recently, when I was searching for a new coffee shop in Manila, I did a quick search in ChatGPT and Google. Something about the results piqued my curiosity.

Do you see what I see? 👀

What’s common between these two results is:

Reddit used to be a ‘niche for nerds’. Since the pandemic, it has gained mainstream popularity. Improvements in UX and focus on quality moderation have led to its massive growth.

Backlinko offers some insightful analysis on Reddit's users and growth stats:

Two interesting trends have emerged recently:

💥 Reddit is now the most widely cited source across all LLMs. Looking for an authentic discussion on any topic? Reddit is the place to be. Its context-rich, natural-language driven content is gold for LLMs.

💥 Reddit now shows up 97.5% of the time in Google Search product review queries and accounts for nearly two-thirds of the slots reserved for Google’s Discussions and forums SERP feature. This is because Google now has access to Reddit’s Data API, and its 2024 core updates prioritize ‘helpful content’.

🏅Unquestionably, Reddit is in a prime position in the AI economy;

⚒️ But it is also a massively underutilized marketing channel!

Advertising on Reddit is still not as saturated as its sizable addressable market:

• Reddit has 110.4 million Daily Active Unique Users in Q2 2025, capturing 7.8% of time spent per day

• It only captures 0.4% of global social media ad spend [Meta + Google > 50%]

Its CPMs are lower than those of larger social platforms

But the jury is still out on how effective Reddit ads are, as success heavily depends on community relevance.

I believe it is much more effective to use Reddit for the following marketing activities:

👀 Market Research & Problem Discovery

Reddit's tagline is ‘heart of the internet’ because nowhere else can you get honest but moderated opinions on virtually any topic.

Tools such as upvotes, comments, and awards are used to gauge the popularity of a particular subject.

For example, questions on /r/AskReddit often receive thousands of answers from people across different ages, geographies, and interests.

🎁 Essentially, it is a massive, free focus group that you can utilize for market research to understand user behaviors with questions such as:

• “What’s the most frustrating part about grocery shopping?”

• “What’s something you wish your bank app did automatically?”

  

🪢 Early Validation & MVP Feedback

There are many niche subreddits where you can share what you are working on and get brutally honest feedback early in your journey. For example, subreddits such as /r/SideProject, /r/indiehackers, and/r/UIUX are great for posting prototypes or asking questions about general business viability.

🎁 Niche communities = hyper-specific user groups. Anonimity = honesty

These interactions can give you early signals of Product-Market fit when you hear things like:

• “Can you add me to the beta?”

• “I’d pay for this if it had X.”

🌱 Community-Led Growth

This is challenging, and it may require consistent engagement in subreddits where you have to show up to answer questions without overtly promoting yourself.

🎁 Notion is the best B2C example of how to utilize Reddit communities, such as/r/productivity, /r/Notion, /r/college, and /r/startups, to nurture power users, spotlighting community creations and even hiring from the community

🎁 1Password is a great B2B example that has masterfully created a Reddit community for identifying product feature requests, marketing their new updates, and turning the Reddit community into evangelists.

Early Stage Start-up? Do this 👉

🎯 Use a keyword tool to discover how Reddit results are ranking for your branded and non-branded terms. This will show you where there are opportunities to develop “helpful content” at all stages of the customer journey.

🗣 Find a relevant subreddit that contains your ideal customer and is large enough (>50K members). Build karma by commenting on relevant posts that mention problems, questions, and competitors in your space.

🖋️ Test different types of content, such as a) the relatable post, b) the guide post, c) the conversation starter, and d) the story post.

❌ Redditors hate blatant self-promotion. No direct links and corporate BS. So frame it as “here’s a problem I faced → here’s what I tried → curious if others struggle too?”

😀 TLDR:

1. Reddit is at a sweet spot between SEO and GEO: Google promotes Reddit at the top of the SERP for many long-tail search terms. LLMs are trained on Reddit data and cite it as a source for most queries.

2. Still at a nascent stage in monetization relative to its TAM, hence it’s an underutilised source for marketers.

3. The best way early-stage startups could use Reddit is for a) market research, b) validating MVP features, and c) nurturing their communities for insights.

Are you tired of posting job ads and event photos? 😓

Are you struggling to find ideas that excite your followers? 🫣

What will you learn in this article?

🌍 5 companies you must follow for inspiration

💌 3 ideas to make your company's content more interesting

♻️ 1 simple trick to get more shares from followers

90% of company updates on LinkedIn usually are: AI, events, hiring updates, AI, feature launches, AI, office parties, news mentions… or in one word:

But there are 5 companies whose updates always make me stop and say: WOW

5 Must-Follow Companies for LinkedIn inspiration:

1. Lovable - For the most active leadership team that posts regularly

2. Duolingo - For the mascot’s personality and sheer variety of posts

3. Wiz - A well-designed profile page, best visuals, and very creative event ideas

4. Monzo - How to generate engagement with text, polls, and comments

5. Surreal - Apart from the fact that I love their use of LinkedIn header, their posts are unhinged. No boring hiring posts here

After studying these 5 companies and many others, I have concluded that these three things create great company content:

3 ideas to make your company unforgettable on LinkedIn 🏅

#1 Spotlight People, not products

As much as possible, put an employee at the centre of your content.

💡 Example: Don’t post “We launched a new tool.” Instead, share a short video of the product manager explaining the one problem it solves, such as Notion here

💡 Example: Instead of posting “We sponsored a marathon,” share a short story from an employee who ran it.

#2 Use visuals as hooks

Images in your post have the most considerable make-or-break effect. So please, don’t use AI-generated photos.

👉 Make it feel real by adding behind-the-scenes. Use close-up shots to capture facial expressions, rather than large group photos.

💡 Example: If you want to share ‘day in life’ stories, share real lived moments like Spotify here👇

#3 Trendjack with context

Share company news with a POV on what’s trending in your industry to add more color and context.

💡Example: If there’s a new regulation, instead of sharing the news, write: “Here’s what this change means for fintech startups”.

💡Or if you are doing an audience poll, note what’s happening in the broader context like Airbnb here 👇

The Crucial Step Everyone Forgets After Posting

In the first hour after posting (“the golden hour”), LinkedIn displays your post to a small group of your followers. It monitors engagement signals to determine the value of your post to people in your immediate networks. If your content passes the test, it’ll earn wider distribution.

👉 That's why your post’s performance in the first hour is critical. Therefore, always make sure to notify your employees:

👉 I also recommend that if your company uses Slack, set up a Zapier automation to alert the employees to engage with the post:

👉 Finally, make sure to tag a few employees in the post itself so you can get those golden early engagement signals.

BONUS: 3 Simple Scroll-Stopping Ideas

While not all were posted by company pages, I found these as excellent examples of creativity that I hope can inspire you to think out of the box:

😍 The underwear head

May Starreveld decided to show up at her company's All Hands meeting wearing a piece of underwear on her head. Guts!

She was trying to make a point about better marketing briefs, and this was surely the perfect hook to get everyone’s attention.

The opportunity? Turn internal company moments into external stories using an attention-grabbing hook. 

😍 The baby podcast

Among a sea of content on AI or too many podcasts, I loved how Eric Fulwiler used AI for their podcast intro, baby versions of themselves.

The opportunity? Create AI-alteraed caricatures or voices as surprising hooks for your content. 

😍 'The Math is not Mathing

LinkedIn users love to answer questions, spotting and correcting errors as a way to assert authority and showcase intelligence.

This idea was brilliantly used a few months ago by this viral post that racked up millions in views and engagements.

The opportunity? Engage people through simple games and 'wrong answers only' posts. 

TL;DR: To make your LinkedIn company page more lovable:

1. Focus on people

2. Use images creatively

3. Add more context

If you enjoyed reading it, please tap the Like button below ♥️

Thank you!

Munmun

Ahem Ahem, it’s not what you are thinking.

Lovemarks is a phrase coined by Kevin Roberts, which is about how brands can create deep emotional connections with their customers through delightful interactions.

What type of interactions can be called lovemarks? According to Elena Verna, these are experiences that:

1. Create unexpected delight

2. Make a digital experience feel more human

3. Have the potential to create word-of-mouth referrals

A simple example is in Viber - you must have seen the confetti that appears when you wish someone Happy Birthday. You don't get the same experience in WhatsApp, which makes it more delightful to use Viber.

Another more complex example is the Google Doodles that appear on many special occasions. An unexpected doodle makes the mundane experience of search more special + you learn something new about the day.

Similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, UX expert Aaron Walter’s book ‘Designing for Emotions’ introduces the pyramid of user needs that looks like this:

• Functional — solve a problem

• Reliable — be up and running at all times

• Usable — offer a good user experience with emphasis on consistency

• Pleasurable — this is where delight comes into play

He says that when users are surprised through pleasurable experiences, it leads to an emotional gut reaction, which makes the product stickier and hence strengthens brand loyalty.

And why does it matter?

According to McKinsey & Co., a delight can have a significant measurable impact on customer referral, retention, and revenue across sectors, products, and geographies.

So basically,

Recently, I have come across these three examples of lovemarks that impressed me with their simplicity and thoughtfulness -

1. Tonik’s QRPH Lucky Fortunes - QR payment is a pretty mundane banking task. Tonik turns it into a micro-moment of joy by letting you scratch part of the payment confirmation screen to unlock a digital fortune cookie. This creates positive anticipation for an otherwise routine step in the user journey and differentiates it from all the other banks offering the service.

What to do: Inject joy into a repetitive, low-engagement task.

2. According to Duolingo, delight is the difference between a product you use and a product you love. That’s why every interaction in the app is designed with delight in mind. Duolingo’s owl, humor, and playful nudges turn the boring task of learning a language into fun. Recently, they made a notable product update, introducing energy signs to indicate progress, a form of positive reinforcement.

What to do: Use personality to humanize the brand and make interactions memorable.

3. Monzo’s fraud protection message - If you are on a call and open the Monzo app, you can check if it’s a legitimate call from Monzo. It's so simple and effective in preventing phishing calls.

What to do: Turn a moment of potential anxiety into reassurance and trust.

How to create lovemarks

Look at your user journeys and pick one point where a user may experience anxiety or boredom. Add a simple emotional touch through visual, copy, or interaction.

Apps often have screens that require no interaction, filled with white space. For instance, the transaction screen of a digital wallet I frequently use has an empty space that is often used to display ads.

But a better use of this space could be to show something delightful, such as:

• A fun fact or trivia related to the transaction (“Did you know this is your 50th payment this month?”)

• A personal milestone (“You’ve just sent ₱10,000 to friends and family this year!”)

• A small surprise (“You make generosity look good!”)

• A helpful tip (“You can save on transfer fees if you send before 4 PM.”)

• A seasonal message (“Happy Lunar New Year!”)

TL;DR Good lovemarks last longer than good ads. So turn the ‘dead space’ in your app into an opportunity by:

1. Sparking joy in mundane (Tonik)

2. Connecting with personality (Duolingo)

3. Turning anxiety into reassurance (Monzo)

I really enjoyed writing this. If you enjoyed reading it, please tap the Like button below ♥️

Thank you!

Munmun

It was from the sponsor of my triathlon team for the launch of their new brand of workout gear. And I was thrilled!!!

Having run many influencer campaigns in my career, it felt so special to be treated like one.

So I did what all influencers do. Create an unboxing video, share it on my socials, and watch all reactions come in. 🤩

The following day, I showed up proudly donning the gear at a “run party” to mark the media launch of the brand.

There, I bumped into an actual influencer, Mr. IG, looking super fit, flexing his muscles, posing for the brand, hyping it up for the cameras. He was the perfect brand ambassador!

This is where it gets interesting…

I had worked with Mr. IG a few years ago for my brand campaign.

Back then, Mr. IG was a customer of the insurance product my company was selling. He had a massive reach on social media, and I thought it made perfect sense to get him on board for the campaign. After all, he was an actual user of our product!

But the campaign turned out to be a limited success. Something was missing in the association, but back then, I couldn't quite put my finger on it 🤔

But when I saw Mr. IG endorsing the sports wear, that’s when it clicked:

People follow an influencer for the fulfillment of their own aspirations. 

When influencers endorse a product, the audience must believe it will help them achieve their desired outcomes. 

Mr. IG’s followers admire his fitness, so when he supports a sports product, they are more likely to believe him because it matches their aspiration.

When hiring an influencer, it’s not enough to look at reach or engagement stats.

Brands should be asking:

“What do this influencer’s followers aspire to be?”

And then match the product to that aspiration.

Here are a few examples from my life when I was influenced to believe the product could help me become more of who I wanted to be:

🏃‍♀️ “I want to look good.”

I follow Saiyami Kher, an actress and Ironman athlete. I often wonder how someone in a profession that celebrates beauty protects her skin from the harshness of endurance sports.

As a triathlete myself, I struggle with sun damage.

So, when Saiyami endorsed a sunscreen, I immediately bought it because it brought me closer to my goal of looking good.

🎯 “I want to figure it out.”

I follow Ali Abdaal because he’s a walking productivity system—doctor, YouTuber, writer, and lifelong learner. I admire his ability to juggle multiple roles with calm and clarity.

I struggle to juggle my multiple roles of being a mother, triathlete, marketer, and a writer.

When he discussed using therapy apps and working with coaches to improve various aspects of his life, I wanted the same for myself.

Ali’s influence wasn’t about the app—it was about my aspiration to get better at managing life.

🥳 “I want to have fun.”

There’s another actress I follow simply because her content makes me smile. She’s goofy, spontaneous, and joyful.

I regularly see her making matcha with so much joy, one day I found myself doing the same, even though I am not a big fan of the drink.

She wasn’t selling matcha—she was having fun, and I wanted a bit of that energy.

Bottom line:

People don’t follow influencers—they follow what they want to become.

An influencer’s campaign works when the audience believes the product will fuel the outcomes they are aspiring for.

Influence = Influencer’s persona + the audience’s aspiration + the product’s promise.

I really enjoyed writing this. If you enjoyed reading it, please tap the Like button below ♥️

Thank you!

Munmun

Last night I got this completely unexpected email -

I’ve been on Topmate.io, a platform for experts to monetize their knowledge, for a while now, offering growth marketing advice to founders and marketers. As part of the ‘Topmate Elite’ campaign, where they feature some of their experts in the middle of Manhattan, my face was on Times Square! 😱

My first reaction was - it must be a fake ‘personalized’ email. You know the ones that have your name on the subject line, but the content is as generic as most corporate mission statements.

Then I clicked on the links and saw the images -

Ah - this must be AI-generated. We have all seen such images these days, right?

I was going to dismiss it when I thought of checking with the CEO, Ankit, who is always very prompt in his responses.

Only this time, I was shocked by his response! 😱

Throughout my 20-year marketing career, I have designed numerous campaigns, but I never expected to be featured in one myself. Thank you, Topmate.io, for this surreal moment.

The reason I am writing about it in my newsletter, which focuses on Growth Science, is that this is an excellent example of Certificate/Praise Marketing - one of the most effective yet underutilized growth hacks.

The idea is so simple. We all want to look smart, don’t we? 😎

And nothing flatters our ego more than being recognised for an accomplishment.

Make it easy to share with a flattering image, and you have got on your hands a viral marketing engine! 💵 💵 💵

As my idol says in this fabulous newsletter, he used this tactic to generate 1,000+ social shares.

Every personalized certificate creates 3 powerful effects:

🏆 It taps into status-seeking behavior → People love showing off achievements that make them look skilled and successful.

🧲 It creates a sense of community → Certificates make people feel part of an exclusive group of achievers.

✅ It requires absolutely zero effort → Unlike other UGC, users don’t need to create anything - just download the photo and share :)

-Excerpt from Your #1 marketing channel is people's egos by Tom Orbach

For B2B businesses, it can turn your users into ambassadors who can yield a significant multiplier effect through their network.

When I searched for ‘Topmate billboard’ on Google, I got about 20,000+ results. On LinkedIn, most posts sharing this billboard feature news received at least 50 likes.

This is also an excellent example of how spending on brand marketing results in a viral growth marketing campaign that spans almost all channels (FB, IG, LinkedIn, Twitter, YT, TikTok, and even Substack) 😉

Moreover, the feeling of FOMO among other experts on Topmate.io may encourage them to engage more with the platform. Win! Win! Win! 🏆 🏆 🏆

Certificate/Praise Marketing is rooted in the basic human desire to be recognized. The success of such a campaign would be driven by -

1. The credibility and prestige of the badge - I recently completed two Ironman 70.3 events in the last four months, but my parents seem more excited by the fact that my face appeared on a billboard for a few seconds. A billboard is visible, instantly understandable, and easily shared with others. I am the topic of discussion in many family WhatsApp groups today 😉
   

2. The exclusivity of the badge - It should feel earned, like a privilege. It should not be something anyone can achieve easily. A notable example is LinkedIn's Top Voice program, which is invitation-only.

3. It should be easy to share. My e-wallet gave me this badge for joining their eco fun run, which I love, but there’s no shareable link or clear explanation. Even if I post a screenshot, it doesn’t tell the whole story. A good badge should be instantly shareable and self-explanatory.

🎯 If you’re a B2B business, here are three certificate/praise marketing ideas you can explore -

1. Curated Authority Lists - Highlight thought leaders in your ecosystem, like Favikon’s Top LinkedIn Influencer List or G2’s Grid Reports. Now, you might think this will be very resource-intensive to curate, but you can start by simply posting a list on LinkedIn. For example, I posted about the best marketing newsletters to follow, and it received engagement from most of the influencers I tagged in it.

2. Partner Excellence Awards - Celebrate your top-performing partners or clients just like the Shopify Commerce Awards, HubSpot Impact Awards, or MoEngage’s Partner Day. Recognition = Retention. And when your partners proudly share their win, it creates a PR loop that promotes you in return. The simplest way to execute this would be to choose some partners you would like to recognize, and then create a simple certificate and share it on LinkedIn, tagging the partner.

3. Make Data Personal (and Shareable) - Turn usage or engagement data into storytelling moments — like Spotify Wrapped. It’s a powerful way to personalize your relationship with your customers - to show them that you see them as a unique user. After all, no two humans use a product the same way. But this is a complex data science project. The simplest way to implement this idea might be to create a spoof of the wrap (using a tool like this) that your users might find engaging enough to share.

Hope you enjoyed this. Each month, I explain a powerful growth marketing idea. Subscribe to this newsletter to be notified when I post.

If you want personalized growth marketing advice, please check out my Topmate profile

Out at a grocery store, when I carried my shopping bag, I received a slight discount, and that made me think about the topic of this week’s newsletter.

I am more accustomed to having to pay for the store’s shopping bags.

So, what do you think is a more effective behavioral intervention to encourage shoppers to bring their shopping bags - an incentive for getting one or a fee for not getting one?

The jury is pretty clear on this based on the evidence from the UK, where the data show that the use of single-use plastic bags has fallen by 98% since retailers began charging for them.

That’s no surprise, as explained by loss aversion (one of the universal principles of behavioral science), people tend to dislike losing more than they enjoy gaining. Paying extra feels like a penalty, triggering more substantial behavioral change. While a discount for your bag is less effective, the reward is often perceived as small and not worth the effort.

But here is a counter-example: economics also says that if you incentivize a behaviour, you get more of it. H&M and many other clothing brands offer schemes that provide store discounts for recycling clothes. Police in Canada issue “positive tickets” – coupons for free food or movie tickets – to reward good behaviour among young people.

So, how do you decide which intervention to use for your objective?

As a parent, I have found that positive reinforcement is a more effective approach to discipline than punishment. Carrots in the form of verbal praise, special privileges, and nonverbal affirmations go a long way for kids, as they help them create a more positive self-identity.

And so I believe it is also true for consumer behavior. A Harvard Business School study analyzing employee motivation and performance rewards found that rewards foster better long-term employee relationships by building intrinsic motivation. I want to be seen as a sustainable shopper, and I do have more positive feelings towards the store that recognizes that part of my identity.

Behavioral science also encourages us to think beyond carrots and sticks - and think of “nudges” — subtle interventions — that can drive behavioral change more effectively. For example:

1. Implementation Intentions - The checkout clerk could ask me -

“Do you plan to bring your reusable bag on your next trip?”

This would force mental planning on my part for my next trip.

2. Social Proof - Messaging on signage, receipts, or apps:

“Join 500,000 smart shoppers who save plastic every week.”

3. Priming - Placing visual cues at the store entrance or the car park to remind me to get my bag (sometimes I forget it in the car).

Gentle nudges like these could lead to more effective outcomes by connecting with the identities we aim to nurture for ourselves.

I came across the above visual by a fitness content creator, Mark Lewis, and I was intrigued because he argues that one should aim to be better than average rather than the best, because:

• The beginning, the steepest part of the learning curve, is hard

• When you reach the middle, things start to feel monotonous

• Becoming a pro demands sacrifices most aren’t willing to make.

But putting in a little extra effort in the middle? That moves you ahead of the pack.

I’ve been reflecting on this in my journey as a marketer. What does it take to become better than average in marketing?

Here’s what I’ve learned—through experience and by observing the habits of exceptional marketers over the past 15 years:

1. Master the Fundamentals— The following visual resonates with me as a triathlete. I train 90% of the time to perform the remaining 10%. But when it comes to work, most of us spend very little time on learning.

I have no formal education in marketing, nor did I get any opportunity to work in marketing meccas such as P&G. I have tried to make up for it by training myself through online courses (Mark Ritson, Hubspot, LinkedIn, Datacamp, etc.), books (Philip Kotler, HBR, etc.), and by following the insights shared by experts (Elena Verna, Avinash Kaushik, among many others).

To become better than average, build your base with the fundamentals and continue learning how they evolve and apply in different scenarios.

2. Act with Intention - Marketing is broad. To get better than average, you need clarity on:

• What are you best at?

• What do you love doing?

• Who benefits most from your strengths?

For me, that’s consumer insights. It was the gateway to my marketing career 15 years ago and still energizes me more than anything else. Hence, I intend to help early-stage startups unlock growth through consumer insights.

What is your intention?

2. Be Consistent— Small daily gains compound over time. Improve by 1% daily, and you’ll be 37x better in a year. But to get those daily gains, you need rituals.

   
   Mine are:

   • Writing this newsletter

   • Sharing regularly on LinkedIn

   • Reading a little every day to stay inspired

4. Find Leverage - You might say now, “But I don’t have time to do all this!” That’s where leverage comes in: using tools or skills to get outsized returns from your effort. For example, you can:

   1. Automate recurring tasks—Batch and schedule posts using social media platforms, automatically curate interesting content (Google Alerts> Zapier > Excel). Meetings can take a lot of your time, so use copilot tools such as read.ai to automatically send summaries and action items after every call to all the attendees.

   2. Learn a power skill - Writing, coding, public speaking, and storytelling are some skills that can amplify your abilities. For example, writing on LinkedIn has helped me grow my network to nearly 8,000 followers and opened many new doors.

• If you like public speaking, go to events to represent your brand.

• If you like coding or can learn to use no-code tools such as Lovable, you can create draft landing pages without depending on the UI team.

• There are tons of AI tools available now to automate marketing workflows.

5. Share your knowledge— The book Show Your Work by Austin Kleon didn’t hit me the first time I read it. But after a year of writing this newsletter, it finally makes sense.

   You don’t need to be an expert. Just be curious. Share what moves you.

   When I post on LinkedIn, my ideas travel far beyond my immediate network. Sometimes, the imposter syndrome rears its ugly head, but I remind myself I’m not trying to be a marketing guru. I’m just a learner, trying to be a little better than average every day.

This is my longest newsletter in a while—I hope it was worth your time.

I'd love to hear from you if you have thoughts, rituals, or ideas on becoming a better-than-average marketer. Let’s keep learning together.

A study conducted by Bocconi University researchers Giuseppe Soda, Alessandro Iorio, and Leonardo Rizzo on how relationships influence who gets elected as the next Pope was published on May 8, 2025—the same day the new pope was announced. The study was quite accurate in identifying Robert Prevost as the frontrunner.

The study used network science—the same kind used to analyze social media to map out who knows who, who influences who, and who connects different groups within the College of Cardinals.

They built this network using:

1. Official roles: Which cardinals work together in the Vatican

2. Ordination history: who ordained whom, showing spiritual loyalty lines

3. Informal ties: mentorships, shared ideologies, and media-reported alliances

From this, they created a 3-part score for each cardinal:

• Status: How connected they are to powerful cardinals

• Information Control: How much do they act as a bridge between groups

• Coalition Building: How well they can gather support and unify factions

They also factored in age since popes are usually elected within a specific age range. As seen below, in their network maps, Pope Prevost scored highest in all these dimensions.

The underlying idea is that social networks can predict influence. For start-ups, growth often happens when the product catches on with the user’s social network. Influential nodes amplify growth, which can further improve a product’s use. A virtuous cycle is born. For example, the peer-to-peer payments introduced by Monzo Bank, which used your mobile phone's contact list, worked better as more friends joined.

This is called the Network effect and is different from virality. As Tom Blomfield explains here,

“viral mechanic” normally uses the existing customer base to spread the product to friends. Network effect is “the product itself actually improves as more of your network joins. Whatsapp and Skype are great examples. The more of your friends who join, the more people you can communicate with”.

Figma is a classic case study for this. As Kwokchain writes in his newsletter -

“Once Figma is adopted by a few designers, all their colleagues across departments get exposed to the product and especially its collaborative features and see how much better the experience is for them. They then encourage its usage and adoption across their other teams and projects and so on.’’

If you are building a product, consider how to help your early adopters share their usage and benefits with their network and how the increased usage can improve the product. When each new user makes the product more valuable for the next, you’re not just growing but compounding.

When I signed up to complete an Ironman, I thought it was a way to push my body, prove my endurance, and check off an achievement. But as the training started to take its toll on me, I began to see that the real challenge wasn’t physical.

While motivation fluctuates, discipline endures. The daily commitment to train despite discomfort requires mental strength. And that is the real gain from this experience. This revelation changed everything. I realized Ironman wasn't about crossing a finish line. It was about embracing both the agony and ecstasy of the journey itself. What's in the way is the way.

I wonder, if every action we took in our lives were to be based on such deeper insights, how could we do things differently?

It is often said that the foundation of every marketing activity needs to be insight. But in the real world, it rarely is because genuine insight is hard to define.

Insights are often confused with what is obvious or a trend, and they are mostly data points from research. I firmly believe that insight and emotion are inseparable. If an ‘insight’ sounds functional, it’s likely false.

So how do you identify a good insight?

The Insight Litmus Test

Drawing from my experience, I believe a true insight must satisfy the following three criteria:

1. Create an unexpected shift in how we see the problem

2. Resonate emotionally, connecting with deeper feelings and motivations.

3. Reveal a more profound human truth beyond surface-level observations.

Consider my experience with Apple Watch activity rings. Previously, I used fitness trackers that displayed step counts, but they never engaged me like Apple's simple colored circles that show no raw data.

The insight behind Apple's design is that people don't just want to track steps—they want to feel a sense of accomplishment.

Applying the Insight Litmus Test:

• Unexpected shift: Instead of focusing on output data (steps, calories), the design emphasizes input behaviors (stand, move, exercise) within our control

• Emotional resonance: Fitness isn't just about health metrics—it's about feeling good about ourselves

• More profound truth: The most significant barrier to health isn't external but internal—our struggle with motivation and consistency

By contrast, "fake insights" fail these criteria. They typically appear as:

1. Obvious statements masquerading as discoveries: "People struggle to exercise consistently."

2. Trends mistaken for insights: "More people are using fitness trackers."

3. Functional observations lacking emotional depth: "People want better fitness tracking."

So, how does one find real insights about customers?

Hannah Shamji's "4 Levels of Customer Understanding" framework provides an excellent roadmap for insight discovery. Genuine insights emerge at Level 4, where we understand the motivations and pain points driving human behavior.

To reach this understanding, in-depth interviews should explore five critical areas:

• How people gather information influencing product choices

• Their perception of value (benefits minus costs)

• Existing awareness and relationships with category brands

• Specific desires they seek to fulfill through product use

• Post-purchase behaviors and experiences

Understanding the "why" behind consumer behavior requires recognizing the influence of personality traits, situational variables, and cultural differences. For example, let’s analyse how consumers choose coffee:

• Personality Traits: A person who values sustainability might prefer an organic, fair-trade coffee brand, while a more adventurous personality might like exotic blends

• Situational Variables: A busy professional grabs a ready-to-drink coffee from a vending machine when running late, even if they usually prefer artisanal espresso.

• Cultural Differences: In Italy, coffee culture revolves around quick, strong espressos at a bar, whereas in the U.S., cold, sweet coffee drinks are popular for on-the-go consumption.

This is why multiple in-depth conversations are essential to identify patterns that might apply to broader market segments.

Armed with these criteria and methodology, I hope you are equipped to distinguish genuine insights from fake ones and transform your approach to marketing to your customers.

I have decided not to have a fixed schedule for this newsletter as I did last year. Why is that? During this break, I thought deeply about why I started this newsletter:

I didn't start this newsletter to:

• To jump on the creator bandwagon

• To become an influencer

• To monetize it for a side hustle

I started this newsletter to:

• ⁠Reignite my passion for writing

• Indulge in curiosity for the science of marketing

• Spread these ideas among marketers to make academic research accessible

I don't want to set weekly or monthly timelines for this newsletter because I don't want to write to hit these milestones. I want to write when I genuinely feel I have learned something valuable and am inspired to share it with you.

So, I have been seeking inspiration this entire month, and nothing struck me until yesterday. As soon as it did, the words started flowing. Something like this might happen twice a month or once every two months. We will see.

The topic of this newsletter is memes and why they are such a compelling creative device.

A lot of academic research exists on the topic of memes. The most interesting research that I read while creating this newsletter reports that memes are among the most successful modes of marketing communication because -

1. Existing popular memes allow the target audience to relate easily to the advertisement context.

2. It is one of the simplest, cheapest, and organic ways to engage with them
   
   The study says that memes are most popular among people aged 13–36, who report regularly sharing them. They can generate as much as a 30% engagement rate on social media.

This is why most brands that intend to connect with their social media audiences create memes. Some very popular ones have been NetFlix, DollarShaveClub, and Dominos.

Have you seen these memes I created in the past? I was inspired to make them by Elena Verna, who consistently creates the funniest memes about products and marketing. 

Earlier, my approach was random. But now I have figured out a process to churn out memes more often. It turns out it is relatively straightforward:

1. Identify a topical and highly relatable theme. To know which memes are trending, you can check out some of these communities:
   > https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/
   >https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/
   > 9gag.com/trending

2. Select a meme template on https://imgflip.com/ or https://knowyourmeme.com/

3. Download the image and brainstorm captions with Chatgpt. Humor is the key ingredient in any meme. Ask ChatGPT to create some funny one-liners to match the image. Keep it simple - the simpler a meme, the more viral it will likely be.

4. Add your chosen text to the original template, and hit publish

For example, today's topic is that January usually feels like a long month. I followed this process and came up with this meme in 2 minutes.

I hope you found this interesting. Go ahead and create some memes of your own!

This is my final newsletter for 2024.

In case you did not notice, a few weeks ago, I changed the name of this publication to Marketing Scientist. I believe the new name makes the Promise To The Customer (PTTC)—you, my readers—more straightforward:

Think Like a Marketing Scientist with Data & Behavioral Research.

There is an eternal debate about whether marketing is an art or a science.

I like to believe it sits at the intersection of both. While we now have many tools and technologies that make measuring every aspect of marketing possible, consumer behavior remains complex, emotional, and often inexplicable.

Even though data and analytics may make us feel that marketing outcomes are predictable, they are not. Humans are ‘predictably irrational’.

Yet, just because marketing can’t be a pure science doesn’t mean we marketers can’t think scientifically.

Just as science embraces data, experimentation, and systematic processes, marketing can apply a similar mindset:

1. We can frame marketing ideas as testable hypotheses. For example, we can test whether offering free shipping will increase conversions by x%.

2. We can design experiments to isolate the effects of specific marketing actions. For example, we can test new customer acquisition channels by piloting campaigns on small audiences.

3. We can use data to identify patterns, anomalies, and insights instead of relying solely on intuition. For example, we can measure customer lifetime value to prioritize high-value segments.

4. We can treat campaigns as iterative processes rather than fixed plans. For example, we can launch minimally viable campaigns and adjust them based on real-time performance metrics.

5. We can test how psychological principles (e.g., loss aversion, anchoring, social proof) influence decision-making. For example, we can test whether urgency messaging (“only three left in stock!”) increases conversion rates.

Marketing may never become a pure science, but adopting the scientific mindset ensures that, even in the dark, we’re heading in the right direction.

When I read my favorite management thinker, Roger Martin, call it the ‘single most exciting discovery of his career,’ I had to learn more.

We have heard this phrase before -

“A brand is nothing more than a promise made and fulfilled consistently.”

But these are not just words. They mean money!

A fascinating study has found that making a direct “promise to the customer” (PTTC) in a campaign increases its likelihood of success—for both B2B and B2C.

Based on an analysis of more than 2,000 campaigns from the last five years, this research found that brands with PTTC campaigns are 60% more likely to report increased market share and 17% more likely to report increased market penetration than non-PTTC campaigns.

But what kind of promises are we talking about?

The study highlights three distinct promises:

1. A functional promise of quality, range, and value for money, e.g., Volvo: “Safety for all.”

2. An experience promise of service, buying process, or trust, e.g., Lemonade: “Instant everything.”

2. An Emotional promise, e.g., Coca-Cola: “Open Happiness.”

What’s most interesting is that they found that PTTC works even better for brands looking to scale up or those with fewer resources than their competitors - aka startups!

Because a single message is much easier to communicate across channels and builds instant credibility and trust, it is also more cost-effective.

So, if you are a startup marketer who needs a budget for a new campaign, use this litmus test created by Roger:

• Does your campaign have an unequivocal customer promise?

• Did you use market research and customer insights to craft a promise your customers value?

• Is the promise genuinely memorable, and are all departments aligned to deliver on the promise consistently?

If you want to learn more about PTTC, I highly recommend listening to this podcast - Making a Promise to the Customer with Roger Martin.

***
This is my penultimate newsletter for the year. You may have noticed that I have changed the name of the newsletter from Aha Moments to Marketing Scientist.

In 2024, writing weekly and receiving feedback from the readers has helped me sharpen my focus. What is my new promise to the readers of Marketing Scientist in 2025?

That will be the topic of my last newsletter. See you next week!