Want to Change Someone's Behavior? Understand How the Brain Builds Habits, According to Neuroscience

"One researcher writes: "Our findings help explain why powerful and unwanted associations form so easily, like when a smoker who always pairs morning coffee with a cigarette later finds that just drinking coffee triggers a strong craving to smoke." What does this mean for storytelling? Today, marketers self-identity as storytellers. What marketers don't discuss is the need to think about their product or service as part of a layered neural model."

"Think about it. Pairing at the right moment is itself a form of storytelling. If a brand shows up consistently during a moment already wired for reward-morning coffee, post-work decompression, late-night scrolling-it can become brain-lodged, even without being emotionally moving or verbally clever We wonder why so many brands win in the market despite undifferentiated products and lousy marketing. This explains it. They don't have to inspire when they arrive on time. So ask: Is your marketing clock-worthy?"

Shifting levels of the brain protein KCC2 reshape how cues link with rewards and can speed or strengthen habit formation. The brain's capacity to form temporal associations makes certain moments especially prone to habit encoding. When brand cues repeatedly coincide with reward-linked moments — morning coffee, post-work decompression, late-night scrolling — presence can become brain-lodged even without strong emotional messaging or clever creative. Pairing a product with those moments functions as layered neural storytelling that reinforces automatic responses. Brands that consistently arrive at reward-tied moments can win despite undifferentiated products or weak creative. Marketers should evaluate and optimize timing to be "clock-worthy."

Read at Inc