Breaking the Code

Havas Medical Anthropology

Behavioral science is a cornerstone of modern marketing practice, but much of what passes itself off as behavioral science is just bs. Good social science gives us the insights and roadmap we need to change behavior, but bad social science just muddies the water and tarnishes the social sciences. As behavior change is a core objective of marketing, getting behavioral science right is crucial. Join us as two behavioral scientists sound off on what is, and isn't, good social science, from a variety of disciplines covering new topics every podcast.
Your hosts: Brad Davidson, PhD and Sonika Garcia, MPH - Medical Anthropology Strategists at Havas Health & You.

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Top 10 Breaking the Code Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Breaking the Code episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Breaking the Code for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Breaking the Code episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Gifted, Neurodivergent, or Nerd: The Highs and Lows of Growing up Tagged as 'Gifted'

Breaking the Code

09/17/24 • 49 min

Our fascination with neurodivergence continues as we are joined by PsyD, Dr. Matt Zakreski to breakdown the semantics of giftedness, and inclusive design for neurodivergent people in a variety of public spaces. The term "gifted" was of particular interest of us and our guest because at one point in each of our lives we had been called out of the classroom to take an exam that would ultimately label us as gifted. While it does make some complex topics clear, some seemingly simple topics are much harder to resolve for gifted children - the mistake lies in assuming that exceptional skills make them exceptional at everything.

One thread that connects this episode to our previous conversation with Kathryn Parsons, was this idea that neurodivergent people may consciously modify behavior to receive the expected response from the world. To varying degrees, they anticipate their settings, surroundings, and (most importantly) the people they come into contact with in order to socially adapt and make it through the day. This gives meaning to the phrase "meeting someone where they are" especially important as something to stive for, but it's also clearer why it can be hard to do: people habituate to their circumstances and can end up suffering in silence.
Purchase Dr. Matt's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Neurodiversity-Playbook-Neurodivergent-People-Neurotypical/dp/195336036X

If you have any questions, feedback, or just want to say hi, email us at [email protected]
Check out Breaking the Code on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-the-code-havas-health-and-you-podcast

Between Doctors and Patients:The Cultural Dynamics of the Medical Interview

Breaking the Code

08/21/23 • 32 min

When designing interventions to improve the doctor-patient visit, we often forget that, in some sense, all doctor-patient conversations are cross-cultural. Doctors literally embody the clinic itself, as both its representatives and agents, whereas the patients simply represent themselves and their needs. When designing communication strategies for these interactions, we need to consider a patient's life experiences, culture, and health literacy, which includes things like expectations for how a "good doctor" will act and what their role is supposed to be. Power differentials are inherent in the engagement, and we need to account for this, as well--not every patient is comfortable "challenging" doctors or other institutional figures in the course of a medical interview, and if our interventions require that, they will fail for those patients. Patients that defer to a doctor's expertise need to be accounted for as much as patients that are looking for open dialogue about their treatment.

In this episode, Brad recalls 3 anecdotes from doctor-patient interactions that he has previously observed. Each doctor is distinct but beloved by their patients, and each story reveals another layer into how we, as communication experts, should approach thinking about these interactions. Brad and Sonika dive into each of these stories and uncover insights related to regional cultures, power dynamics, and an inclusive method for doctors to meet any patient where they are.

Taking the BS out of Behavioral Science

Breaking the Code

11/22/22 • 13 min

Behavioral science is a cornerstone of modern marketing practice, but much of what passes itself off as behavioral science is just bs.
Good social science gives us the insights and roadmap we need to change behavior, but bad social science just muddies the water and tarnishes the social sciences. As behavior change is a core objective of marketing, getting behavioral science right is crucial. Join us as two behavioral scientists sound off on what is, and isn't, good social science, from a variety of disciplines covering new topics every podcast.

Your Segmentation Makes Us Sad

Breaking the Code

02/16/23 • 17 min

Segmentation studies, those famously dense reports that outline the differences between 'target audiences', are part and parcel of daily life in advertising. In theory, they help us understand what drives our audiences and connect with them on a meaningful level. In practice, many of these studies create a picture of an alternate universe people by caricatures of our audiences, filled with "doctors who dabble" and "enthusiastic enablers" whose lives revolve around our products. Join us as we discuss just what segmentation studies get right, and wrong, in the modern practice of advertising.

Nurses are HCPs too: Honoring the Beating Heart of the Healthcare System

Breaking the Code

03/19/24 • 36 min

Too often in our industry, when we say "healthcare professional" what we really mean is ONE healthcare profession, the prescribing Medical Doctor. However, nursing is and always has been a part of the healthcare professional team, and today more than ever the roles nurses play in providing care are exactly those we cannot do without. Nursing is impossible to do remotely; they are the hands-on heartbeat of any hospital, clinic, or practice. It is important that we recognize them as a unique profession, with their own preferences, culture and role within healthcare. Nurses are not "lesser doctors", and our efforts should reflect their practices, culture, history, and roles in medicine. Like everyone else, nurses benefit from our work most when we design for them specifically, and what helps nurses helps patients, doctors, and everyone else in the healthcare environment.

In this special episode celebrating Women's History Month, we are joined by Lisa Chobanian, RN, MS, and also Associate Managing Director of Unification Services at H4B Chelsea, to break down the important distinctions within the culture of nurses and how we can reach them, specifically, as we communicate to HCPs at large.

Why Not Fear

Breaking the Code

01/30/23 • 19 min

When put in charge of 'making someone do something', it is always tempting to resort to fear tactics--scaring people is a direct way of motivating them, the effects are clear and immediate, and we all know the kinds of things that scare people. This is why 'let's scare them' tactics and strategies are so popular, and why we are often asked as marketers to "show consequences" or "create fear". But fear is a poor long term motivator, and is ill advised as a marketing strategy in most cases; it's also damaging to scare people, and is widely seen as unethical.
Join us as we discuss why fear is almost always not the answer.

Why Are There So Many Parks in Pharma Ads?

Breaking the Code

01/17/23 • 20 min

Pharmaceutical advertising is nothing if not, well, repetitive. If you see a commercial that starts with someone walking on a beach, with a dog, dressed in best “coastal grandma” fashion, odds are you’ll assume (correctly) someone is going to talk about a healthcare brand or condition. Diabetes, lung cancer, depression, birth control—you name it, someone on a beach is representing it in an ad. Why we see so much of the same imagery over and over, what this does to impact and efficiency of advertising, and how we should re-think our processes for creating this imagery is all part of our newest installment of Breaking the Code.

Heuristics Are Useful But Not If You Think They Apply To Absolutely Everything Under The Sun

Breaking the Code

01/04/23 • 12 min

If you work in communications, you probably have noticed that the word "heuristics" has been popping up a lot lately, mostly in discussions of "drivers of behavior". While the concept of heuristics is very helpful in understanding human decision making (or habitual non-decision making, like ordering the same coffee every day), it isn't the only way to understand drivers of human behavior, and it certainly isn't the only way to "optimize copy".
Understanding what heuristics are, and more importantly what they are not, is critical to the work we do as behavior change professionals. Join us as we discuss heuristics, how they help us understand certain forms of behavior and choice preference, and the contexts within which heuristics are useful.

Your Discussion Guide Stinks

Breaking the Code

11/23/22 • 21 min

Discussion guides, those documents packed with detailed questions and sub-questions that can go on forever, are at the heart of many research crimes. As marketers we rely on research-derived insights to build our strategic and creative outputs, but our ideas are only as good as the research behind them. Bad discussion guides, the bad processes that create them, and the bad luck for a moderator who is told "ask every question exactly as written", set us up for failure from the start.
Research is a practice, and like any practice it can be learned and improved. If the discussion guide is the driver of a lot of bad IDI research, then there must be a better way. Join us to uncover what makes a discussion guide stink, why we shouldn't even call them discussion guides, and how with a few tricks you can create guides that actually facilitate better interviews and better insight generation.

Women, Sports, and Leadership: The Evolution of Female Success ft. Claire Knapp and Denise Melone

Breaking the Code

10/15/24 • 44 min

Women's professional sports are "having a moment", but this did not happen in a vacuum nor did it happen overnight. In a highly anticipated episode (for us), we finally got a chance to sit down with Claire Knapp (CEO of Havas Lynx) and Denise Melone (Managing Director of Havas Life San Francisco) to discuss the implications of the growth of women's sports, both as a business and as an opportunity. Both of these female leaders are accomplished athletes, and we discuss the role of things like teamwork, coaching, and mental fortitude, learned on the judo mats and tennis courts, in their successes as corporate leaders at Havas.

The growing interest in the competitive aspects of women's sports has coincided with the appearance of women in a variety of hitherto-denied spaces, such as the boardroom, the judging panel, and even just full-court basketball (looking at you, Sue Atkins--my mom). While this shift is notable, both Claire and Denise express the sentiment that disparities in treatment, compensation and conversation are still as important as ever to address and overcome. What's important is how we talk about women, not as bodies but as humans, and, in the case for this episode, as fierce, aggressive, badass athletes.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Breaking the Code have?

Breaking the Code currently has 44 episodes available.

What topics does Breaking the Code cover?

The podcast is about Behavioral Science, Linguistics, Marketing, Podcasts, Behavioral Economics, Business and Anthropology.

What is the most popular episode on Breaking the Code?

The episode title 'Why Are There So Many Parks in Pharma Ads?' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Breaking the Code?

The average episode length on Breaking the Code is 30 minutes.

How often are episodes of Breaking the Code released?

Episodes of Breaking the Code are typically released every 14 days, 7 hours.

When was the first episode of Breaking the Code?

The first episode of Breaking the Code was released on Nov 22, 2022.

Show more FAQ

Breaking the Code

Havas Medical Anthropology

Top 10 Breaking the Code Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Breaking the Code have?

What topics does Breaking the Code cover?

What is the most popular episode on Breaking the Code?

What is the average episode length on Breaking the Code?

How often are episodes of Breaking the Code released?

When was the first episode of Breaking the Code?

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