Is Your Formula a Trade Secret?

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It's almost like the really good filmmakers know everything you know. They somehow figured it out through trial and error. So we're feeding in heart rate, but we don't care about heart rate. We care about these very subtle acceleration deceleration changes from the dopamine oxytocin. These are competing with each other. It's this sympathetic parasympathetic balancing act that we can catch. But there's a trade secret in there because we have a commercial company that sells subscriptions or anyone can measure what their brain loves.

The world is rapidly transforming into an experience economy as people increasingly crave extraordinary experiences. Experience designers, marketers, entertainment producers, and retailers have long sought to fill this craving. Paul Zak says there’s a scientific formula to consistently create extraordinary experiences, and that the data show that those who use this formula increase the impact of experiences tenfold.

Shermer and Zak discuss: neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing • Zak’s work with the CIA and DARPA • immersion and how is it quantified (with a formula) • monotony of the mundane • the ordinary and extraordinary • peak-end storytelling • immersion in advertising, entertainment, education, attractions, and retail • what makes a great movie or successful unscripted TV show • novelty • sensitivity training programs in universities and corporations • how to give a TED talk • immersion and political candidates • marriage and immersion • The Bachelor: Ben’s season • happiness, flourishing, meaningfulness, purposefulness and immersion.

Paul Zak is a professor of economics, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University. He is ranked in the top 0.3 percent of most-cited scientists with over 170 published papers and more than 18,000 citations. He helped start several interdisciplinary fields, including neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing. Paul is a regular TED speaker, four-time tech entrepreneur, and corporate consultant. He frequently appears in the media, including Good Morning America, the BBC, NBC’s The Today Show, CNN, and Fox & Friends. His groundbreaking research has been reported in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, The Economist, Scientific American, Forbes, and many other publications.