Available to book
Richard Shotton
Behavioural Science
Consumer Trends
Customer Experience
Elevate marketing effectiveness with Richard Shotton, behavioural science expert and bestselling author. Richard helps brands leverage psychological principles to drive consumer decisions and create influential campaigns. Award-winning speaker working with Google, Mondelez, and Santander. Marketing Week contributor and honorary fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).
Innovator
Podcast
Advertising
Academic
Business Consulting
Psychology
Business Leader
Author
Influencer
Richard Shotton is a behavioural science expert, marketing consultant, and best-selling author who applies findings from behavioural science to help brands solve marketing challenges. As founder of Astroten, he advises companies including Google, Mondelez, and Santander on how psychological principles influence consumer decisions.
Richard is the author of several influential books on behavioural science in marketing, including The Choice Factory, winner of the best sales and marketing book at the 2019 Business Book Awards. He also writes a monthly column for Marketing Week and co-hosts the podcast Behavioural Science for Brands. In 2021, he became an honorary Fellow of the IPA and an associate of the Moller Institute at Cambridge University.
Richard translates academic research into practical strategies that improve marketing effectiveness across multiple areas, from pricing decisions to in-store experiences. His approach combines research-based evidence with real-world advertising campaigns, showing marketing teams how to use cognitive biases and behavioural principles to create more persuasive campaigns.
Audiences leave Richard's presentations with specific tactics they can implement immediately, evidence-backed frameworks for testing marketing assumptions, and a clearer understanding of how subtle changes in communication, framing, and context can significantly influence outcomes.
Book Richard to uncover the behavioural drivers behind effective advertising and branding.
Topics, sessions and talks
Richard Shotton explores the surprising psychology behind why brands that acknowledge flaws can become more persuasive. Drawing on behavioural science research and advertising case studies, he explains how honesty, vulnerability, and the pratfall effect can strengthen credibility and memorability. Through real campaigns and experiments, Richard demonstrates how carefully revealing imperfections can make brands appear more authentic, trustworthy, and human in increasingly sceptical markets.
Richard Shotton examines the hidden risks of poorly designed marketing metrics and how they can distort behaviour inside organisations. Using examples from advertising, business strategy, and behavioural economics, he shows how incentives and measurements can push teams toward short-term wins at the expense of long-term value. The session reveals how subtle changes in metrics can dramatically reshape decision-making and produce better outcomes across marketing performance.
Richard Shotton challenges widely accepted assumptions about brand purpose by examining the behavioural evidence behind consumer motivations. Drawing on academic research and real-world marketing campaigns, he explores why stated consumer attitudes often fail to predict actual behaviour. The session encourages organisations to rethink how they interpret research and highlights the importance of evidence-based marketing decisions rather than relying on fashionable narratives.
Richard Shotton explores the gap between what consumers say and what they actually do. Using insights from behavioural science, experimental psychology, and advertising case studies, he demonstrates why traditional research methods can miss the real drivers of decision-making. The talk reveals alternative approaches to understanding consumer behaviour and shows how brands can uncover more reliable insights about motivation, choice, and influence.
Richard's work with brands like Google and Mondelez adds to his credibility when translating behavioural science theory into tactics that actually shift commercial outcomes. Clients value his ability to explain why certain campaigns outperform others using evidence rather than intuition, particularly around refining messaging, pricing strategy, and how brands frame choice.
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Email richard.shotton@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm Richard's availability and fees. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and a bit about your audience.
Richard Shotton structures sessions around pairing academic behavioural science research with real-world advertising campaigns and experiments, using these combinations to demonstrate how specific psychological principles — such as the pratfall effect or metric design — produce measurable changes in consumer behaviour and organisational decision-making.
Richard Shotton's sessions cover the psychology of brand honesty and the pratfall effect, the risks of poorly designed marketing metrics, and the behavioural evidence against brand purpose. He is the author of The Choice Factory, winner of the best sales and marketing book at the 2019 Business Book Awards, and founder of Astroten, advising clients including Google, Mondelez, and Santander.
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Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
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