T
hese days, everyone knows what a TED Talk is. (Talk about a successful branding campaign!) The phrase has become a household name, and anyone who has a TED Talk is automatically considered a next-level expert in whatever subject they’re discussing.
In the field of marketing, TED speakers have helped the industry uncover new perspectives, discard old ones, and think outside the box. There seem to be new talks available every day, but we’ve put together a list of our top 10 must-watch marketing TED Talks from the past years, along with links to watch.
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Simon Sinek, Author
Sinek speaks about the simple differences between world-changing leaders and everyone else. He explores the concept of the “Golden Circle” and how starting with one simple question – Why? – can change everything about the way you communicate.
Why we love it: Sinek’s examples go as far back as the Wright brothers, proving that while tactics and channels may change, the foundations of leadership and success in marketing remain the same.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4&t=532s
Why Videos Go Viral
Kevin Allocca, Global Director of Trends & Culture at YouTube
Allocca, who is the author of Videocracy, talks about the three things that make a video viral – tastemakers, communities of participation, and unexpectedness.
Why we love it: Who among us doesn’t wish for our video marketing content to go viral? It seems impossible, but Allocca’s secret sauce (while we can’t completely control it) can give us some insight in how to create content people will notice.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpxVIwCbBK0&t=63s
Sweat the Small Stuff in Marketing
Rory Sutherland, Veteran Marketing Strategist and Author
In his talk, Sutherland challenges the traditional notions of value and demonstrates how small changes can have a significant impact on consumer behavior.
Why we love it: We sometimes get so focused on what we come up with in conference rooms that we forget what’s actually important to our customers. This is a great reminder that it’s about your audience, not you.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkLcwHmnPV4
The Four-Letter Code to Selling Anything
Derek Thompson, Podcaster, Journalist, and Author
Why do we like what we like? Is there a formula? Throughout time, philosophers and thought leaders have said yes – but times change, especially when it comes to marketing. Thompson talks about the one word that binds a common thread across all consumer platforms, and whether it actually works.
Why we love it: This is simply fascinating. A look into the psychology behind how modern humans think and what motivates us. A comment on the video sums it up perfectly: “Sometimes it takes someone to explain something that we already know before we can digest it. excellent talk.”
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pY7EjqD3QA&t=9s
Using Data to Shape Humanity
Talin Koutnouyan, Marketing Data Analytics Expert
Koutnouyan has led the way in marketing data analysis, inventing a methodology that helped drive up to 30% ROI for Fortune 500 companies. As she says, “Just because data is easy to measure, doesn’t mean it’s the right metric to use.
Why we love it: Koutnouyan is a unicorn – she has the left-brained superpowers of being able to sift through large amounts of data, and the right-brained artistic skill to turn it into a story.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIriiLEQvso&t=369s
What Physics Taught Me About Marketing
Dan Cobley, Keynote Speaker and Former Google Executive
Dan Cobley explains how the principles of physics can be applied to marketing, emphasizing the importance of understanding and adapting to the changing landscape. (Specifically, Newton’s second law, which states that the bigger something is, the more difficult it is to change it.)
Why we love it: Drawing connections between two seemingly opposite ideas (in this case, physics and marketing) is a wonderful way to gain new perspectives on something, especially when you’ve been working within the same guardrails for a long time.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cwW_S29faQ
How Your Brain Responds to Stories – and Why They’re Crucial for Leaders
Karen Eber, Leadership Consultant
Eber believes in the power of good storytelling, and how it can shape and impact people’s lives. And whether those stories are told through corporate communications, marketing, or interpersonal relationships, they are the gateway to common ground and understanding.
Why we love it: Marketing is all about storytelling. Whether you’re trying to entice visitors to your destination, or inform them about a cold event coming up, or encourage them to take the leap and visit your spa. Crafting a story that resonates with your target audience is so much more effective than straightforward information.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJfGby1C3C4
7 Tools for Building a Business People Trust
Marcos Aguiar, Core Member of BCG’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications and Global Advantage Practices
Why do we trust some companies and not others? Aguiar digs into this topic to not only dissect the qualities of trust, but also to offer companies ways to make sure that their building a business that is trustworthy.
Why we love it: When more and more millennial and Gen Z consumers are saying that the emotional connection they feel to a company is a deal-breaker, it’s more important than ever to run a business that builds trust.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJUrQKY_A5g
What Consumers Want
Joseph Pine, American author who coined the term “experience economy”
Authenticity in marketing is a hot topic these days, but what if there’s no such thing? Pine talks about the evolution from a commoditized economy to a service-based, experiential one and back again, and how everything we experience is authentic to us, even if it’s rendered.
Why we love it: This is an interesting way to examine the blurry line between authentic and artificial, and why it may not matter. The point is to create a meaningful experience that your consumers will resonate with, regardless of how it’s constructed.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RD0OZCyJCk
Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders
Sheryl Sandberg, Former COO of Meta and Founder of LeanIn.org
Sandberg’s talk touches on gender equality and the importance of empowering women in leadership roles, which can have implications for marketing strategies targeting diverse audiences.
Why we love it: Representation matters, especially when it comes to marketing. The more diverse your workforce is, the more likely you are to create a campaign that resonates with your target audience, even if they look or feel differently than you do.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18uDutylDa4
There’s a whole wide world of TED Talks out there, dating back as long as two decades ago. If you’d like to watch even more about marketing (or any topic that interests you,) you can find the entire archive at TED.com