Are your buying decisions really your own, or are brands influencing what you want without you realising it? How do advertising and marketing make us desire products we don't actually need?

In this conversation, Sanjay Arora, Leading Brand Strategist & Consumer Behaviour Expert, explores how brands shape our desires, influence our buying decisions and make us want things we never knew we needed. He explains the psychology behind consumer behaviour, why emotions drive our purchases and how brands influence our subconscious minds.

Using examples from Apple, Tesla, Dyson, Coca-Cola and Labubu, Sanjay explains how brands use marketing and consumer psychology to influence what we buy. He also discusses the difference between persuasion and manipulation, how social media affects our shopping habits and how advertising has shaped our everyday lives.

The conversation also explores:

• How advertising influences our subconscious buying decisions
• Why Apple creates desire and keeps customers loyal to its ecosystem
• How Tesla built a powerful brand identity without traditional advertising
• The psychology behind Labubu's popularity
• How Dyson made a vacuum cleaner a desirable premium product
• How Coca-Cola, diamond companies and tobacco advertising shaped cultural habits
• Why expensive products often feel better, even when the quality is similar
• How Instagram, AI and consumer data influence our shopping behaviour
• How brands use pricing and emotional marketing to influence consumers
• What makes a strong personal brand
• How to recognise marketing manipulation and make more conscious buying decisions

Watch the full conversation to understand how brands influence our desires, why we buy things we don't need and how consumer psychology shapes our everyday decisions.