Building a Brand in the Brain

Droga5’s famous Truth campaign for The New York Times is perhaps the most highly acclaimed advertising campaign of the last decade, winning at both Cannes and the Effies, and helping to fuel a transformative business turnaround.

But how did it work? How did it persuade millions of people to pay for journalism?

Analyzing Brainsights’ neuroscience data of attention, emotion and memory development, collected for each year of the campaign (2017-2020), Brainsights and Droga5 show how craft, consistency and culture helped to convince millions of people to pay for high quality journalism.

We take a methodical approach in exploring each moment of each ad, what connects and why, and reveal the importance of cultural salience for brand growth.

Readers will learn the critical building blocks for constructing brands where they exist: in the minds of consumers.

Click to download the PDF