The short answer
Leslie Zane is the founder and CEO of Triggers®, the brand growth consultancy she started in 1995 in Armonk, New York. Her work rests on one idea: people choose brands by instinct, guided by the memories and associations a brand has built up in their minds, so brands grow by building the right associations rather than by persuading. Triggers announced the Brand Connectome®, its map of those associations, in a 2019 Knowledge@Wharton article by Leslie Zane and Wharton professor Michael Platt. She set out her rules for instinctive choice in her book, The Power of Instinct (PublicAffairs, 2024).
Her core ideas
- People choose by instinct. Most brand choices are made in an instant and explained afterwards. The first line of her book is “Human beings are unpersuadable.” See how people really choose brands.
- A brand is a network of memories. Every brand lives in people’s minds as the memories and associations attached to it over years. Triggers maps this network as the Brand Connectome®.
- Triggers are cognitive shortcuts. Visual and verbal cues that carry a story the mind already knows lead people to a brand faster than any claim. See cognitive shortcuts and brand choice.
- Salience, not awareness. Knowing a brand’s name is the seed. Being the brand that comes to mind first is the full-grown tree. See brand salience, explained.
- Instinctive brand preference, not loyalty. People don’t buy out of devotion. They buy on a positive bias built from memories. See behavioral science and System 1 in marketing.
- Keep, stop, add. Keep the positive associations a brand already owns, stop the negative ones, and add new ones linked to what is already there.
- New buyers drive growth. Finding new customers accelerates growth. Relying on existing ones is a trap.
“A brand is known by the associations it keeps.”
The Power of Instinct
The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life was published by PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, in June 2024, in hardcover, ebook and audiobook. It sets out four rules:
- People don’t make decisions with their conscious mind, but on instinct.
- A hidden network of connections dictates the snap decisions we make.
- Finding new customers accelerates growth. Relying on existing ones is a trap.
- Emotional stories are not enough to drive trial and long-term brand loyalty.
“A masterclass in understanding and leveraging the instinctive mind, this book dismantles traditional notions of consumer behavior and persuasion. Invaluable for CMOs and any leader navigating the future of marketing.”
“A compelling blend of behavioral science and marketing strategy, this book is a must-read for anyone aiming to create lasting business and brand success.”
“A brain-bending, rule-breaking manifesto that challenges norms and shifts your perspective on the science of persuasion and influence.”
The book won a bronze medal at the Axiom Awards, in Advertising / Marketing / PR.
The Brand Connectome® and Wharton
In January 2019, Triggers announced the Brand Connectome® in a Knowledge@Wharton article by Leslie Zane and Michael Platt, the Wharton professor of psychology, neuroscience and marketing. The article, Cracking the Code on Brand Growth, builds on Daniel Kahneman’s finding that the mind takes shortcuts when it decides, and describes what sits inside those shortcuts.
“Now, we have found that what lies within this shortcut is a dynamic network of associations and memories. Every brand has one.”
Triggers has used the Brand Connectome® with clients since, and in July 2026 launched the Brand Instinct® Monitor to follow how a brand’s associations shift over time.
Talks and videos
- The Hidden Link Between Success and the Subconscious: her TEDx talk at TEDxChelseaPark.
- You Can’t Convince Anybody: Conventional vs Instinctive Marketing: a long conversation on persuasion, salience, segmentation and growth.
- Videos: short talks on instinctive brand preference and applied behavioral science.
Writing
- Harvard Business Review: To Win Support for Your Idea, Think Like a Marketer
- Knowledge@Wharton, with Michael Platt: Cracking the Code on Brand Growth
- Scientific American: To Flatten the COVID-19 Curve, Target the Subconscious
- MIT Sloan Management Review: Don’t Let Marketing Personalization Kill Your Brand
- Newsweek: In Drive to Restart the Economy, Consumers’ Subconscious Might Be Key
- NBC News: The Mr. Peanut Super Bowl Commercial Lit Up Twitter, but It Could Still Backfire
- Barron’s: Investing in Retail? Here’s What to Watch For
- MediaPost: Let’s Throw the Idea of Brand Life Cycle Out the Window
More of her articles are on our blog.
Interviews and podcasts
- AdExchanger, July 2026: This Marketing Consultancy Deciphers Consumers’ Brand Associations – And Doesn’t Believe In Segmentation
- What’s Next! with Tiffani Bova, August 2024: The Power of Instinct with Leslie Zane
- The Marketing Book Podcast, August 2024: The Power of Instinct by Leslie Zane
- This Is Woman’s Work with Nicole Kalil, May 2024: The Power of Instinct in Business and Life
- MediaVillage: All Brands Have Unrealized Growth Potential
For press, see the newsroom.
Background
Leslie Zane is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School. She founded Triggers® in 1995 in Armonk, New York, and leads it as Founder and CEO. Triggers has worked in more than 70 categories, from packaged goods to pharma to financial services. She is a TEDx speaker and a recipient of the Congressional Women of Distinction and the Ogilvy Award, and has been published in Harvard Business Review, Knowledge@Wharton, the World Economic Forum, Newsweek and Ad Age.
