Two Truths and A Lie: Why the Weirdest Ads Work (and Yours Don't)

Ever seen an ad so bizarre you couldn't look away? A woman eating a boiled egg for 90 seconds. A cigarette brand that never showed the cigarette. A $40M Burger King campaign about a guy named Herb who'd never eaten there.

In this episode, Nate and Sarah play Two Truths and a Lie: 1980s Ad Edition and then break down why the strangest, most nonsensical ads of the decade actually worked.

We'll talk about:

• 🧠 Semantic Closure — why your brain can't stand an open loop.

• 🧩 Processing Fluency — how confusion turns into curiosity.

• 💀 Fear vs. Wonder — and why one still sells better than the other.

• 🎭 The Burger King campaign that cost $40M (and flopped for all the right reasons).

It's a crash course in how to make people think about you later — even if your ad makes zero logical sense in the moment.

If you've ever wondered why your "clever" creative underperforms, 👉 Learn more how to become a psychology-based performance marketer: skool.com/tether-lab

CoHost: Nate Lagos

Twitter: https://x.com/natelagosLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

CoHost: Sarah Levinger

Learn more at: https://www.tetherinsights.io/ Twitter: https://x.com/SarahLevingerLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.levinger/ Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg