Decisions at the Fulcrum is a show where pivotal moments of crisis are covered with depth and scope to understand why communication that transpires within organizations and groups is core to decision-making. Each episode unpacks a turning point, investigating a brand pivot, a mistaken assumption, or a course correction. The show explores pivotal decision moments through layered storytelling and applied research moments.
In the series, Dr. William Hoffman navigated through latent tensions and catalytic decisions that alter brands, industries, institutions, and the persons involved.
This podcast is for entrepreneurs, new leaders, culturally competent decision-makers, start up scholars, and anyone who knows that the fulcrum is where it all turns.
Come for insight, come for stories, come for forays into the academic forests, where meaning rustles just past the clearing!
Podcast Home: https://datfulcrum.podbean.com/ (https://datfulcrum.podbean.com/)
Bai the Way: From Delightful Samples to Decision Signals (Series Finale Part 2)
I follow Bai’s increased distribution network, Dr Pepper Snapple’s growing commitment, and the broader trend toward B4U beverages, along with the emergence of flavor releases across beverage categories.
27 Aug 2026
Bai the Way: From Category to Sensory Fulcrums (Series Finale Part 1)
A chilled bottle of Bai in a Costco cooler contains a few calories, 55 milligrams of caffeine, recognizable fruit flavors, a coffee fruit extract, and a question: What kind of beverage is this? I start in the aisle, looking at how one bottle can take on an appearance of flavored water, an energy drink, a fruit beverage, and a functional drinking water item. Each category alters the competitors a researcher prioritizes, the inquiries asked in focus groups, as well as the market signals an organization thinks it has identified.
This episode employs signal detection theory to analyze how organizations differentiate between lasting shifts in consumer behavior and fleeting trends of novelty. I outline the four potential outcomes of that judgment: identifying a genuine signal, missing one, confusing noise with significant change, or appropriately choosing not to act. Bai’s emergence in New Jersey in 2009 serves as an insightful example of how coffee fruit, low-calorie sweetness, moderate caffeine, and recognizable flavors made their way into a beverage landscape. I then follow Bai from experiments with coffee fruit into the Costco aisle, where product sampling serves as both a sales strategy and a demonstration of market evidence.
Part one wraps up by examining how well-known flavors can help clarify an unfamiliar ingredient and how researchers can piece together the specific instances when individuals recognize, select, consume, and ultimately categorize a product that traverses conventional boundaries.
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23 Aug 2026
But First, Water: Design Approaches and Audience-First Health Campaigns
Today, I look at health campaigns. I look at how to design them, refine them, and how they could even be effective.
Campaigns that neglect access realities (timing, trust, media, healthcare) frequently seem optimal for those already in a position to benefit, exacerbating the realities of people who they intend to reach.
Campaign planning is a research problem primed for investigation. I discuss the benefits of different methods, such as surveys and focus groups, as well as how design decisions relate to important behavioral theories. A water first campaign is detailed as an example. If you've ever wondered why so many public health efforts feel crumbly or ineffective, this episode is your field guide to doing something different.
Effective health communication begins with the circumstances in which people actually make decisions: schedules, expectations, routines, and unique preferences that remain substantial even when they conflict with long-term health. An effective campaign can make the audience part of the message design and then offer a realistic decision they can make today.
Note: 🎵Track by Playsound from Pixabay. Used under royalty-free commercial licensing.
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