How to... appeal to consumers' inner desires

Direct Response 15-Nov-07

Emotional triggers and even genetic factors influence consumer behaviour.

If you identify with how consumers think, you will be able to target your brand more effectively, says John Hallward.

Marketers around the globe spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on campaigns. Yet fewer than half succeed. One of the reasons many marketers fail is they forget their target consumers are humans. Our human traits, features and emotions determine whether a marketing message affects us.

Successful marketing appeals to the way our genes and brains work. In deciding which brand to buy, people use their emotions, attitudes and memories - and with certain pre-set criteria, which I call the "gimmes" - the self-centered demands we all have for emotional fulfilment of our moods. As much as selfishness is viewed as a negative personality trait, it is innate. This is not what our parents would have had us believe when they said: "Gimme, gimme, never gets", but it's the truth.

- Focus on their 'wants'

Wanting things is genetically natural; humans are wired to be self-centered to ensure survival. So marketing efforts should offer emotional pay-offs that satiate consumers' moods, desires, insecurities and their status in the world. To be more effective, marketers should focus on consumers' "gimmes," and less on brand features.

- Be fresh and original

For something to stand out and register in our long-term memories, it needs to be somewhat irregular. Cillit Bang is one example of a brand that has done a great job of leveraging uniqueness and irregularity to engage the brain.

- Remember, simple is good

Our brains are bombarded with stimuli. Marketing messages served up in units, slogans, and stories win out over fragmented, if attractive, alternatives. Simple, emotional-enriched memory units work better in the long term.

- Enhance the brand

Brands that use devices like icons, mnemonics, cartoon characters, and other sensory properties often get great results. Consider Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder's distinctive smell, Frosties' iconic tiger or T-Mobile's shocking pink. In these examples, the brand is leveraging elements beyond what is necessary for product performance but that offer more for consumers to latch on to, such as touch, taste, vision, sound and so on.

- Avoid desensitisation: change the consumer experience

Frequent advertising exposures encounter diminishing returns in their impact on consumers. Marketers need to keep evolving and changing the consumer experience to avoid over-familiarity and desensitisation.

John Hallward is global director of new product development for Ipsos ASI

CASE STUDY: KITKAT

Marketers have two main jobs: get the right brand associations into consumers' minds, then trigger these at the right time.

An example of excellent triggering is the "Have a break, have a KitKat" campaign, which leveraged the idea that during a hard day's work, when it was time for a break, it was time for a KitKat.

The campaign - which has utilised digital channels, including microsites, as well as brand advertising - summoned up the transition from work to rest and the time for a little pick-me-up.

It associated the brand with the emotional pay-offs (for those human "gimmes").

"Have a break, have a KitKat" is a slogan that activates positive feelings of taking a break, triggers a time for snacking and ties in the brand name - all in one easy-to-remember memory unit.

The campaign is not about product features, how the biscuit is made, texture or taste - these elements are already known to consumers. The slogan triggers the brand at the relevant time association. Brilliant!