Marketing Mistakes – Buying into the Lies that Customers Tell Themselves
by Graeme Newell
Highlights:
- Most customers cannot vocalize their true motivations for buying. Customers evaluate with their minds, but buy with their hearts.
- All ads must craft a dual sell – one for the conscious mind, and a completely separate one for the subconscious mind.
- Over-reliance on qualitative research will lead to ad campaigns that make a strong intellectual case but never make the critical emotional connection that leads to a sale.
- Most people feel they are immune to the guiles of advertising and that emotional imaging has little effect on them. The opposite is true.
gnewell@602communications.com
http://www.602communications.com
“We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy.”
Cyril Connolly, British intellectual, literary critic and writer
There is an old saying in advertising that if you want to know how someone really feels about your product, the worst thing you can do is ask them. The truth is that the reasons behind our brand preferences are usually hidden from us, deep in our subconscious. All of us have a carefully rehearsed, but slightly neurotic, justification for purchasing the brands that we love.
Lying to Ourselves
Ads like this one from Dasani have convinced millions of people that bottled water can actually be “daring,” yet none of these people would ever admit that the advertising swayed them. They have convinced themselves that their water purchase criteria are firmly grounded in an objective evaluation of quality. But most of the time, we don’t buy products we need, we buy brands we love. Every purchase helps our powerfully deluded souls to feel just a little bit more secure in the world.
Procter & Gamble ads can convince us that a laundry detergent can be “successful,”
Cadillac ads unashamedly make the claim that a gigantic SUV is actually good for the environment.
We can easily recognize this brand delusion in others, but are blissfully oblivious to it in our own purchasing preferences. We feel a bit of pity for everyone else who falls for this slick Madison Avenue emotional marketing, but deceive ourselves, when we feel we’re too savvy to be taken in.
The tactics behind the allure
So how does Madison Avenue pull this off? Each year, my company analyzes thousands of the best ads from around the world, and what we see again and again is this – these ads start with single, very rational fact, then carefully build a customer illusion that compliments that one fact.
So let’s break it down. Take a look at this fun ad for Minute Maid juice. Now most of us tell ourselves that our primary criteria for buying juice is its nutritional value, and Minute Maid has validated that story with its claim of a “five-nutrient boost.” But you will notice that this is only a brief mention jammed into the middle of the spot.
This ad isn’t really about “nutrients,” it’s about “smart.” The advertiser knows that most of us are powerfully motivated to show the world that we’re brilliant. That brief mention of the nutrients let’s the customer convince himself that his decision of juice brands is firmly grounded on an objective evaluation of juice nutrition; but the ad took this sell to its critical next step. It has skillfully made the leap to “nutrients make you smart”, despite the fact that there is little scientific evidence that these kind of vitamin supplements improve health, let alone make you smarter.
So that little “nutrient” product feature is the Trojan horse that convinces our intellect to open the gates and let the message in. But once inside our brains, the battle is won by Minute Maid’s emotional assault on our insecurities. Most of us worry we’re not smart enough. Appearing intelligent is universally conveted.
This very crafty advertiser has skillfully used a bait-and-switch tactic that squarely attaches to the delusions of the customer. Nutrients opens the door and satisfies the intellect, but smart makes the sale by appealing to our deepest hopes and insecurities. We’ll walk just a little taller after a glass of Minute Maid because deep inside we feel we’re one step closer to a mind like Einstein.
The Grey Goose Strategy
Because it is subconscious, we are oblivious to most of reasons why we buy products. Still, most of us kid ourselves into thinking it is a purely rational decision. Nowhere is this more evident than in the liquor category. Ask any vodka drinker why he picks a particular brand and he will resolutely tell you that it’s all about the taste. Yet ABC News did a blind taste test of vodkas and Grey Goose, one of the top selling brands, finished dead last.
This Grey Goose ad, entitled “To Living in Good Company,” appeases its customer’s rational side by quantifying their vodka choice as solely based on taste. However, 90% of this ad is about social climbing. Its real power is in the imagery of the jet-setter life, journeying to exotic ski chalets, wooing gorgeous women, and living the fantasy of the very sexy, rich and successful.
This Grey Goose ad, entitled “On Discerning Taste,” uses the same formula but in a different venue – beautiful people eating oysters and drinking vodka on a huge yacht.
Grey Goose doesn’t taste better because of the actual taste; it tastes better because it sells the taste of sophistication. All those gorgeous people at that party have so thoroughly charmed us that they have also bamboozled our taste buds into buying this fantasy. Our lust for sophistication has magically transformed Grey Goose into the best tasting vodka.
This Walmart ad satisfies our intellect with low prices, but closes the sale by tapping our strong desire for success.
This Pillsbury ad makes the very rational case that the rolls taste good, but closes the sale by convincing women that they live in a domestic fantasy land.
This Shell gasoline ad appeases the left brain with a message of performance and protection, but really bonds with customers by turning boring commuters into race car drivers.
Every customer has a “story” they tell themselves about why they buy. It is important that marketing acknowledge that story, but don’t be fooled into thinking that the more powerful and motivating subconscious mind values that story. After acknowledging the conscious story, it is important to move on to the more impassioned world of identification and aspiration.
Quantitative research can reveal basic product preferences that live in the rational mind, but it is lousy at revealing more powerful emotional marketing motivations. To find these more effective motivators you need qualitative research.
Remember that the best ads will give a customer a very rational reason to buy, but will then elevate the experience so it taps the subconscious desires for success, fame, guilt, or any of the other passions. Great emotional marketing doesn’t just meet a practical need, it reinforces the customer’s deepest feelings about who they hope to be.
