Words by Jamie Tolentino-Deludet
Marketers need to rethink what they know about cognitive neuroscience and its application in building effective brands. There are a host of fundamental conflicting tensions which cognitive neuroscience can help with, including; rationality vs emotions, data vs instinct, cognitive penetration vs memorability.
At the Brand Marketers’ Creative Summit Stage in the Cannes Lions Festival 2019, Dr. Itiel Dror, a world leading cognitive neuroscientist, shared key insights to drive consumer behaviors. Nir Wegrzyn, CEO, BrandOpus, followed a radical creative approach and shared ideas that drove commercial success and long-term growth.
“People make systematic irrational choices.” – Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner
Even the decisions made by people in highly professional domains are not rational. Therefore, information, knowledge and rationality are not enough because we do not actually know what we think or how we will behave. For example, people didn’t think that Trump will win the elections or that Brexit will happen. When leading orchestras started holding blind auditions, the number of women in the orchestra tripled.
So how do we impact people:
Get into their head.
This is called cognitive penetrability. The brain ignores most of what is out there. If we ask someone to count the number of F’s in the sentence below, majority will ignore the F’s in the ‘of’ word.
“Finished files are the result of years of scientific study.”
When Carling was in decline because over familiarity drives apathy, BrandOpus needed to create a physical and visual disruption. The solution? They made a new logo, custom typeface, distinctive illustration style and a different glass.
Get into the appropriate parts of the brain.
The brain has different systems, components and modules, so we need to get into the right one that governs behavior in purchasing decisions. If you say don’t open the door to strangers to your kids, the kids will not follow. If you traumatize your kids if they open the door, that experience will make them remember not to open the door again.
Freaks of nature had the campaign “Let your freak flag fly” to be distinct.
Create long lasting mental representations
Create something distinct that will make people remember your ad or your product. Make logos that last. Apple, Amazon and Nike all have logos that we associate with their brand.
Make associations that actually govern behavior
If you are familiar, you are not going to make it to the brain. You need to be different but also piggyback into the existing associations in the brain. Penetrate by being different but once you are in, you need to connect to cognition, evaluation, emotion and identification.
DiverseyLever was functional, practical but impersonal so they resolved the program. They created a campaign that was more personal.
In conclusion, Penetrate by being different. However, once you are in, you need to connect to cognition, evaluation, emotion and identification. – Dr. Itiel Dror. The great paradox of branding is: Total disruption but innately familiar at the same time – Nir Wegrzyn
