Brands and us

Peter Thomas, an insurance worker from Brighton recently changed his name to Honey Monster officialising his love and life long passion for Sugar Puffs! And the first thing he did after becoming Mr. Monster? He acquired a credit card with his new name on it and purchased 20 boxes of his favourite treat. (The full story is available here)
I wonder what people who bought insurance from Peter…emm…Honey think of their purchases now and secondly is Honey’s story a sign that brands are increasingly becoming part of who we are?

Probably the most fundamental finding of marketing today is that people don’t choose brands purely on rational grounds but also based on their emotional connection with the brands. The reason for this is that unlike past theories that classified humans as purely rational creatures, recent breakthroughs in neuroscience have demonstrated that we are also instinctively motivated in our decisions by our emotions. Our experiences are “stored” in our long term memory through emotions which give them significance and act as markers (somatic markers). With regards to brands, these emotional markers can be stimulated by brand associations, which is the reason some brands generate intuitive and long lasting favourable reactions from their target market. Furthermore as people invest time and cognitive energy in making their choices, brands can also be seen as an extension of the buyers’ identity.

Therefore by using their symbolic significance people perceive brands as a way to construct and express their personal identity, their place in society and their relationship with their piers. It is important to stress that every one of us perceives the brand symbols in a personal distinctive way and therefore uses them in a unique way.
For instance owning a designer handbag can send the message that the person wearing it is fashionable, sophisticated and quite well off. It gives the wearer confidence and makes them feel successful.

The most successful brands today have not only realised this but have masterfully addressed their customers’ emotions by becoming as Andrew Doyle (the chairman of the leading design consultancy Holmes & Marchant) described them –“precious brands with unlimited loyalty”. Cadbury –the leader in the UK confectionary market is an excellent example of how brand –customer communication has changed from a one way presentation of functional benefits to an interactive representation of customer values. Today Cadbury’s advertising has almost nothing to do with chocolate –I’m sure everyone has seen the Gorilla ad on the Phil Collins music and the latest Eyebrows ad.

Cadbury is all about providing entertainment and delight to the customers and by abandoning traditional communication approaches it deepens its relationship with the customers. Like Laurence Green the planning director of Fallon, the multi award winning agency responsible for the Gorilla ad says: "Chocolate is about joy and pleasure. For years Cadbury has told us that it was generous, through the glass and a half strap line. We thought, don't tell us how generous you are; show us. Don't tell us about joy; show us joy."

I will stop my discussion of Cadbury here and for those of you who wish to (re-)view these funny ads visit the Cadbury website. An important point which this example shows us is that brands use their symbolism to build an entire story around them and have an individual style. For instance Innocent –our favorite smoothie brand is renowned for its all natural ingredients and its connection to nature. Still a relatively small business it portrays quality and care for the customer. Through its own story and distinctive style Innocent tells a story about the customer –“I care about what I eat and drink and I care about the environment”.
Some brands like Muller and Heinz even have their own rituals. I’m sure many of us lick the lid of the Muller yogurt and shake the bottle of ketchup before spreading it over those nice oven chips!

Brand symbolism creates individual communities and can become a sign of worship. Nike is the perfect example for this: a study of 300 teenagers has proven that the most important object in their lives is trainers. Does this make Niketown a “sacred” place of worship that provides teenagers with a way to express themselves and find their place in society?

The relationship between brands and customers seems to become deeper as marketers shape their brand’s identity on core consumer values in increasingly inventive ways. It seems that despite consumer empowerment determined by more choice and information availability by taping into unconscious instinctive patterns of meaning (somatic markers) brands build unconscious long lasting relationships with their customers. I wonder how this balance of power will evolve in the future –maybe a topic for a future post… :)


Links:

“Advertising: Spot the link between a gorilla and chocolate”, http://www.independent.co.uk/

“Meet the Honey Monster”, http://www.theargus.co.uk/

“Precious brands: loyalty unlimited”, Admap Magazine (available at http://www.warc.com/)