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Boiled Eggs & BrandsIn March we hosted Boiled Eggs & Brands, the first in a series of breakfast seminars focusing on improving marketeers’ understanding of their audiences.

We invited consumer behaviour expert Philip Graves to deliver an interactive discussion on the unconscious mind.

A number of broad themes emerged around unconscious thought processes that marketers should consider when developing initiatives.

It is these processes, outlined in the following slides, that will very often determine how consumers react to marketing activity.

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Associations• The mind works by association.

• The simplest example is a meme: a slogan or phrase that we carry around because its rhythm, delivery and repetition have caused it to be imprinted on our minds.

What are the associations you want people to connect with your brand?

Can you associate these qualities implicitly, rather than directly telling your customers?

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Ease• Anything that makes a purchase more difficult is a potential hurdle to the unconscious mind, even offering more choice.

• If you reach a point where making comparisons is onerous, the unconscious will send out the "I feel bad" signal and the customer will walk away.

How easy have you made life for your customer's unconscious mind?

What are their existing habits, and what will you need to do to create new ones that work for your brand?

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Loss aversion• A significant role of the unconscious mind is to protect us from things that would result in our untimely demise.

• In an age of relative safety, the same mechanism is apparent in consumer behaviour.

What will it take to make choosing your brand the least risky option?

Can you switch the risk to a fear of missing out by not buying your product?

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Priming, Framing & Anchoring• Whilst in theory, each situation in life could be approached from a balanced and even assessment, our minds don't work that way.

• What we encounter first, and the comparisons we make from this, influence us by providing a reference point from which we start the 'search' for a reaction.

What's the first thing consumers see in connection with your brand when they experience it?

What else is around the product, and how does your brand appear as a result of this context?

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Social proof• As social creatures we are constantly evaluating what those around us are doing.

• Consumers are susceptible to fads and fashions because, sometimes, just seeing a few other people doing something or owning something is enough to make us want to copy what we see.

Can people see other people interacting with your brand?

Can you make your activity more visible or more likely to be referenced by consumers to other consumers?

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Misattribution• A product doesn't need to embody the values associated with it by marketing, but they do need to be congruent.

• Red Bull has caffeine and sugar levels that match the 'relaxing' coffee and muffin you might have whilst taking a break in Starbucks.

• However the marketing that associates Red Bull with adrenaline sports reinforces the attributes of the brand, stretching them to a compelling level.

What could you put around your brand that will generate the feelings that you would like consumers to feel?

Are these congruent with the brand’s physical attributes?

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In summary...• Ultimately marketing is about getting customers to do something sooner or later.

• Whilst we tend to focus on influencing conscious thought, psychology shows that all too often consumers aren't aware of what has really driven their behaviour.

• Music, light, scents, choice of words, ceiling heights, labels, art, the number of choices available, and the behaviour of other people have all been shown to influence the choices made by consumers.

• Therefore once you are clear about the associations and emotions you want to connect to your brand, then the challenge then is to work out how little you can reference the brand to prime the association.

The less overt the connection becomes, the more likely it is to be attached to what you have created around it.

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Guest feedback"I really enjoyed the talk and the perfectly boiled eggs! Will definitely listen to classical music from now on when I drink wine." Brand Experience Director, MTV Europe

"Thanks for this morning - it was very insightful (and fun!)" Consumer Communications Manager, Cafedirect

"Fascinating and really got me thinking a little differently." Project Manager, LTA

flourishDave Corlett | Business Development Manager

e: dave@flourishcreative.co.uk | t: +44(0)20 7253 8167 | m: +44(0)77 3692 6027