18.03.08 09:46 Age: 294 days
Increasing the Mojo in your Brand
By: Monika Evers
Neuroscientists have entered into the marketing landscape and with their Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology and have made some startling discoveries to do with marketing vs the lasting power of true influence.
The McClure Study done at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, relatively recently, put forward the proposition that cultural influences, rather than taste preferences dominate what we choose to eat and drink.
To prove their point they took two similar products, Coke® and Pepsi® that not only look the same (brown, carbonated, sugar water), they were both culturally known to their test subjects.
They wanted to test:
- what happened when the drinks were presented anonymously (taste only)
- what then happened when the subjects knew and saw the brand of the drink they were about to consume (cultural influence);
- any correlation between either preference and areas of brain activity.
Because of the nature of the testing environment the subject were presented with only non-carbonated versions of the drinks. The sampling was always done in pairs to force choice. (About 6 months later the subjects were called back to complete the study and verify that carbonation held no influence on preference, which they did.)
Anonymous Delivery
When they did the anonymous delivery of the drinks, the results matched the Aussie version of the 80’s study into the Pepsi®/Coke® Challenge. They was no preference overall by the group for either Coke® or Pepsi®. Individual preferences were strong and showed activity in the VMPFC (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), an area the study attributed to reward-based learning due to appetite.
Brand Knowledge
Next, the scientists decided to label (brand) one of the pair of cups and leave the other unbranded. They also told test subjects that the other cup may or may not contain the same drink. They were testing specifically for brand influence.
The Results and I quote…“unlike the Coke® label, the existence of the Pepsi® label did not change the distribution of choices significantly relative to the anonymous taste test.” “no brain areas showed a significant effect of brand knowledge. (p<0.01) ”.
Brand Pepsi® had no influence on their choice.
Coke® on the other hand registered a 0.43 in the hippocampus area and a 0.41in the DLPFC (dorsolateral region of the prefrontal cortex.) Both are areas that are known to bias sensory judgment but act independently. The hippocampus is recruited to recall the cultural information that ends up biasing judgment.
Which is exactly what happened with the Coke® brand. More people chose the Coke® brand even over previous, alternate, taste preferences.
The influence for the brand “Coke®” biased preference by 70% compared to Pepsi® (which held no bias in these areas of cultural influence).
The final count (out of three trials), was on average Pepsi® 1.2 and Coke® 2.25 (almost double).
The Point
What the experiment showed was that when the subjects were shown the brand Coke® it influenced their choice over any previous taste preference. When brand Pepsi® was shown to the test subjects it held no influence over taste.
Implication for business
Pretty tricky for the Pepsi® marketing department wouldn’t you say. All that money spent and in the end people choose Pepsi just based on taste. The brand apparently holds no real sway. This means it has little ability to leverage other products or product lines in the marketplace. Has some pretty interesting implications on sponsorships as well.
The problem is, that they are not alone when it comes to this factor of 'long term stickiness'. One of the many gripes of companies is that after the marketing campaign the company and their products revert to previous sales revenues.
What it shows is that the quality of stickiness or ‘influence’ as I prefer to call it, is often not increased by the marketing campaign. In Pepsi®’s case, it seems, from these studies at least, by any campaign.
We have uncovered from our research and experience, which includes the launching of over 100 brands, that there are some nine factors that increase brand influence.
Month by month we will introduce more about these factors of influence, as part of the Evers Report, so stay tuned.
