Branding to a Caveman

It 's important to understand how the brain works when it wants to build a lasting brand. Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote a series of books on this subject in the 90s. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and Positioning: The Battle for your mind are my two favorites. Their main point: to be the first in the mind of the customer - first on the market or category and in the first position in the mind of the customer. Why? Since most people do not remember the second with the same ease. There are a number said to support this theory. If you look at Coca-Cola (28.9 billion in sales) and Pepsi (39.5 billion in sales), today it happened in the same category and Coca-Cola is the "real thing" (the first in the minds of consumers), but Pepsi was able to position itself as the coke as young as the "new generation" to carve out a new category.

The human brain is an incredible machine. A new book, Kluge: The construction of the disordered human mind, from New York University psychologist Gary Marcus discusses the idea that we have two systems of thought within our skulls. He argues that human evolution has created two distinct ways of thinking - a system that is ancestral instinctual and reflexive, and a more modern, which involves a deliberative reasoning. He explains that humans developed "contextual memory", which means that pulling things from our memory or by using context clues that suggest what we are looking for, then we are more rapid retrieval of information of a general rather than specific details.

Examples of this are seen everyday in branding, where we get down and simplify complex products in a single word its full meaning. ie, Vehicle Safety = Volvo, Fights Cavities = Crest, Nike = Just do it, it tastes terrible = Buckley, the king of beers Budweiser =

What does it mean when building brands? That should keep things simple - foolproof! Summarizing his position down to a single thought or word has a better chance of survival.

Another insight Marcus reveals is that most pleasures are assigned by the ancestral, the reflective system. This would explain why we are always distracted and are attracted heard anecdotal and emotional impact on our view, the filter information world and make irrational decisions.

Although we like to portray themselves as highly evolved logical, reasonable bioforms, we are still tied to our basic instincts. Drawing on this insight, the marks must have an infinite non-rational side of the brain. This would explain a number of successful products that have built their brands on the emotions and why the best products do not necessarily win.

How to quote David Ogilvy "The customer is not a moron, she is your mother," should be rewritten to finish, "is a caveperson" ....