March 26, 2006
fMRI Technology and Marketing Psychology
In the first study to use fMRI to evaluate which brain regions are activated in response to the qualities of commercial brands and products, researchers from the University of Michigan and Harvard University found some interesting results. Carolyn Yoon and colleagues, discovered that even though companies will use identical vocabularies to describe both people and products, consumers evaluate objects from people differently.
Subjects were given 450 adjectives such as "reliable," "sophisticated," and "cheerful." They were scanned while indicating whether each word was applicable to themselves and someone else. The sample group was also scanned while making similar judgments about brands they know and use. The researchers discovered that even when the consumers were judging products on unmistakably human terms, they still used the part of the brain associated with inanimate objects.
According to the scientists, "although we may use similar vocabularies to describe people and products, we can't say that the same concepts are involved. Companies building brand images and icons should be wary of taking the legitimately useful metaphor of brand personality too literally, since it's now apparent that consumers themselves do not."
As much as marketers would like us to anthropomorphize particular products to make them more attractive or endearing, our brains help us maintain a critical approach to what we see.
A Marketing Approach
Confirmation of this concept comes from the marketing world. In an article discussing the psychology of branding, the author states that consumers are cynical about ads since they are bombarded by thousands of ads each day and people are more aware that they are being sold something. Humor as a marketing tool is a wonderful emotion to tap into. However, humorous ads are troubling because you have to create a link to the product and its benefit. Often, people remember a funny ad but they don't remember the product. Also ads with imagery of happy, peppy people are not going to make people less cynical no matter how marketers spin it.
Brand Loyalty: The Psychology of Preference (pdf)
Journal of Economic Psychology
Are Brands Human?
(A Brand Consulting Weblog)