Behaviour and Context

As advertising has changed, so have the roles of strategists and planners.

We must go ever deeper in pursuit of human understanding, past traditional approaches to customer research and segmentation, beyond understandings of demographics, lifestyles and attitudes. We have to understand why individuals and groups behave as they do in different circumstances and in different contexts. To gather real understanding and insight that can fuel ideas to truly ignite our clients’ businesses.

Luckily there are tools, frameworks and research which allow us to do just that. Some of them much in vogue at the moment.

Behavioural Economics for example, that tells us why social, cognitive and emotional factors mean people don’t behave as rational Economic models suggest they should.

Whilst, Identity Economics explains why people – facing the same economic circumstances – make different choices based on their own identities and the norms they encounter in the contexts of their social, family and working lives.

Academic research in both areas throws up fascinating potential for marketers.

Take the example of consumers in the US and Italy who were asked to either scale up from a plain pizza base by adding toppings or scale down from a fully loaded pizza by removing toppings. In each country consumers ended up with more toppings and a more expensive pizza in the scale down scenario than in the scale up scenario. A result explained through the behavioural principle of ‘loss aversion’.

Or take the experiment that showed consumers who paid a discounted price for an energy drink positioned as increasing mental agility, derived less actual benefit from drinking it (measured in ability to solve puzzles) than consumers who purchased and consumed the exact same product but paid its regular price. Thus showing how the actual efficacy of products – not just the way they make us feel - can be changed by marketing actions such as discounting.

Just a little lateral thinking tells you that such behavioural insights have a plethora of exciting and profitable applications across sectors. From the car industry to retail, software and beyond.

And how, by understanding the role of behaviours and contexts more deeply, it becomes easier to identify where marketing and marketing communications can play a role, and have the biggest impact in today's world.

Behavioural Guilt

As I travel back from Paris on the Eurostar I find myself in reflective mood.

I have an American Express Red card. It’s a great product for a great cause. Trouble is I have yet to use it.

The problem is I have this fantastic Virgin Atlantic black card too. I spend £1, I get two Flying Club miles in return = my miles balance rockets = I get upgrades into Upper Class once a year.

You see my problem? It seems my good old Reflective System wants me to be charitable but my Automatic System (or own self interest) stops me doing it in the moment of payment. And the issue is now compounded as I have not set up a direct debit on the Red card and have forgotten my PIN. Thus making using it in the future even more unlikely as I have added a whole other hassle factor into the mix.

I suspect I am not alone in exhibiting such behaviour, which got me wondering how the Red proposition could be adapted to counter the problem and generate more revenue for the charity.

Personally, I think that when I signed up for the Red card I would have agreed to pay a small monthly ‘fee’ - maybe £2 a month, maybe £5 a month - designed to cover the costs associated with the card whilst guaranteeing a donation income for Red even if I didn’t spend on it. I wasn’t really buying into a credit card at the time so that feels eminently plausible. Hell, I might even have agreed to a ‘Save More Tomorrow’ type mechanic where the ‘fee’ could increase slightly year on year.

I also think that would have acted as a nice little ‘nudge’ to make me more likely to use the card today. The direct debit would have been set-up and a barrier removed.

But as it stands I am not spending on the card and despite the best intentions I am sure my holding the card is costing someone, somewhere some money. So what to do? Well, as I am now through the channel tunnel perhaps I should stop this self-reflection and switch back to a good old Anglo-Saxon mindset for starters. And when I get to St. Pancras I could always just bloody spend on it! Now what was that PIN again .....