Lecture 7: Psychology of Brands Flashcards
What is a brand?
- A brand is a very complex concept there is no single definition for ‘brand’
Some definitions:
- Brand: A type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name (Oxford Dictionary)
- Brand: A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers (American Marketing Association)
o Confident enough in your product to put your stamp on it (identifying you)
- Brand: A category (Aaker, 1991)
o Products are elements of the category
- Brands drive consumption
- Brands are very influential
Why do brands matter?
- Brands are ubiquitous
o Brands are mentioned millions of times a day (e.g. brand recommendations to friends) - Brands influence our economic decisions
- Brands influence our perceptions and cognitions (e.g. information processing, inferences, memory)
o Informational value: Heuristic for consumers that reduces risk
♣ Companies shouldn’t be putting their brands on products if they are not confident in that product
♣ E.g. People very happy with their Apple phones when they need a laptop, prefer Apple over IBM
o Categorisation allows consumers to go beyond the given information
♣ Brand labels provide a powerful basis for inferences - Brands serve a social purpose
What was the overall result, regarding brand labels, of the peanut butter study (1990), chicken nugget study with children (2007) and Coke vs. Pepsi fMRI study (2004)?
Regardless of quality, consumers are more likely to choose products with known brand labels rather than unknown or less-popular
What were the results of the peanut butter study (Hoyer & Brown, 1990)?
♣ Strong tendency (93% of subjects) to select jar of the known brand, even when it contained an inferior quality peanut butter
♣ Even though likelihood of selecting the known brand declined with each trial, subjects were still more likely to select the known brand (by 5th trial)
What were the results of the chicken nugget study with children (Robinson et al., 2007)?
o Reported that the nuggets tasted better when in the branded package (despite both sets of nuggets being the same)
♣ Children susceptible to branding, even at age of 3½
• Need to be careful about the type of advertising children are exposed to
What were the results of the Coke vs. Pepsi fMRI study (McClure et al., 2004)?
♣ Unlabelled cups:
• No difference in reported taste
♣ Labelled cups:
• Significant preference for sample labelled Coke
o Cultural memory of brands tends to confuse our interpretations of the product
What were the fMRI brain-scan results of the Coke vs. Pepsi fMRI study (McClure et al., 2004)?
♣ Unlabelled cups:
• When preference was based on the senses alone, preference correlated with ventromedial PFC activity
♣ Labelled cups:
• Preferences correlated with dorsolateral PFC and hippocampal activity
o Inferences drawn from experiences with the brand rather than the taste
o Dorsolateral PFC: Associated with higher cognitive processes
What 2 things makes us consume a particular brand?
- Awareness of the brand
- The brand satisfies our psychological needs
What is awareness of a brand?
o Associate that product/brand with a particular familiarity
♣ E.g. Brand awareness ad by Coke:
• Poster with black, unmarked, Coke-shaped bottle with message: “Quick, name the brand”
o Was a very successful ad campaign
o Showed importance of brand associations
What are the 2 components of brand awareness?
♣ Recognising the brand
♣ Correctly associating it with a particular product/service
What are the 3 ways to cultivate brand awareness?
♣ Logos
♣ Colours
♣ Names
What psychological needs are satisfied by brands?
o Needs associated with the self ♣ Self-definition, self-reflection, and self-signalling ♣ Uniqueness ♣ Belonging ♣ Effectance
