Module 4

Question 1

What are the essential parts of an effective brief?

Answer 1

Executive summary
Business context
Brand context
Marketing objectives
Communication objectives
Target audience
Customer journey
Believe us
Expected deliverables
Measuring success

Question 2

Daniel Kahneman coined the terms, System 1 and System 2 thinking. What do they mean?

Answer 2

System 1 (Thinking Fast) is when people search for an instant, intuitive solution based on emotions, experience and bias to make decisions.

System 2 (Thinking Slow) is where a more deliberate and considered form of thinking takes place. It is all about using brainpower to process information and make a decision. The operations of System 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice and concentration.

Question 3

What is behavioural economics?

Answer 3

Behavioural Economics is the science of decision-making. It’s a robust series of scientific findings which help to explain why consumers make decisions rather than how we think they might make the decisions they do.

Behavioural Economics has codified variables in human choices into a series of established biases and heuristics (mental shortcuts). This is System 1 at work — human beings constantly, and predictably, make irrational paradoxical decisions.

Behavioural economics has changed the way that we look at communications in a few ways. Firstly, its made us realise that consumer preferences are context-dependent, so its important for advertisers to take context into account. Also, consumers don’t necessarily know why they buy the products they do. So rather than relying on consumer claims, we need to create experiments that can actually understand how people behave in practice.

Question 4

What are the 7 principles of behavioural economics?

Answer 4

Loss aversion - people will work harder to avoid losing something than they will to gain it

The power of now - Consumers engage less with future events than they do with current events

Scarcity value - When things are perceived to be scarce, they have greater value in people’s minds. Conversely, when things are perceived as plentiful, their value falls.

Goal dilution - When multiple goals are pursued, they are less effectively achieved than goals pursued individually.

Chunking - Parts are easier than wholes. The way a task is presented affects people’s willingness to take it on and complete it. Bite-size chunks are easier to digest.

Price perception - The price that is demanded for something makes people value it. People are guided by cues. Price needs to be used within the context of indicators of value - it can’t exist in a vacuum.

Choice architecture - Choosing is relative to what people can have, not absolutely what they want. No choice is presented in a neutral way - primacy and recency effects can influence biases. People want to shed as much decision-making load as possible — making choices easier can influence purchase behaviour.

Question 5

What is audience segmentation?

Answer 5

Audience segmentation is the process of dividing a group of people into smaller, more homogeneous groups based on specific criteria. The goal is to better understand the needs and preferences of each group so that organisations can tailor their communications and services to them.

It can be based on a variety of criterias, including demographics, behaviour, psychographics

Question 6

What is brand positioning?

Answer 6

A marketing strategy that helps a brand stand out in the marketplace by establishing its identity and value proposition to its target audience

Question 7

Carl Jung’s 12 archetypes

Answer 7

The Innocent, Everyman, Hero, Outlaw, Explorer, Creator, Ruler, Magician, Lover, Caregiver, Jester, and Sage.

Each archetype represents a set of values we recognise and, depending on our psychology or need, respond to or feel an affinity. The idea of recognisable ‘archetypes’ has been adopted and exploited by marketers keen to explore ways of defining brand behaviour and promising that tap into deeply held cultural beliefs.

Examples of brand archetypes

M&MS - Jester

Lego - Creator

Persil - Explore

Question 8

Byron’s sharp ‘How brands grow’ highlighted 7 theories about how brands can grow. What are they?

Answer 8

1. Growth comes from acquiring new customers, rather than increasing brand loyalty - While some sales growth comes from existing customers, most comes from recruiting new customers!
2. Instead of tight targeting, marketers should find the most cost-effective way to reach as many as possible. Additionally, he warns us to avoid strategies that deprioritise light or non-buyers, as this is where growth is most likely to come from.
3. Physical availability is key: Consumers won’t go out of their way to buy your brand as there are so many competitors out there, So if you’re not physically there, consumers will simply shift to the ‘next best’
4. Mental availability is key: When consumers decide which brand to buy, they make the decision using system 1 fast thinking. The more readily customers can recognise a brand and ‘recall’ its appeal to them, the more likely they are to reach for it on the shelf. As marketers, our job is to try and create a clear, distinctive picture of the brand for people so they can retrieve it with minimal effort
5. The key to success is to create consistent and constantly used brand assets which will over time, create distinctive memory structures
6. The more positive an association someone has ,the more likely they’ll be to purchase a brand’s products. The point of advertising is to influence people’s buying habits by having a lasting effect on the memory of the consumer.
7. Brands that have dominated for decades have done so by being consistent, not repositioning. People are resistant to new ideas but happy to be reminded of things they already believe in, especially if it’s done in an entertaining way.