We all believe we are rational, made of pure logic and everything we do makes sense, it’s only other people who are emotional, irrational, and impetuous…
I’ll let you into a little secret. We are all irrational but none of us like to admit it!!! We are not irrational all the time, in particular situations, dispositions, and situations. Advertising and brand development folk depend on the fact that we are not rational decision-makers!!!
You see rational decisions are hard. They require brain power, they require thought and analysis and as a result they take time.
Daniel Kahneman talks about this in his popular classic Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow. He refers to two systems that operate in the brain:
System 1 – the instinctive, instantaneous
System 2 – the conscious logical
If we advertisers, marketers, brand builders are getting you, the consumer, to engage System 2 of your brain, we will not win!!! That’s why advertising works. It builds a message an association in the brain, so that when it comes time to purchase, you are using System 1. For new products or services, that people are unfamiliar with they will use System 2 thinking, or actually no thinking at all!!!
Brand is a short cut. It makes decisions quick and easy. It takes the complexity out of choice. That is why every business needs to build their brand, as it programs the market to use and consume them!!!
