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LEADERSHIP QUOTE OF THE DAY (23 May 2012): You gain STRENGTH| COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. - Eleanor Roosevelt

SUCCESS

Understanding the mind

#5 - Minds Dislike Change
There have been many massive failures in attempts to change the way consumers think. Xerox lost millions trying to convince their consumers that they could also make computers as reliable as their photocopiers. Coke thought their “new Coke” would be a great companion to their “real thing”.

The lesson, when people make up their minds about a product there’s no changing their minds. People like the comfortable old shoe. While there is some excitement in some thing new and different, when the other areas of the mind come into play most of us stick to the tried and true. This is one of the reasons we are seeing a tremendous upsurge in the revival of many old brands (Look at the car industry - the Beetle, the Mini, the 40s Chrysler). Reclaiming the past makes sense; it has a sense of security.

#6 - Minds Lose Focus
This is perhaps the marketer’s number one sin, to have great brand awareness and think it can be capitalised on by extending this image across several similar products. Okay, so Nike has done it, but it was rocky there at one stage. They almost pulled the plug and went back to running shoes! The Journal of Consumer Marketing noted that of 115 new-product launches across five US and UK markets, after two years those with corporate branding performed significantly less well than those with new brand names. Brand extension exposes a company to the “spill over” problem. If something goes amiss (say sabotage) with one product the whole brand line suffers. There is also vulnerability against the “specialist” who can attack you (guerrilla warfare) at your weakest point.
In summary, the mind is very powerful, but it filters, it selects, it hates confusion and insecurity, it doesn’t like change and it lacks focus. In other words, while we as marketers try to appeal to its complexity, we fail by not understanding its vulnerability. The mind loves simplicity, comfort, security and newsworthy information. The challenge is how can you change your marketing story to tap into this scenario? It would certainly be less taxing (and probably less expensive) than dreaming up unbelievably complex and creative award-winning copy that looks good, is applauded and understood by the marketing industry, but is way beyond the mind of the consumer.

Rob McKay MA(Hons) is a Business Psychologist and is a regular columnist to Espy Magazine. He can be contacted on +64 9 414 6030, or rob@psychassess.co.nz

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