Brand Recall And The Mind

Jack TroutJuly 11, 20091 min

Pure logic is no guarantee of a winning argument. Minds tend to be both emotional and rational. Why do people buy what they buy? Why do people act the way they do in the marketplace?

When you ask people why they make a particular purchase, the responses they give are often not very accurate or useful. That may mean they really do know, but they are reluctant to tell you the right reason. More often, they really don’t know precisely what their own motives are.

For when it comes to recall, minds tend to remember things that no longer exist. That’s why recognition of a well-established brand often stays high over a long period, even if advertising support is dropped. It’s all about the power of being first. In the mid-1980s, an awareness study was conducted on blenders. Consumers were asked to recall all the brand names they could. General Electric came out number two—even though General Electric hadn’t made a blender for 20 years.

The Blake Project Can Help: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

Jack Trout

One comment

  • Andrew Sabatier

    July 11, 2009 at 11:30 am

    Pure logic is not an option.

    There is personal logic, socially agreed upon logic and ideal logic. Personal and social logic are the only types of logic available to people in reality. Ideal logic is unrealisable in the world and therefore of no value in the world.

    People have feelings and thoughts. People are able to express their feelings and thoughts and as a result experience emotional and intellectual relationships.

    Rationality is an interpretation of the ability to recognise and trade in formal socially agreed upon relationships, such as an appreciation of the physics that make blenders possible, and available to large social groups.

    Blenders improve the quality of (and make possible) a range of food experiences. As food is fundamental to sensation, blenders enable a range of feelings that can be expressed and socialised. This gives blenders social value.

    With such a rich variety of human experience made available by a home appliance such as a blender it should be no surprise that the manufacturers of these products find purchase in the minds and hearts of people.

    The first to market with branded products and services that have a dramatic effect on the quality of people’s lives have the most social impact and on this basis are most readily shared and recalled.

    A.

Comments are closed.

Connect With Us