Business: Let That Thought Sink In

 

"The Power of Instinct

By Leslie Zane

PublicAffairs, 272 pages, $30

Would you rather buy a bottle of store-brand aspirin or a slightly more expensive bottle from a popular name brand? The active ingredients are the same; often it's the brand name's marketing efforts that play the deciding role.

Our susceptibility to marketing can be further heightened the less we know about a product. Pharmacists, who are better informed about the contents of drugs, are more likely to buy store brands. Similarly, professional chefs are more likely to purchase store-brand flour.

In "The Power of Instinct," Leslie Zane, the founder of a brand-consulting firm, tells us that marketing success "does not come from actual or tangible superiority" of a product but "from perceived superiority." 

Her premise is that "research, data, facts, and figures" have little influence over decisions; instead, marketers should focus on "positive associations" and create a brand that feels "familiar." 

Think red-and-white dairy barns on shredded cheese packages or a snowcapped mountain on water bottles.

 "Whole industries," she points out, "are built on fantasy."

Humor can also be useful, but should be "connected to the benefit you're providing" or "highlight a contrast between you and your competitors." By "incorporating metaphors in your messaging," Ms. Zane offers, "you can bombard your audience with positive associations."

All useful advice for the marketing executive. Policymakers, customers and businesses, meanwhile, should also think about the broader societal implications of marketing. It can help people discover new products and rediscover old ones; increase vaccination rates and improve voter turnout. But it has also contributed to cigarette addiction and the opioid epidemic. And it can help "overwhelm negative associations." When a Nike supplier was found to be "using forced labor," Ms. Zane reminds us, the news "seemed to go fairly unnoticed" as a result of the company's "positive brand associations." Good for Nike, I guess.

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Mr. Luca is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and the co-author of "The Power of Experiments."" [1]

1. REVIEW --- Books -- Shortcuts: Business: Let That Thought Sink In. Luca, Michael.   Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 22 June 2024: C.12.