Ducks are laughing all the way to the banks to cash their checks.  Meanwhile serious minded business leaders are scratching their heads.

 

Two companies, both positioned to market commodity products in highly competitive industries, have realized significant revenue gains by deploying Neuro-marketing in their branding to achieve high name awareness, fan loyalty, premium pricing, and sustainable growth. In this short article, you will understand the basics of Neuro-marketing and how you can immediately make improvements to your branding.

 

Companies such as AFLAC (American Family and Life Assurance Company) and DuckBrand are using a duck as their mascot as part of their branding strategy.   In a recent reported article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), AFLAC saw their sales doubled in three years after the introduction of their duck in 2003.  Almost immediately their name recognition increased to 67%.  Brand awareness spending increased from $1 Million in 2003 to $65 Million today.  As a result, AFLAC is the personal insurance category leader in Japan with 25% market share representing 70% of their global $16.6 billion revenue. Not bad work for a duck!

 

We all heard of duct tape.  During World War II, The Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division introduced a military green tape to keep ammo boxes waterproof.  It was later nicknamed, “Duck Tape,” because it repelled water.  After the war the product morphed into a silver tape used in HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning).  Duct tape became a commodity product with no customer loyalty or premium pricing.

 

Fifteen years ago a duct tape manufacturer named DuckBrand engaged a Disney executive who understood  the magic in branding to convert a commodity into a branded product. Some of the key lessons learned were;

·         Have your product engage as many human senses as possible.

·        Develop a character that people will like and accept.

·         Develop a story for the product and an exclusive community to join. 

·         Make the experience a delight and exceed the customer’s expectations with attention to detail.  

 

Duct tape became Duck Tape and a cute duck mascot was adorned on all the packaging and marketing. Duck Tape was packaged to give the perception and tactile feel of higher quality while offering a practical use of stacking and storing.  Duck Tape became a new story that quickly gained a higher perceived value and increased market share.  No longer a commodity, Duck Tape drew a strong base of fans and most importantly, greater profits. As the fan base grew, DuckBrand  challenged their fans to use Duck Tape in new and innovative ways. A club was born.  Brand loyalty grew and fans adored the cute duck mascot.

 

What few people realize is the impact of neuro marketing.  Intuitively the Disney executive knew from experience that using the five human senses with a product will engage the customer on multiple levels of emotions, experiences, mental associations with past experiences and values, and the use of the child’s imagination that still lives within us all.

 

Traditional versus Neuro-marketing Research

 

In Martin Lindstrom’s book “Buyology”, the author explained that each year $12 Billion is spent on primary marketing research whilet 80% of new products fail. In traditional consumer research surveys, people responded to questions in writing.   Since consumers had little awareness and understanding of why they made the purchase, companies did not have the proper information to understand true buying behavior.

 

By studying people’s brain activity using MRI and other scanning devices, Mr. Lindstrom discovered that 85% of our brain runs on autopilot whereby most people are not aware of their emotions nor how they make decisions accordingly.

 

By using brain scanning devices it was discovered that different areas of the brain that were stimulated evoke different responses and behavior. Consequentially, if you want an accurate consumer response, then don’t believe what the person states, rather understand how their brain responds.

 

A brief view of Neuro-marketing

 

So let’s take a quick look at the brain and how it affects our behavior.

 

In simplistic terms there are three levels of the brain.  First, there’s the largest section called the frontal cortex