Persuading America

I thought that The Persuaders film was very interesting in a marketing aspect as it captures all the “mind games” that marketing plays on consumers. I especially liked the quote at the beginning, “Am I in a pinball machine?” because that is how many people feel in this growing world of advertising. I was in New York City just last summer and I was so overwhelmed by all the billboards, music, and lights in Times Square. However, one of the points they made in the film was that you cannot stop or the competition will eat you alive. If you even back down from the mega-marketing you will not survive against all the other businesses trying to create more and more gimmicks and new ideas for advertising.

Dr. Rapaille is an outrageous marketing guru who Fortune 500 companies flock to for his sharp three-stage method. These businesses will spend millions just to hear his thoughts and ideas and use his services year after year. His three-stage method involves a focus group psychic process. The three stages include:
1) The “Cortex”, 2) Emotion, 3) Primal Core.

The first stage, The “Cortex” starts with the rational aspect of the participant’s past experiences. In the film he asked participants to think of words that describe luxury. They quickly shout out words such as money, expensive, reliable, while Dr. Rapaille writes them down on a poster. He asks a few other easy questions which all of the participants answer bluntly. By this point, everyone is feeling confident with how well they could answer all of the his questions.

The participants come back into the room after a short break to start the second stage of the process, Emotion. This stage involves a more creative, storytelling portion targeted at the limbic brain. Dr. Rapaille asks participants to tell a story as if they were explaining it to a five year old from another planet. This is a little more difficult for the participants because they want to sound intelligent and knowledgeable but in order for a five year old to understand them, they must use basic words. I thought this stage was interesting because many of the Fortune 500 executives found it hard to not use an extensive vocabulary when describing a story.

After one more break, the participants convene back into the room only to find no chairs this time, only cushions and pillows. The third and final stage is the Primal Core, or as Dr. Rapaille calls it, The Reptilian Heart Button. Participants lie down on the cushions with dim light in the room so they can relax as they are asked to recall their earliest memories. He asks them to remember their very first experience with things such as coffee or cars. This stage is the most important for Dr. Rapaille as it “allows him to tap into what he calls the ‘lizard brain,’ a center of primal impulses, needs and memories that he calls ‘imprints.’” He explains that many people relay the word coffee back to the memories of their mother brewing coffee in the mornings. This last stage explains how “coffee” is the mental code or highway to “mother.” Overall, this final stage is so critical as it truly shows us, marketers, what consumers really want in products or services. When it comes to decision-making, we may offer excuses from the cortex, "I want a car with great safety features", but what really motivates us are the primitive emotions of the lizard brain "I want a car that makes me feel free and strong".

I love the idea that Song airlines is trying to create with their new airline. I think it is something no other airline has tapped into and is one that needs to be targeted- women! However, I also can see why they are struggling because women who are flying most of the time are doing so with their husbands and most husbands would rather fly with their loyalty miles or on another reputable airline. The target of women flying by themselves or with other women is just so few that it may be difficult to get Song airline up and going. While I do love their overall appearance and ideas, today’s economy may not be the best time for them to get going on such a new idea. Even their top competitor, JetBlue has been struggling lately as people are not flying as much as they used to and the ones who are, are using their loyalty miles or going for the overall cheapest fare. I would love to fly Song, it seems so enjoyable but after this film and researching them a little, it does not look like they will stay afloat much longer.

Kenna's Dilemma is everyone's dilemma

I thought this chapter, “Kenna’s Dilemma: The Right and Wrong Way to Ask People What They Want” was completely accurate in describing the decision making process. This chapter focuses on how judgment is made within people’s minds. Now, not too scientifically of course, we are not in a biology class but it really captures people’s thought process when they need to make a decision- easy, hard, critical, or basic. Just last week in my marketing research class, we performed a blind taste test between Coca-Cola and Pepsi using five students in the class. Exactly as it was mentioned in this chapter, four out of the five students chose the Pepsi over the Coca-Cola after their “sips”as their favorite. However, before they even tasted each soft drink, our professor asked which one they preferred if they were to purchase one over the other at say, a grocery store. All five students said that they are Coca-Cola drinkers, more so than Pepsi. So why did four out of the five choose the Pepsi instead of their obvious favorite? After much discussion, it came down to that with only a few sips, Pepsi is sweeter and tastes better, but if drinking a whole can or bottle Coca-Cola would be the favorite choice most of the time. Now, in class we did not extend our discussion to the various flavors that you must take into account with a whole can/bottle versus sips but it proved exactly what the article proves. You must take into account a few sips, or a whole can of a product.

Malcom Gladwell also goes on to say how different the results may be if you do a test in a normal environment setting versus a laboratory focus group setting. This is an especially critical lesson that marketers, specifically those in research should acknowledge. Last year, I did several marketing studies in the marketing research labs on campus. They ranged from watching videos to picking out product packages but because I was in a computer lab with huge headphones and wooden walls all around me like a cubicle, I immediately felt like a science rat. I felt like I needed to pick the exact package they were wanting me to pick, or listen for a particular noise in the video, all the while I’m not in an actual setting where I could actually choose more accurately. I feel these tests would be much more correct if they were to just come into a random classroom or even stop by students’ dorm rooms to conduct the marketing studies. By performing studies so uptight and out of a natural setting, your results will ultimately be skewed. Procter and Gamble have mock grocery stores that look identical to the real thing so that consumers (research participants) can come in and purchase items while researchers can observe and then ask questions at the end about why they chose one product over another. With this natural setting of a real grocery store, these researchers are able to obtain accurate results on how most people really do shop for products.

One of the other lessons that Malcom Gladwell talked about in this chapter, and is my favorite is the decision process with packaging. Consumers may spend over five minutes trying to choose a product based solely on the package appearance. I thought the study that was performed on the margarine compared with the butter was hilarious but also really opened my eyes to how much people rely on packaging and rarely the taste itself. Today, many people do not even know there is a difference between butter and margarine, let alone believe that margarine is colored and even packaged like butter because of marketing. However, this is probably one of thousands of products that must be packaged like its competitor to increase sales and overall likeness among consumers. What I think is even more interesting is how product packaging changes over the years within product categories. For example, packaging on power bars five years ago were bright and colorful with big block letters but today they have neutral colors with a mountain scene in the background. My thought for this is because of the growing trend for natural ingredients and healthy choices but overall the ingredients have not changed one bit. However, when showing the five year old bright box compared to the earthy natural box to consumers today most would probably choose today’s box. This is just another lesson that marketers must remember to gain insights on their target market. Packaging is not just important for kids or impulse shoppers but even those consumers who they think know all about a particular product.