System 1 Weight Management

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How consumer psychology and marketing strategy helped me lose – and keep off – 20 pounds

42% of Americans say they’ve gained weight during COVID, with 1 in 7 saying they’ve packed on 10 pounds or more – yet nearly half also say diets have not been successful for them. If you’re one of those who struggle with managing and maintaining your weight, consider these “System 1”-inspired strategies.

Differentiate or Disappear

The only way to escape the "competitive herd" and grow is to differentiate, yet many clients struggle to create unique ideas that people actually want.

Here are 3 suggestions to ensure your innovation doesn't disappear in the crowd:

1. Define your category and brand "schemas" – then shatter them.

The brain is designed not to think; it uses cognitive schemas, or mental models of the nature of things and how they work, to process information efficiently. Start by defining what you're differentiating from. Make a list of all of the widely held characteristics of your category and brand – physical aspects of the product and package, its benefits, RTBs, uses, usage occasions, regimen, typical target or user, and more. Then, systematically consider how you might deviate from the norm on every element. You can assess progress with ACUPOLL's New & Different normative ratings, and use ACUTEXT™ highlighting on concepts to see what respondents feel is unique. While some changes might cost you a little appeal, it can be worth it to ensure customers choose your brand over competitors.

2.  Define your competitive frame and emphasize crucial Points of Difference (PODs), while providing reassurance on Points of Parity (POPs).

POPs are price-of-entry benefits for the category (e.g. all laundry detergents need to promise clean clothes); if you don’t include these in a concept, it can limit interest. Leading brands often try to become known as the ‘category prototype’ on these core benefits. But as shown in ACUPOLL Efficacy Statement ratings, PODs are more likely to increase competitive advantage ­– which can increase Purchase Probability as well. Yet, it's important to define your competitive frame too, as POPs and PODs can change or even flip flop depending on your competitive focus, such as for SunnyD juice drink, where Taste and Vitamin C reverse positions depending on the competitive frame.

 

 

Here's another example:  ACUPOLL Live™ qual-quant sessions provide more confident evaluation and decisions than qual alone, and more insightful probing and learning capacity than traditional online surveys.

3.  Consider "saying no where other brands say yes, and yes where others say no."

According to Harvard Business School Professor Youngme Moon, PODs can also derive from taking away benefits or features, even if they are rated important. In these cases, the competitive herd is often slow to follow; they can't imagine taking away a core benefit. For instance, Ikea "says no" to furniture store traditions by offering only one style of furniture, no assembly, and no salespeople, but "says yes" to lower prices, child care, and other new benefits. Offering less not only helps them stand out; in their case, it drives superior value. Twitter limits their posts to 140 characters, not because they couldn’t support more, but because it sets them apart, and changes the nature of user interactions.

No matter how you tackle the challenge, don’t rest until you find a meaningful difference, so that your initiatives don't disappear in the crowd, in the mind of the consumer, and – ultimately – from your sales forecasts.

12 Ways To Boost Perceived Value Without Sacrificing Profit

Recession. A jobless recovery. Consumer fears stoked with every bank announcement.  No matter how much you spend in marketing, the news networks will out-GRP your glitziest appeals to spend with recommendations to consumers to belt-tighten. So how do you position your brand to “win” with cost-conscious consumers, without lowering your price?  

Leonora Polonsky, former Manager, Global Marketing Knowledge & Innovation at Procter
& Gamble, conducted a multi-industry global study that identified 10 ways to increase perceived value (we’ve supplied two more ways, plus additional examples in many areas):
 

Plus two more from our experience and our Success Avenues™ database:

1. Make Money No Object – Elevate your message to a higher-level benefit where price doesn’t matter. Examples include Michelin: “there’s a lot riding on your tires” (commercial with baby on board, drove 7% annual growth) or DeBeers: “A diamond is forever” (making diamonds a small investment for a lifetime relationship).

2. Change the Unit of Measure – Equate the cost of your product to a more palatable equivalent, such as the iMac launch that claimed it costs less than $30/month to own (“about the price of 3 pizzas”) or a South American Fiat leasing offer for only $6 “or 3 beers a day.”

3. Use Price to Signal Quality – Rather than ignoring your premium pricing, embrace it.  Alpen in the U.K. advertising attributed its (high) price point to higher-quality ingredients … catapulting its value impression and driving sales growth of 30%. Stella Artois is “reassuringly expensive.” The iconic “pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?” ad is another example of not hiding from your premium position.

4. Change the Competitive Reference – Compare to a more expensive ‘gold standard’ product or service, often in an alternative channel. This is a P&G favorite tactic lately, including Crest Whitestrips comparison to whitening treatments by dentists, and Olay’s series of claims versus department store skin care brands, prescription dermatology remedies, or as an alternative to plastic surgery. DiGiorno got into the act with “delivery quality” pizza. Note: parity claims are fine if the competitor is higher price or perceived quality.

5. Showcase Extra Mileage – Demonstrate your product’s superior duration, such as a paper towel that absorbs more than many sheets from a competitor, or (as our President suffered from first-hand!), Imodium’s claim to work with one dose instead of 6 spoons of the “pink stuff” (Pepto-Bismol).

6. Encourage Indulgence – Give consumers an emotional reason to indulge, the classic one being “L’Oréal, because I’m worth it.” Another example is McDonald’s “You deserve a break today,” though they have more specific value menu messages available to them now.

7. Highlight Others’ Tradeoffs – Communicate added benefits, such as Clusivol Vitamins in the Philippines, which you should take because “getting sick costs more”; and a laundry detergent in Brazil that simplifies the laundry routine versus current practices, giving consumers more free time.

8. Minimize Perceived Risk – Warranties and guarantees are standard tactics in this area, such as the Old Spice “Prove It” guarantee. Working with a client in the identity protection space, we’ve marveled at LifeLock’s CEO, who brazenly includes his real social security number in the company’s ads and guarantees identity protection.

9. Create New Language to Elevate Worth – Oftentimes this leverages a “standard of excellence,” such as on Olay Daily “Facials” or “Gourmet” Popping Corn. One of our favorite examples: “SlowChurned” ice cream, healthy + yum!

10. Line Extend with Lower Price Variants – This is a P&G innovation strategy to stratify product lines based on pricing, such as Bounty Basic. Do so carefully, as there are several important risks to manage, plus it might open an “Achilles heel” for the brand … which thus far P&G’s competitors haven’t yet exploited.

11. Leverage Contagious Consumer Loyalty – Genuine, intense loyalty can be incredibly persuasive and improve value. For example, the “Swaps” campaign (“we’ll give you two of brand X for your brand Y”), while flat-footed, succeeded across numerous categories and geographies. Other examples include “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” (which consumers can’t resist doing) to “I’d walk a mile for a Camel” (in the 1920s). 

12. Align with a Higher Purpose – More than cause marketing, this is a genuine, all-encompassing commitment to an issue of supreme importance to target consumers, such as Aveda’s environmental commitment or Stonyfield Farm’s and Honest Tea’s strict commitments to food purity and social responsibility standards. The more brands there are on the bandwagon, the less distinctive and impactful the cause may be (though it still could be a “price of entry” for consideration with some consumers). 

Some of these are strategic equity builders that can drive a brand for years, others are more tactical and are best combined with stronger strategic positioning elements.

You can review Leonora’s presentation to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, including TV commercial and in-store P.O.P. examples, here; or contact us for an introduction.

Brands Through the Eyes of an "Outlaw" (and Other Archetypes)

Brands are finding the need to partner more than ever, from co-brands like Crest+Scope, to co-locations like Starbucks inside Target stores or Dunkin’ Donuts inside gas stations, to brand sponsorships like branded NASCAR vehicles, and even movie and media integrations like Coke and American Idol. But just because brand demos or even equity attributes line up doesn’t make you the perfect mates; the brand personas can still mix like oil and water (i.e. Crisco and Aquafina). That’s why ACUPOLL developed a new technique to better understand brand archetypes.
 

Archetypes

Archetypes themselves are nothing new. They are as deeply rooted in the gods of ancient Greece as they are personified in the characters of Star Wars. What makes archetypes useful for brands is that they are universal in nature and begin to form the foundation that can inspire design and messaging strategy. And, when used correctly and consistently, they can serve as the deepest connection between a brand’s soul and its consumers.

The book The Hero and The Outlaw, by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, defines the twelve universal Archetypes: Hero, Outlaw, Caregiver, Innocent, Ruler, Sage, Explorer, Regular Guy, Lover, Magician, Creator, and Jester.

Coke, for instance, is an Innocent and is an excellent example of an iconic brand that has stayed true to an archetype (intentional or not). Innocent brands are associated with goodness, morality, simplicity, nostalgia, or childhood. They represent a desire for purity and a longing for paradise. You can see the underlying Innocent persona in Coca-Cola’s communications, from “Teaching the World to Sing” to the Coca-Cola Polar Bears. 

Some other notable brands that stay true to one of the twelve Archetypes are Nike (Hero), Harley-Davidson (Outlaw), Jeep (Explorer), Bud Light (Jester), and American Express (Ruler).

So the question becomes: “How can archetypes be applied to help solve the problems of brand “fit” and “activation”? 

Fit

Knowing the archetype of the brand and the potential partner will allow you to easily identify the strongest match. For instance, Nike and the NFL are both “Hero” brands and, thus, collaborating is mutually beneficial and serves to elevate both brands.

But this partnership doesn’t work simply because they have the same archetype. Success is the result of the way in which Nike’s NFL sponsorship is communicated. Nike personifies the kind of Hero that another Hero would expect.

Despite different archetypes, any brand partnership is a potential sponsorship fit with the right communication strategy. This less obvious alignment is best illustrated by Nike’s long attempt to sponsor skateboarding. For years, their sponsorship was considered a failure in this “Outlaw” sport. Nike portrayed itself as the Hero to an audience that disdained the notion of the traditional Hero. Success did not come until Nike decided to unearth what a Hero might look like through the eyes of an Outlaw.

Activation

Once brands and partnership opportunities are aligned, and the strategy of “what” to communicate is determined, the archetype of the consumer can tell you where and how to say it. By segmenting the partner brand by degree of “fandom” (such as hardcore, casual, light, and non), a brand can properly leverage and activate a partnership and maximize ROI.

In this example, the NFL may try to create a Hero brand for itself. It does a good job as its core audience perceives it as a Hero. But not all brand communication takes place on Sunday afternoons in the fall. To fully integrate and activate the sponsorship within a brand’s total marketing strategy, you need to find the best way to incorporate the sponsorship among more than devotees of the sport.

Listed below are some hypothetical examples of how different levels of fans might see themselves:

• Hardcore

  Jester

  Hero

• Casual

  Sage

  Hero

• Occasional

  Caregiver

  Magician

• Non

  Lover

  Outlaw

Here are four possible activation strategies for the above NFL sponsorship:

1. Hardcore – Fun activities for fans (Jester) when their team scores (Hero) at the game

2. Casual – Contests to guess (Sage) this week’s MVP (Hero) during Pre-game show

3. Occasional – Philanthropic effort (Caregiver) that changes lives (Magician) during the broadcast

4. Non – Romantic trip (Lover) to the NFL city of your choice (Outlaw) sweepstakes for the fan and their “football widow”

Valentine’s Day

To illustrate, think of Valentine’s Day. Each February comes and goes, and leaves many scratching their heads in wonderment as to why an expression of love may have missed the mark. The Explorer is baffled when his weekend kayaking trip goes unappreciated by his Caregiver wife. The Regular Guy, thinking they were in agreement that this is a corporate holiday, is dismayed to learn that his Lover girlfriend was expecting to be swept off her feet. What they have in common is giving a gift that their own personal Archetype sees as the ideal expression of Love, but that their wives and girlfriends feel miss the mark.

This is not that different from what brands go through when a brand partnership fails to drive sales. Understanding and using archetypes can help everyone see through the eyes of their “target” and improve the odds of success. Brand partnerships can be successfully tested among target consumers and current users, and you can understand patterns and validate the selection of a partnership and how it is likely to make, or undermine, a brand. Relying on your gut, the old “that’s how we’ve always done it,” and the sponsorship salesman may get your logo on a fast car, but may do nothing to drive sales. Test it. Validate it. Then, leverage it among your consumers.

Anatomy of an Effective Marketing Message: 3 Key Concept Components to Capture the Minds or Hearts of Your Customers

Here’s a novel business plan: Develop a great product or service. Leverage technology, lower costs, and offer great value. Then, just when you have something that customers relish, do what many good businesses do: describe it in a way that sounds like everything else, or even worse… don’t offer a message at all. Sound crazy? Well, many of the businesses we see miss one or more of the 3 key elements that make a marketing message effective.

 

 

The company’s management would be appalled, but it’s their fault their salesman didn’t know what to say; every ad for the past six months said “Sale” without any other marketing message or reason to buy.

An effective marketing message (or “positioning” in marketing parlance) connects with the needs, minds, and hearts of customers to make certain that products or services are appealing and distinctive. If you haven’t defined your message, or if it’s generic, like “Service, Quality, and Value since 1959” or “Everything in Construction Products,” you’re missing an opportunity to own an important benefit to customers that can help drive revenues.

 

 

First, let’s explore Insights, which are critical for effective marketing. After all, if you don’t know who you are targeting and what they want, how can you identify a message that really moves them? Focus groups, surveys, or simply asking customers or friends (if that’s all you can afford), helps you understand customer attitudes, to prioritize their needs and to optimize your ideas.

One example of a good Insight is the Scope “morning breath” commercial, which was built on the insight that users’ worst breath of the day is when they first wake up. Another good example is Lowe’s Home Improvement, which discovered that consumers view their homes as vehicles for expressing themselves and living out their aspirations.

Good Insights:

1. Help you connect with customers’ most important problems or motivations.

2. Suggest a fairly specific benefit (for example, “eliminates morning mouth,” rather than the more generic “fights bad breath” message).

 

Second, but most important: the Benefit. If you only communicate one idea, it ought to be your product’s or service’s main benefit. People buy benefits. It’s not enough to “break through” or “get noticed”; grabbing attention is useless unless the benefit is appealing. Your benefit also generally needs to focus on a specific aspect of performance, service, or value to be seen as distinctive.

One example of a unique and appealing benefit is exemplified by Secret’s original slogan, “Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman,” which carried a struggling brand to market leadership. Accenture similarly zeroed-in on one specific benefit (of many that their company offers): “Whether it’s your idea or Accenture’s, we’ll help you turn innovation into results.” Benefits can be rational like these or emotional like AXE men’s fragrance, which promises to young men that it’ll help them attract buxom beauties.

Finally, the reason-to-believe provides extra rationale to help close the sale. For products, it may be performance details (e.g. time-released), test results (e.g. J.D. Power surveys), an explanation of how the product works (e.g. Pepto-Bismol’s coating action), or an endorsement of some kind. Service firms often convince customers of their benefit via a combination of their client list, size and experience, previous results, a unique process, and/or testimonials. Good reasons-to-believe directly support the specific benefit and should be distinctive as well.

If this doesn’t sound like rocket science, it’s because it’s not; most intelligent, articulate business managers have the capability to create a message that’s at least somewhat effective. However, too many either don’t bother or skip the research and neglect one or more of the key elements.

Your likelihood of developing an exceptionally effective message increases by engaging with someone via proven positioning results, a research-driven approach, and the discipline to focus on core ideas without jumping at the first catchy ad execution.

Your company’s sales and marketing message provides customers with their first impression of your product or service and defines the enduring basis for their purchasing decision. It’s certainly worth the time and effort to get the 3 strategic components right.