Red C’s shortcuts to brand choice

Marketing and Media Matters

It is surprising how often we test ads for brands that simply do not make it that easy for consumers to know which brand it is being advertised. The ads bear little resemblance to the brand that consumers know and unfortunately it is true to say that the money spent is often wasted as the communication does little to help build easier shortcuts to brand choice.

Being able to stand out has been a cornerstone of advertising impact since the practice was first established.  But equally as important is the need to make it easy for consumers to link the message quickly with the brand. If it is not, then the money spent is wasted because even if it is commutating a strong message, it is not linking that message to the brand behind it.

The importance of brand recognition as a key mental shortcut or heuristic to brand choice has been explored in many books, articles and papers in recent years. Behavioural economist Gerd Gigerenzer found that people rarely make decisions following detailed consideration, but instead make “fast and frugal” decisions to arrive at “good enough” choices.

Recalling brands in context: The availability mental shortcut is discussed in Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow. Mental availability is something marketers must measure carefully. If a brand is easily recalled in context, it becomes a good choice for consumers.

How do we know which choices are good enough? Not by careful comparison. Instead we use heuristics, or mental shortcuts. In 2003, Daniel Kahneman identified “baseline” heuristics involved in nearly every human decision. Of these, three baseline heuristics are particularly useful in explaining brand growth and the three are availability, affect and processing.

Read the full article in Marketing and Media Matters

Posted on March 18, 2019 .