It has been said that brands are a psychological concept.
Marketers and advertisers understand that influencing perceptions of the products to build a brand, involves understanding the psychology of the target. Studying and understanding psychology shows that our individualities and distinct identities help to define what brands we gravitate to. The truth is that emotions are at the heart of our consumer choices. In deciding to buy a pair of shoes, we mostly think with our hearts and not with our feet! The success of a brand is hugely dependent on its ability to make a consumer feel good, or better; to want more of those feelings and to identify with the brand that causes them. Therefore, it must be acknowledged that human psychology is the thought behind brand conceptualization and consequently, the core of brand building. Developing a mental connection with the consumers is key to building a strong and successful brand.
The brand relies on the consumer to bring the conceptual thought to birth through acceptance, choice, perceptual and emotional buy in. Marketers therefore, rely on psychological concepts to understand the behavior behind consumer brand loyalty and to apply them to such a degree as to create a strong bond and attraction that draws and retains consumer attention, sales and loyalty. This demand-oriented perspective on the brand helps to keep the focus on the target – the consumer – without whom, there would be no brand. Therefore, when the question is asked, “Who owns the brand?” one can only ponder the following: who gives the brand life? Who sustains it? It is consumers who build brands.
A brand’s identity is built on consumer interaction. Successful brands recognize this and listen to their consumers. Due to an increasingly vibrant and dynamic social media, marketers have direct access to their consumers like never before. Understanding the human and behavioral psychology of this group is fundamental to the growth, sustenance and success of the brand.
The Theory of Reciprocity
The theory of reciprocity is hinged on the premise of give and take. In other words, mutual benefit. It speaks to the human need to give back when something nice is received. This is central to the concept of brand building and loyalty, facilitating stronger, lasting relationships with consumers.
Dr Robert B. Caldini, in his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (2007) mentions ‘Weapons of Influence’, methods regularly deployed by marketers to build brand relationships with consumers.
Free gifts with purchases and referrals are great ways marketers use reciprocity to build brand loyalty and emotional connection with consumers. The concept of BOGOF (buy one get one free) has become popular in marketing.
The Endowment Effect
The emotional connect between a consumer and a brand leads to a sense of ownership. More value is assigned to the brand as a result of this. In an experiment conducted by Richard Thaler, Daniel Kahneman, and Jack Knetsch at Cornell University in 1990, a group of students were given Cornell University coffee cups, which retailed at $6.00. A second group of students were given nothing.
The 2 groups of students were then asked to set prices for selling and prices they were willing to buy at. The students who had mugs were “unwilling to sell for less than $5.25,” while the group without mugs were “unwilling to pay more than $2.25-$2.75.”
In a campaign by Amazon, the company sent out an email to its Prime members asking them to watch a series of pilots in order to pick the next Amazon Original Series. Even though no prizes were given, the participants are sure to feel a sense of ownership and belonging, having been a part of the process. Thereby further strengthening their emotional connection to the brand.
An understanding of human psychology and behavior is important in building and sustaining brands. The knowledge of psychology is particularly useful in assessing the motivations behind human behavior and consumer choice.
“… Love is based on inspiration. We are inspired by brands for the same reason we’re inspired by the people we love, because they have principles and treat me like a human being who is intelligent and has feelings. They show empathy and bring joy to my life.”
– Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Creative Director, Badillo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi
References
Caldini, R.B. (2007) Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York. Harper Collins
Big Think (2012)Rethinking the Endowment Effect: How Ownership Affects Our Valuations https://bigthink.com/insights-of-genius/rethinking-the-endowment-effect-how-ownership-effects-our-valuations Accessed on 21 December 2018
Liz Froment (2015) Creating Ownership with the Endowment Effect Zembula https://www.zembula.com/blog/creating-ownership-endowment-effect/ Accessed on 21 December, 2018
hammersandflowers 
This blog truly captured my attention as it seeks to inform people about how brands are a psychological concept. I think it’s really cool how brands are really just psychological concepts because it’s not our first thought, our first thought is the amazing or sometimes not so amazing responses to brands.
Also in the UK we’re living in the age of individualism! The Theory of reciprocity is a cool theory since we are always seeking mutual benefit especially with brands. We always want to know what’s in it for us? When we go shopping, or when someone tries to sell you a store card. We want to know the benefits of investing in that brand and it the benefits aren’t good enough, we will be disloyal and choose other brands. It’s very logical.
Previous research has also found that not only do we feel a sense of belonging towards certain brands but we also have a story between the consumer & brand. Ultimately consumers can use brands as almost propose or anthropomorphic actors in stories that they report about, for themselves or others. It has been argued that drama enactments enable these storytellers to experience powerful myths that reflect psychological arechetypes. Story telling theory is pretty interesting, I’ve tried to sum it up as vividly as possible but it’s definitely something we should all have a read of as it is brands that are constantly telling us different stories, and we warm to the ones that we identify with the most.
Thank you very much for your blog.
Woodside, A. G., Sood, S., & Miller, K. E. (2008). When consumers and brands talk: Storytelling theory and research in psychology and marketing. Psychology & Marketing, 25(2), 97-145.
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