AdSchool Presentation

TBWA
WHY SCIENCE IS TAKING US OF ADVERTISING
“DUH” SCIENCE
HARNESSING THE POWER OF SCIENCE TO PROVE STUFF WE KIND OF KNEW
ALREADY
Tuesday, 15 April 14

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AGENDASTANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

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COMPANIES USED TO TRUST US AS GUARDIANS OF THEIR BRANDS

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WE ARE WIRED FOR SELF-DECEPTION
There’s always a difference between owner-run
businesses, where the decision maker is allowed to
be subjective...
...and shareholder owned businesses, where the
decision maker has to justify their decisions
The types of businesses who are able to take
leaps of irrationality achieve amazing success
MEET EARNST DICHTER THE FATHER OF MOTIVATIONAL RESEARCH
You don’t need to make your cars faster...
...if you make the spring under the accelerator
stronger, it will feel faster

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TODAY, THINGS HAVE CHANGED
Most CEOs believe we live in “marketing la-la-
land”

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BUSINESS IS ALL ABOUT THE SPREADSHEET
If something comes out of a
spreadsheet, it’s an easy
decision to defend
No one ever loses their job
for behaving “rationally”

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THE RISE OF SPREADSHEET THINKING
Business prioritises objective, rational, economic
value over psychological, intangible value
”Eurostar spent £6bn to make the journey time
slightly shorter. For a tiny fraction of that, they
could have installed free wifi and massively
improved peoples’experience”
- Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy

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ART VS SCIENCE
There’s the rational, logical stuff of
business...
...and then there’s the fluffy, creative,
intuitive stuff of advertising

We know there’s
more to
persuasion than
information and
logic...

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HUMAN DECISION-MAKING IS FAR FROM RATIONAL
Branded paracetamol reduces pain more effectively... ...than non-branded paracetamol

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OUR EXPERIENCE OF PRODUCTS IS FAR FROM RATIONAL
This tastes like
chocolate
So does this [even
when it’s vanilla with
food dye]

...but we’ve never
been able to
codify this stuff
We’re playing a
game without
really knowing
the rules

Enter neuroscience
The communications industry is flooded with
experts, each spruking their own take on
“neuromarketing”...
...and clients love it

But, beware
“neuro-bunk”
Even the scientists don’t really know
what’s going on yet
The amygdala - a part of the brain
that controls anger - is also
responsible for lust and attraction
The brain is too complex to find a
silver bullet for marketing
Source: Beware Neuro-Bunk, Molly Crocket, TED, 2012

So far, science
isn’t telling us
much that
Bernbach didn’t
know in the 50’s
It’s actually backing up what
we’ve always intuitively believed
is right...

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“They [scientists] have to prove the obvious — and prove it again and again
— to influence perceptions and policy.”
- Unknown member of the scientific community

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“They [scientists] have to prove the obvious — and prove it again and again
— to influence perceptions and policy.”
- Unknown member of the scientific community
This is what we need to do as marketers - influence the perceptions
and policy of the bean counters!

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THERE’S A LOT GOING ON IN OUR MINDS THAT WE’RE NOT AWARE OF
Freud popularised the
psychological distinction
between the conscious and
the unconscious minds nearly
a century ago...

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MOST OF THE BUSINESS OF LIFE HAPPENS QUITE UNCONSCIOUSLY
Conscious mind [5%]
Unconscious mind [95%]
Drives almost all behaviour

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WE LIVE IN A DELUSION
We think the conscious mind is everything
because it’s the voice in our heads

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WE CREATE BELIEVABLE STORIES TO RATIONALISE WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

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RESEARCH ASKS PEOPLE TO REVEAL INSIGHTS THEY THEMSELVES DON’T KNOW

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THIS IS WHERE THE OPPORTUNITY LIES FOR MARKETERS
“In each of us there is another
whom we don’t know”
- Carl Jung

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OUR MODERN SKULLS HOUSE STONE-AGE MINDS
3. Neocortex [the
rational mind]
The voice in our head
that weighs up options,
does calculations,
imagines outcomes...
1. Reptilian brain [the
physical brain]
Drives our strongest,
most basic instincts
and primal urges
2. Limbic system [the
emotional brain]
Controls our emotions
and memories
The brain is an inelegant series of adhoc
solutions heaped like ice cream scoops
over millions of years of evolutionary design
Our primitive brain and its workings hasn’t
disappeared. It continues to act as the
home of our unaware, emotional and
intuitive thought processes
The rational, thinking mind depends on
the primitive, unconscious, emotional
mind underneath

2. Limbic system [the
emotional brain]
Controls our emotions
and memories
Limbic system
assigns value to
things by
attaching
emotional tags -
this is how it
encodes and
recalls the value
of things
Hippocampus
Encodes the details
and facts of an
experience,
converting
information into
long term memory
Amygdala
Tags that event with a
specific emotion. It
imbues experiences
with emotions,
associating a feeling to
a thing or event

Our brain values
feelings more
than logicHippocampus
The hippocampus
recognises the
product as coke
from its shape,
colour, font and
classic logo...
Amygdala
...but it’s the amygdala
that tells you “I like
Coke” based on a
lifetime of memories
and emotions
associated with Coke

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DAMASIO’S DISCOVERY
Damasio recalls a patient that damaged the part of his brain
responsible for emotions...and became stuck in this endless loop
of indecision about everything [even something as simple as
which restaurant to go to]
“A brain that can’t feel can’t make up its mind”

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WHY SCIENCE IS TAKING US OF ADVERTISINGDUH
Emotions drive our decision-making
We make decisions primarily on emotions and then post- rationalise our decisions
Injecting emotion into brands makes them more memorable and meaningful

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DANIEL KAHNEMAN THERE ARE TWO MODES OF THOUGHT IN THE BRAIN

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Fast, instinctive, emotional,
unconscious thinking
SYSTEM 1

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SYSTEM 1
Slower, more
deliberate, reflective,
logical thinking
SYSTEM
2

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The emotional part of your
brain has a LOT more
bandwidth - always
perceiving, interpreting,
learning unconsciously...
...doesn’t provide a clear and
objective view of the world,
but rather works to edit, filter
and interpret it
SYSTEM 1
10,999,9960 BIT SYSTEM
2

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SYSTEM 1
10,999,9960 BIT
The logical part has less bandwidth
and takes more energy to use - we
avoid using it where possible
SYSTEM
2
40 BIT

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SYSTEM 1
10,999,9960 BIT SYSTEM
2
40 BIT
Filter, feel and act first with the
emotional, intuitive System 1...
...cross-check / post-rationalise
decisions afterwards with System 2
[if at all]

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SO BASICALLY...

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OUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE: OVERCOMING HOMER’S INDIFFERENCE
It’s System 1 that shapes and interprets
the way we perceive the world
If we want to reach people, it’s our
older, more primal, more emotional
nature we need to connect with

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EVOKE AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE
“Just
move me
dude” - Dan Weiden

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UNEARTH AND TAP INTO GENUINE TRUTHS AND TENSIONS
Cultural truth: beauty today is manufactured.
Dove believes in real beauty.
Cultural truth: facebook has given us
acquaintances not real friends

“STOP
INTERRUPTING
WHAT PEOPLE
ARE INTERESTED
IN AND BE WHAT
PEOPLE ARE
INTERESTED IN”
- LEE CLOW
BE PART OF WHAT INTERESTS PEOPLE

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WRITING ADS FOR SYSTEM 1
Samsung: Product, tech, features, specs,
specs and more specs
Apple: A story about peoples’ passion for
learning

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HOW PEOPLE CONSUME ADVERTISING

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HOW PEOPLE CONSUME ADVERTISING PROBABLY MORE LIKE THIS
Half-closed eyes
Half paying attention
Less-than-half-caring
System 1, not System 2
Sub-conscious, not conscious

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WRITING ADS FOR SYSTEM 1 IMPLICIT COMMUNICATION
Most advertising works on an implicit,
subconscious level
Ads create networks of associations in the
brain through visuals, sounds, symbols,
music, gestures, context and a host of other
things
[Designed for System 2]
[Designed for System 1]
Associations
Associations

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WRITING ADS FOR SYSTEM 1 SONY BRAVIA
Associations
Spectacular
Vivid colours
Mesmerising
Implicit out-take
Simply the best
Worth paying more for
Desire

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LIKE HOMER, WE FAVOUR THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE
Cognitively and behaviourally!

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HEURISTICS UNCONSCIOUS RULES OF THUMB
There’s always a difference between owner-run
businesses, where the decision maker is allowed to
be subjective...
...and shareholder owned businesses, where the
decision maker has to justify their decisions
The types of businesses who are able to take
leaps of irrationality achieve amazing success
A simple rule of thumb or algorithm that’s used to
perform complex operations
Fast, efficient and undemanding
Sometimes better than rationality
Contextual - determined by environment situation
Often operate beneath conscious awareness
Social and contagious
Have a disproportionate effect on everything
Perception
Value and costs
Decision making
Behaviour
^ To nail a high 5, watch the other guy’s elbow

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SYSTEM 1 HEURISTICS AND COGNITIVE BIASES

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FRAMING WE’RE INFLUENCED BY HOW THINGS ARE PRESENTED
Objective: Increase consumption by dispelling pork’s fatty reputation
Solution: Reframe it by tapping into a common heuristic - white meat
is lean meat
Source: Unconscious Branding

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PROCESS ENDOWMENT
Framing a task as one that’s already
started makes people more likely to
complete it
Carwash customers who received
pre-stamped cards were twice as
likely to buy the additional eight
Source: Decoded - The Science of Why We Buy

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CERTAINTY
The single best thing the London
Underground did in terms of
boosting satisfaction was
putting dot matrix displays on
the platforms
Psychologically, what makes a
wait annoying isn’t the duration but
the degree of uncertainty
Framing
Certainty
Immediacy
Loss aversion
Social norms
Tangibility
Source: Perception is Everything, Rory Sutherland TED

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IMMEDIACY
What if you could impulse save “in-the-moment”
like you spend?

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LOSS AVERSION
US energy company Opower ran two versions
of a campaign: save $200 vs lose $200...
...framing the value as a loss was much more
motivating [and successful] than framing it as
a gain

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SOCIAL NORMS WHEN IN DOUBT, COPY OTHER PEOPLE

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“Help save the environment, please recycle your towel” - 35% response

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“Most people recycle their towel” - 50% response

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“Most people recycle their towel” - 50% response
“Most people who stay in this hotel recycle their towel” - 75% response

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Why are people speeding?
Young guys
Why are young guys speeding on
our roads?
Because it’s socially acceptable
How do we make speeding socially
unacceptable for young guys?
Insult the masculinity of young
guys who speed

TBWA
WHY SCIENCE IS TAKING US OF ADVERTISINGDUH
Talk to the heart, not just the head
Base your thinking in powerful truths and tensions
Be part of what interests people
Recognise the power of implicit communication
Shift your focus from the explicit message to the out-take of the advertisement as a whole
Tap into the mental shortcuts [heuristics] that people unconsciously use in life

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WHY SCIENCE IS TAKING US OF ADVERTISINGOF COURSE, WE ALREADY KNEW THIS...BUT NOW WE’RE CLOSER TO PROVING IT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZCUkFDfe2Q

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