Unconscious Branding

How Neuroscience can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing

St. Martin's Press

Contents

THE MYTH OF MARKETING

The rational mind is the humble servant, the intuitive mind the faithful gift. We have created a society that honors the servant, and has forgotten the gift. — Albert Einstein

IN THE SUMMER OF 1957 IN THE NEW YORK CITY SUBURB OF Fort Lee, New Jersey, a polio scare frightened residents away from public swimming pools. Wary of what might be lurking in the pools and looking for ways to escape the heat of the afternoon sun, they headed in droves to the air-conditioned comfort of the darkened Lee Theater to watch Picnic, starring William Holden and Kim Novak. Looming behind the scenes, market researcher James McDonald Vicary was conducting an unusual experiment, one that he hoped would be a boon to consumers and advertisers.

During the film, words were repeatedly flashed on the silver screen for 1/3,000th of a second, urging moviegoers to "eat popcorn" and suggesting they "drink Coca-Cola." Vicary contended that these "invisible commercials," which were shown so rapidly that viewers couldn't actually see them, allowed for more entertainment time and eliminated bothersome ads. He maintained that his innovation also saved advertisers the money and resources required to produce regular commercials. Over the course of six weeks 45,000 people visited the theater, and the results surprised even Vicary. Purchases of popcorn soared by an astonishing 57.5 percent and sales of Coca-Cola jumped an impressive 18.1 percent.

On September 16, 1957, Advertising Age unveiled Vicary's secret weapon of subliminal projection, reporting plans to extend the idea to television viewers. But the naïve market researcher was taken aback when the findings of his experiment ignited widespread public outrage and paranoia about ill-intentioned possibilities. The ensuing mass hysteria would later find him unlisting his phone number and shunning public appearances in fear for his life. That very same year also saw the introduction of Vance Packard's highly influential book The Hidden Persuaders. The book's central thesis was that we were being monitored and manipulated by marketers and advertisers without our conscious awareness. A year later, a government investigation by the CIA led to a ban on these subliminal cuts in the United States. The reports concluded that: "Certain individuals can at certain times and under certain circumstances be influenced to act abnormally without awareness of the influence." Fortunately, the public was now not only aware of the real dangers of subliminal advertising but could also rest assured knowing that laws were in place to protect them from corporate mind control. Except there was one problem: The experiment was a hoax. Vicary admitted to the fraudulence in a 1962 interview with Advertising Age, saying that the original market research study was "a gimmick" and indicating that the amount of data was "too small to be meaningful." But the damage had been done and the urban legend lived on. Even to this day some people remain concerned about hidden messages and images in ads. But embedding a phallic symbol in a cluster of foliage or a naked body in a pool of water is not really a good way to make anyone buy liquor, cigarettes, or anything else for that matter.

The word "subliminal" comes from the Latin roots "sub" meaning "below," and "limen" meaning "threshold," referring to perception that happens below the threshold of consciousness. And even though a failed and deceitful market research study over half a century ago had the entire nation barking up the wrong tree, we now know, with a certain ironic twist, a disturbing truth that has profound implications for both consumers and companies. Most of the business of life happens below the threshold of consciousness. And while we were so worried that others might be controlling our minds, what we really should be wondering about is whether we ourselves are ever in control.

THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

We are living a delusion. We think the conscious or rational mind is in control because it's the part of our mind that talks to us, the voice inside our heads as we silently read the words on this page. Because we believe that this part of our mind is running the show, we also believe that the conscious minds of consumers must similarly be driving behavior. For marketers, this leads to a false pretense that purchase behavior is a conscious choice, but, science shows, the exact opposite is true.

In 2008 startling evidence to support belief in the role of the unconscious in decision making was demonstrated in an experiment by a group of scientists led by John-Dylan Haynes from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. Using brain scans, these researchers were able to predict participants' decisions about seven seconds before the subjects had consciously made the decisions. As the researchers reported in Nature Neuroscience on April 13, 2008, "Many processes in the brain occur automatically and without involvement of our consciousness. This prevents our mind from being overloaded by simple routine tasks. But when it comes to decisions, we tend to assume they are made by our conscious mind. This is questioned by our current findings."

The decision studied was a simple choice of whether or not to push a button with one's left or right hand. Participants were free to make the decision whenever they wanted, but had to indicate at what point they made the decision in their mind. By observing micropatterns of brain activity, the researchers were able to predict the subjects' choices before they were "known" to the participants themselves. "Your decisions are strongly prepared by the brain activity. By the time consciousness kicks in, most of the work has already been done," says Haynes.

This unprecedented prediction of a free decision raises profound questions about the nature of free will and conscious choice. For decades marketers have been talking to themselves instead of speaking to the real desires and motivations of consumers. They have been rationalizing the effectiveness of the wrong marketing tools aimed at the wrong target and the wrong mind. It's not their fault. They were unconscious of their own delusion.

Think of the human mind as if it were an iceberg. Just the tip is visible, or "conscious," while the vast majority lies concealed from perception, or "unconscious." Most of our thoughts, beliefs, and even our decisions occur without our own awareness. Marketers need to go deeper to really understand the true nature of our behavioral causes. Fortunately, science is now plumbing these depths at a revolutionary pace and, in turn, illuminating mysteries that have long eluded us. Below the surface is where our intuitive, emotional, and...