To change the picture, shift the frame - Part 1

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This newsletter looks at reframing. Not big reframes that rock our world. Like Covid.

But the small ones. We don’t even realize it, but everything we read, hear, and watch reframes our thoughts.

In this edition, I look at how good marketers frame solutions, particularly focusing on positive and negative framing.

In the next newsletter, I look at how great marketers reframe entire industries and belief systems.

Home repair

When one spends more time at home than ever during a two-year lockdown, one starts noticing the need for repairs and upgrades. So, in 2021, we embarked on a “home improvement” agenda.

The porch needed repair. As we searched for a handyman, we learned of one who would do the job for Rs.30,000. My dad baulked at the cost but still asked the same handyman for a quote, fully intending not to give him the job. To his surprise, the handyman quoted Rs.18,000. All misgivings evaporated, and my dad hired him on the spot!

This is framing bias, “our decisions are influenced by the way information is presented to us”. The actual quote, when compared to the ‘frame’ of 30,000, seemed like a steal.

Framing is an unconscious bias

Our brain is wired to speed up decisions and make them as energy efficient as possible. For this, our brain relies on heuristics or shortcuts. These short cuts lead to unconscious biases.

Framing is one such bias. It simply means that the way information is presented changes the way we take decisions.

Melissa Raffoni writes in an HBR article,?“What exactly does it mean to “frame” or “reframe” an issue? Think about the metaphor behind the concept. A frame focuses attention on the painting it surrounds. Different frames draw out different aspects of the work. Putting a painting in a red frame brings out the red in the work; putting the same painting in a blue frame brings out the blue. How someone frames an issue influences how others see it and focus their attention on particular aspects of it. Framing is the essence of targeting communication to a specific audience”.

Positive Vs negative framing

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky have developed the prospect theory - we feel the pain of a loss more than the joy from a gain. That’s why we pick options that help us avoid loss over options that give us gain. So when something is framed to make us believe it can bring either gain or loss, we instantly pick the option that will help us avoid loss.

Kahneman and Amos set up this experiment to prove our bias against loss. The test subjects were insurance professionals, who had to minimize loss on three insured barges, each worth $200k.

Case 01 -One group of insurance professionals was given two plan options.

• Plan A:?will save the cargo of one of the three barges worth $200,000.
• Plan B:?one-third probability of saving the cargo on all three barges worth $600,000, but a two-thirds probability of saving nothing.

71% chose the less risky framed plan A over the higher but probable gain from plan B.

Case 02 -A second group was given two different options.

• Plan C:?will result in the loss of two of the three cargoes, worth $400,000.
• Plan D:?This plan has a two-thirds probability of resulting in the loss of all three cargoes but has a one-third probability of saving all the cargo of the entire $600,000.

You will notice that both options are the same as the first case (Plan A=Plan C and Plan B=Plan D) but framed differently. But this time, 80% chose Plan D because Plan C was framed as a probable loss, while Plan D was framed as a probable gain!

This was numbers and probabilities. Kahneman and Amos also proved that we also move towards positive words and emotions and away from negative ones. They ran another experiment, this one to test different ways to get operation sign ups.

Option 1: Out of 100 patients who had this operation, 90 are still alive even after five years.

OR

Option 2: Out of 100 patients who had this operation, 10 were dead before the end of five years.

Only people who were presented with option 1 chose to have the operation, even though both options mean exactly the same thing.

This is why we prefer a ‘75% fat-free’ product to the ‘with 25% fat’ product, even though both are the same.

When we start to look, we see example of framing all around.

Real estate: Real estate listings are masters at framing. A ‘charming’ house is often small. ‘Vintage style’ often means the decor has not been updated since the 1950s. And a house that has ‘character’ definitely has peculiar design features!

Gain framing encourages people to adopt and stick with behaviours. This is also very useful when the benefits of the new behavior are not immediately apparent and the consumer has to be encouraged to stick with new habits for some time, such as hand washing, brushing twice daily, eating healthy, or exercising more often.

Fixing dates: How often have we said a person has a ‘great personality’ when they are not that good-looking when trying to fix two people up?

Let’s look at some brands using framing bias.

Sensodyne

Sensodyne used a positive frame of “9 out of 10 dentists recommend it”.

“Only 1 out of 10 dentists do not recommend it” would have sounded self-defeatist.

Ford

This example from Ford frames the fuel economy benefit positively.

McDonald’s

I really liked this example of starting with a gain framing and then closing the deal with a 91% fat-free claim.

Loss framing can be used to get people to stop certain behaviours by showing what they stand to lose by not complying.

Public service announcements generally follow this strategy. For instance, this example below of ‘Dumb Ways to Die”.

Dumb Ways to Die

This is a refreshing way to get people to stop crossing railroad tracks while staying true to the idea of loss framing.

Finally, 'how' over 'what'

If we have ever been told that “it’s not so much what you say, it’s how you say it that bothers me”?

People want us to frame our message in positive terms.

Stay safe and stay tuned for the next edition of Framing Part II.

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