Disruption Diaries - Red Alert

We live in an ad-inundated world and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to capture attention. Christmas was not (too) long ago and we were spoilt with expensively produced ads whose purpose was to entertain and pull on our heartstrings. But emotionally tugging ads are now available all year round. To avoid producing a campaign that becomes another haystack on a pile of haystacks, we need to produce ads that can compete in a sweltering emotional climate. This article proposes that injecting a little red may increase your ad’s ability to cut through the noise and subconsciously penetrate.

Thinking with our feelings

Nobel prize-winner Daniel Kahneman delineates two core modes of thinking; System 1 and System 2. System 1 thinking is subconscious. It’s automatic and driven by instinct and emotions; it’s our ‘gut instinct’. It allows us to make decisions quickly. System 2 thinking is conscious. System 2 is rational and logical, and is what we use when we’re tackling maths equations. System 2 thinking requires more cognitive effort than System 1 to make decisions. We may like to think most of our decisions are made after careful and deliberate consideration (System 2), but most are in fact driven by System 1’s intuitive emotional biases.

Because System 1 thinking can process more stimuli at a faster pace than System 2, and because System 1 is always alert, it likely decides which ads consumers pay attention to; and therefore which brands they buy. System 1 ingests and responds to emotional stimuli, so including emotional content in an ad will likely capture its all-important attention. An example is the Cadbury gorilla advert. Despite listing no product benefits and only showing the brand at the end, the ad was highly successful (increasing sales by 10%). It featured an irrational, ‘out-there’ situation that we hadn’t seen before. The ad caught the attention of our System 1 thinking; amusing and entertaining us. We internalised the advert and, therefore, the brand. When buying chocolate, an emotionally-led, automatic impulse made us buy Cadbury. Because brands want their product or service to be the obvious choice, they need to create ads that effectively lodge their brand into consumers’ System 1 processing.

Nowadays, it is more difficult to earn System 1’s attention as so many advertisers are competing for it.

Red and sex

Unlike the many speculative colour psychology articles populating the internet (usually along the lines of “Green means growth and relaxation, red means fiery and passionate”), my hypothesis that red could aid ad ingestion is based on empirical research.

Red is the only colour shown to carry biologically-rooted colour associations. In evolutionary contexts, we are predisposed to have automatic, subconscious reactions to red. Each month when a woman starts ovulating, oestrogen increases blood flow to the face, chest, and genitalia. She wears less clothes and is more sexually aroused. It is, therefore, an evolutionary advantage for men to approach females with red colouring as they are likely highly fertile and more sexually receptive. A host of modern studies support this notion. For example, researchers at the University of Rochester found, across five experiments, women wearing red or pictured against a red background were rated as significantly more sexually desirable by men. Men likely have a subconscious, red-detecting apparatus that is constantly scanning the environment for red cues on females.

Vice versa, the same effect is found for women viewing men. Men of high status and peak physical fitness have more testosterone. The testosterone increases blood flow to the skin, and women are likely predisposed to pay attention to men with redder skin. Across seven experiments, researchers at the University of Rochester and the University of Munich concluded that women were significantly more sexually attracted to men wearing red or pictured against a red background.

Society’s association between red and sex complements biological predispositions. Red light districts exist all across the world and are the most tenacious link between red and sex. In the West, red lipstick, red lingerie, red roses, and red during Valentine’s reflect societal associations between red and sex. The red “Power” tie, which both Trump and Obama wore while inaugurated, reflect associations between red and status. In East Asia, red means good luck and brides wear red on their wedding day.

However, the red effect has been demonstrated to exist within cultures that don’t have romantic associations with the colour. Some of the same University of Rochester researchers found that in Burkina Faso, an African country that believes red brings bad luck and death, men still rated women as more sexually attractive in the red condition.

The effect is shown to be immediate, subconscious, and emotionally-driven. Our brain is likely hardwired to be excited by the presence of red on the opposite sex, and to pay attention to it when we do.

Disrupt with red

We’ve all heard of the saying “Sex sells.” And, to a large extent, it’s true (pretty people elicit positive emotions that are transferred onto brands). But advertising has evolved. Consumers are demanding that ads reflect “real” people. The success of Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign is testament to that. Ads that demonstrate diversity acceptance are warmly received. Consumers no longer feel they need to be surrounded by ads that feature what some may consider unrealistic or unattainable beauty ideals. As such, brands that overtly use sex to sell risk alienating their audience.

With red, you could reap the benefits of using evolutionary principles in your advertising without featuring sex symbols. None of the participants featuring in red studies were supermodels, none wore revealing clothes, and they weren’t winking at the camera. Yet they commanded attention and the brain responded.

Imagine your average London commuter. When they’ve arrived at their stop, their System 2 brain is likely preoccupied with navigating off the tube. There is only a matter of seconds between them and the ad they will see as they exit. Your ad needs to be exceptionally emotive for System 1 to absorb it, because it will surrounded by ads vying for its attention. Here is where red could disrupt. Our constantly awake, red-detecting brain could prioritise diverting attention to the ad featuring a person of the opposite sex wearing red. This subconscious process could therefore facilitate ‘gut instinct’ brand recall.

I’m not saying this was Special K’s intention, but the red dress-wearing woman in their ads can provide an example of how red can seduce our subconscious. Male consumers’ subconscious is seduced and the brand is digested. When they’re next in the cereal aisle, Special K is the obvious choice.

So how will you use red to disrupt your marketplace?

This article is part of TBWA\Manchester's #DisruptionDiaries series, to learn more head to their social channels.

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