How can we leverage system 1 and system 2 thinking in marketing?
One of the biggest challenges that we come up against in marketing is trying to change behaviour. Sometimes the problem consists of multiple objectives, sometimes it’s just one but in all cases, we’re trying to change behaviour. Be that to get people to shop somewhere else, visit a new location, take an action online or perceive a brand differently, we’re trying to change how people think, act and behave in the world. This provides a unique situation, where what we’re trying to do can be completely at odds with human nature, supporting the need for creative, applied behavioural science solutions to tackle the behaviour.
So, how does the brain work?
Within our brain, we have two systems of thinking. To summarise, system 1 thinking accounts for 95% of our thinking and it is fast, unconscious and associative. System 2 thinking accounts for 5% of our thinking and is slow and logical, where we might be lazy or indecisive with our decisions.
Knowing this, how do we use these within our marketing?
Based on knowing that we’re in system 1 thinking 95% of the time, this means that the behaviour we’re trying to encourage will need to translate into being habitual, so it can join this fast, unconscious, associative approach which means we don’t think about it before doing it. This means making a brand or product so normal or natural, that it doesn’t require a lot of thinking or decision-making before taking action – because it seems like the right, easy and best choice.
However, for decisions that need more focus, that means that essentially, we’re in the business of creative disruption. Our brains are naturally moving between system 1 and system 2 thinking when needed, so we need to jump in and disrupt our system 1 thinking in order to get people to engage in that slower, more conscious decision making as that’s the way to change behaviour.
In order to do this, you need to disrupt the normal thinking pattern. If we liken it to driving a car. If you are someone who drives to work, once you’ve got familiar with that route, you’ll notice that you do it on auto-pilot, often arriving at work or home without consciously being aware of the journey and how you arrived there. However, if there is an accident or roadworks on the journey, this snaps your brain out of autopilot as you may need to go a different way or just be more alert on the road, so this is where your system 2 thinking takes over.
So if we are focusing on system 2, how do we break into this?
In the same way as the car analogy above, we need to use marketing and advertising to ‘snap’ people out of that pattern of thinking, in order to pay attention. There are a few ways and a few examples of how to do this effectively, but the best way is through cognitive friction.
Generally, system 1 thinking happens when the cognitive load is light. We don’t need to switch into system 2 thinking unless we need to make an abnormal decision, so by adding friction, our brain automatically gives something more attention.
A brand which did this well was Diet Coke, when launching their Twisted Groove products in 2018. The advert is a woman in a distinctive outfit, dancing in a bizarre way. The reason why this works is for a few reasons:
This means that in this example, your brain will have switched to system 2 and you’ll have started paying attention, which then works wonders for recall, discussion techniques and generally raising the profile of the advert and in turn, the brand.
Whether you can seamlessly slot into system 1 thinking or whether you need to switch someone into system 2 thinking, working with the brain and these systems of thinking are key to getting people to pay attention, make decisions and be on the path to behaviour change – the ultimate goal of marketing activations.