Learn the 6 human truths that should steer every brand campaign

What's inside:

• Why I wrote this article
• A quick primer on behavioral economicsa
• 6 lessons you can start applying immediately

Why I wrote this article

As brand marketers, our feedback loops suck.

Usually, we develop a campaign idea, go through rounds of internal feedback, and maybe collect some thoughts from focus groups. Some poor souls might also have to "test" their idea in a totally outlandish environment—the creative feedback survey.

These workarounds don't tell us anything about the effects our campaigns will have when they're mixed into the complexities of the real world. But, that doesn’t mean we need to close our eyes and pray.

A famous psychologist won the Nobel prize for his research into economic behavior that's irrational, but also predictable. His name is Daniel Kahneman, and we can use his (and his peers') discoveries to build more effective brand campaigns. Every principle in his research has gone through rigorous, peer-reviewed, replicated experimentation.

In this article, I break down 6 important principles from Kahneman’s 500-page magnum opus, Thinking, Fast and Slow, which summarizes decades of research.

In the book, Kahneman describes two very different types of thinking that occur in every person: System 1, and System 2. Here is a very quick primer, in Kahneman's own words:

"System 1 is impulsive and intuitive. It operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort. System 2 is capable of reasoning, and it is cautious. It allocates attention to demanding mental activities, including complex computations. But, it is also lazy. It usually does not want to work.

"On most occasions, the lazy System 2 will adopt the suggestions of System 1 and march on. System 2 will consciously endorse many beliefs that reflect automatic impressions generated by System 1. System 2 is capable of a more systematic and careful approach to evidence, but, System 1 influences even the more careful decisions. Its input never ceases."

Some of the following principles will seem very basic and intuitive. And that’s because we experience these thinking processes every day. But what’s important is that decades of research tell us that these 6 specific principles are real, reliable phenomena. You don’t need to trust your gut or your agency to follow these paths, and you can build your campaign development processes around them. When your CEO or CFO asks why you’re doing something that doesn’t directly impact short-term revenue, you can point to these principles. They won Daniel the Nobel Prize.

1/6

BOLD CLAIMS ARE FORCE FIELDS

The research:

We believe whatever's in front of us

There is an automatic, irrational part of our brain that Kahneman calls System 1, and it takes things at face value. As Kahneman explains, "the initial attempt to believe is an automatic operation. Whether the story is true or even believable matters little. We are gullible and biased to believe."

For example, when we hear a claim like "milk makes you strong," we usually start off by giving it the benefit of the doubt.

We use parts to judge the whole

"Because of something called the halo effect, we have a tendency to like (or dislike) everything about a person—including things we haven't observed. If we think a baseball pitcher is handsome, we are likely to rate them better at throwing the ball too."

People's feelings about one characteristic will shape their assumptions about the whole package. So, you only need to illustrate a handful of strengths to fuel a positive image of the entire brand.

Applying the research:

• Prioritize the boldest claims you can possibly make
• Put product claims in close proximity to your brand name and logo
• Worry less about explaining everything you do, and put more effort into dramatizing the most important thing you do

2/6

SIMPLER IS BETTER

The research:

We believe information that's easy to understand

When information is easy to digest, the intuitive System 1 will take charge in forming beliefs. That's usually good for marketers because System 1 won't be looking into the data, and it can't consider counterfactuals.

In contrast, complex information will wake up System 2, which is prone to doubt, and capable of making real calculations. As a marketer, you probably prefer System 1's immediate trust over System 2's pointed questioning.

Kahneman makes some very clear recommendations for anyone trying to get a point across:

"Make your message simple. The general principle is that anything you can do to reduce cognitive strain will help."

"Do not use complex language where simpler language will do."

"Maximize legibility. Maximize contrast. Use names that are easy to pronounce."

Applying the research:

• Let your visuals do a lot of the talking
• Organize information in a clear, step-by-step order
• Communicate what's necessary in the moment, and nothing else; separate messages across the funnel instead of over-saturating a single piece of content or creative

3/6

DISTINCTIVENESS PAYS

The research:

We remember things that stand out

"Unusual events attract a disproportionate amount of attention." Our brains are tuned to notice, focus on, and remember things that break the regularity of their surroundings. "Any salient event that attracts your attention will be easily retrieved from memory."

We have the most confidence in the ideas we remember easiest

"The importance of an idea is judged by how easily that idea comes to mind." This is because System 1 makes swift decisions with information that's immediately available—whatever we're sensing in the moment, whatever we're feeling at the time, and whatever pops to the front of our mind.

Applying the research:

• Look, speak, and act differently from the other brands in your category
• Look, speak, and act differently from other content in a given channel (social media feeds, TV commercial blocks, newsletters, editorial columns, conference booths, etc.)

4/6

METAPHORS BECOME REALITY

The research:

We trust ideas that connect with our other beliefs

As long as things seem to intuitively make sense on the surface, System 2's doubt will stay out of the picture, and System 1 will keep doing its thing. Because System 1 doesn't look for proof, it will run with anything that sounds truthy.

"How do you know that a statement is true? If it is strongly linked to other beliefs you hold." System 1 will readily accept new information that fits into an existing worldview. For example, if you believe that Vitamin C supports the immune system, and that oranges have a lot of Vitamin C, it will be easy to also believe that orange juice is a healthy choice. (It's not.)

Applying the research:

• Understand what your audience believes about the world, not just your product
• Help people digest your claims and positioning with metaphorical comparisons and links to things they already believe
• Look for existing beliefs that can help re-frame the value of your products and services

5/6

PLOT LINES ARE MORE CONVINCING THAN DATA POINTS

The research:

We believe stories, not evidence

"The confidence that people have in their beliefs depends mostly on the style of the explanation, not the actual evidence. The explanatory stories that people find compelling 1) are simple and concrete, 2) give extra importance to individual character talent and abilities, and 3) focus on a few striking events." We already covered the power of simplicity. Let's unpack the other two characteristics of convincing explanations:

We focus on the lead characters

"The mind has a special inclination to stories about active agents with particular personalities, habits, and abilities." Like seeing faces in clouds, we focus on the impacts of individual characters (even though reality is far more complex, shifting, and chaotic).

Many commercial stories revolve around product features and proprietary processes that take a lot of effort to digest. What if instead they revolved around the experiences of characters that customers would relate to?

We latch onto big, eruptive moments

"Vivid descriptions come to mind easier than abstract words, jargon, or statistics, and they feel more likely to happen than they really are." This is why many people worry about shark attacks at the beach but not heart disease at the diner.

Explanations of what a product does and how it works are not engaging by themselves. The audience will be more interested in (and more convinced by) concrete events that occurred when someone used the product. Did they get a promotion? Did they win a championship? Did they grab the attention of the entire bar?

Applying the research:

• Dramatize your value proposition through anecdotes
• Describe a lead character, and how your product changes their fate
• Construct your story through a series of a few, visceral, suspenseful events

6/6

FAMILIARITY CREATES APPEAL

The research:

We like what we recognize

The more we're exposed to something, the more we realize it won't hurt us, and the more we prefer it to less familiar things (things that bring uncertainty). "The effect does not even depend on consciousness. We observe the effect in experiments where repeated words are shown so quickly that people never realize seeing them. They still end up liking the words they saw more frequently."

Importantly, this kind of familiarity grows at the surface. It's not a deep understanding. Basic "repetition induces the comforting feeling of familiarity."

Applying the research:

• Don't ignore the long-term impact that impressions will have on preference and action
• Don't be embarrassed about hammering the brand name

In Summary:

Bold claims are force fields

Simpler is better

Distinctiveness pays

Metaphors become reality

Plot lines are more convincing than data points

Familiarity creates appeal

Source:

Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Bold claims are force fields: pages 81, 199

Simpler is better: pages 62, 63

Distinctiveness pays: pages 63, 130, 138, 142

Metaphors become reality: pages 64, 130, 174

Plot lines are more convincing than data points: pages 29, 87, 130, 199, 200, 327

Familiarity creates appeal: pages 62, 67