Rationality is dead! Is there anything called a pure rational thought?

The incredible one-sided wave that we saw in this year’s general elections in India baffled everyone. Questions were raised on how and why the statistics and reasoning of economic slowdown and farmer distress were overlooked by an over-enthused optimistic voter. Isn’t our decision making based on rationality? Isn’t that what makes humans different?

Talk to any marketeer and you will hear of a similar dichotomy they are often faced with. Should they appeal to the rational mind or the emotional mind to get their product, idea or brand across to the consumer? A growing cohort believes in the middle-path – ‘a healthy mix’ of emotionality and rationality. This has gained popularity in the last decade or so, ever since Daniel Kanheman’s behavior science revelations started impacting the consumer marketing world. But even this group clings on to some bit of rational appeal. How can we really risk marketing dollars without giving any rational reason to buy? 

Marketers are forced to re-calibrate creatives and communications to appeal to the so-called ‘rational brain’. The start of any campaign work has all the right intentions. Consumer journey is paramount and countless hours go into consumer immersions and data analysis to find that one attribute which will swing preference for the brand in the minds of the consumer. Usually this is where the creative brief is written. This point, which should ideally be the starting point of a great brand journey, in most cases turn out to be the peak one hits, before the slow decline in thinking – and the eventual sub-optimal output that is pushed to the consumer.

The campaign idea gets watered down as it accommodates points of view of many cooks who think up multiple rational reasons why the consumer will buy the product. Whether it is the price advantage or product advantage, stories built on the core insights are then layered with the so-called rationally winning argument. Before you know the ‘one thing’ that would have moved the needle is lost in the haystack and we can’t expect the consumer to take the effort to look for the diamond in the rough. It’s no wonder many of these campaigns fail to move the needle for the business.

Why does this happen? Like the question at the beginning of this article which I heard raised in many media channels, long as we believe in the existence of pure rational thinking and feel succumbed to appeal to that rational brain, we can’t expect better.

Recent studies in neuroscience betters our understanding of decision making by human brain

Everything that marketers do have to do with the human brain, yet their understanding of how the brain functions or how it takes decisions is quite basic. Most display very basic understanding of neurology, the most simplistic Paul MacLean Triune model that divides the brain into a prehistoric Reptilian brain, an emotional Limbic brain and the thinking Neo-cortex. There is nothing wrong in over simplifying science, so long as we realize that it is over simplification and don’t end up asking questions like “have we satisfied the rational brain” or “do we need to work harder to make it emotionally appealing”.

The Somatic marker hypothesis proposed by Antonio and Hanna Damasio and A Bechara have revolutionized this basic understanding by giving physiological and empirical evidence of rationality being subservient to the emotional and feeling systems in the brain. In an experiment conducted by them, patients with emotional deficit took sub-optimal or wrong decisions, even when they were presented rational reasons for choosing one or the other option. The experiments proved that emotional assessment is a continuous process and not related to any event and that cognitive assessment followed only after emotional reaction has set in.

Feelings – the how human body senses or perceives emotions – provide the basis for human reason and brain-damaged patients devoid of emotions, struggle to make the most elementary decisions. The fact that 'feelings' and 'emotions' are two different things is a topic for discussion another day. In simple terms, humans do not generally think rationally, in the context that rationality implies arriving at beliefs, opinions, and decisions through explicit reasoning or controlled logical thinking. Contrary to popular belief, it is emotion that then enforces this rational standard.

What does this mean for marketing?

Let go of our obsession with rationality and appealing to the rational brain alongside emotional brain. To begin with stop dividing brain into these fictitious parts and start worrying about how the brand is making the consumer ‘FEEL’ rather than 'THINK'. 

Can we for a change get obsessively consistent in attempting to evoke ‘one unique’ feeling in the consumer when they interact with the brand and make it central to the Single Minded Propositions that we write?

Marketers can give more focus and attention to tonality and look and feel of their campaigns and worry less about what else to shout about. Whether it is a digital campaign, a simple point of sale asset, an outdoor or a video advertisement, the only valid question that should be asked is how that made you feel. The toughest part is dealing with functionality while still managing to keep the focus on tonality and how you feel.

Of course, without functional, technological or ingredient led advantage, the brand has no edge. It is not solving a problem for the consumer in a better way compared to alternatives she is using. The key is not to shout out the functionality or feature or ingredient in a manufacturer way, but to focus on what it does for the consumer and how she feels when experiencing the brand.

Most importantly, have the courage to push back opinionated leaders with very little understanding of marketing science, from pulling down marketing campaigns to regress to the average and making it look like a comparative chart. A good start for everyone would be to update self on what's latest in the behavioral science applications in marketing. The below link leads to a list of best reads in this direction….