Monthly Archives: August 2013

Sometimes people are just plain wrong. Take the decision of the UK and US governments to invade Iraq because they believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Whatever the arguments for and against the action that was taken, the justification was wrong. At the moment there is an enquiry in the UK into quite how this came about. Anyone who is aware of the work of the psychologist Irving Janis on Groupthink will be able to understand the process of self-delusion and self-justification that took place (and continues to take place). Some of the protagonists, rather than acknowledge their mistake, simply move the argument on: the UK Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, has said he would have invaded Iraq anyway, for some other reasons he can think of. Leaving aside the issues of group psychology what, if anything, does this reveal about consumer behaviour? And what does […]

Has market research ever been wrong? Of course it has. Pretty much everyone I know who has any experience of using market research has had some experience where it didn’t turn out to be right. Marketing history is littered with famous and infamous examples from big companies like McDonald’s, Mattel, Coca-Cola, Chrysler… But often the questions that research asks can’t ever be accurately defined any other way. In the absence of another number to use, people believe that the number coming back from the research is an accurate read on what customers think. However, there is lots of evidence to show that people really shouldn’t be so willing to believe what market research reports back. One such study arrived on my desk this week at just about exactly the same time that what it said was demonstrated in reality. A friend from my university days got in touch through LinkedIn […]

A vast amount of money spent on advertising and lots of energy (and quite a lot of spending) goes into media planning. And yet, as is so often the case, the focus is all to often on the conscious mind. Planners look at things like viewing figures, demographics, and attitudinal profiles. What they don’t usually consider is what will be going on around the advertisement. That’s a bit like convincing yourself someone will want an ice cold drink, without bothering to appreciate that they may have just the day in sub-zero temperatures. With everything we understand about the influence of the environment and how powerful unconscious priming can be, this must be a mistake. Granted, it’s often very difficult to know what will take place in a television programme in advance, broadcasters don’t like to reveal their story lines. However, those same television companies earn their revenue (mostly) from advertising, so […]

When you deal with a range of products day in and day out it is understandable that you might want to dream up ways of surprising your customers. Rather than confront them with the same old lines of products, how about adding in something that stops them in their tracks. What about doing away with all those dull categories, and lining things up according to price; wouldn’t it be better to shake things up a little? The answer is, it depends. Generally speaking, giving your customers an easy way to navigate through a large number of choices is the way to go. There have been numerous studies conducted about the problems too much choice creates. Beyond those, other studies have found that, when people are asked to make a choice from a large range, they are more satisfied if the range has been clearly classified. Even if the classifications are […]