Psycho Marketing

In a previous post, I’d presented several findings suggesting that, on many occasions, our actions are responsive to factors we aren’t aware of. I said this is relevant for marketers, something I will further explore in this post.

First of all, I’d like to go deeper into our inability to pinpoint factors that could have an impact on our behavior and, particularly, explain our reluctance to recognize this fact. In my previous post, I argued that part of the explanation we have difficulty recognizing that our actions could be driven by factors that escape our awareness has to do with our ego; we like to think we are in control and suggesting the inapprehensible character of our motives can be even offensive to some.

It’s December 31ts, 2019, and people start coming en masse to the vantage points where they will be able to witness the beautiful firework displays of the Harbour Bridge. The event is so popular that people start arriving in the early morning, waiting for almost 20 hours for the event. And when the time comes… cellphones everywhere. Why? My question is not a reprimand at all. People can do whatever they want. I am interested in the reasons people have to do it; several come to mind.

Before Part Two of my previous post, I wanted to write something about personal branding. “Nowadays, it’s all about personal branding”. This sentence expresses a well-known idea in marketing circles. Personal branding is basically building a professional image that makes you attractive for companies or potential customers (if you are a consultant, for example). The other day I had a conversation about personal branding, and I was thinking about the consequences of this phenomenon. On the one hand, the job market seems to push us in the direction of personal branding. Good personal branding means visibility and reputation, and it comes with a whole set of perks that are difficult to ignore. For instance, your personal branding can land you a higher-paying job or more valuable customers. And, in fact, personal branding can eventually become a powerful force in the consumer market as more and more consumers build their own brand.

A few weeks back, I had a conversation with a friend about the facts that make some of us like or dislike other people. She is of the opinion that these facts are open to inspection by the self. In other words, according to her, we are able to correctly identify those reasons that make us like or dislike another person. This is a commonsensical opinion that, at first, makes much sense. Think about it. Let us say that you loathe someone. If my friend’s stance is correct, you are able to tell and correctly identify the reasons why you loathe that person. Is not that obvious?  Even though I believe we can sometimes exercise this capacity, we cannot take it for granted.

On June 21st, 2019, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s single “Senorita” was released. Two months later, the music video had more than 500 million views on YouTube. The video sparked a sea of rumors about a romance between the two singers. And yes, the rumors were shortly confirmed and now it’s official: “Shawmila” was born. For some reasons or another, I find celebrity relationships peculiar (and their nicknames pretty dumb, but bear with me). To start with, I wonder about the role of Rene Girard’s mimetic desire in them. According to the French intellectual, human beings have a tendency to imitate other people’s desires. Put yourself in Camila Cabello’s shoes for a moment. She knows Shawn Mendes has millions of fans, women who would (metaphorically, I hope) die to be with him. If Camila’s mindset works according to Girard’s theory, she imitated that desire and decided it was time to date Shawn. The same would apply the other way around, as Camila is as famous as Shawn. I am sure something like mimetic desire is a big part of many celebrity relationships. I would go for Brangelina (Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt) or TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) as a safe bet, but you follow your heart.

Reactance theory states that if a person’s sense of freedom, or control, is threatened, she is likely to engage in behaviors or omissions whose intent is to restore it. We have all experienced this. An ad suddenly pops up on a website, and you immediately click on the “X” button to close it. Of course, reactance is not always the explanation of such a behavior; when it is, pushing the “X” button constitutes a response to an attempt to influence behavior. But reactance could be behind more substantive behaviors than mere ad avoidance. Here is an ad of the 1980’s anti-drug campaign “Just Say No”:

Cults can have nefarious consequences. The mass suicide lead by Jim Jones in 1979 is an example of the power of manipulation and the radical ideas promoted by some cults. Drawing the line between mere influence and manipulation is important, even though the distinction strikes some as useless.

Nowadays, internet reputation is crucial for businesses. According to some studies, reviews in websites like Google are one of the most important factors that determine if people want to do business with a company (second only to family and friends’ recommendations). Are reviews  a good decision-making procedure for people? There is not a straight answer.