You, like this vacuum, are a sucker when it comes to associative conditioning.
Last week I read a post at Copyblogger where Johnny B. Truant talked about how his son loves Spongebob macaroni and cheese. The thing about this mac n’ cheese it that it probably tastes like it was actually made in a pineapple under the sea! However, because Spongebob is the shiz, that makes the mac n’ cheese even more awesome. Oh, children, they’re so naive, right? These silly associative conditioning tactics will only work with people who have underdeveloped minds, right? You’d never fall for that trick, would you?
You would. And you do.
Exhibit A: Associative Conditioning on Blogs
In the past week alone, I’ve read at least three blog posts that used associative conditioning. I wrote one myself about Fight Club and Facebook Connect. Matt Cheuvront wrote one about Captain Planet. Katie Wall wrote one on Lauren Fernandez’s blog about Always Sunny in Philadelphia. To the best of my knowledge, every one of these blog posts received a tremendous amount of traffic. It didn’t matter what any of these posts said or the points they tried to teach us, we’d love them no matter what. They could have said marketing is stupid because Captain Planet and Tyler Durden said so, and we’d eat it up.
Why?
Usually when we read a blog post, we’re searching for something that will stimulate us intellectually. If it’s good, we’ll comment, re-tweet it, and love it. If it’s bad, we may not finish reading it.
However, instead of playing to our intellectual senses, these manage to stimulate us emotionally. Whether it causes us to remember something from childhood when we watched Captain Planet, or brings out our fan-dom for one of our favorite television show. Either way, this emotional tug replaces the intellectual desire that we initially wanted.
I’m not saying this isn’t a smart strategy or that the content of these were lacking, I’m just stating the facts: it worked.
Exhibit B: Associative Conditioning in Products
So, naturally, blogs aren’t the only place this happens. Not too long ago, Brooks Brothers introduced a line of suits inspired by Mad Men and used Don Draper himself to help market them. I have no clue how successful these have been, but when you take a show that’s known for it’s 60s style, it has to draw some eyes.
Basically, as the blog posts inhibited the logical side of our brain and stimulated the emotional side, this associative conditioning did the same thing. It makes us not care that Spongebob noodles taste like dirt or that the Mad Men suits cost $200 extra. It’s like a kryptonite that inhibits our powers to sense a deal that makes sense.
Now, although this tactic obviously still works, I’d be very hesitant to use it extensively. Don’t write every blog post and rely on the draw of another cartoon character and don’t base your entire product line on the success of a show or movie.
But hey, you have to admit, we’re all suckers when it comes down to it.
When was the last time you were suckered into buying something or reading something because of associative conditioning?
Image from Flickr user: mollyjolly
{ 11 comments }
This is a great point. Associative conditioning is a constant in marketing and advertising. We buy things because of the way they make us feel — all brands are associated with a lifestyle, feeling or emotion and this is all achieved for marketing.
The last time I was suckered into buying something based on associative conditioning? Besides always? Probably the pair of jeans I bought last weekend, because I associated the brand with growing up in LA and visiting the store front on sunny weekend days. No joke.
Thanks for the post!
Ding ding! It's almost sad how many people don't understand this in advertising. A professor of mine had to explain to half the class the other day that EVERY SINGLE THING you see in an advertisement is placed there intentionally.
And then a guy tried to argue that he isn't affected by that “extra stuff”.
Whether we realize it or not, we draw connections to everything. It's how our brain is wired, it's how we remember things.
That's why you, KT and Chevy's wall posts were such hits. I had thought about this, but it was more like a “oh, this is nostalgic” thought, not, “oh, this is an excellent strategy!” thought. Wait for it…
*doh*
You lay it out perfectly: blogs are similar to marketing and advertising. It's all about selling your content, through the presentation of it. Nice job. (and oh man, I want one of those Mad Men suits so freaking badly)
Right on, Danny. As much as we may not want to admit it, the tactic has worked for a looong time and isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Great example, too! It doesn't have to be a character from a show or movie, it could just tug on something else from your past.
Thanks for dropping in and leaving a comment!
Interesting that you bring up the guy in your class. I really think we don't want to admit that it “works” on us because it's almost like admitting that we got tricked into buying something. We want to feel completely in control of our buying decisions, but all of us marketers are doing everything we can to do the exact opposite.
Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to comment, Colby!
Thanks for sharing the insight Jackie I had heard about using sentiments to relate your products and services before as well but got the full definition of it here.Again its not a bad strategy but you cant base your product just upon this so its just a part of tactical business strategy.
For example Seth Godin when he speaks about ideas there is one thing to be noticed that at some points in his presentation he talks about the people we already know not specifically a cartoon star but people like Jeff Coons,Steve Jobs, Howard Schultz because we are related to these people emotionally as we inspire from there great work, Seth is able to connect us with his speech,again he just can't give examples of such people, he has a great product called Idea Diffusion to talk about.All in all its not a bad tactic to use but we just can't workout without an awesomeness in whatever we are selling.
I'm with you, Akash. Your associative conditioning can't be empty in that there's no good product to back it up because eventually, that facade is going to be removed and your product will be revealed for what it really is. So, again, an effective tactic, but one that should be used with caution.
Really relevant comments. Has already made me consider this strategy, marketing my product.
Tom
Thanks Tom, glad you enjoyed the post!
Thanks Tom, glad you enjoyed the post!
Really relevant comments. Has already made me consider this strategy, marketing my product.
Tom
Thanks Tom, glad you enjoyed the post!
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