Sentient Insight: the business blog for consumer psychology and consumer marketing

While brand name products in the healthcare realm seem to be losing ground to their generic counterparts, Pepto Bismol has added 0.7 market share points in its original formula and 2.5 market share points in stomach remedy tablets despite being priced approximately 60% more than private label products (source: Advertising Age). While Pepto Bismol brand manager Nathan Fox believes that the recession may have made consumers turn to Pepto Bismol as treatment for multiple symptoms – which is the focus of its advertising campaign “Coverage” (source: Advertising Age) – the brand’s success during the recession could also be due to an unconscious behavioral phenomenon. Research on the unconscious drivers of behavior has found that consumers will pay more for a brand name drug than a generic...

Humans have a love/hate relationship with emotion. Sometimes our “emotions get the best of us”, and sometimes we’re supposed to “play with passion”. Sometimes we’re supposed to “listen to our heart” and sometimes we’re supposed to “not let our heart cloud our mind.” Emotions lead us to the most enthralling moments of our life, and they lead us to our most dejecting moments as well.Whether we’re being lead toward ecstasy or embarrassment, emotions often exert their influence without our conscious control, particularly when we are in a “hot-state”. The interesting questions from a behavioral science perspective are if, when and how we can exert cognitive control over emotion’s influence on our behavior.Serena In...

Television commercials. Product placement. Celebrity branding. Digital signage. Mobile advertising. Flash dances?? Yep. A flash dance is just that: marketing. A very effective and contagious form of marketing, to say the least. If you are not familiar with flash dances, then first go watch “The T-Mobile Dance” that took place in London’s Liverpool train station or The Sound of Music-inspired dance in Belgium’s Antwerp station. All of the dancers are professional and participated in several rehearsals before the public performance. At the time of the dance, though, the participants pretend to be surprised themselves at the sudden outbreak of dance and gradually join in as if they are inspired by the music. To unknowing onlookers, the result is extraordinary. In the bustling train stations,...

Our study on the new frugality in America, commissioned by our client First Command Financial Services, has been picked up by the media recently in their continuing coverage of the subject (CNN story here; CSM here.). The question of whether frugality will last or whether it’s simply a recession strategy that will fade as the economy becomes more stable is top-of-mind for many people, notable marketers who are trying to figure out how to figure frugality into their future strategies. Our study hasn’t been published yet, but from what we’ve seen there are distinct groups of people with different ideas about frugality: