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

Admitting that a brand is part of your self-identity is difficult to do. Can you imagine admitting to the following “Pepsi is part of who I am.”? Or this: “Starbucks represents how I want to present myself as a person.”? Those are easy to dismiss off the cuff, yet years of research tells us that we do connect personally with the brands that we buy, and that we use “brand badges” to reflect aspects our personality to the world. The trouble with traditional research methods is that consumers often can’t or won’t admit to that reality.

  In this video, hosted the Pulse’s Ed Gaskin, Dr. Aaron Reid and Julie Hall (Schneider PR) discuss successful product launches from 2010. Reid and Hall explain how particular marketing and social campaigns contribute a product’s popularity, using the top ten product launches of 2010 as a benchmark. These strategies, Reid explains, are ubiquitous and can be utilized in any part of a productpositioning campaign.

I’ve been waiting a while to write this post. Not about Lebron per se, but about this phrase “the real reason” used in describing the motivation behind a decision. It just so happens that Lebron’s “Decision” serves as a perfect illustration of an important human truth of decision-making: the real “reason” behind any preference based decision is not in fact reason-based at all, the real reason is emotion. This is as true for Lebron’s Decision as it is for the decisions you and I make everyday. Let me explain…

Winning Olympic gold in skiing requires a certain risk vs. reward profile. The old saying saying of “without risk, there is no reward” certainly holds true, but just how much risk is the right amount of risk and what motivates people to take that risk instead of playing it safe for a more secure outcome? There has been a great deal of talk among the skiers and announcers about pointing your skis down the fall line, and letting ‘em run. Listening to the skiers speak about their wins and near misses provides great insight into the motivational focus that is driving these athletes in pursuit of their goals. Here is what Lindsay Vonn had to say after her bronze medal performance in the Super Combi. Her quote gives you a sense what kind of risk profile is necessary to win.

Imagine you’re at the top of the men’s Super G at the 2010 Olympics. You are the reigning Downhill season champion and three days earlier you were favored to win the Downhill, you finished in a disappointing 6th place. You’re 35 years old.  Twelve years ago you took the Silver at the Nagano Olympics in Japan in 1998. This is likely your last best chance to win an Olympic gold medal. You are Didier Cuche. The iconic downhill call voice of announcer Tim Ryan from NBC recounts your history, dating back to that near miss of gold in Nagano, and your travails ever since as Olympic gold has evaded your grasp, and as you launch out of the gate he states what everyone watching already understands:

Kurt Warner doesn’t want to make an emotional decision. Good luck with that. In a thriller last night in Arizona, the 38 year-old Quarterback threw for five touchdowns and 379 yards on 29 of 33 passing in a 51-45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. With that kind of performance, the talk around the absurdity of the veteran’s potential retirement swirled. The flames were fueled in part by Warner’s victory lap around the stadium waving goodbye to the Arizona fans (albeit, it was his last home game of the season).

It’s fourth down with two yards to go. You’re facing the decision to punt the ball to Peyton Manning and Colts offense with a little over 2 minutes to play and giving your defense the chance to stop a touchdown drive, or to go for it and essentially end the game with a first down. In the decision sciences we call this type of situation: “decision making under uncertainty”. Rational decision theory says that we calculate or estimate the likely probability of success in each scenario and we choose the option with the greatest expected utility. In this case, a rational decision-maker chooses the option with the highest probability of winning.

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...

Usain Bolt is unequivocally the fastest man on the planet. In fact, he is the fastest man in the recorded history of the planet. At the track and field world championships this week in Berlin, the Jamaican sprinter shattered his own world records in the 100 meter and 200 meter dash pushing the sport to new heights with previously unconscionable times. 9.58 seconds in the 100 meters. 9.58. For track and field enthuisiasts that number is “insane.” 9.58? I can remember when breaking 10 seconds in the 100 was a feat. And 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters? Insane.

The Michael Vick PETA testing reports are out, and the world is left to wonder – does the man really feel remorse? PETA released Vick’s responses to his final exam questions from his course on animal ethics. Clearly, Vick is working hard to write the “right” answer to these questions, and some of his answers are on target according to PETA. Okay, but we’re all wondering, “does he really feel it”? The question here runs deeper than explicit answers to questions that Michael knows will have an impact on his immediate living conditions. The broader question is what constitutes true attitude change in a case like this?