A Riot In Your Henhouse! 

A few years ago we realised that introducing Consumer Psychology, Behavioural Economics and Behavioural Change into an agency and utilising it to inform the way we approach our work, would set us and our cleints apart.

It’s a well known fact that psychologists have been studying the human mind in order to explain our behaviour. Working out what motivates various types of human behaviour to explain how we learn. This research has traditionally been motivated through the academic strive for knowledge, or from a race to treat clinical conditions.

However in recent years things have changed. There has been a growing realisation that this scientific research can be put to a less selfless use; namely advertising and marketing with behavioural change. As consumer psychology now provides us with a scientific explanation of why consumers behave in the way they do; and how those behaviours can be manipulated and changed.

If you’re looking to create a campaign that will live in the memory and grab the attention of your target audience, then before you put marker pen to paper, a consumer psychologist who has studied and understands the science of attention should be your first port of call.

Once the campaign is in place, you will want to know that its point of delivery has been optimised, so you increase the likelihood that the target audience will remember and react to your message. Consumer psychologists are experts in the science of learning and understand how information should be presented, including the optimal time of day, or the most suitable media channel for your particular campaign to appear.

For the last decade or so, more and more companies have turned to consumer psychologists to help inform their marketing; and the reason for this is compellingly simple. Traditionally marketeers have assumed that consumers behave in a rational manner. However, the bad news for marketeers is that there is a growing body of new research that appears to show this is simply not the case.

Consumer psychology informs us of the impact of social, cognitive and emotional factors and their effect upon our decision-making process. Resulting in the highly consistent, yet illogical and counterintuitive decisions humans make.

For example, the background music in a restaurant or bar can alter the speed at which we purchase drinks. Same with supermarkets, music can have a significant effect on the product choices we make. Even the number of people in a supermarket will alter the way we walk around that store. In all of these cases, consumers are completely unaware that any of these influences are altering their purchasing behaviour.

This lack of understanding and awareness about self-motivation has important ramifications to market research. If consumers don’t know why they are behaving in certain ways and are unaware of the influences on that behaviour, then how reliable is their explanation of behaviour, and future purchasing intent, when asked by a market researcher?

It’s only by understanding the psychology of the consumer that we can create harder working campaigns that provide a greater return on investment. 

That’s what makes brandtrain completely unique. We are the only agency in the UK able to combine the science of consumer psychology with proven creative solutions to marketing challenges.

Think of us as the foxes in charge of the henhouse!