Decision-making is far from a rational process, and therein lies the essence and importance of effective branding.
We’re all still a bit like monkeys! Whether you believe in divine creation or are a Darwinist, the truth is that we’re all, to some extent (and I fully include myself here), a kind of monkey. (No offense to any species of monkey, of course.) Okay, maybe a few of us walk a little more upright, but when it comes to how most of us make decisions, we’re much closer to Darwin than to Adam and Eve. “It’s all in your head”… we’ve all heard this phrase, often dismissed as a cliché.
But guess what? It’s not! Want more proof? Here it is!
In a 2004 article published by the well-known British newspaper The Guardian and written by science correspondent Alok Jha, a team of scientists in Texas used brain scanning techniques to conduct a “high-tech version” of the Pepsi Challenge (a taste-test competition) and found that when it comes to fizzy cola drinks, brand loyalty is just as important as taste—some would say even more important than taste.
Neuroscientist Read Montague conducted the research a year earlier at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. During the study, volunteers were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which detects activity in different areas of the brain, while they blindly tasted either Coca-Cola or Pepsi and reported which one they preferred.
The results, later published by Professor Montague in a scientific journal, revealed that different parts of the brain “lit up” depending on the type of cola the participants drank. His team discovered that a brain region called the ventral putamen—associated with ‘reward-seeking’—was highly active when people blindly drank their preferred cola, not knowing which one they were consuming. However, things changed when participants were explicitly told which cola they were drinking. In this case, Coca-Cola was crowned the undeniable king, and a completely different brain region showed higher activity in the fMRI scans.
The medial prefrontal cortex, an area linked to higher-level thought processes, became active when volunteers knew which drink they were consuming. According to New Scientist, which also reported on the study, this shows that people make decisions based on memories or impressions they have of a particular drink, as well as on taste—but not solely on taste or the experience itself.
This research once again proved that brand awareness and brand recognition hold significant value for advertisers.
While this specific case deals with a consumer product, the principle applies to purchasing decisions in other fields—even in the B2B world. When presented with a range of options to choose from (e.g., suppliers, raw materials, services, etc.), there will always be a direct, unconscious, and completely uncontrolled connection between our perceptions of the various brands and what we think we “know” about each option—or at least how we “perceive” them from our point of view.
Here is the link to the original article: The Guardian.