Kayla_Chp2

The Risk of Re-branding

I thought that for my post, I would expand on the concept of branding, and why rebranding can actually be risky. I'm actually a psych major finishing up an elective requirement, and I've studied marketing before, but from the perspective of manipulation and the way that people make decisions, rather than business.


The link that I chose is:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unconscious-branding/201306/how-marketers-manipulate-you-without-your-knowing


The article is talking about how our minds make associations between everything from stoves being hot and painful to touch to various brands having certain traits that make us happy for whatever reason. These associations even become unconscious (most of us probably don't actively think every time we see a stove that we shouldn't touch it because we'll be burned). His discusses how the color green is associated with "minty freshness" and so companies dye their toothpaste and mouthwash green to encourage people to buy their products.

I thought that the following segment was particularly interesting:

"People may not really know why they love one brand and not another, because conscious thought may have had little to do with the emotional tags that were formed when their preferences were learned. For example, a leading beverage company created a sound when opening the can that was subtly different from other cans to trigger a unique craving for their brand’s drink. The manufacturer redesigned the can to create a differentiating snapping sound, a branded cue of delicious anticipation. They then recorded the sound in a studio and incorporated it into advertising. The manufacturer would play the sound at major concerts and sporting events, seeing an instant uptick in sales for their brand when they did so. Yet when consumers were asked why they suddenly choose that particular beverage over another they would say things like “I haven’t the faintest idea, I just fell for it.”"

On the topic of re-branding, it can be risky because of these associations. The article also talks about how a re-branding effort to make soda seem more healthy by making it clear, failed miserably. The consumers had come to connect the brown color of the soda to the taste of the company. When the manufacturers chose to make it clear, the drink was no longer associated to the delicious flavor that the consumers loved, and so sales dropped tremendously. 

There are lots of other interesting concepts that are connected between psychology and marketing. So much so that one of the women in some of my psychology courses did an entire project, I actually believe it was her thesis, on the connection between the two and how to use psychology to market things more successfully.