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How Apple and Nike have branded your brain | Your Brain on Money | Big Think - YouTube
Channel: Big Think
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- Coke is just soda.
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Tylenol is just acetaminophen.
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And Levi's are just jeans.
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Yet consumers go out of their way
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to select these specific
brands over others.
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- An economist would say,
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"How is this possible,
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that a rational consumer
would be willing to pay more
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for exactly the same thing?"
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We love to think about
ourselves as rational.
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That's not how it works.
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A very famous study done by
colleagues at Duke University
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flashed either the Apple
logo or the IBM logo
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to two randomized groups of participants.
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- The study found that
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after being subliminally exposed
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to the Apple logo, compared to
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when you'd been exposed to the IBM logo,
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participants performed
better on creative tasks.
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- And the argument is that
Apple has been telling you
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this story over and over again,
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that Apple is the brand for
hip, cool, fun, creative people.
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- This is the true power of brands.
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They can influence our behavior in ways
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that extend way beyond the point of sale.
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So to what degree can
the influence of brands
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wreak havoc on our ability
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to make rational spending decisions?
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This is your brain on money.
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This is Americus Reed.
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He studies identity and marketing
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at the University of Pennsylvania.
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When I make choices
about different brands,
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I'm choosing to create an identity.
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When I put that shirt on,
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when I put those shoes
on, those jeans, that hat,
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someone is going to form an
impression about what I'm about.
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So if I'm choosing Nike over Under Armour,
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I'm choosing a kind of
different way to express
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affiliation with sport.
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The Nike thing is about performance.
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The Under Armour thing
is about the underdog.
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I have to choose which of these
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different conceptual pathways
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is most consistent with
where I am in my life.
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- And once a consumer makes that choice,
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their relationship with a
brand can deepen to the point
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where they identify with
that brand like family.
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And once you identify with a brand,
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it can shape the way you behave.
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- And it's really interesting
because they will also,
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if someone talks bad about that
product, brand, or service,
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they will be the first
to go out and defend.
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Why?
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Because an attack on the brand
is an attack on themselves.
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- Michael Platt is a professor of
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neuroscience, marketing, and psychology
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whose research demonstrates how
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our perception of brands
influences our decisions.
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- There's an idea in
marketing, which is that
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we relate to brands in the
same way we relate to people.
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It's like, "I love this brand,"
or, "I hate this brand."
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Of course, what people
say, right, can often be
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different from what's really
going on in their heads.
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So we thought, "Well, why don't we just
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ask the brain directly?"
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- Michael and his team
observed the brains of
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iPhone users and Samsung Galaxy
users with an MRI machine
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while they heard good,
bad, and neutral news
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about Apple and Samsung.
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- Apple customers showed
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a brain empathy response toward Apple
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that was exactly what you'd see
in the way you would respond
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to somebody in your own family.
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- Strangely, Samsung users
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didn't have any positive
or negative responses
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when good or bad news was
released about their brand.
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The only evidence that Samsung users showed
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was reverse empathy for Apple news.
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Meaning if the Apple
headline was negative,
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their brain reflected a positive response.
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- You know, it really shows us that
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Apple has completely
defined the market here.
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Samsung customers, it seems,
from their brain data,
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are only buying Samsung
'cause they hate Apple.
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- The kicker?
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The Samsung users didn't report feeling
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the results their MRIs showed.
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What was happening in their brains
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and what they reported feeling
towards Apple and Samsung,
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were totally different.
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- Most people just don't realize
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that they are subconsciously
choosing brands
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because those brands have some kind of
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self-expressive value.
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- You can see there's a lot of power here
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in terms of shaping consumers' decisions.
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As we learn more and more about that,
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we have to think much more deeply about
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the ethical, legal, and societal
implications of doing that.
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- So, as consumers, what can we do
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to make informed choices?
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Well, the best thing we can do is to
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be aware of the influence
that brands hold.
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- I think it's important to always pause
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and think a little bit about,
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"Okay, why am I buying this product?"
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- And like it or not,
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brands aren't going anywhere.
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- I've heard lots of people push back
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and say that, "I'm not into brands."
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I take a very different view.
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They're not doing anything
any different than
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what someone who affiliates
with a brand is doing.
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They have a brand, it's
just an anti-brand brand.
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And I think about,
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what is it that I've learned
about identity over time?
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I think a lot of it has to do with
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the fundamental need
that we as humans have
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to have support systems.
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Perhaps it was the church,
it was the community,
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it was these other
institutions that existed.
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Now, brands have stepped in
as pillars of our identity.
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So I'm very much motivated to see that
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in that positive light.
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