Implementation Intentions

One of the best ways to modify behaviour and focus on hitting goals is to construct an ‘if-then’ plan, which follows this formula:

If situation X arises, then I will do Y.

Marketers use this technique to focus consumers on future behaviours by simply asking if they have been considered. While this doesn’t necessarily cause the behaviour to occur, it does nudge the consumer toward it by making the idea of it more salient in their mind. What is not considered now, may well be considered later, at the optimal time of performance.

Profit and Purpose

Marketers use an odd language when they talk to one another. Words like ‘positioning’ and ‘values’ and ‘authenticity’ pop up, which, to the rest of us, are close to meaningless when related to how we perceive brands.

A particularly strong word that marketers throw around is purpose. Supposedly, purpose is a brands reason for existing beyond making money (ironically structured in such a way as to make more money). 

'Purpose' means little to consumers for a number of reasons. One reason is because the strategies marketers use to create a sense of purpose are invisible to consumers (as they should be). But mostly, it is because most brands aren’t bought because of a strong sense of purpose.

Solving Non-Problems

Bad campaigns seem to stem from two kinds of strategy: a.) when a problem isn’t solved at all, and b.) when a problem is solved despite it not even being a problem. The ‘Blockbuster Box’ from Pizza Hut is an almost textbook example of the latter.

It is obviously one huge PR stunt, and though it will gain attention through sheer ridiculousness alone, the Blockbuster Box is just one example of the strange gimmicky trend to blend technology and advertising to “solve” problems that are entirely made up, a trend prevalent enough to be parodied.