Why we’re embracing cognitive marketing

by Damon Crepin-Burr, Global Chief Strategy Officer, ISPD

At the end of the day, the heart of marketing is the ability to influence decision-making. The first step in building a great business is actually being a great At the end of the day, the heart of marketing is the ability to influence decision-making. But the first step in building a great business is actually being a great business with a great product to offer to the world. Only then can a marketing partner help you to grow that business, embedding your brand in the life of potential customers in ways that persuade them to purchase your product or service. Over the last decade, advances in technology have led marketers to focus their efforts on building loyalty among heavy category buyers and brand enthusiasts. This approach builds loyalty at a small scale, but leaves a huge opportunity to recruit new customers by understanding the true nature of the human decision-making process.

Why cognitive marketing? 

We believe that we’re at the dawn of an exciting new era. One in which the replicable results of science have come into conflict with the preconceived notions of how marketing should work. Many of the strongly held beliefs about marketing that have dominated our industry for decades are increasingly contradicted by empirical scientific evidence about human behavior. We have a chance to put that science into action, change the dominant advertising paradigm, and drive measurable results for our clients. 

The ultimate promise of marketing is the ability to predict and influence people’s purchase decisions. And cognitive science is precisely the study of how our brains perceive the world around us and process it to make small and big decisions, conscious and unconscious choices, on average every 2 seconds, 35,000 times per day! Cognitive marketing is the blending of that science with all facets of marketing in order to deeply understand people and help brands be present, relevant, and significant in their life – from way before the moment something makes them a potential buyer for their category to way after they experience it. This is our philosophy and the relentless search that will sit at the heart of everything we do. 

How it works

Often the best way to understand a new approach to an old concept is by example, so allow me to illustrate. Consider the concept of “heavy category buyers.”  Most marketing professionals will tell you that the best way to grow your business is to focus on individuals who are committed to your brand,  deepen their affinity for the brand, and expand their total spend. It’s a worthwhile goal, but it leaves a lot of people out. While brand loyalists make great advocates, most consumers aren’t brand buyers. Most consumers shop within categories of products and allow a variety of factors beyond branding to influence their decisions. 

Take Starbucks for example: You may be among what they consider a heavy category buyer of coffee on-the-go, perhaps because you regularly purchase a cup on your way to the office. But are you a true brand enthusiast? Is your dedication to Starbucks the product of a true love affair with the brand? Or is it the result of a complex set of behaviors? Your route to work, how much sleep you got the previous night, whether or not you’re an early riser with time to make coffee at home, how much cash you have on hand that day. All of these factors probably weigh more heavily on most people’s decision to buy an expensive Grandé latte with cold foam than “brand loyalty.”

Likewise, a sneakerhead may be committed to buying the latest set of Nike collector kicks, but even the most diehard Nike fan only has two feet and one wallet. The business growth of Nike won’t be driven by enthusiasts, it will be driven by people who need shoes at a given price point, most of whom are willing to consider Nike alongside a handful of relevant competitors based on price, proximity, coolness, and features that match their lifestyle. Your marketing partner should be equally focused on how to influence those persuadable consumers, not only on how to convince the enthusiast that he needs an additional pair. 

One reason brand marketers may shy away from this kind of thinking is that it’s inherently complex. After all, there are hundreds of human needs and behaviors that impact our choice of coffee or sneakers, or any other product. We’d need to know more about people and what motivates them than we ever had before, but that’s where we see opportunity. We live at a time of immense technological innovation and we can understand more about those very signals and habits than ever before.

How we achieve it

At ISPD, we’re building a business to meet this exact moment. We’ve invested in companies with the talents and new technologies that can help us understand consumers from every angle. From ethnographic research and data modeling to Artificial Intelligence that can perceive images, text, and sounds in the world around us and  extract meaning and actionable insights, we are more prepared than ever to apply cognitive science to every facet of marketing. We can go beyond a simple ad placement in a prominent magazine to understand context and value. Was the context exciting? Was it bland? Did it align your brand with values or behaviors that correspond with the factors that actually drive consumer decisions? This cognitive process is the thread that will tie all of our businesses and services together to drive results.

What it means for your business

For years, brands have struggled to “be” more human. Ultimately, brands are not human, but now we have the science, methodology, and tools to help them genuinely relate with humans, interacting in their lives to deliver business growth. We’ll partner with you to research relevant people, build and execute advanced strategies, help your teams adapt to change, and measure the business impact of your investments. We’ll help your brands leverage science to predict their future and understand how to influence it, just as humans do every day! It’s a shift that many industries like medicine, architecture, farming, and food have all experienced, and it’s time for our industry to embrace the scientific laws behind marketing performance.