Bad experience at a cellphone Company

Is it true that my turn is 561 at Comcel (Local cellphone company) and I have to wait for 62 turns to go, at a rate of 1 each 2 minutes, which means that I'll have my chance in more than 2 hours?

Even more when I'm there to complain for the bad service I'm paying for?

Do brands today believe that a customer will wait for 2 hours? Sadly yes.
Here is a simple yet close example.

Happiness in a pic!

THE TRUE REASON FOR EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

Did you learn bike riding, driving your car, typing into your computer of even walking, in a classroom, behind a desk, sitting in a chair?

The obvious answer is NO.

You rode, you fell, you crashed, you walked to end up running.

YOU HAD THE EXPERIENCE!

In few words: you have to live in order to remember.

Why? Your brain neurons have the ability to record better, when more than one of your senses is implied in the experience. Not all of us give the same importance (in a subconscious level) to our five senses. Some of us (statistically the majority) absorb better through our sight, others are better listeners, others prefer to touch of even go to the level of tasting. Do you remember the lyrics of all the songs you listen, or quotes from movies, or you rather remember the scene and the explosion and the scenario?

Some believe that this is so dramatic, that this difference even affects the way we express ourselves. Someone with a higher level of “visual levels” will tell you “See! I saw that coming!”, someone more towards hearing will say “Hey you, listen up!” and someone that touches and tastes will say “I have a bad feeling about this!”.

For me, it is simply the fact that you MUST ensure that when you want to communicate to someone, you will have to make sure to get to his(her) higher senses in order to better record your message in his brain, for him to decode it. The key success for you, is to previously find out what type of audience you have in order to configure your message.

In “Cashflow”, Robert Kiyosaki’s personal finances book – that I personally recommend – he attaches an interesting graphic that is called “The Learning Pyramid”. I looked for a nice pyramid in the internet and finally found this one (see image) where it simply states, that after attending a lecture, you will ONLY remember 20% of what you heard!! As you go up in the pyramid and go closer to a more complete experience, remembering levels increase considerably, finding a 90% when living a simulation (living the experience). Isn’t this something to consider?

Going back to the Marketing and Product world, where having the information of all your audience can be rather difficult, you must ensure the message from your brand or product to be perfectly engraved in your segment’s brain. This is why, some categories are understanding this, and including in their marketing mix and strategy plan, EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES.

Now you can see “TEST DRIVES” for cars, electronic apparel to be tested in the store while you buy, samplings, all of these for you to have a closer experience with the product, and sensing it as if you owned it.

Some others go to a higher level like creating a whole experience while buying. Make your way to the Apple Store at New York city or any Disney Store in the world, and you will be received in a particular way that will make shopping a whole experience.

The statement I want to make clear is that when you find yourself planning for your brand communication strategy, remember this! Make sure your potential consumer lives an experience with your brand, something he (his brain) will remember (engrave) to make him come back and consider you for a repurchase, and become a fan and advocate of your brand.

Don’t expect that a TV Ad will have to do it all! It is the most common choice for massive communication, but massive doesn’t ensure learning, remembering and applying.

I’m not sending the message of eliminating TV Ads, not at all! They make great advertising and goes with us in a daily basis. But think of your consumer’s daily routine and look for a way to break it with your product, by standing out from the crowd and reaching him where his is most retentive! Where his senses are more willing to get the message, AND MAKE HIM ACT!

SEEING MYSELF… LIKE THAT! - THE MIRROR NEURON

It is a Tuesday morning, and you find yourself walking down the Fifth Avenue at New York city. Nothing out of the ordinary…

Suddenly, something catches your attention! A very hot, hot girl is just hanging on the opposite side of the street, wearing a pair of jeans that suit her with perfection. WOW!! You try not to stare, but it is rather difficult.

Now, something strange is going on. Right besides that hot girl, a guy is just talking to her. Why strange? The guy has no shirt on, and he looks like a model.

The talk and talk, laugh and hug each other, but don’t move from where they are standing. It’s the entrance to Abercrombie & Fitch, a widely known store for youngsters and young adults.

What is really interesting about this scene is not the fact that a clothing store just hired a couple of models to stand at the entrance and capture some attention. What is really happening is in your brain.

In his book “Buyology”, Martin Lindstrom perfectly explains the purpose of this idea: they are attacking your MIRROR NEURON!

What? Mirror what?

In our brain there is a system called mirror neuron that allows us visualize ourselves in other situations. Just like living the moment inside your mind. Nothing extraordinary until a store understands that by doing so (hiring a couple models and placing them at the entrance of every store), it will affect your perception and even model your decisions.

Abercrombie knows that men are not only staring at the model girl, and women at the model guy. Men are also looking at that same guy and in their minds, their brain is saying: “Hey look! If you buy yourself a pair of jeans right in that store, you might look like that guy!” and at the same time girls will say inside their minds “Those jeans will make me look like that! I found the right ones!”

Minutes later, you will find yourself inside the store, buying those jeans, and the moment you put them on, subconsciously fill extremely confident and with a higher level of sex-appeal.

Voilà, that´s what the brand Abercrombie is doing so, (and I consider simple and at the same time genius) but wait, is that really all?

The answer is NO. Mirror neuron is not the only weapon they are using to model your behavior! Other stuff is going on inside the store…

Wanna go in? Keep on the blog and find more on Abercrombie and other brands.

SELECTIVE ATTENTION

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED…

Why, days before you get interested in a specific CAR BRAND to buy, you rarely see one in the streets, BUT, from the day you make a decision on the car, you suddenly start seeing more and more of this specific type, passing just around you?

Is it that you just selected the car with the best selling trend in the market?

Has everybody read your mind and chosen the same car?

Did you make a bad decision and bought yourself the most common car, when days  before you thought it was unique?

The answer is in your brain and it is called SELECTIVE ATTENTION.

When you have an idea in your mind, your brain focuses on it, just like a radio station, capturing all the ideas, words, images and sounds related to the topic.

Think of a specific topic, let’s say “Rich People”. If you become really interested, you will start listening to money conversations, Forbes lists, eccentricities, stocks, real estate, etc.

Some call it “The Secret”, other call it “obsession”, but what it really is, is SELECTIVE ATTENTION.

As your brain is an amazing machine, when you make it focus, you will make it pass by other stimuli that the brain considers not useful for the main idea.

Go ahead and make a test! You can find interesting examples at the following links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLzTbl38NGA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA

So imagine being able to generate among your consumers such a need for your product, that the brain will immediately switch in the SELECTIVE MODE, looking for it and not even getting distorted or disoriented by other messages from competitors?

Great tool! Isn’t it?

If you have a similar case, POST IT! Never know where great ideas might come from!

SO, WHAT'S THIS BLOG ALL ABOUT?

More than a trendy topic, “Neuromarketing” is a sum of two amazing sciences and worlds.

IT IS WHEN YOU USE SCIENCE,
TO CREATE MAGIC!

Do you know that even if most of people absorb information visually in an easier way, hearing and smell are stronger senses?

I believe that it has happened to you: being taken into the past in a matter of milliseconds, just by listening to a specific song? It’s like you are living again the moment you recorded!

Another case is not far away! It’s 3p.m., you had lunch a couple hours ago, and suddenly you walk in front of a bakery where bread is being made, and just by smelling the aroma near the door you go hungry again!

Products, experiences and events become relevant in a blink of the eye, without you being able to control it, or even without you noticing your behavior.

Then a question arouses: WHAT IF behind these stimuli that surround your daily life, there is someone “creating” this engaging world, looking for you to react in a way that he/she predicts, and that you cannot even explain?

Your five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste) are just one entrance door to your brain, but there is a million more that can be levered, analyzed in order to get you somewhere.

DON’T BE SCARED! DON’T FEEL LIKE A LAB RAT! This has been happening for years. Simply the rationale behind this mystic magic is being studied and applied in a more conscious way.

The purpose of my blog is to learn, discuss and experience this magic! See and try to explain what is behind the curtain!

What I intend is to see cases, throw ideas, share experiences, draw hypothesis for all of us to consider, and why not, APPLY!

So keep in touch! Maybe next time you find yourself buying a product you already have, a new wristwatch, or flying with the same airline or buying the same clothes in a specific store, you’ll be able to explain your own behavior!

OR MODEL YOUR CONSUMERS!!