Reading your posts for a while and I have found them very insightful and helpful. I am a junior account planner in an advertising firm. This is my first job. Can you suggest me some good books/online courses that will help me to succeed in this field.

Thanks

It’s also very helpful to see how a company like coach communicates with its customers!

Thank you! Glad you’re finding value here.

Thank you Catherine! Really appreciate the feedback.

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Stephen B.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist:

Thanks for this posting Sam! I’m a clinical psychologist currently working in the mental health field but am trying to find a career as a strategic planner with an advertising agency where I could apply my knowledge of psychology to generating consumer insights and assisting in creative development. I really enjoyed reading your post and am eager to explore your website which seems to have a lot of great information on the relevance of psychology in advertising/marketing. I hold a similar view to you regarding the consumer’s purchasing behavior, in that I believe consumers’ buy products/services for the emotionally desirable end result, rather than the product/service themselves. For instance, people buy golf balls that boast farther flight not because of the actual distance the golf ball travels, but because of how they anticipate they will feel when they out-drive their friends on the golf course. I also really liked your idea of the product/service as being a bridge between the consumer and their desired end result, but I was confused with the idea of the product/service then also being seen an obstacle. I view most products/services as a sort of conduit, or even a means to an end, not necessarily an obstacle between the consumer and their goal. And like you went onto say, some brands, like Apple, have been able to create products/services which in and of themselves provide a unique experience that is so rewarding to the user that the experience itself provides the emotionally desirable end result. So in that sense, not only does the iPhone allow you to call your mother to wish her a happy birthday which will make you feel good, but the process of using the iPhone to actually make the call is such a unique and fun experience that you receive an emotionally desirable end result before even speaking with your mother. I apologize for the length of my comment but I was excited to see your post and thought you had a lot of really interesting ideas on the psychology of branding!

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Sam Pardhan
Strategic Brand Builder | Author at BrandMarketingPsychology.com:

Hey Stephen,

I really appreciate your feedback and thoughts on my article and website… I’m genuinely glad that you found it valuable!

I can tell you ‘get it’. The idea of the end result being the most important thing in the consumer’s mind. I like the Apple example – using an Apple example actually came to my mind as I was writing out the article – but like you, I felt like I should hold myself back from writing too much!… But after reading your comment, although it was long, I didn’t mind it. I wish you wrote more… so no need to apologize! And I think ANY Apple product could fit the concept discussed in the article… they definitely cater to and understand their audience.

In terms of the idea of a product/service being an ‘obstacle’ – maybe the word itself is interpreted in different ways. Perhaps, in my mind it fits because in my opinion an ‘obstacle’ is something that hinders progress. So for example, if someone wants to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks, the ‘diet supplement’ or ‘the ab work-out product’…etc… will be the obstacle to their desired end result. Humans are so instant gratification oriented that anything which causes their gratification to not be ‘instant’ is PERCEIVED as an obstacle.

This is probably a better clarification (for those who haven’t read the article, this is dissected in much clearer detail on the website):

A product/service that provides their customer a great EXPERIENCE in getting to their end result… is not really an obstacle. It’s a means to an end, like you said. It’s a bridge.

A product/service where the experience is not usually desired at all (working out to lose weight, going through an entire course to learn a language, etc.)… THAT is an obstacle. Anybody would much rather have those ‘end results’ instantly. That’s speaking for the MAJORITY of people. Some people like working out.

So it really depends on if your product/service both or just one of the ‘rules’ mentioned in the article.

Thanks again Stephen!

Stay in touch.

Sam

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Stephen B.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist:

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the feedback and clarification. I get what you’re saying now about how the product/service can act as an obstacle the consumer must learn to overcome in order to attain the desired end result. I really like your use of working out and learning a language to illustrate the obstacle metaphor and the desire for instant gratification. I also like your emphasis on the PERCEPTION of the product/service being an obstacle, which is different than the product/service actually being an obstacle. As a psychologist, I understand the power of perception as well as the importance of changing/modifying perceptions in order to change attitudes and most importantly, impact behaviors.

I hope to see more posts addressing the influence of psychology on advertising and marketing and the potential benefits of using psychology to understand consumer behavior and decision-making.

Thanks again for sharing!

Completely agree with your insights! The sense of belongingness is definitely a crucial differentiating factor. Thanks Gokul.

Hi Scott,

I’m glad to see your interest in further understanding the mind of the luxury-conscious consumer. I’d be happy to provide you with a source of information that expands on the insights discussed in this article in much greater detail!

Glyn Atwal, formerly worked at Saatchi & Saatchi, currently a Marketing Professor, and his colleague Alistair Williams, Marketing Professor at Wales University, discuss luxury brand marketing in a paper entitled “Luxury Brand Marketing – The experience is everything.” This paper was published in the Journal of Brand Management in 2009 and covers a lot of the insights that you are seeking. They also cite a huge variety of experiments, research studies, and case studies, which they use to draw their conclusions from.

Click here for the link to the article. Enjoy!

Good point! Thanks Dom!