Brand Experience on The Findings Report

Smile Policies and Other Ways to Trash a Brand

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 15:24:00 -0800

Last week, Target Corporation issued a new directive to its store employees. As reported by Bloomberg News, the new store policy instructs employees, “if a shopper comes within 10 feet of you, then make sure you smile, make eye contact and greet or wave. If they come closer–within four feet–ask whether they need help or how their day is going.” Common courtesy? Perhaps. Good strategy. Negative. Why not give them something to smile about rather than admonish them to fix their face?

Sense and Psychology

Sun, 10 Dec 2017 13:03:00 -0800

Out of nowhere, I started singing it.

My baloney has a first name. It’s O-S-C-A-R.

My son looked up over his glasses.

My baloney has a second name. It’s M-A-Y-E-R.

Then my wife joined me.

Oh, I love to eat it every day,
and if you ask me why I’ll say…
(We speed up for childish effect)
‘Cuz Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A

Both kids were staring at us now. While they had certainly heard this ancient jingle somewhere, somehow before, it wasn’t ingrained in them the same way as it was for Jeanette and me. That probably explains why we were laughing, and the kids were shaking their heads.

No Pain. No Gain.

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 16:43:00 -0700

Marketers rely on a lot of conventional wisdom. We “know” that consumers love discounts, convenience, and pleasure. But sometimes this wisdom is wrong. There are, after all, conspicuous consumers who take pride in paying more, do-it-yourselfers who aren’t satisfied unless they did it “the hard way”, and no-frills customer segments who are content to sit in “the middle seat.” Contradictions can be profitable.

A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explores one such contradiction: consumer affinity for pain. Conventional wisdom dictates that consumers want brands that alleviate pain, not cause it. The data reinforce this wisdom. In 2014, Advil earned more than $485 million in US sales alone. Worldwide, “pain relief” is a multibillion category. In this context, study authors Rebecca Scott, Julien Cayla and Bernard Cova wanted to understand why some consumers pay handsomely to hurt. Their research focused on the participants of Tough Mudder events.

Give The Gift of Experience

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 17:55:00 -0700

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece calling for brands to create rituals. I think I have received more comments and positive feedback on that piece than any I’ve previously published. I would love to chalk it up to my uncanny sense of prose, but the truth is that marketers and consumers alike are starving for more meaningful interactions. Brands with a purely transactional mindset are crass to consumers (especially Millennials) while disloyal consumers are the bane of the modern marketer. The ritual dimension of consumption eases both pain points.

From Habits to Rituals

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 15:36:00 -0700

I celebrated my 48th birthday this week. I’m generally not one of those people who makes a big deal about laps around the sun. Too much fuss makes me feel more awkward than gratified. But ever since I marched past the midlife median I have become more reflective about the ritual we celebrate on the anniversary of our entrance onto the stage of life.

As marketers, we don’t spend enough time thinking about rituals. One of my marketing mentors, Dennis Rook, wrote a seminal piece on the power of consumer ritual. I was lucky enough to hear him lecture on this topic in person. I remember the class vividly because I wrote a note on the margin of the syllabus: “study this!” Rook’s piece explored the powerful and profitable connection to ritualized consumption experiences such as birthdays. He noted the prescribed behaviors such as giving gifts, eating cake, blowing out candles, singing songs, etc.

Seduce Me Today. Love Me Tomorrow.

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 07:00:00 -0800

I confess. I am a SoulCycle addict. After being cajoled on a dare to give the cult indoor cycling brand a spin in February, 2015 I quickly evolved into a zealot who “taps it back” five times a week. Interestingly, the friend who shamed me into trying SoulCycle did so by telling me I had to “do it for the brand experience.” She was right. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a brand that executes on every touch point more consistently than SoulCycle.

Brand Preference, Experience and Memory

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:58:59 +0000

Brand marketers often fall prey to a massively faulty assumption. They assume that consumers are rational. I’ve sat through many detailed client presentations, replete with volumes of data, wherein a brand platform is justified on the basis of a logical argument that will convince consumers the client’s brand is better than a competitor’s. They believe that touting the virtues of their brand attributes will persuade a consumer to try, switch or buy more. It makes logical sense, they say. When the consumer weighs the choice, we’ll come out ahead.