Whole Brain Marketing produces strategy built around a scientific understanding of how the brain processes information and how people make decisions in the specific context of your purchase decision. Whole Brain Marketing incorporates a proprietary model of decision-making to perform interviews and surveys based on the understanding that motivation is an unconscious, emotionally linked process.
While market research can be useful in measuring effectiveness of past advertising and understanding historical context, it is frequently of less value in understanding how to achieve your marketing and other influence objectives. Market research typically measures what people have done in the past and reports what they say that they plan to do. People cannot typically articulate what would cause them to act because they are not consciously aware of why they act. Therefore reports are limited to information about how subjects may have justified and rationalized past decisions. While sometimes useful, rationalization will not help influence future decisions.
In contrast, Whole Brain Marketing shows how to change what buyers will do, down to the specific words, images, media, and calls to action that will produce desired behavior. The results achieved are both broader and deeper in scope than even the most sophisticated polling and research methods could hope to accomplish. The Whole Brain Marketing predictive model links specific communications with your desired objective with statistical precision.
In addition to revealing what will motivate action, Whole Brain Marketing functionally integrates the processes typically performed by strategists, branding specialists, statistical modeling, and communications experts.
Many consulting models and research-based techniques mine databases for historical information and attempt to project past decisions into the future. Others examine past decisions and assume that future decisions will be similar. The Whole Brain Marketing model gains insights about current needs, values, and unconscious drives or motivators that are contextually relevant to future decisions. The model predicts specifically what will cause people to take the action that you want, how many of them will likely act, and identifies relevant factors that you can harness to influence decisions in your favor.
Subliminal advertising refers to being hidden from view; the consumer would not be aware it was present. Whole Brain Marketing, in contrast, guides the creation of images and words that are fully visible and are linked to audiences’ hidden internal decision processes. The result is that the audience feels both compelled and comfortable to act without hesitation.
Physiological monitoring and observation techniques have been used to attempt to solve marketing problems since the 1960’s when lie detector tests were first employed to track advertising responses. (This technique was widely discredited.) More recently brain scans, eye movement tracking, in store monitoring, ethnography and others have been promoted. While these techniques can be of some value in some contexts; they can typically only show that some sort of physiological response has occurred. They are not able show the linkage between words and action or identify specific communications that will create action.
The process has solid academic grounding in cognitive psychology, linguistics, brain theory, counseling psychology, and advanced statistical analysis. The 300-step process begins with in depth interviews of clients’ executives, background research on the topic searching available knowledge, to identify the specific measurable outcomes. After identifying and agreeing with clients on the scope of the work and specific targets that we wish to influence, we begin to investigate the decision process of buyers or others that you wish to influence.
The market investigation process begins with in depth individual interviews of target market members conducted by highly trained consultants holding advanced degrees. These interviews uncover preconscious and unconscious concerns and motivators. The results of the initial interviews are used to construct a larger, more structured study of a broader sample of individuals. These may be conducted in person, by telephone or Internet. The results are analyzed and derived using a customized proprietary multivariate predictive model. This means that we will commit to the degree of change or influence that will be produced by implementing the model. The result is branding, messaging, and specific guidance to influence people to take the action that you desire.
You receive a detailed, actionable presentation of strategic recommendations and results explaining how to influence motivation.
Whole Brain Marketing in-depth written presentations explain how to influence your target market using advertising, media relations, web pages, sales presentation, mailings, and other media. Recommendations include the exact wording, imagery and influence appeals that will produce the greatest change in desired behavior. Our reports commit to the response you can expect if you follow our advice.
We typically provide multiple briefings and consultation for clients and expect to be involved in ongoing dialogue and briefings. During the consultation process we will brief executives in general management, product management, sales management, and others on how to use the insights to set strategy and choose tactics. In this interaction, clients gain sustainable knowledge of what must be present in every marketing or advertising communication in order to succeed in its objectives. Briefings and reference charts are used by creative teams or agencies to produce the most effective communications. Additionally, we review and advise on the development of strategy, and advertising if applicable, including web content, scripts, and other promotional materials produced based upon the project’s findings and recommendations. This consultation in included in the scope of the project.
Our firm provides very detailed guidance and assistance to internal corporate communications departments, external consultants, agencies, and others acting on your behalf. We do not produce advertising or media materials.
Each study begins with the Whole Brain Marketing model and a blank sheet of paper. We do not have notions of expected outcomes. Your project will be unique and created to produce your specific results for your market, brand, and other issues unique to your company.
Projects take as little as three weeks to several months depending upon the complexity of the problem.
Industry experts can offer valuable background and generalized knowledge about a field. They are typically focused on what has worked in the past and in specific circumstances. In contrast, Whole Brain Marketing measures what will produce specific results today in your specific product and your specific target audience or market. It fully takes into account actions of competitors, changes in marketplace, and changes in buying patterns that an industry leader may misread.
Many consulting firms employ industry consultants with specific knowledge of an industry or process. In contrast, Whole Brain Marketing is a scientific model that predicts how to influence behavior by applying scientific understanding of human decision-making processes. Prior knowledge of a market, industry, or population is not required. The model has been proven effective across many cultures and countries, and with unfamiliar decisions, products and services. If your situation involves a need to motivate a group of people to take action, Whole Brain Marketing will most likely add significant value. (And, we have likely worked in your field or one related to it).
The Whole Brain Marketing process includes interviews with key people in your organization. We need either telephone or in-person access for typically 45 minutes from each person. While we fully include staff’s knowledge base, we do not expect your staff to execute the project nor do we interrupt your work. We only need assistance in scheduling interviews and gaining access to available background information. If the project involves influencing your staff or customers, we will need assistance in gaining access to a relevant sample of those people. Finally, if we are to work with an external partner in implementation, we need to meet and get input from the partner in the design phase of the project.
