May 7, 2023

May 6, 2023 From getting happier to running faster; brands promise you everything. They often have convincing arguments for this. Such as superior materials, craftsmanship or optimal designs. But what if products are functionally identical? Is a brand then still able to change the behavior of their customers and objectively increase their performance? In other words: is there such a thing as the brand-placebo effect? From a rational point of view, such a placebo effect is, of course, nonsense. Two identical products – whether or not they have a logo on them – should lead to similar performance. Yet it turns out that certain brands can influence our behavior, and therefore our performance, in surprising ways, through their label mago. In this blog, let’s take a look at five surprising ways brands influence our performance. 1. Red Bull gives you wings When we think of strong brands, we soon think of Red Bull. Market research from 2020 shows that Red Bull is the market leader in the energy drink industry, with a market share of 43%. Red Bull’s consistent marketing communication plays an important role in this. The brand’s social media channels are full of extreme sports, record-breaking achievements and sporting events that don’t even have much to do with their actual product. Red Bull knows how to strongly link associations with speed, power and carefreeness to the brand in the consumer’s mind. But what effect do these associations actually have? Several studies show that Red Bull influences our performance. For example, Red Bull can improve our cognitive performance, and improve our performance in race cars, but also worsen it. Red Bull boosts mental performance In an investigation participants were divided into four groups. One group drank Sprite, one drank Red Bull lime (which has a similar taste to Sprite). So far nothing crazy. But what participants did not know is that two variants had also been added that were not entirely correct. This is because Sprite was also put in a Red Bull can and the other way around, Red Bull Lime in a Sprite can. In this way, 4 variants were created. After drinking one of the four variants, participants were asked to perform the well-known Stroop test; a cognitively demanding task. What turned out? Participants who thought they were drinking Red Bull performed better, regardless of whether they actually drank Red Bull or not (Schmidt, Chandon, Pessiglione & Plassman, 2017). Red Bull increases (or decreases) race performance We also looked at what effect Red Bull has on our racing performance. In this investigation participants were asked to run a racing game on a computer, with four different cars. One of them was stickered with Red Bull, the other cars with other brands. The researchers showed that Red Bull could have a two-way effect. Individuals who raced in a car with a Red Bull sticker did either significantly faster or slower than in cars from other brands. The reason for this? Red Bull’s brand image either pushed racers to the top of their ability, which led to very fast races, or pushed racers over the top of their ability, making more mistakes and therefore slower races (Brasel & Gips, 2011). 2. Nike makes you “Just Do It” Many golfers have been guilty of it; paying a hefty premium for a club of a certain brand, while there were also excellent clubs in a lower price range. Still, this turns out to be a smart move from research van Garvey, Germann and Bolton (2015). They conducted a number of experiments in which they handed 200 students a putter and asked them to putt from different spots on a green. Half were told it was a Nike putter (which, according to a poll, they strongly associated with performance), the other half were told it was a Starter putter (which, according to the poll, they did not strongly associate with performance). Although the putter itself was exactly the same, subjects took an average of 20% fewer strokes to putt the ball when they thought the putter was from Nike. Simply thinking that the putter was from Nike made them perform a lot better. 3. Apple makes you – really – “Think Different” Apple has worked hard to cultivate a strong brand image based on associations of nonconformity, innovation and creativity. Their consistent marketing strategy repeatedly emphasizes these aspects of the brand, for example in their “Think Different” campaign. To test whether – and how – Apple influences consumers, participants in this investigation exposed to logos of either the Apple brand or the IBM brand, which, unlike Apple, is not or less associated with creativity, and more with traditional, smart and responsible. They were then asked to complete an assignment commonly used to measure creativity; the “unusual uses task” in which respondents are asked to think of as many possible uses for a simple object, such as a brick. While subjects primed with the Apple logo recorded an average of 7.68 uses, subjects primed with IBM recorded an average of 6.10 uses. The possibilities for use were also assessed by a jury for creativity. The group primed with the Apple logo noted not only more uses, but also more creative uses (Fitzsimons, Chartrand & Fitzsimons, 2008). So Apple objectively makes you more creative. Reason enough to hang a large poster of Steve Jobs in your office. Not true? Bron: Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com 4. Ray-Ban makes you a better reader In dit experiment participants were asked to wear sunglasses in a bright light and to read words on paper as accurately and quickly as possible. They received a small compensation for each word they read. One group received Ray-Ban sunglasses, the other group received the exact same sunglasses, but with a Mango logo on them. You probably guessed it; the group wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses made fewer mistakes and read faster than the group wearing Mango sunglasses (Amar, Carmon, Ariely, Bar-Hillel & Ofir, 2011). So it’s time to buy that expensive Ray-Ban, if you have a lot of books on your reading list for the holidays. 5. Advil will make you better faster It is clear that brands influence your performance. But can branding also make you heal faster? Out an experiment by Branthwaite and Cooper turns out it is. They divided 835 women who had regular headaches into four groups, each of which received a different medication. Group 1 received an unbranded placebo pill, group two a branded placebo pill, group three an unbranded painkiller and group four a branded painkiller. It turned out that the branded painkiller was more effective in reducing headaches than the unbranded painkiller, and the branded placebo was more effective than the unbranded placebo. Tip for when you buy painkillers for someone: pay just a few quarters more for an A-brand painkiller than a private label painkiller. Those you give the painkillers to will actually heal faster! Brand image influences performance & choice Brand image significantly influences consumer behavior. Not only in the form of performance, but also in the form of product choice. As a brand, it is therefore essential to have insight into your brand image. And to use a consistent marketing strategy, in which you continue to focus on the most important brand associations that lead to sales. References Amar, M., Ariely, D., Bar-Hillel, M., Carmon, Z. & Ofir, C. (2011). Brand names act like marketing placebos. Branthwaite, A. & Cooper, P. (1981). Analgesic effects of branding in treatment of headaches. British Medical Journal, 282(6276), 1576-1578. Brasel, S.A. & Gips, J. (2011). Red Bull “Gives You Wings” for better or worse: A double-edged impact of brand exposure on consumer performance. Journal of Consumer Psychologie, 21 (2011), 57-64. Fitzsimons, G.M., Chartrand, T.L., & Fitzsimons, G.J. (2008). Automatic Effects of Brand Exposure on Motivated Behavior: How Apple Makes You “Think Different”. Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 21-35 Garvey, A., Germann, F., & Bolton, L. (2015). Performance Brand Placebos: How Brands Improve Performance and Consumers Take the Credit, in NA – Advances in Consumer Research, 43, 163-169 Schmidt, L., Chandon, P., Pessiglionie, M., & Plassman, H. (2017). Red Bull Gives You Incentive Motivation: Understanding Placebo Effects of Energy Drinks on Human Cognitive Performance.