The Persuaders

I think that The Persuaders was a rather interesting video. After watching it, I became more aware than ever of all the efforts and thought that goes into understanding the consumer and how he or she thinks. It is also really crazy to see just how much we are in contact with advertisements, even when we do not even notice it. Advertising agencies go to great lengths to have their products featured in so many ways.

An extremely fascinating aspect of the video was of course the findings of the brilliant Dr. Rapaille. Dr. Rapaille, a former autistic psychiatrist, has been labeled a market research guru. He has developed a 3-stage technique to understand why consumers behave the way that they do. The object is to take the subjects through a journey moving from reason to emotion to the primal core, where Rapaille believes the decisions are actually made. The technique involves a series of focus groups and activities to analyze customers’ attitudes toward a particular topic.

The first stage, reason, simply involves asking the subjects what comes to mind when they think of the topic, in this case luxury. The subjects of course state things like well-made, money, etc. This stage is just to have the subjects begin to think and feel that they have done a good job. Rapaille states that there are never any new findings at this stage, but it gives the respondents time to feel intelligent. Then they all take a break before continuing with the next section.

The next stage involves capturing their emotions. The subjects are asked to create a story that they would tell a five year-old from another planet that would explain luxury. This allows Rapaille to bring out the emotional attachments that the subjects have to the topic. It also allows them to be very creative, not so logical, and simple, since they are dealing with a young child. Then the subjects all take another break.

Finally, the third stage, getting to the primal core, involves reminiscing. This stage is extremely confusing for the subjects, especially since there are no chairs and they have to lie on the floor. Rapaille asks them to imagine the first time that they experienced luxury. The atmosphere is very relaxing and leads to very deep thought. This triggers what he calls the “reptilial hot buttons” that make them act. This truly shows what drives them to behave as they do.

Another interesting topic that Rapaille speaks about is the fact that each word has a mental meaning. This assigned meaning is what Rapaille refers to as the unconscious code in the brain. I think that this is very true. There are definitely certain words in particular that I feel I have attached a meaning to. For example, the word mother, an obvious example, but nonetheless a good one. To me mother is compassionate, enduring, powerful, attentive, and beautiful. Some people may have attached different meaning to that word, but I definitely have that unconscious code for mother. A consumer product word example, hoodie. When I hear the word hoodie, I think soft, comfortable, and warm. If a company is selling a hoodie that is thin and itchy, it is not going to appeal to me as a consumer. I believe that Rapaille is right that people attach a mental meaning to every word and I really liked that finding.

Lastly, I would like to just mention the efforts of Song Airlines that were presented in the film. I feel that it was a very appealing approach to the airline industry. I liked the aesthetic that the kiosk, the retail store, the plane itself, and the commercials all provided. I felt that Song was definitely appealing to a market that was underrepresented in the airline industry. Personally, I would have definitely been a Song customer!