VOL. 0037 – FLORIDA, WEDNESDAY, OCT 25, 2023
Juan F. Arjona Harry
President & CEO Strategee
One of the most powerful techniques for generating advertising lies in the implementation of various schemes derived from psychological learning schools.
Why is this?
Because advertising has three basic objectives: to inform, persuade and strengthen. The first role of advertising is teaching (which exactly meets the three objectives: teaching is informing, reinforcing knowledge and persuading).
That is, advertising plays a role of teaching or the consumer-located across-plays the role of learning.
In order to ensure that the consumer learns well, you must teach well.
Psychology is here giving a huge contribution to marketing, putting in its service learning theories of humans, so marketing can use this powerful tools to generate publicity based on how the consumer learns best.
There are several psychological theories of learning; the ones listed in this article are the ones that have made great contributions to marketing. These theories are:
1. Learning by classical conditioning (which relates an object with a stimuli presented successively and repetitively: such that removing the object and generating the stimulus, the same reaction occurs in who are being exposed to it).
1.1. This technique is seen in countless television commercials, for example, in which the consequences of an act of the consumer are favorable / positive / pleasant and then presents the same plane but with the name of the brand that uses the consumer when the event starts. Anyone who is exposed to the medium that exhibits this television commercial, link positive events with the brand advertised in the commercial.
2. The second application is the modeling of indirect learning, which is the one that shows the positive or negative effects faced by a third person, for doing something good or bad. We learn by what happens to that other person. Our behavior ends up being shaped by what the other person lives and experiences with their behavior.
2.1. Thus, for example, brands seek to be used in public or publicly consumed in a video clip or a TV commercial by an impressive personality (usually called HCS or highly credible sources, which can be: opinion leaders, experts, spokespersons and celebrities from the world of sport, music among others). When the common consumer sees that the HCS consumes the brand, immediately tend to buy / consume that brand, wanting to model the HCS’ conduct.
3. The third is the way of instrumental learning or operant, bringing positive or negative reinforcements referrals and punishment to human behavior.
3.1. Thus, a person who buys and / or uses a particular brand is applauded, shown as perfect, as he did well, he does or did the right thing, then he deserves the brand that provides a particular benefit. Or, also by consuming that brand, the person will have a better life.
3.2. Or when a consumer does not consume nor purchase certain brand, can have negative consequences.
3.3. Or when a consumer consumed the wrong brand, the consumer faces such negative consequences as a punishment, a loss, a severe and serious consequence for not having used the brand advertised.
These applications are just some of the many available theories that explain human learning and that allow the marketing and advertising to have a powerful support for the communication effort.
The design of advertising, ignoring the power of these techniques, results in an attack on the cost-efficiency of investments in marketing for brands.