Hidden Persuasion: Advertising Techniques

Acknowledging Resistance

-plays into this existing resistance by simply acknowledging its presence

-communicates an empathic understanding of the person's opinion

-ex. Hans Brinker Budget Hotel

Fluency

-smooth and automatic processing of information automatically leads to experiencing positive feelings

-the quicker something is read, the easier an image is on the eye, and/or the faster is understood, the more we will like it

-consider names, font, number, image

-ex. Highways Agency

Foot-in-the-Door

-beginning with a small request paves the way for compliance to a bigger request

-the bigger request is clearly related to and in line with the first request

Promised Land

-seduces customers into buying a product because it will help them to achieve some desirable goal, even when the goal is unrealistic

-aimed at creating the strongest reward response in the brain of the perceiver

-empowering promise

-ex. Axe

Self-Persuasion

-no one is better than you at persuading yourself to change

-people don't like being told how to live or what alliance to choose

-people like to believe they are in control of making the major decisions in their lives

-ex. CDC smoking campaign

Altercasting

-casting people into a social role makes them behave in ways expected by this role

-telling someone that they are "good" and that they should behave accordingly

-manded altercating: when a person is placed in a social position orally or textually

-tact altercasting: created with suggestive imagery to have someone take on the role spontaneously and voluntarily

-ex. Bavaria beer

Social Proof

-people have an innate drive to copy others' decisions and behavior

-most effective by stating that "90% of X do/buy/prefer Y"

-ex. Hyundais ad

Guarantees

-implies that no matter what the customer does, in the end they cannot lose

-removes any doubt or reluctance to make the purchase decision

-implies that the product or service is of high quality

-ex. Pattex glue

Attractiveness

-we consciously prefer attractive people and that we associate their appearance with an inherent goodness which reflects directly on the product

-attractive faces instantly produce a positive feeling in the viewer

-averageness, symmetry, sexual dimorphism

Humor

-incongruity-resolution: an unusual, strange or unexpected element in the ad

-attention-grabbing, leads to positive feelings being associated with the brand

-decreases memory for the brand

-lower resistance

Scarcity

-if it's hard to get, people want it more

-people are convinced to buy a product by believing that they need to act before the opportunity is gone

-scarce objects are valuable

Fleeting Attraction

-feelings of similarity between a messenger and their target can double compliance

-fake similarities can be created to trigger fleeting attraction

-the similarity has to be felt as special

-the more distinct the shared similarity is, the more impact it will have

Decoy

-when consumers are choosing between two similar products, introducing a decoy can push people towards the desired direction

-adding a decoy reduces our stress reactions by lowering the feeling of conflicting information

-ex. coffee sizes

That's Not All

-spontaneously offering a discount or offering free extras before the sales pitch is even over

-the addition of extras or discounts gives the impression that the seller is making a concession

-have people believe that the initial deal was supposed to sell for that sum so everything else would be "free"

-works better for low-cost items

Mere Exposure

-the more we see it, the more we like it

-due to an increased feeling of familiarity

Anchoring

-a product's value is strongly influenced by what it's compared to

-we use existing information as a baseline for our new judgements and decisions

Astroturfing

-fake social proof is used to create an impression of popular support

-creating an illusion that people similar to you support a specific idea or product

Anthropomorphism

-when a brand or product is seen as human-like, people will like it more and feel closer to you

-describes and visualizes animals or non-living things using human characteristics

-makes us bond with objects

Trustworthiness

-a trustworthy face is worth a thousand words

-when faces are relatively high, they are perceived as more trustworthy compared to relatively wide faces

Disrupt & Reframe

-disrupting attention gives advertisers an opportunity to reframe and resell in an already dismissed proposal

-introduces an unexpected element, which attracts the attention of the audience and momentarily disables their critical thinking

-uses the element of surprise but then continues with a reframing of the proposal

Metaphors

-generates feelings and ideas purely by associations, which are exceedingly hard to counter-argue with logic

-simplifies and plays on the emotional and mnemonic shortcuts we use to guide behavior

-proposes that two unrelated objects or domains share important properties

Implementation Intentions

-helps people to reach their goals step by step

-requires you to make a plan about how you will perform a certain behavior or goal

-the set time will serve as a cue to act

-transfer an attitude into behavior by conscious commitment

Reciprocity

-receiving a gift creates the social obligation to return it

-we feel compelled to return favors

-returning a favor has become a symbol of building mutual understanding and trust

-ex. free samples at the supermarket

God Terms

-some words are so intrinsically good, it's hard to say no to them

-uses words that convey either strong positive or strong negative feelings

-implies ultimate positive and good things

-ex. love, healthy, freedom, attractive

Sex

-sexual imagery does draw the most attention of any stimuli

-a double-edged sword (more attention but lower recall for the product)

Authority

-people or symbols that signify legitimate authority trigger compliance and obedience

-ex. models in white lab coats, doctors, celebrities, scientists

Loss vs. Gain Framing

-fearing loss increases risk-taking; expecting gains increases safety behavior

-everything else needs to be equal

Recency & Primacy

-placing a message at the start or end of a block of information increases the memory retention and persuadability of the message

-when motivation to process the information is high, primacy takes the lead

-recency effect is stronger when motivation to process the information is low, there is a high volume of information or when the information is presented fast

Fear Appeals

-inciting fear to achieve submission and compliance

-mostly in social marketing campaigns

-vivid, personalized language emphasizes the similarity between the victim portrayed and the viewer of the campaign

-crucial to provide a clear and simple, step-by-step, instruction on how to solve or avoid the threat

-ex. smoking, alcohol abuse

Doublespeak

-using words that have the opposite meaning to what is true, or greatly distorts the words to give them a more positive connotation

-the deliberate obfuscation of information, which manipulates people's perceptions of reality

Projection

-you look better when you accuse another of your own mistakes

-we project our own wrongdoings, faults, fears, and other negative elements onto others and deny that we possess these unwanted elements ourselves

-it is unclear who the good guy is and who the bad guy is

Door-in-the-Face

-a large request followed by a small one increases the chance of compliant behavior

-depends on an initial rejection of the message

-induces higher feelings of guilt

Subliminals

-use of super-fast image presentations, hidden shapes, subtle audio suggestions or simply sly word compositions to make certain associations active

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