The Psychology of Marketing

Koen Van Cauwenberge

The myth

Part 1
Subliminal advertising
Subliminal advertising
Subliminal advertising
Subliminal advertising
Subliminal advertising
The Subconsciousness

Part 2
 The Subconscious
• Sigmund Freud: founder of psychoanalysis
The Subconscious
The Subconscious
 The Subconsciousness
• Experiment 1: Handshake.
 The Subconscious
Experiment 2: Top of mind
• Car
• Washing powder (washing machine)
• Lemonade
• Toothpaste
• Beer
 The Subconscious
Experiment 3: Kahoot on logos:
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/ba0f73e1-1bc2-4591-
9421-3d08d65bd6b2
 The Subconscious
• 90% of all purchases: subconsciously chosen
• low involvement <-> high involvement
products
• based upon EMOTIONS
• connect an emotion with a brand
• method: conditioning
Conditioning

Part 3
 Conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov: Pavlov’s dog
Conditioning
 Conditioning
• No relation between the stimulus and the
behaviour.
• Publicity: You can connect any stimulus or
positive emotion with any brand as to make
people buy your product.
Conditioning
Conditioning
Conditioning
Values \ dreams

Part 4
 Values
• Make a drawing how your life would be ideally
when you are 35.
 Values

SURVIVAL: health, being SOCIAL NETWORK: family

economical, safety, and friends.
certainty, your own house,
…
SOCIAL STATUS: being
valued, power, prestige, …
PLEASURE: anti-stress, PERSONAL GROWTH: me-
having fun, active life with time, being yourself,
adventure, enjoying simple identity, being
things, luxury, … independent, being
creative, your own style, …
REPRODUCTION: sex,
finding a partner, having
children, romance, …
Choose a product for each category.
Marketing

Part 5
 Marketing
• People have different values and different
dreams.
• Find the right niche for your product: positive
emotion + personal value + product
Marketing
 Marketing
• USP: Unique Selling Proposition
• Ghosts
• A-brands versus unbranded products
• Don’t just fulfil needs, but create dreams!