{"id":2148,"date":"2020-12-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/satisfaction-guaranteed\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T16:01:14","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T23:01:14","slug":"satisfaction-guaranteed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/satisfaction-guaranteed\/","title":{"rendered":"Satisfaction Guaranteed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3359-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3359-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Satisfaction Guaranteed\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  USC Dornsife experts help make sense of what makes a message or idea memorable. (Illustrations by Jan Feindt for USC Dornsife Magazine.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Satisfaction Guaranteed<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  If you\u2019ve ever wondered how marketers and politicians create memorable messages, this article could change your life. <strong>[9 min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Stephen Koenig<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">December 4, 2020<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 4.0350274 1.058837 1.0874543 2.51831502 1.6884158 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<p>You\u2019d be wise to think that they\u2019ve already thought what you need to think.<\/p>\n<p>Surely you remember that \u201ca diamond is forever.\u201d Who could forget that Disneyland is \u201cthe happiest place on Earth?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Why do these messages stick? Alternatively, why can\u2019t we unthink them? They weren\u2019t conjured from any lived experience or scientific evidence, yet they\u2019ve nested somewhere deep within our memories. We know full well that pawn shops are filled with diamond rings. And how do you really feel while waiting under the blistering sun to sit inside a teacup?<\/p>\n<p>Messages bombard us from every angle, competing for our attention. Most go in one ear and out the other. But the most effective marketers and politicians can skillfully communicate in ways that skirt the mind\u2019s defenses. Though we humans are, in our own estimation, rational creatures of free will and self-determination, we often find ourselves pulled toward a certain brand or repeating a leader\u2019s message. Looking back on many of our choices, it\u2019s fair to wonder whether we were shepherds or sheep.<\/p>\n<p>So, what tactics are at work? What happens behind the curtain on Madison Avenue? What makes a message memorable?<\/p>\n<p>Offering insights spanning the fields of psychology, history and practical politics, USC Dornsife\u2019s experts can help make sense of these questions \u2014 with no risk, no obligation and no hidden fees.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, we may not be wide-eyed victims of manipulation. With so many demands on our capacity to think critically and so many inner desires to satisfy, we may, in fact, be willing participants.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An easy sell<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The old marketing maxim, \u201csay it seven times,\u201d suggests that consumers need to hear a message repeatedly before it starts to stick. But frequency alone is usually not enough. The content of the message counts. We want to feel good about our choices \u2014 smart decisions based on evidence\u00a0and perceived value. The more features and benefits, statistics and rankings, or comparative data points we can weigh, the better. Right?<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, our big brains are also a little lazy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery mental activity, whether it\u2019s reading, pronouncing or remembering something, can be more or less easy or difficult,\u201d says USC Dornsife\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/norbert-schwarz\/\">Norbert Schwarz<\/a>, Provost Professor of Psychology and Marketing. \u201cPeople pay attention to that experience, and that has consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One consequence, he says, is that a memory is qualified by the very experience of remembering. If it takes more effort, we are less inclined to rely on what we remember.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, researchers asked participants to relay two wonderful things about their partner. This was easy for\u00a0everyone to accomplish. But when the researcher asked them to relay 10 wonderful things, the added difficulty changed their perception. It\u2019s not that the participants couldn\u2019t recall 10 things, the activity just required more brain power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the request gets harder, you see a paradoxical effect,\u201d says Schwarz, who also serves as co-director of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/mindandsociety\">USC Dornsife Mind and Society Center<\/a>. \u201cYou remembered more. That should seem like a good thing. But because it was difficult, you start to think that there must not be so many wonderful things \u2014 and you end up less pleased with your partner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ease or difficulty is not just about the quantity of information we have to recall. Novelty often has an advantage over the familiar, particularly for episodic memory. If you park your car on a street where you\u2019ve never parked before, you\u2019re likely to remember that spot. But if you park in the same structure every day, you\u2019ve probably found yourself wandering up and down the floors, scratching your head.<\/p>\n<p>But nothing trumps emotion. Universal feelings, such as happiness, fear, love and nostalgia, are experienced at a primal level, one that requires little in the way of critical thinking. As the late advertising whiz Leo Burnett said, \u201cDon\u2019t tell me how good you make it; tell me how good it makes me when I use it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This may explain the success of a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TPKgC8KPBMg\">Budweiser beer commercial<\/a>\u00a0that aired during the 2015 Super Bowl. The ad follows a puppy and a horse that go to great lengths to sustain their interspecies friendship. Thanks to a bighearted farmer, they\u2019re able to stay together forever. We get smothered by feelings of empathy, courage and a sense of belonging. No beverage ever appears in the spot \u2014 but it remains among the most shared ads of all time on social media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I can tap your memory, it elicits not only that knowledge, but also the feelings and bodily sensations that went with that memory,\u201d says Schwarz. \u201cThat\u2019s much more powerful than a statistic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cHeartwashing\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Emotional marketing wasn\u2019t always considered best practice. During the modern industry\u2019s early days, many campaigns\u00a0were built largely on meticulously worded claims of a\u00a0product\u2019s (purported) qualities. Around the start of the 20th century, for example, one could trust Joy\u2019s Cigarettes as a remedy for asthma and bronchitis, since they were \u201csuccessfully tested and recommended by the medical profession for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But at least one savvy marketing executive recognized that appeals to reason weren\u2019t necessarily the most effective way to hook an important customer base. Jean Wade Rindlaub built her storied career creating sentimental messages targeting women. Earning her chops at the renowned advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine &amp; Osborn (BBDO), she led campaigns in the post-World War II\u00a0era for high-profile clients, including General Mills, Campbell\u2019s Soup, United Fruit Company and Betty Crocker.<\/p>\n<address>\u201cWe get bored now if the advertisement isn\u2019t personally relevant.\u201d<\/address>\n<p>\u201cWomen were repeatedly sold the idea that their role as housewives was more powerful and more patriotic than any outside the home,\u201d says Associate Professor (Teaching) of Writing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ellenwaylandsmith.com\/about\">Ellen Wayland-Smith<\/a>, who explores Rindlaub\u2019s\u00a0cultural influence in her latest book,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/A\/bo26706914.html\"><i>The Angel in the Marketplace: Adwoman Jean Wade Rindlaub and the Selling of America<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0<\/i>(University of Chicago Press, 2020). \u201c[Rindlaub\u2019s] success largely came from\u00a0embracing, rather than subverting, the cultural expectations of women.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rindlaub understood that women of the time were most likely to be making the decisions about which products would feed and comfort their families. Sadly, many housewives were dissatisfied or unfulfilled in their roles as homemakers, a dilemma that Rindlaub discovered through her pioneering focus groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRindlaub\u2019s idea was to give women something to hang on to,\u201d says Wayland-Smith. \u201cShe was very candid about selling a feeling, selling the idea that women\u2019s roles at home mattered and that someone would notice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Using \u201cheart-tug\u201d ads, Rindlaub convinced women to think of consumption as a patriotic act of love that would strengthen families, communities \u2014 even the nation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/SatisfactionGuaranteed_InStoryA-3359.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>We hold these truths to be self-evident<\/strong><br \/>\nAs the nation\u2019s collective head continues to throb from the 2020 election cycle, one in which a record-shattering $11 billion had been spent on advertising as of the time of writing, we\u2019ve seen the great extent to which politicians sell their brand much like Rindlaub sold bananas and cheese knives.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife-center-for-political-future.usc.edu\/staff\/robert-m-shrum\/\">Bob Shrum<\/a>, Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics and professor of the practice of\u00a0political science, has himself crafted some of these messages in the past. A veteran political strategist who has worked on eight presidential campaigns, Shrum is often credited for popularizing a tactic that has since become a staple of political rhetoric. In leading the composition of Sen. Ted Kennedy\u2019s famous 1980 concession speech,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanrhetoric.com\/speeches\/tedkennedy1980dnc.htm\">\u201cThe Dream Shall Never Die,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Shrum incorporated stories of everyday Americans whom Kennedy met along the campaign trail. For example, Kennedy mentions a grandmother who no longer has a phone to call her grandchildren because she gave it up to afford rent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so much more powerful than saying the unemployment rate is this or that percent,\u201d says Shrum, director of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife-center-for-political-future.usc.edu\/\">USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, just as political messages can drive action or build coalitions, they can also be used to misinform and divide. Fake news has become so prevalent in the political arena that one could understand why even the most reputable, mainstream sources have their skeptics. In fact, a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/craigsilverman\/viral-fake-election-news-outperformed-real-news-on-facebook\">2016 study from BuzzFeed News<\/a>\u00a0found that top fake election news stories generated more total engagement on Facebook than top election stories from 19 major news outlets combined.<\/p>\n<p>Fake news is so memorable because it tends to be sensationalist, purposely designed to arouse fear and spread like wildfire.<\/p>\n<p>Criticizing someone for buying into fake news is like criticizing them for popping bubble wrap. They simply can\u2019t help it. Schwarz says that the metacognitive experience has a huge place in fake news, since the process of analyzing why it shouldn\u2019t be trusted could actually make you trust it more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf someone gives you one reason against your thinking, that\u2019s easy to consider, and it helps you correct your belief,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when someone gives you many reasons, you\u2019re more likely to be convinced that your initial judgment was correct \u2014 because if you were clearly wrong, it shouldn\u2019t be so hard to understand why.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Four stars out of five<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While fake news has plenty of historical precedent, it has proliferated exponentially in the digital age. Democratized communication of every kind, made possible by the internet and social media, has had a profound impact on the ways that brands and politicians fight to stay memorable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the past, it was a \u2018push\u2019 message,\u201d says brand consultant\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/codeliedpsychologydegree.usc.edu\/faculty\/francesca-puggelli\/\">Francesca Romana Puggelli<\/a>, a lecturer in the Master of Science in Applied Psychology program at USC Dornsife. \u201cNow with new media, we have a \u2018pull\u2019 strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brands no longer enjoy exclusive access to the media outlets that control \u2014 or push \u2014 what customers see or hear about products. Instead, they promote a conversation, one that pulls an audience to affiliate with a community of like-minded buyers. Before the digital era, we would\u00a0only get firsthand accounts of a shop or restaurant through friends and family who had already been there.<\/p>\n<p>Now, we can consider experiences and reviews from strangers all over the world. A bad rating or comment from a customer can have a strong emotional impact, as we\u2019re more easily affected by the \u201cworst-case scenario\u201d than the expected experience. It gives the consumer tremendous influence; and brands know this has flipped the power dynamic.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, since we aren\u2019t interrupted as often by push marketing, we get to choose what kind of messages we engage with. \u201cWe get bored now if the advertisement isn\u2019t personally relevant,\u201d says Puggelli. Marketers still have to tell a story, use emotion and be human. But they also have to be more strategic and targeted, she says.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s the irony. It wasn\u2019t long ago when brands would essentially scream through a megaphone in the middle of the street, \u201cRemember me!\u201d Now, as we have become more involved in the creation of message \u2014 as we assume a greater degree of power \u2014 we, the consumers, are the ones imploring marketers and politicians to remember<i>\u00a0us.<\/i><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/the-memory-issue\/\"><i>Read more stories from\u00a0<\/i>USC Dornsife Magazine<i>\u2019s Fall 2020\/Winter 2021 issue &gt;&gt;<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve ever wondered how marketers and politicians create memorable messages, this article could change your life. <strong>[9 min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[502,503,556,486,555,554],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","tag-bob-shrum","tag-center-for-the-political-future","tag-ellen-wayland-smith","tag-master-of-science-in-applied-psychology","tag-mind-and-society-center","tag-norbert-schwarz"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Satisfaction Guaranteed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/satisfaction-guaranteed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Satisfaction Guaranteed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019ve ever wondered how marketers and politicians create memorable messages, this article could change your life. 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