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� Penetrate...the mystery that bafflesmarketers in every industry:why customers don’t buyproducts and services thatthey insist they want.

� Understand...how a customer’s buyingdecision is influenced by thecomplex interactionsbetween his mind, brain,body, and society in general.

� Transform...insights about buying decisions from the latestneurological research intoproducts and services thatcustomers truly value.

� Avoid...the six common marketingfallacies that frequentlycause executives to makedisastrous decisions.

� Improve...the effectiveness of yourmarketing messages by tap-ping into the unconsciousneeds and wants of yourcustomers.

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How Customers ThinkEssential Insights into the Mind of the Market

by Gerald Zaltman

A summary of the original text.

After years of costly R&D, acompany launches a new

soft drink, only to see itignored in the marketplace.Focus group participants raveabout a new personal digitalassistant and say they can'twait to buy it — and thenthey don't buy it when it goeson sale two months later.

These are just two amonghundreds of cases in whichcustomers said one thing anddid another. All too often,companies ask customerswhat they want, give it tothem, and then watch thecustomers buy competingproducts instead.

According to research by theMarketing Science Institute,four out of every five newproducts or services fail with-in six months, or fall wellshort of forecasted profits.The cost of these mistakes ishigh: lost revenues, low cus-tomer satisfaction, and pooremployee morale.

Believe it or not, the reasonsfor nearly every one of thesefailures boil down to a com-mon, deceptively simpletruth: Too many marketers

don't understand how theirown and their consumers'minds interact.

To exploit new opportunities,managers must know morethan they now do about howcustomers think and act.Fortunately, science hasmade tremendous progress inunderstanding the humanmind in recent years. Duringthe 1990s, researchers discov-ered more truths about thebrain in that single decadethan they had during theentire history of psychologyand neuroscience.

For example, neurologicalresearch revealed that peopledon't think in linear, hierar-chical ways. That is, theydon't experience a cake bysampling a sequence of rawingredients. Instead, theyexperience fully baked cakes.This insight prompted compa-nies like Citibank, Disney,Kraft, McNeil Health Care,and John Deere to change theways in which they engagedcustomers.

To fully understand whathappens when consumersevaluate and buy things,

Volume 12, No. 2 (2 sections). Section 1, February 2003© 2003 Audio-Tech Business Book Summaries 12-3.No part of this publication may be used or reproducedin any manner whatsoever without written permission.

To order additional copies of this summary, referenceCatalog #2031.

these companies are drawingupon many disciplines —ranging from zoology to musi-cology, from neurology toanthropology. This researchis pointing marketers to anew understanding of how acustomer's buying decision isinfluenced by the complexinteractions between mind,brain, body, and society ingeneral.

Some managers are evenimporting experts, askingnew questions, discoveringpowerful new knowledge, andthen creating products thatoffer unprecedented value.

Most importantly, theseefforts are paying off withreal benefits. For example,the managers of one companymet for two days with a neurobiologist, a psychiatrist,an Olympic coach, a special-ist in adult intellectual devel-opment, and a sociologist.Their mission was to examinenew ways to use consumerincentives. The meeting generated several innovativeideas, one of which the com-pany implemented withintwo weeks. In the next seven months, the effective-ness of its consumer incen-tive program soared byalmost 40 percent.

Marketers are also starting to understand how their own minds work, and howthey distort their perceptionsof consumers' responses.When consumers and mar-keters interact, the result is a concept we'll call the mindof the market. That’s what successful managersmust understand — andleverage creatively — to seizecompetitive advantage.

This new way of thinkingabout customers is much different than the way marketers usually think.

Currently, more than 80 percent of market research isused to reinforce existing con-clusions, rather than to testor develop new possibilities,according to HarvardBusiness School professorRohit Desphandé.

By focusing on their ownassumptions, managers prevent themselves fromgaining a true understandingof their customers. Too manymanagers make decisionsbased on six common market-ing fallacies. These fallaciesare:

• First, consumers think inwell-reasoned, linearways as they evaluateproducts. They don’t.For example, consumersdo not consciously assessa car's benefits attributeby attribute and decidewhether to buy it.Instead, their emotions —the desire for happiness,prestige, and so on —play a bigger role thanlogic in the purchase decision.

• Second, consumers canplausibly explain theirthinking and behavior.In reality, however, 95percent of thinking takesplace in our unconsciousminds. People use con-scious thought primarilyas a way to rationalizebehavior.

• Third, consumers’ minds,brains, bodies, and surrounding culture canbe studied independentlyof one another. In fact,the mind, brain, andexternal world interactwith, and help shape, oneanother. For example,people from different cul-tures experience physicalpain differently.

• Fourth, consumers’ memo-ries accurately reflect theirexperience. Researchreveals that memory isnot perfect, and in fact itchanges depending on thesituation. For example,when people are asked torecall an experience, their memories are influencedby the sequence in whichthe questions are asked,and even the color of the paper on which thesurvey is printed.

• Fifth, consumers thinkprimarily in words. Yetbrain scans suggest thatonly a small portion of the brain’s neural activityultimately surfaces in language.

• Sixth, consumers canreceive "injections" of com-pany messages — andinterpret them correctly.However, consumers donot passively absorb mes-sages. They constantlyreinterpret such messagesin terms of their uniqueexperiences. Forinstance, people have longheard that they shouldvisit the dentist every sixmonths. But researchshows that most individu-als are very skepticalabout the need for suchregular dental visits.

In falling prey to the six mis-conceptions listed, marketersmake three errors:

1. Mistaking descriptiveinformation for realinsight.

2. Confusing consumer datawith understanding.

3. Focusing on the wrongelements of the consumerexperience. These errorscan destroy productlaunches.

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Most marketers believe mere-ly knowing that consumersprefer a container with around shape rather than asquare one is enough. Butdigging more deeply into whyconsumers lean toward oneshape can produce some realinsights. It may even suggestthat another shape, such asrectangular or oblong, wouldspark better sales.

Managers can’t achieve trulyinsightful consumer analysisby scratching the surfaces ofthought and behavior. Tounderstand consumers, it’sbiological factors that under-lie mental activity. It is alsoessential to grasp the socialand psychological processesthat affect consumers’experiences.

Those steps lead to a fullerunderstanding of how mentalactivity occurs. Then, themarketer can gain a morecomplete understanding ofcustomers.

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THE MIND OF THE MARKET

The goal for marketers is toachieve customer-centricity.It occurs when:

• First, the customer hearsand fully comprehendsthat a firm’s offeringsmerit a purchase.

• Second, the companyhears and fully under-stands the customers’deepest thoughts andstrongest yearnings.

Without listening carefullyand systematically to customers, marketers can’tdevelop effective strategies.As for customers, the morethey understand a product’svalue, the more they’ll wantto buy.

Thinking inside the box limitsthe ability to tap into con-sumers’ minds. To find outwhat they’re really thinking— consciously and uncon-sciously — we need to usebetter research methods.Then, we need to make betteruse of our imaginations.

Obviously, such high-qualitythinking can pay dividendsfor marketers. But severalfactors limit its presence inbusiness.

One reason is that it takestime, energy, and unusualopenness to new possibilities.Also, imaginative thinkingand bold actions require people with the rare courageto accept occasional failures.

But an open, active mind canhelp managers win more cus-tomers, and satisfy more ofthem.

It’s an arduous process tounderstand the mind of themarket. For instance, thenumber of known particles inthe universe is 10, followedby approximately 79 zeros.But the number of possibleneural connections in thehuman brain is 10, followedby more than a million zeros.

But even with its vast com-plexity, the brain isn’t anentity unto itself. It interactswith the body, mind, andsocial world. As the brainlinks up with the social andphysical world, the body

mediates the connection.

The body senses informationabout the world. It then generates chemical and physical responses that createemotions and thoughts. Thebody then moves in responseto the cerebral activity.

Traditional market researchover-relies on consciousness— in other words, on rational-ity, economic logic, and verbalization. However, inconsumers’ purchasing choices, 95 percent of thedecision-making process takesplace below the consciouslevel.

This means that the complexreasons why people buy oneproduct and reject anotheroperate well below the mar-ket researcher’s "radarscreen" — one traditionallyfocused on consciousness.

Note that unconsciousthought is preverbal. Itinvolves mental activity, butprimarily at the level ofimpulses and fragmentaryimages. Tying our shoes, forexample, obviously involves a kind of thought, but at asubconscious level.

In terms of consciousness,thoughts are ideas or concepts. However, more precisely, a thought is an elec-trochemical "behavior" oroccurrence that we can’t seewithout a neuroimagingdevice.

B U S I N E S S B O O K S U M M A R I E S 3

THE NEW PARADIGM OF AN INTEGRATED MIND-BODY-BRAIN-SOCIETY

Why should marketers careabout such complex matters?For two main reasons: first,because marketing lies rightat the hub of the interactions;and second, because the newparadigm reminds us that wecan’t study consumers in iso-lation from the factors thatinfluence them.

The mind-body-society-pyramid shapes thinking andbehavior for each consumer,as well as each marketer.What happens when a "marketer pyramid" and a"consumer pyramid" cometogether and interact?

We see the results in the figure below called "The Mindof the Market." Consciousprocesses play a relativelysmall part; this is the top ofeach pyramid. In contrast,unconscious processes play alarge role, represented by thebroad base of each pyramid.

However, as we’ve seen, marketers traditionally havefocused on conscious process-es — and largely ignored thehard-to-read unconscious.

That’s a big problem, one ofwhich all of us are at leastdimly aware. As we'vealready suggested, a personpurchasing a high-perfor-mance sports car is not justbuying a device to convey himfrom one place to another. In

purely rational terms, thepurchase may make littlepractical or economic sense.After all, speed limits preventthe driver from reaching thetop speed on the speedometer,so he cannot drive a $100,000Porsche faster than a $20,000Ford.

Instead, the sports car makesa statement about theowner’s personal identity —perhaps regarding youthful-ness, daringness, sexiness, oraggressiveness.

In some cases, consumersmake purchases whose realpurpose they try to conceal.For example, consider peoplewho buy expensive chocolateproducts. When questioned,they often indicate it’s a giftto others. However, in-depthresearch finds that it’s usual-ly intended for personal consumption. The purchaseis tangled up in emotions ofjoy and guilt that the con-sumer may not even under-stand at the conscious level;all the person knows is thatthe sight of the box, or thesmell of the chocolate, triggers a desire to buy.

Discussions of how neuralactivity takes place and ultimately expresses itself in conscious thought tend tobe very technical. But thekey point is that conscious-ness results from neurons

processing stimuli in largelyunconscious ways.

Sights, sounds, and smells —for example, smelling coffeebrewing at Starbucks — may unleash brain activitiestracing back to pleasurablememories from childhood.Does it make practical senseto go in and spend severaldollars for what’s basicallyjust a cup of coffee? Maybenot, but millions of people doso every day.

The unconscious regularlyreveals itself throughmetaphors. A metaphor is"figurative language," referring to the representa-tion of one thing in terms ofanother.

For instance, if a poet says,"My love is a red, red rose,"he doesn’t mean she’s turnedinto a flower. He means that in sight and scent sheresembles a rose.

Similarly, if someone says,"My hair is my signature," it’sclearly not meant precisely.Rather, it suggests the hairsignals something about himor her as a person.

By one estimate, humanbeings use about sixmetaphors per minute of spoken language. Why so frequently? Mainly becausethey establish connections,helping us interpret the worldand make it intelligible.

Marketers benefit greatly bygetting consumers to usemetaphors about products.They can help bring uncon-scious thoughts and feelingsto the surface. They canshow the real connectionsconsumers see between products and their own lives.

Historically, marketers havegained knowledge about

A U D I O - T E C H4

THE MIND OF THE MARKET

consumer decision makingthrough such means as telephone interviews, focusgroups, and questionnaires.These approaches rely on self-reflection and awareness.

But how does that squarewith estimates that morethan nine-tenths of thought,emotion, and even learningoccur in the unconsciousmind? The obvious answer:It doesn’t.

Clearly, consciousness, whichexpresses itself in carefullycrafted words, regularlyinvolves self-censorship.Consciousness relies less on candor than on socialacceptability.

The point is this: Muchpotential knowledge aboutconsumers remains hidden.For marketers charged withachieving a deep understand-ing of consumers, that pre-sents a major problem. Theremainder of this summaryexamines the techniques marketers can use to surfacemore of the vast amount ofconsumer information thatlurks in the unconscious.

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EXPLORING THE UNCONSCIOUSMIND OF THE CUSTOMER

To understand how customersthink and act, we need tounderstand the human mind.As we've already discussed,the greatest influences onconsumer decisions take placebelow the surface of consciousthought.

The term cognitive uncon-scious — a synonym for theunconscious mind — refers to the mental processes operating outside consumerawareness. Together withconscious processes, they constitute an individual’s

experience of the world.

Our degree of consciousnessvaries over a lifetime — andeven during the course of aday or an hour. It fades inand out as we work, moveabout, sleep, and dream.

Only a tiny portion of mentalactivity occurs as real aware-ness and thought. However,it’s that consciousness whichallows us to reflect on unconscious events.

Here are some research-verified examples of theunconscious mind at work:

• The exact same dinnertastes better if we likethe person with whomwe’re dining.

• The difference between aproduct costing $10 andone costing $9.99 is amere penny — but consumers treat it like abargain.

• The participants in blindtaste tests frequentlychange their stated pref-erences, often withoutawareness of doing so,when testers identify the brand and show thepackaging.

• The typical consumer realizes that generic med-ications are as good asexpensive nationalbrands, but he or shegenerally pays the higherprice for the comfort ofthe brand name.

• The use of infants or babyanimals in ads invariablycauses consumers to rankthem high in sincerity,perhaps associatinginfancy with innocenceand honesty.

• The use of subliminal

messages, those below thelevel of consciousness,demonstrably influencesbehavior.

• The delivery of overnightmail gets rated as "fast"or "slow" not so much ontime of arrival as on therecipient’s eagerness toget it.

• The placebo effect occurs,for example, whenpatients think they’rereceiving an analgesic,but instead are getting a sugar pill. A significantnumber of placebo recipi-ents experience an easingof pain, apparentlybecause their brains produce endorphins witheffects similar to thechemicals in the medicines.

In other words, when peopleexpect a positive experience,they tend to get it. Thatholds true not only for medicines but also for otherproducts.

These examples call intosharp question the stronglyheld notion that consumersare savvy shoppers who operate rationally.

But shouldn’t a product’sprice and demonstrated effectiveness, combined withconsumers’ own stated beliefsabout the product, determinetheir buying behavior? Yes,but in many cases, they don’t,and the answer lies in theunconscious.

The unconscious mind clearlyrepresents a significant frontier. It’s a place mar-keters must explore if theywant to achieve competitiveadvantage.

The pressing need is to establish research methods

B U S I N E S S B O O K S U M M A R I E S 5

that penetrate more deeplyinto the human mind. In this regard, metaphors offerfertile ground.

By metaphors, we mean similes, analogies, allegories,personifications, andproverbs.

When the unconscious mindreveals itself in metaphors,they’re available for consciousexamination. The consciousmind can examine the uncon-scious, but the reverse isn’ttrue.

Enlightened managers inviteconsumers to use metaphorswhen describing products.That’s because metaphorsoffer a glimpse into con-sumers’ unconscious thoughtsand feelings.

For example, the technique ofmetaphor elicitation can behighly effective. This methodinvolves encouraging con-sumers or employees to usemetaphors in talking aboutcompanies, brands, and prod-ucts. Researchers can speedup the elicitation process bypresenting lists of metaphorsor by showing pictures.

One global industrial-goodscompany used metaphor elicitation to find out whatexecutives thought about thecompany’s attitude towardinnovation. Before the inter-views, participants chosefrom among several picturesthey could use as metaphors.

One woman selected a pictureof Godzilla, the giant lizardwho destroys modern cities inold movies. In the commonportrayal of Godzilla, he’s aprotector of the old way ofdoing things.

Metaphorically, Godzilla rep-resents the woman’s view of senior management. It

protected approaches thatimpeded learning, moved ponderously, and obstructedinnovation.

At a deeper level, sheexpressed feelings of impo-tence and isolation in the faceof a powerful, slow-movingstatus quo.

Clearly, the use of ametaphoric approach encour-aged candor and passion.Apparently, it’s easier to makea critical analysis of Godzillathan of one’s employer.

It turned out that otheremployees agreed with the "Godzilla" characteriza-tion. In response, seniormanagement decentralizedand simplified the process ofinitiating new procedures.

The additional autonomygiven to people paid divi-dends, leading to a tripling inthe number of promising newideas.

Here are two ways that firms have used metaphors inproduct development andrefinement:

• Hallmark launched anentire new division basedon consumer metaphorsrelated to memory, whichis a subject of great inter-est to the marketer ofcards, picture frames, andgifts.

• A European cosmeticsmaker has used threecore metaphors it discov-ered in consumers' thinking to develop entirenew lines of business.

Many companies use con-sumer metaphors to generatenew products, including Bankof America, Samsung, P&G,and DuPont. Other firmshave used metaphors to

achieve several key goals,including:

• Determining auto designpreferences.

• Understanding patients’experiences of medicalconditions.

• Developing home healthcare products.

• Gauging audience reactions to televisionprogramming.

Metaphors can surface con-sumer issues that don’t revealthemselves by other means,such as questionnaires.Conscious expressions have aguarded quality. Metaphoricexpressions reflect more personal and uninhibitedviews.

For example, a DuPontresearcher focusing onhosiery products saidmetaphor research provided"intensity, texture, and depththat we’d never gotten fromother studies." She saw theresearch as "bringing out sub-tleties related to sexual issuesthat you don’t get in astraight interview."

Based on the research, hosierymanufacturers modified theirads. Instead of emphasizingsuper-competent careerwomen, the new ads providedimages of sexiness, allure, andfemale affirmation.

Overall, understandingmetaphors helps marketerscommunicate more effectivelyabout brands — and increasethe likelihood of purchases.For example, a Midwesternbank had found it was hurt-ing itself by conveying astodgy image.

Reviewing metaphors valued by its small business

6 A U D I O - T E C H

customers, the bank foundthese go-getters stressedvitality. It modified its marketing to emphasize itsenergy, resourcefulness, and commitment to growth.

Understandably, when marketers seek to elicitmetaphors from consumers,the process can be challeng-ing. People get suspiciouswhen questioned by someonethey don’t know — especiallywhen the inquiries deal withtheir deepest thoughts andfeelings.

It’s important to conduct in-depth interviews, at leastone hour long. It’s also help-ful to make them one-on-oneencounters, free from thesocial influences of groups.

In conducting effective sessions, it’s essential toresist the tendency to get par-ticipants to give the answersyou want to hear. Remember,you’re trying to trigger theconsumers’ thoughts and feelings, not your own.

In other words, don’t prompt. Instead, probe.Metaphorically speaking,prompting is a mirror reflecting the researcher.Conversely, probing is a window that looks into theconsumers’ mind.

Effective probing requires theestablishment of trustbetween the interviewer andparticipants. At times, par-ticipants might become quiteemotional as one thoughttriggers another feeling orthought.

High levels of trust don’toccur immediately, butinstead require time,patience, and understanding.

However, the payoff is worththe effort. Researchers find

that eight one-hour, one-person interviews produce thesame number of ideas aseight focus groups involving atotal of 65 people.

What’s more, in validationstudies conducted withEastman Kodak, DuPont, andGeneral Motors, these tech-niques doubled the number ofideas judged actionable andrelevant to managers com-pared with other methods,including focus groups andsurveys of more than 30,000people.

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RESPONSE LATENCY ANDNEUROIMAGING

Metaphor elicitation is animportant technique to accessthe content of what con-sumers think and feel. Othermethods also help us learnwhat consumers experienceunconsciously.

Two such techniques areresponse latency and neuroimaging.

Response latency techniquesavoid one problem with traditional approaches: thatconsumers’ survey responsesoften contradict what theyreally feel or do. The atmos-phere of a survey differs radically from that surround-ing a purchasing event, andbuying decisions get stronglyinfluenced by context.

To overcome that problem,researchers measure respon-dents’ response latency —how long it takes them torespond to a certain pairingof words or images. Thequickness of response indi-cates the presence or absenceof "noise," or barriers toaction in respondents’thoughts and feelings.

Researchers generally mea-sure response times throughthe speed of participants’computer clicks.

Response latency distinguish-es between participants'explicit, or conscious, emo-tions and thoughts and theirimplicit, or unconscious, ones.Whenever there's a differencebetween explicit and implicitthoughts, the implicit onesgive better indications offuture behavior.

Two of the most effectiveresponse latency techniquesare priming and the ImplicitAssociation Test.

Priming reflects the fact thatspecific brands "prime" orelicit certain thoughts. Twodifferent product designsmight get associated withvery different concepts, one inline with the positioningstrategy, one not. For example, Nike athleticfootwear generally will elicita much different response,especially from teenagers,than "sensible shoes."

The Implicit Association Test,or IAT, builds on primingresearch. It measures howconsumers associate certainconcepts — for example,"pleasant" or "irritating" —with products or experiences.

In one case, a "clicks-and-mortar" company found fromthe IAT that consumers weremore likely to buy some products at a physical storeand others on the Internet.The payoff was greater effi-ciency in order processing,fewer returns, lower shippingcosts, and higher customersatisfaction.

Implicit measures work bet-ter than explicit measures,such as surveys, for two mainreasons. First, the implicit

B U S I N E S S B O O K S U M M A R I E S 7

approaches uncover attitudesof which consumers may notbe aware. Second, theyreveal the social driversaffecting behavior.

For example, if a personwants to be perceived ashealth conscious, he mayreport on a survey or in afocus group that he does notconsume much alcohol andmay give negative ratings tobrands in that category.Implicit measures get closerto the truth.

In one study comparingimplicit measures with focusgroups and surveys, responselatency measures revealedthat there is a much largermarket for alcoholic bever-ages than the other methodssuggested. People displayedmuch more positive attitudestoward specific brands, andtoward consuming alcohol ingeneral.

Other research indicates thatimplicit measures can beespecially powerful tools inthe understanding of con-sumer attitudes aboutbrands. For example, evi-dence suggests that the IAT predicts actual productusage better than self-reportmeasures.

A second powerful techniquefor capturing unconsciousthoughts and feelings is neu-roimaging. This involvesbrain-scanning techniquesthat produce pictures of thestructure or functioning ofneurons. Neuroimagingallows researchers to makedirect observations of people’sbrain activity while theyengage in various mentaltasks.

Neuroimaging offers greatpromise for marketers, especially in advertising andpositioning.

The main neuroimaging techniques are:

1. Functional MagneticResonance Imaging, orfMRI.

2. Functional DiffuseOptical Tomography, orfDOT.

Functional MagneticResonance Imaging trackschanges in neural activity.The most common form offMRI is the Blood OxygenLevel Dependent, or "BOLD"technique. It identifies brainareas with a high level ofblood flow, indicating signifi-cant neural activity. In abroad sense, it shows whatexcites consumers.

In fMRI, neuroscientists takea number of steps to measurean individual’s brain activity.The results suggest whichfactors, such as metaphors,ads, and the like, elicit positive memories and encodenew memory.

The second neuroimagingtechnique is FunctionalDiffuse Optical Tomography,or fDOT. The technique isnew and needs more valida-tion. However, it avoids themain disadvantage of thefMRI technique, which is thatparticipants must lie still inan expensive, noisy, crampeddevice.

How does fDOT operate? It’ssomething like shining aflashlight through your hand.That occurs because lighttravels a significant distance.

In fDOT, a researcher useslaser sources and detectorsapplied to the head, rightabove the area of the brainunder examination. Throughthis method, the researchercan get measures of neuralactivity.

Here’s how fDOT might benefit a researcher:

Imagine an exercise whereparticipants are asked to viewa number of icons, or images.Then they are asked to gener-ate mental pictures of theicons. The brain activationshould reveal how stronglyvisual areas become activatedwhen people generate theirimages of the icons they’veseen. If your product elicitesa heavy degree of positiveactivity, you’ve probably got amarket winner.

Clearly, neuroimaging techniques can improve thecontent and application ofstandard market researchtechniques. What’s more,they can detect and measureconsumer reactions to variousstimuli. This means they canhelp isolate the keymetaphors and symbols help-ful in developing marketingstrategies.

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UNDERSTANDING AND USINGCONSENSUS MAPS

Metaphors clearly help man-agers tap into critical, but elusive, drivers of consumerbehavior. The next subjectwe'll explore is consensusmaps, which build onmetaphor elicitation and serveas valuable tools for lookinginto consumers’ unconsciousminds.

Basically, consensus mapsare graphic displays with twoelements:

1. Words describing thethoughts and feelingsthat consumers shareabout a particular topic.

2. A linear suggestion of thelinkages between thethoughts and feelings.

8 A U D I O - T E C H

Such maps represent widely shared thoughts byconsumers about products.They reflect general conceptsgleaned from original data,based on extended interviewswith consumers.

Understanding common elements in values, goals, andbehaviors is essential in mar-keting. The next step formarketers is to determinewhich of the shared elementsthey must acknowledge andrespect.

Consensus maps help marketers identify such common features and howthey interact. Usingmetaphor-elicitation tech-niques, researchers can makeconsensus maps that showmost of the thinking of mostconsumers on a topic.

An example of a consensusmap is shown on the right. Itdepicts consumers’ thoughtsabout companies that havetheir best interests at heart.

The seven qualities in this

consensus map are: depend-ability, honesty, patronage,moral character, dignity,responsiveness, and hospitali-ty. Each of these circles isconnected to some of theother circles by lines to showhow consumers link them.For example, honesty is connected to dependability,patronage, dignity, and moralcharacter. It is not directlyconnected to responsivenessor hospitality.

For many companies, a key

quality to trace on the map is"dignity." By further analyz-ing the data, they can createa submap around dignity thatshows several other qualitiesthat influence it.

A submap for how consumersview dignity at one companyis shown below. Customers'judgments about how thecompany respects their dignity are connected to their perceptions of how thecompany treats its employees,whether the company appears

B U S I N E S S B O O K S U M M A R I E S 9

A SUBMAP OF THOUGHTS ABOUT A COMPANY THAT HAS CONSUMERS’BEST INTERESTS AT HEART

Source: Mind of the Market Laboratory/Harvard Business School

Source: Mind of the Market Laboratory/Harvard Business School

A SUBMAP FOR THE CONSTRUCT OF DIGNITY

to act selfishly, has a sense ofpride, and is evolving.

When a major camera manufacturer conducted corporate-image surveys, itfound that consumers ques-tioned the firm's respect forits employees. The companychanged its marketing cam-paign to stress that it treatedits workers well. The nexttime it conducted the survey,it found that consumers ratedthe company higher not onlyin how well it treated its per-sonnel, but also in dignity,which led to higher overallratings of the company andits treatment of customers.

As the example shows, marketers that study consen-sus maps can reengineerthese maps. In that way,they can help boost customersatisfaction, strengthen brandloyalty, and enhance sales.

Various companies use con-sensus maps in diverse ways.Here are some examples:

• Immunex, the drug-maker, used a consensusmap about physician deci-sion-making in a highlysuccessful drug launch.

• Schiefflin and Somersetused such maps to reposi-tion several beveragebrands.

• Procter & Gamble, AT&T,IBM, and Samsung useconsensus maps to devel-op new product concepts.

• Coca-Cola, Bank ofAmerica, J. WalterThompson, and FidelityInvestments use them todevelop communicationstrategies.

When working with consen-sus maps, managers must askthemselves several questions

about the qualities of thebusiness they are studying.These qualities are alsoknown as constructs. Thequestions should include:

• Which constructs meritfurther analysis?

• Which points should thecompany convey to cus-tomers relative to eachconstruct?

• Which ranking does the company have oneach of these constructscompared to competitors?

• Which degree of qualitydoes the company achievein terms of the strengthof associations betweenconstructs?

• Which constructs affectthe company’s or brand'sdesired position relativeto other constructs?

The answers to such ques-tions can help managers evaluate how well their mar-keting plans dovetail with consumer thinking. They can help target aspects of

marketing strategy that needreexamination.

In analyzing and acting on a consensus map, a criticalfactor is the original rawdata. It comes in the form ofmetaphoric images and verba-tim quotes — both of whichare invaluable supplements tomanagers’ unique knowledgeof their products.

The extended consensus map-ping shown here illustrates asample consensus map andthe raw data underlying it.The map is a product of astudy on privacy conducted bythe Harvard Business SchoolMind of the Market Lab.

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CONSENSUS MAP FOR CONSUMER THOUGHTS ABOUT PRIVACY

The figure below showsthe consensus mapreflecting key constructsand the connectionsbetween them — elementsmentioned by nearly allparticipants in the study.The five constructs high-lighted are those certainfirms, including Johnson &Johnson, General Mills,and GM, found especiallyinteresting.

B U S I N E S S B O O K S U M M A R I E S 11

The upper- and middle-right figures shown heredepict excerpts from theelectronic version of themap, as well as the rawdata behind the highlight-ed constructs. The specif-ic data relates to two constructs: "scrutiny"and "invasion."

Clicking on a constructenables a user to accessvarious information aboutthe construct, including:its definition, a set ofsample quotations fromwhich it emerged, andvisual metaphors that par-ticipants used to expresstheir thoughts about it.

Far more important thanthe individual constructsare their associations.The connections — or"lines" — in the upper andmiddle figures representconsumers’ reasoningprocesses. They give texture and significanceto beliefs and feelings.

As illustrated in the lower-right figure, clicking on aline allows users to seehow two constructs — inthis case, "scrutiny" and"invasion" — relate to oneanother.

Understanding such link-ages is crucial. They pro-vide the best availablebasis for market segmentation.

Companies should defineconsumer segments on the basis of similarities inreasoning, not on the constructs alone. It’s thethinking processes — notthe constructs, and cer-tainly not criteria likedemographics or purchasevolume — that reveal"why" consumers buy.

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THE MEANING OF SCRUTINY

THE MEANING OF INVASION

THE REASONING PROCESS INVOLVING SCRUTINY AND INVASION

Don’t look at consensus maps as static. However, fun-damental issues, such aswhat it means to "feel good,"probably don’t change muchover time.

In the same way, centralhuman issues, such as themeaning of "home," generallyremain stable over severalyears.

But sub-issues related tohome could change. Thesemight include:

• The experience of keepinga home clean, which issignificant to a companylike DuPont.

• The use of exercise equip-ment in the home, whichis relevant to Nautilusand its competitors.

• The use of home appli-ances, which is importantto companies like Maytagand Samsung.

A consensus map helps man-agers reengineer how theyinteract with consumers. Themap can help highlight wayscompanies can encourage purchasers to see offerings innew ways, with new usages.

Marketers can play key roles in helping new con-structs penetrate consumers’thinking. That is, they canhelp consumers form freshassociations among existingideas.

Before facilitating such shifts, managers should askthemselves questions like thefollowing:

• What do we want thismap to look like in sixmonths or a year?

• What changes in thismap would align it better

with our strategic vision?

• What constructs do wewant to erase?

• Which constructs shouldwe seek to de-emphasizeor reinforce?

• Which constructs shouldwe add that would distinguish us from ourcompetitors?

Additional tests over timeshould demonstrate how wella company is succeeding in its"construct reengineering"efforts.

A consensus map serves as aguide for getting from onepoint in the mind of the market to another. The maphelps managers identifyopportunities and obstacles tosuccessful marketing efforts.

Broadly speaking, a consen-sus map reflects the sharedframe of reference on a topic.As consumers experiencechange — and marketingactions play a key role in this— the map also changes.

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12 A U D I O - T E C H

thought and emotion.

Thus, the three categoriesoverlap. Memories are stories, but stories have abasis in memory. Bothmemories and stories contain elements ofmetaphor.

These concepts mayseem abstract. But mostof us have memories andstories about certain prod-ucts, such as automobileswe’ve owned, themeparks we’ve visited aschildren and adults, andvacation spots. Many ofus can recite advertisingjingles from our memoriesabout products that nolonger exist.

Consumers usemetaphors, memories, and stories to give a personal meaning to products and brands. Butit’s important to realizethat outside influences,including marketers, cancause people to changetheir memories. They canhelp create new meaning,and new stories, abouttheir brands.

In one study, moviegoerswho expressed negativeresponses to a film they’dseen were shown a favor-able review. Theresearchers then askedthe study participants torepeat their originalimpression of the film.That is, they asked themnot to let the positivereview be an influence.

The result was almostpredictable. The moviego-ers generally rememberedjudging the film in muchmore positive terms thanthey originally had.However, they firmlybelieved they were merelyrepeating what they hadsaid before.

Clearly, the glowingreview had influenced

MEMORY, STORIES, AND BRANDS

As we’ve already mentioned, customers’memories about productsserve as a foundation for metaphors. Metaphorsand memories involve re-presentation, or re-shaping, as do stories.

A metaphor re-presentsone thing in terms ofanother. A story also re-presents, through link-ing events into a coherentwhole, a story.

All three — metaphor,memory, and story — contain elements of truthand fiction, as well as

THE 10 CROWBARS FORCREATIVE THINKING

It’s not enough for managersto understand consumers’unconscious thinking, asexpressed in consensus maps.They also have to understandthe role of their own uncon-scious, and then think in new, interdisciplinary ways.

Managers who want toreshape their own thinkingface four challenges:

• First, creating or identifying new ideas.

• Second, understandingthe new ideas.

• Third, critically examin-ing their usefulness.

• Fourth, leveraging themimaginatively in theirown work.

We'll conclude this summarywith 10 ways for managers to"break out of the box" to meetthese four challenges. Youdon't need to make dramaticchanges in your thinking.Instead, you should consideralternatives for times whencustomary habits of mind fallshort.

The following approaches are"crowbars" for leveragingchange and encouragingunconventional thinking. Youshould evaluate each of these10 crowbars in terms of yourown situation and style.

First, favor restlessness overcontentment. Marketers thatbecome too content give agreen light to competitors.Motorola used restlessness asa crowbar in improvingemployee safety. It recog-nized that one of its consumerproducts, a device allowing abusiness traveler to summonhelp, could benefit its ownpersonnel.

Second, wonder about thecow’s crumpled horn. In thechildren’s story This Is theHouse That Jack Built, thecow’s "crumpled horn" comesas a given.

Using "crowbar thinking," wepry up questions like: Howdid it happen? Who crumpledit? What did it feel like forthe cow? Is the crumplingthe kind of thing we might doourselves?

The crumpled horn is anirregularity. Unusual data,such as an unexpectedincrease or decrease in salescan be important.

Home Depot noticed a dra-matic spike in sales at one

store for a home plumbingkit. It found that the reasonwas the kit’s placement nextto certain bathroom fixtures:a discovery with importantmarketing implications.

Third, play with accidentaldata. In many cases, wenotice effects without causes.At one hospital, patients ran-domly assigned to one side of a floor were dischargedmore quickly than their counterparts across the hall.Why?

A persistent staffer finallyprovided a solution: Therooms of patients with shorter stays overlooked anattractive park. Patients onthe other side faced a parkinglot. The staffer developed theimportant concept of "thera-peutic imaging," in whichappealing scenes speedpatient recovery.

Fourth, view conclusions asbeginnings. Creative mar-keters not only solve mysteries, but also createthem. When they receive theresults of market research,they don't just accept the conclusions; instead, they askmore questions.

For example, a marketingdirector for a dentistry com-pany noticed a lack of data infocus groups about waiting-room experiences. Includingsuch questions in furtherresearch noted that the closeddoors, odors, strange noises,and uninviting rooms weremajor turn-offs for patients.Adding insulation to doorsand brightening up waitingareas turned around the situation.

Fifth, get outdated. That is,try to make what you alreadyknow and do look out of dateas soon as possible. Forexample, Ford found that

B U S I N E S S B O O K S U M M A R I E S 13

them, subconsciously, toalter their story about theproduct, the film.Obviously, memory andproduct stories aren’t static, but rather "worksin progress."

The implication for mar-keters is this: If yourproduct originallyfounders in the market-place, don’t despair. Evennegative consumer experi-ences are subject to alteration. By re-present-ing events, marketers caninfluence how consumersre-present their storiesabout a product.

Psychologists tell us thatbrands invariably linkthemselves with story-telling. When managerstell a brand story, theyinfluence consumers’ consensus maps. Whenmanagers tell new stories,they’re reengineeringthose maps.

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improving the grooming ofthose responsible for car care significantly improvedcustomer loyalty. The ideahad its origin in a veryunlikely place: a magazinearticle about social bondingamong primates.

Sixth, stop squeezing the same baby chicken. In other words, don’t put thesame "death grip" on yourideas that children do withbaby chickens. When peopleare overly attached to anidea, they block the path toprogress because they can'tconsider other options thatmay be better.

Seventh, nurture cool passion.Imaginative thinking shouldblend reason, or coolness, andemotion, or passion. Coolpassion requires knowingunder which conditions ideaswill work, and then helpingcreate them.

Eighth, have the courage ofyour convictions, not someoneelse’s. Every company has its share of "yes, but" typesand people who are alwaysuncomfortable with newideas.

Yes, point out potential obsta-cles. But don’t portray diffi-culties as insurmountable.The president of one health-care concern handles the "yes,but" people in this way: Heaccepts their concerns, andthen insists they solve theissues they raise.

Ninth, ask generic questions.Remember that marketresearch doesn’t exist for itsown sake. Instead, it seeks toexamine fundamental humanand social processes. Forexample, General Mills hasdeveloped several brands that reflect mothers’concerns about their children’s life-stages.

Tenth, avoid premature dis-missal. Before you reject anidea, reflect on whether itmight have unexpected relevance.

The goal of the 10 "crowbars"is to facilitate high-qualitythinking and intellectualagility. These qualities are in short supply at many com-panies. That’s true for manyreasons, including: restric-tive work environments, unfamiliarity with out-of-the-box thinking, and fear of trying to implement newideas.

The companies that are successful in market share,margins, and profitability,will encourage the followingcharacteristics: self-confi-dence, honesty about whatone does — and doesn’t —know, courage to admit mistakes, and, especially,curiosity. Curiosity is impor-tant because it prevents confidence from becomingarrogance.

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14 A U D I O - T E C H

they thought about thebrand. The answers were generally positive —referring to such things as "good styling . . . comfort . . . and goodmaintenance."

Then, the company didsomething daring: itasked consumers whatthey believed theMercedes brand thoughtabout THEM. Negativeanswers abounded.

Consumers said thingslike the following: "Theydon’t think of us" and "Weare sheep." Anotherresponse was, "They thinkI have money to burn."Yet another respondentadded, "They think I’m achild that doesn’t knowbetter."

In other words, the second question did more than elicit negativecomments. It also demon-strated the fragility of thepositive comments aboutthe product. What’s more,it demonstrated that consumers believed thecompany had much lessinterest in them as peoplethan as purchasers.

You can frame better,more valid questions byfollowing these guidelines:

1. Determine the genericquestion you want toexplore. That is, if youhave a new product toclean cars, don’t justask about car clean-ing. Instead, ask whatconsumers think aboutcleaning — and cleanli-ness — in general. Theanswers you get fromthe broad question canbe more informativeand useful than from anarrowly framed query.

2. Determine whether thebasic question shouldbe specific to brand,category, or problem.

BETTER ANSWERS THROUGHBETTER QUESTIONS

Of course, you can’t find better answers tomarketing issues withoutfirst asking better ques-tions. The question’spointedness ultimatelydetermines the answer’squality.

For example, it’s humannature not to want disturbing conclusions inour market research. So,the tendency is to askconsumers how they feel about our brands —questions almost predeter-mined to get positiveanswers.

Mercedes, the carmaker,asked consumers what

B U S I N E S S B O O K S U M M A R I E S 15

For example, if yourproduct is a toothwhitener, should youask consumers aboutyour brand? Or aboutwhiteners in general?Or about the problemthe whiteners seek toaddress? Knowingwhat the problem is —from the consumers’perspectives — canhelp you design andposition your brand.

3. Pose more general andmore specific versionsof the first questionthat occurs to you. Inthe case of the carcleaner, a more gener-al question would dealwith how consumersfeel about keepingthings clean.Conversely, a morespecific questionwould ask somethinglike, "What do you likebest, and like least,about keeping your carclean?"

4. Determine whetheryou need to knowdirection, velocity, orboth. In other words,as you sail forth with anew product, decidewhat’s most importantto learn: is it theattractiveness orappeal of a concept orproduct — that is, thedirection? Or is it thelikely initial sales —the wind’s velocity?The direction questionis essential to development andlaunch decisions. Thevelocity issue is critical to productiondecisions.

5. Allow for surprises.Recognize that mostmarket research seeksconfirmation of managers’ existingassumptions ratherthan illumination. Infact, disconfirminginformation, even in

the form of "badnews," can lead topositive changes. Toavoid generating onlysuperficial "goodnews," ask consumersto share any concernsnot covered in theresearch process.

6. Convert assumptionsinto questions.Managers must lookinward to identify theirown assumptions, andthen outward to testtheir accuracy. Forinstance, light users ofyour product might tellyou more than heavyusers. Is the problemless with people’s buy-ing habits than withsomething deficient inthe product?

7. Employ a clairvoyant.Or at least imagine youhad a clairvoyant,someone who couldanswer one profoundquestion. Here’s anexample: A maker ofalcoholic beveragesdidn’t pose a basicquestion about posi-tioning. Instead, itasked a clairvoyant’sopen-ended question:"What’s the anatomy of social well-being?"The question reachedout to consumers’thinking and feelingsin ways that allowedthe company to develop an extremelyeffective ad campaign.

8. Employ a wizard —someone who can fix broken things.Better yet, imaginethat something goeswrong — that you have a deficiency inknowledge that mightlead to a serious prob-lem. Then, get theknowledge and fix theproblem before itoccurs.

Market-research questions

should do more than leadto predictable answers.Well-designed, penetratingquestions should opendoorways into consumers’thinking.

In a practical sense, fram-ing good questions takesyou, as a manager, out ofthe realm of the "same oldsame old." It forces you to assess what you know— and don’t know. Itmakes you choose what’simportant — and what’snot.

Thoughtfully framing aquestion can expose well-springs of assumptions,knowledge, and experi-ence. Learn to questionyour questions, and goodanswers will begin to flowwith abundance.

One key in framingresearch questions is to distinguish betweenvelocity and direction.Velocity deals with likelysales, direction with general attitudes aboutthe product.

Too many companies getthe cart — the velocity —before the horse — thedirection.

In one case, a bank askedcustomers what theythought about a new savings plan — and, especially, how many ofthem would be likely toenroll in it. Response wasenthusiastic.

However, when the company launched theprogram, few peopleenrolled. Eight monthsafter it began, the planwas discontinued. Whatwent wrong?

The bank had paid toomuch attention to velocity— potential sales — andnot enough to direction —general attitudes aboutthe product. It thus

One of the greatest productfailures of all time was the

sinking of the Titanic. Its cap-tain and crew made severaldisastrous assumptions. For

example, they assumed thatthe ship was unsinkable, andthey assumed that they werenavigating in waters thatwere clear of icebergs. Theirassumptions were wrong, andthe results were tragic.

Of course, what sinks moreconventional products andbrands isn’t an iceberg.Instead, it’s usually the sub-merged thoughts and feelingsof consumers, and of mar-keters. But the "Titanic Effect" can be seen in the new-product failure rates, in thefailed brands that lost theirleadership positions, and inthe celebrated firms that haverecently declared bankruptcy.

For businesses, the TitanicEffect results from managers’unquestioned confidence incustomary assumptions aboutconsumers. It reflects a fail-ure to ask hard questions of

the "what-if" variety. It suf-fers from a lack of imaginationto look below the surface.

Examining the interactionbetween the conscious andunconscious minds of con-sumers can be exhilaratingand frightening. It demands alot of study and reflection.But it’s essential for managerswho want to reduce productfailures and increase customerloyalty and profits.

In a marketing sense, techniques like metaphor elicitation, consensus maps,response latency, and neu-roimaging are the waves ofthe future. They offer mar-keters opportunities to under-stand consumers’ unconsciousminds — the next source ofcompetitive advantage forcompanies in every industry.

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badly misread demand forthe new plan.

It was one of those caseswhere survey participantswere saying, "Gee, if Icould ever conceive ofhaving a need for such anintriguing product, I’d surebuy it." Unfortunately, fewof them really had such aneed.

Velocity questions tend toexamine surfaces; activat-ing a "let’s pretend" levelof consciousness. Gettinggood answers to directionquestions requires plumb-ing the unconscious.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gerald Zaltman is the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, a member of HarvardUniversity’s ‘Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative,’ and is Co-Director of the Mind of theMarket Laboratory. He has developed a new market research tool (ZMET) which is now being used bymajor corporations for understanding the mental models underlying customer and manager thinking andbehavior.

He is author or co-author of fourteen books and editor or co-editor of twelve other books.

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How Customers Think, summarized by arrangement with Harvard Business School Press, from HowCustomers think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market by Gerald Zaltman. Copyright 2003 byGerald Zaltman.

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