Li's Research Diary

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Since neuroscience opens the brain to marketers, this signal of emotional attachment is the foundation for brand success. It unconsciously transports one from the mundane to the imaginational, transforming our inner world and inspiring us to buy.

A brand experience has the potential to actually transform our brain chemistry. The experience of a product/service and its messaging, can be transformational in a sensory way and emotionally. More importantly, at the end of a satisfying product experience, our feelings have been transformed into a strong emotional attachment that endures until proven otherwise.

Fostering magical brand connections is particularly important to create consumers loyalty. These three keys will unlock the doors to begin the journey.

1. Understand the "right brain" of your category.

What visual, sensorial and emotional benefits can your brand deliver and own - that work together with your product's attributes - to create an unbreakable bond that turns your consumers into brand enthusiasts? This can start with highly projective techniques like portrait building, present and future brand scenarios, and story creation with all of the internal teams that have a stake in the brand: marketing, design, R&D, senior management and your various agencies.

2. Understand the sensorial and emotional palette of your audience.

A lot of research is still left brain, Q&A focused. To unveil the magic in your brand, using highly right brained projective techniques – like image sorts, drawing and writing - can get at the more elusive sensorial and emotional attributes that are important to your consumer and relevant, meaningful and inspiring in your category. A great example is the method brand, which disrupted the established home cleaning market with a "detox your home" message and a visual position that brought that message to life using simple, clean, highly sensorial shapes and colors that intrigue, inspire and motivate one to buy.

3. Create a Visual Position.

Brand positions are often created in words, though people experience brands primarily visually. BUT...a brand's packaging, advertising and overall presence in the world starts with visual symbolism, not words. 70% of our sense receptors are in our eyes and 80% of what we learn about the world comes to us visually...yet most brands do not have a visual position that brings the written positioning and story to life.

Visual positioning defines the symbolic territory a brand can occupy to create distinction and often includes: overall personality, color and texture palettes, movement (upward like Gillette Mach3 or explosive and outward like Gillette Fusion), energy and other qualities that will unleash your brand's magic. overall personality, color and texture palettes, movement (upward like Gillette Mach3 or explosive and outward like Gillette Fusion), energy.