Brand Marketing: How to create rituals that work like superstitions?

When talking about rituals, most people will first think of the strange "singing and dancing" movements in primitive tribes, or the specific forms of people praying to gods and Buddhas. These rituals have a long history, but why do these rituals exist? And what exactly is the path it forms? But few people explore it.

When you ask people why they have these strange rituals, the answer they usually get is "superstition." These "easy-to-get" answers are often the main reason for the formation of superstition.

In ancient times, due to people's lack of sufficient knowledge about nature, when some inexplicable phenomena occurred, such as rain and thunder, the sudden occurrence of such inexplicable phenomena would make people lose their cognition of the surrounding environment, which would cause people to be nervous and panic. In order to eliminate this uncertainty factor, people would imagine the image of a "Thunder God Dragon King" and use this "easy to get" answer to explain the reasons behind the occurrence of the phenomenon.

Rituals are the bridge to communicate with this "superstition". They are usually performed through a set of procedural behaviors when encountering difficulties and uncertainties. This set of behaviors can help people reduce emotions such as uneasiness and anxiety.

For example, when a severe drought makes it impossible to grow food, people will communicate with these "spirits" through ritualistic behaviors. When fishermen go out to sea, they also perform ritualistic behaviors because the sea is unpredictable and full of dangers. Through this ritual, people can eliminate inner uncertainty, regain a sense of control, and reduce their feelings of uneasiness and anxiety.

All of the above rituals are in the category of superstition. However, in addition to these rituals, ritualistic behaviors are everywhere in daily life. For example, when making tea, you have to go through a set of procedural actions. When raising the national flag, you need to stand and look up and salute. When meeting in business, you need to shake hands.

These ritual actions are not directly functional, but the meaning of the actions goes beyond the actions themselves. For example, in business negotiations, handshakes have nothing to do with the success of the negotiation cooperation, but this action symbolizes a certain trust, understanding, respect, etc.

Once a ritual is formed in life, it is difficult to eliminate, because the existence of rituals satisfies certain psychological needs.

So what kind of needs does the ceremony meet? And how can we use these demand principles to ritualize brands ?

After research, it was found that rituals can meet the following needs of people:

• Identity switching - switching from one state to another
• Cognitive recovery – eliminating uncertainty and regaining a sense of control over oneself and one’s environment
• Interactive relationship - promoting the development of interpersonal relationships
• The group transmits norms and culture - achieving the purpose of group learning

Identity Switching

People have multiple identities and need to switch to another status at any time. In this process, there are usually some ritual behaviors to help us better complete the identity switch.

For example, when switching from a leisure state to a work state, people will perform grooming rituals in the morning, such as washing their faces, brushing their teeth, and putting on makeup, to cue us to start preparing for battle and a new day has begun. If you do not go through these grooming rituals and rush to work, you may have to wait an hour or two before you can get into the work state.

When people switch back to a natural state from the social state of constant entertainment and feasting, they will purify their souls through bathing. Bathing at this time symbolizes a way to wash away "worldly" sins.

These symbolic ritual behaviors in life are varied. Sometimes it is drinking a cup of coffee, indicating that I have entered the working state, or smoking a cigarette, or shouting a slogan, or smiling at the mirror. People need these ritual behaviors to help people inspire their self-confidence when changing their identity status, or to remove impurities from their bodies.

What kind of states does that person need to switch identities between?

It usually presents a switch between binary opposing states, such as work/leisure, private/public.

Let's look at a popular question on Zhihu to explain the status between private and public selves:

“Why do so many people drive home and sit in their cars for a long time after arriving downstairs?

Most voted answer: Many times I don’t want to get off the bus because it is a dividing point. When you open the car door, you are the breadwinner, the father, the son, the husband, but not yourself; in the car, when you want to be alone and have a cigarette, this body belongs to you. ”

This example explains the state between private and public self very well. When the answerer finishes smoking this cigarette and is about to go back to face his family, this cigarette is an identity transformation ceremony, symbolizing that you have switched from the private to the public state.

So how can brands use the need for identity switching to ritualize it and help users better complete the identity transition?

First, identify the user's need to change identities at a certain moment, and then suggest to the user that my product can help you achieve the best state when changing identities.

The Olay skincare brand’s slogan, “A beautiful day starts with Olay,” identifies the work/leisure state that users need to switch between every day, suggesting that people have to face various trivial matters in their daily lives. By using Olay skincare products, daily grooming can be ritualized to inspire people’s confidence in facing each day, playing a symbolic role and giving users the best psychological comfort.

At this time, symbolic ritualistic behaviors can often help users maximize their emotional experience (pleasure) when changing states, and have a non-functional relationship with what users want (a beautiful day every day).

Cognitive recovery

Think about what you have done in dangerous and difficult situations in the past? Often at this time people are very superstitious and will seek to calm their emotions through prayers and other supernatural powers.

As mentioned above, when disasters make it impossible to grow food, and when faced with all kinds of uncertainties at sea, people will use rituals such as praying for blessings to eliminate their inner anxiety and uneasiness, and in this way explain the changes in nature and restore their own understanding of the environment.

Similarly, in Hong Kong movies , gangsters and police are often seen worshipping Guan Erye, because both of these professions are full of danger and uncertainty, and the ritual of worshipping Guan Erye can eliminate the negative emotions in one's heart.

This situation occurs when people are in an uncertain dilemma. The uncontrollable environment will easily cause anxiety and uneasiness in people's hearts. Rituals can not only make people focus on body movements, but also improve their attention, eliminate external interference and reduce negative emotions. Ritual actions can also meet the need for order between people and the environment and restore a sense of individual control.

Well, how can brands use this principle to perform brand ritualization?

Usually, you need to identify the uncertainty that users will face in a certain scenario, and remind users that using your product symbolizes a certain power, which can inspire users' inner confidence and eliminate their inner tension and anxiety.

Nike recognizes that when users face the uncertainty of a game, they will also experience the above-mentioned negative emotions. By creating a brand image endorsed by Jordan, users feel that they can absorb Jordan's athletic ability like magic when putting on Nike air cushion shoes, which inspires inner confidence and eliminates the tension and anxiety when facing the game.

Parker pens, on the other hand, have created a spiritual brand identity by recognizing the uncertainty that users face when they rely entirely on inspiration, a floating element when creating. When you touch this pen, it's as if you have some source of inspiration.

Interactive Relationship

In daily life, people often use ritualistic behaviors to express their inner feelings in social and group interactions, which can often effectively promote interpersonal relationships between the two parties.

For example, a simple handshake in a business meeting, or the exchange of gifts between friends, or the grand occasion of entertaining an important guest, sharing the emotional relationship through such interactive symbols acts as an emotional lubricant.

However, not all ritual behaviors can have a positive emotional effect. Sometimes, if one party does not follow the principle of reciprocity in the ritual behavior, it may even have a negative effect and lead to the breakdown of the relationship between the two parties.

For example, when friends give gifts at their weddings, they will return the favor with a gift package of equal value when the other party gets married. However, when one party does not follow the principle of reciprocity, the value of the gift package is less than the value of the gift at the time, which often causes negative emotions in the other party.

Therefore, in this ritual behavior, the first thing a brand needs to do is to identify the ritual behavior of users in a certain interactive relationship, and then remind users that using your product can help users better express their emotions and complete the ritual behavior.

Golden Moutai recognizes the ritual behavior that users need to perform when entertaining important guests, and reminds users that using Golden Moutai not only symbolizes the importance of visiting customers, but also expresses the users' deep inner emotions.

Group transfer norms

In group organizations, ritual behavior is a combination of actions and symbols. By strengthening the connection between stimuli and behaviors, it allows members within the organization to quickly understand the organization’s core values ​​and cultural knowledge, allowing members to achieve the purpose of learning.

How do you understand this?

For example, the company will organize employees to line up for morning meetings and shout slogans. Through such symbolic rituals, the company's core values ​​​​such as hard work, competition, and efficiency are conveyed to employees. In this way, new employees can feel that this is probably a company with a wolf culture.

In the military, soldiers are required to salute their superiors. By establishing a connection between reinforcing stimuli (superiors) and behavior (salute), not only can organizational behavior be effectively regulated, but the meaning of the organization's core values ​​can also be strengthened and conveyed. In this way, soldiers learn and understand the core spirit of the organization.

The teacher tells students that they must hand in homework every Friday. By emphasizing the connection between time and homework, it not only regulates students' behavior but also conveys the core values ​​of the organization to students.

However, these ritual behaviors must be performed at fixed times and repeatedly, so that the connection between stimulus and behavior can be continuously strengthened.

For example, a company wants to organize team building, hoping to convey corporate spirit such as friendship and unity to employees in this way to improve team cohesion. Now there are two companies, Company A holds team building activities irregularly, and Company B holds it once a month.

Company A will give employees the feeling that it does not value such activities. Generally, they are eager to organize such activities only for some purpose. It is like a transactional activity. Employees have no expectations for it (they don't know when they can have another team building event), which will make employees dissatisfied with the company and have other negative emotions.

Company B, by holding the activities at fixed times, makes its employees look forward to it, know what to do next (when the team building will take place and what to prepare), and feel the emotions conveyed by the company to their employees, ultimately strengthening the cohesion of the team.

Therefore, when a brand ritualizes group organization, it must design a ritual behavior (ritual actions and symbolic meaning) with a fixed ritual time and needs to be repeated, so as to continuously strengthen the connection between stimulus and behavior.

For example, there are many paid knowledge communities that design ritual behaviors such as signing in for morning reading every day (the morning sets the tone for the day), reading before going to bed (reviewing the old and learning the new), or holding offline activities every weekend (emphasizing the efficient learning atmosphere). Through such rituals, students' learning behaviors can be regulated and the connection between stimulation and behavior can be continuously strengthened. At that point in time, students will naturally think about what to do and what they need to prepare, and their expectations can be increased, such as the anticipation for the theme and content of the next offline activity.

Conclusion

In the process of brand ritual design, the effectiveness of ritual lies in identifying the user's ritual needs. Identity switching and cognitive recovery focus on scenes (state switching and uncertainty), interactive relationships focus on the principle of reciprocity (special and important guests, leaders, friends, classmates), and group transmission norms focus on actions (the connection between stimulus and behavior). Then, by identifying these needs, prompting users that using your product symbolizes a certain meaning can help them better complete ritual behavior.

The author of this article @付永承 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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