3 major elements to create addictive products and brands!

Everyone's persistent pursuit and unremitting efforts are to escape from the weak and limited self that lives deep in their soul.

"The Necklace" is a short story written by French writer Maupassant. The protagonist of the story is the beautiful Mathilde, who borrowed a diamond necklace from a friend to show off her beauty. Unexpectedly, the necklace was lost on the way home, so she had to borrow money to buy a new necklace to return to her friend. In order to repay the debt, she lived frugally, worked odd jobs for others, and worked hard for ten years. Finally, she learned that the borrowed necklace was actually a fake diamond necklace.

This is the role of belief. No matter whether the necklace is real or fake, what matters most is that she believes it is real. Therefore, people try to reflect their self-worth by owning something.

Looking at all the big brands, you can see a certain spirit they convey. If you deeply analyze the various information, designs, texts, slogans, colors, materials, advertisements, marketing methods, etc. of all the big brands, you will find that behind these information, you can interpret a personality, a spirit, an emotion, a power, and a value.

Next, we will explain how to create addictive products and brands from the three major elements of emotion, imagination, and connection.

01 Incorporate emotional value

Creating a brand/product is all about packaging the user’s self-imagination into the brand and product, tying it up with a bow, and then selling it to the user.

In 1999, neuroscientist Mark Iacoboni first demonstrated the existence of mirror neurons in the human brain: people like to imitate people who share similar interests and hobbies. Imitation creates a sense of identity between people and makes them think that they are of the same kind. Therefore, the characters that appear in the advertisements must be consistent with the image of the target audience and show the same style and hobbies, etc., so that people will have the desire to buy.

To efficiently activate the mirror system for product/brand information, some principles need to be followed:

The images of product/brand image should be mainly close-ups, with specific, special, and specially designed actions and labels magnified in close-ups, so as to avoid the target object's brain being distracted by other things.

The tempo of video ads should be slow. Specifically, the process of movements, postures and expressions should be slowed down so that users can feel the process of movements and expressions.

The slow pace is not only convenient for viewers to mirror, but more importantly, it conveys a sense of happiness and enjoyment, making people feel that the person in the picture is themselves.

According to statistics, there were once 150 copycat cola companies imitating Coca-Cola in the United States. Coca-Cola has always been imitated, but no one has ever been able to surpass it, including its arch-rival Pepsi.

In fact, Coca-Cola has long been more than just selling a bottle of beverage. The red bottle of Coca-Cola is filled with passion, struggle, dreams and creativity, which is the power of Americans in pursuing their dreams. These are things that are simply impossible to replicate and cannot really be touched by plagiarism.

02 Open up user imagination

A product has no other value to us except its use value. If we have to say there is, it must be the value created by people's thoughts.

For example, if you see a beautiful dress online, you will start to chew on your thoughts and make up stories about the dress based on the information provided on the page - if I walk into the office wearing this dress, my colleagues will be stunned; I will look thinner in this dress; I will feel comfortable wearing this dress while drinking coffee in a cafe on the corner; I will be as attractive as a model... The beautiful imagination surrounding the product triggers people's urge to shop.

So how do you tap into the user’s imagination? Let’s take a look at Jiang Xiaobai——

1. Create an external image

As the saying goes, first impression is important! Brand logos, product packaging and other iconic graphics must be brightly colored, maintain consistent, simple, easy-to-remember colors and images that have strong associations with emotional value. (White + blue, showing the cleanliness and beauty of youth)

2. Design a dedicated language

Words convey thoughts and feelings! Establish a language system that matches external emotions and create golden sentences. Frequently highlight the emotions expressed in slogans, advertising language, promotional slogans, copywriting, customer service and other communication expressions, so as to timely and continuously strengthen people's understanding of the product's personality. (Jiang Xiaobai’s copywriting uses young people’s emotions as the main outlet, such as “My belly is getting fatter, but my ideals are getting thinner”)

1. Building product personality

It starts with appearance, falls in love with talent, and is loyal to character! Design an emotionally personified cartoon character (with human characteristics such as personality, temperament, and abilities), or hire a spokesperson who can embody emotional personality, and create a series of emotionally salient events and copywriting around it/him. (Jiang Xiaobai, who is in adolescence, rebelled against traditional wine culture, making liquor a fashionable and youthful label)

1. Free experience

The thing people are worst at doing is denying themselves. Let users experience it for free first, so that when they are experiencing and thinking, their brains can find beauty and feel that they have already possessed and reached the other side of their ideal.

People will not easily make negative evaluations of what they own. This is a typical endowment effect (simply put: once a person owns an item, his evaluation of the value of the item will greatly increase compared to when he does not own it).

03. Have social connections

Everyone wants to tell others: I am existing in a happy, fashionable, smart, ideal and beautiful way.

Being able to engage in conversation and help the younger generation find a sense of belonging is undoubtedly one of the secrets of Jiang Xiaobai's success. In today's society, people's survival necessities are not just food, but also attachment relationships such as recognition, approval, sadness, pain, fear of being marginalized, fear of being isolated, etc., which is to constantly establish social connections.

Addictive brands must have this kind of social connection function, and the way of connection is generally reflected in three levels.

1. Integration

Using a certain brand of product gives you the feeling of being part of a certain group of people. For example, Starbucks has its own language. Their employees all undergo special language training before taking up their posts. Once inside the store, they also guide users to communicate in Starbucks’ language. When people communicate in the same language, they are integrated into the entire Starbucks atmosphere.

1. Express

By using a certain brand of product, you can express your feelings towards someone and establish a good connection with him. For example, "Nestle coffee, the secret of a warm family" and "Good friends, good friends", these are ways for you to establish good connections with people you value and care about.

1. self

A branded product allows you to express your self-identity directly. For example, McDonald’s “I just like it” is a typical example of direct self-identification, making people feel “loved” and “loved”.

04 Conclusion

All brands that make people addicted must have accurately grasped the user's psychology for brand marketing and product creation. Nowadays, most products are selling feelings. New generations, new upgraded products, and new models bring users wave after wave of freshness and pleasure. People are always trying to get the possibility of becoming better and more beautiful from consumption.

Author: Monkey King

Source: Monkey King