Blog posts
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The honeymoon effect in marketing: why first enthusiasm is often the wrong metric
A new product, a new service, a new brand look: at first almost everyone is thrilled. Sadly, that says little about how strong a brand really is. The post explains the honeymoon effect and shows what happens in the brain: expectations colour perception, cognitive dissonance gets reduced, and at some point fast System 1 takes over again. The Apple example and rebrandings show why the euphoria fades and perception shifts. The post closes with what companies should measure instead of first enthusiasm. The real test only begins afterwards.
Chapters (11)
- What is the honeymoon effect?
- What happens in the brain?
- Expectations shape perception
- Reducing cognitive dissonance
- System 1 takes control
- Why the honeymoon effect can be dangerous for brands
- The Apple example: when perception shifts
- The honeymoon effect in rebrandings
- What companies should measure instead
- The most important neuromarketing lesson
- Conclusion: the real test begins after the enthusiasm
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The placebo effect: why our brain makes brands taste different
The same drink tastes different when a familiar brand is on it. The brain loves expectations, and brands work like placebos. The Coca-Cola experiment shows how strongly the label changes the taste. That is why strong brands invest so much in design and storytelling, with Apple as the prime example. The frame decides the effect, and placebo does not mean fake. The flip side is covered too, the nocebo effect. The post ends with what you can take away for your own marketing and what we do with it at NEUBLCK.
Chapters (11)
- What is the placebo effect, really?
- Why the brain loves expectations
- Brands work like placebos
- The Coca-Cola experiment: when the brand changes the taste
- Why strong brands invest so much in design and storytelling
- Apple as the prime example of the placebo effect in marketing
- The frame decides the effect
- Placebo does not mean fake
- The flip side: the nocebo effect
- What you can learn from this for your own marketing
- What do we do with it at NEUBLCK?
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Reciprocity in marketing: why small gifts have a big effect
Anyone who receives a gift wants to give something back. This reflex is called reciprocity, and it meets us constantly, in the free sample at the supermarket just as much as in the free e-book. The post explains why our brain does not forget favours and why, in marketing, added value comes first and the sale only afterwards. It ends with the question of why trust sells.
Chapters (3)
- Why reciprocity meets us in everyday life all the time
- Why our brain does not forget favours
- Why trust sells
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Participation beats message: what brands can learn from the IKEA effect
A shelf we have built ourselves pleases us more than a ready-made one. That is the IKEA effect, and it carries over to brands. Using IKEA as the example, the post shows why effort creates attachment and presents co-creation formats in which customers help shape the brand. People who get to join in experience the brand as part of their own identity, and a community emerges. Participation thus beats any message.
Chapters (4)
- The IKEA example
- Co-creation formats
- The brand as the community's identity
- Effort creates attachment
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Social proof: why our brain follows other people
Lots of likes, lots of stars, a long queue outside a shop: the brain likes to follow the crowd. The post classifies social proof and herd behaviour and explains how fast thinking, cognitive ease and the wish to belong work together. Mirror neurons, the bandwagon effect and the reduction of uncertainty play a part as well. The post closes with why social media amplifies this effect and why genuine comments count for more than advertising.
Chapters (9)
- Social proof and herd behaviour
- System 1 heuristics: fast thinking
- Cognitive ease
- Normative social influence
- Mirror neurons and observational learning
- Reducing uncertainty
- The bandwagon effect
- Why social media amplifies social proof
- Why genuine comments work better than marketing
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Stories stick, statements fade: why our brain processes stories better than claims
A claim gets skimmed over, a story sticks. The post explains why: the brain thinks in stories, stories create inner images, and brands work mostly in implicit memory, where the implicit system decides. That is why even a social media post works best as a mini-story. Those who tell stories are remembered.
Chapters (6)
- The brain thinks in stories
- The implicit system decides
- Stories create inner images
- Brands work in implicit memory
- Why social media posts work like mini-stories
- Those who tell stories are remembered
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The psychology of buying: why we feel before we buy
Nobody buys content. People buy states of mind and identity. The post shows how buying behaviour really comes about: the feeling decides first, and reason supplies the justification afterwards. Strong brands use this as a means to an end. Those who only explain stay comparable; those who stage states of mind become relevant. The post also looks at why storytelling works.
Chapters (3)
- Strong brands and the means to an end
- Those who only explain stay comparable. Those who stage states become relevant.
- Why storytelling works
Planning an event?
Then tell me about it. For questions, you can reach me at anfrage@christiandietz.net.