Do Brands Have Motivational Profiles?

We have no problem understanding that, as human beings, we have motivations that guide our behaviors, both consciously and unconsciously. Have you ever considered, however, that brands can express motivations and that these kinds of expressions are especially powerful attractants to human beings?

While we do all kinds of qualitative research, we developed and often use a methodology we call Blink Apperception Research (BAR) to dig into how brands express motivations and how these brands can build their resonance with consumers by telling their brand story through the lens of their distinct motivational profile. The fascinating thing about BAR is that we consistently discern substantial differences between brands in a tight competitive set that ordinary brand image tracking research fails to detect. In fact, often the reason companies hire us is that they believe that their brand is relatively un-differentiated versus its competition and they would like to find a way to change this. 

The BAR method is based on the methods psychologists have used for years, called Thematic Apperception Tests or Projective Research, to elicit stories from patients that could be psychologically revealing. Of course, BAR is specifically designed to elicit stories about brands from consumers. Which brings us back to our initial question... do brands express motivations? The answer is yes they do.

As an example of how this works, consider a well-established brand that competes in a well-established category with other well-established brands. It is no surprise that these brands are all seen as trusted/reliable in image studies. When we explore the motivations these brands are expressing, we see a much different picture. One brand, that is trusted/reliable strongly expresses the motivation of HONOR (or the desire to follow parental values to do the right thing), while another more strongly expresses the motivation of STATUS ( or the desire to be seen as having a higher social standing). Both are "trusted/reliable" but their inherent stories are completely different. By understanding your specific brand motivation, you can begin to focus your communications, branding, and innovation through the lens of your ownable motivation, thereby increasing brand differentiation. Without this insight, you could be trying to tell a story about your brand that just doesn't seem to stick, and the reason is that it is out of sync with the brand's implicit motivational profile.

We would be happy to share more about this topic with you and how it might be able to help you increase the differentiating resonance of your brand. 

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