![\"istock_000016317399xsmall1\"](\"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In essence, consumer behavior is studying the effect marketing stimuli has on neural receptors.\u00a0 As marketers we are perpetually studying how to to activate those neural receptors favorably, to capture mindshare.\u00a0 In our experience, memorable brands are brands that generate products or services that focus on consumer value and experience and create strong emotional connections.\u00a0 And so, our job is to create brands that identify the appropriate stimuli to create the neural response we are looking for.\u00a0 The brain, being the brain, is naturally pretty brainy.\u00a0 And brains grow bored.\u00a0 They begin to recognize patterns, and know when they are being duped.\u00a0 So good marketers must have a good understanding of how the brain works to perpetually engage those of consumers.\u00a0 And they have to keep those brains on their toes, so to speak.<\/p>\n
To build a brand powerhouse that truly captures mind-share, and engages consumers at every level, evolution and innovation must be at the core of your brand strategy. To stay top of mind for decades or even centuries, your brand must be responsive to changes in tastes, socio-cultural trends, and economics.\u00a0 Darwin said it best when he said \u201cit is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.\u201d Consumers are perpetually evolving, and so brands must evolve with them to stay relevant.\u00a0 It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n
Lets look at the brand greats, like coca-cola for example.\u00a0 Innovation has been the life-blood of their business.\u00a0 Amidst a plethora of copycat beverages, coca-cola has always thrived.\u00a0 At first it was their formula, then their pledge to authenticity, then their iconic bottle shape, innovations that made it easier to drink coke such as open top coolers, 6-packs etc.\u00a0 In the beverage category, they have always pushed the envelope and given consumers what they didn\u2019t even know they wanted.\u00a0 In their 125 year history, their products have been reformulated, toiled & tinkered with for user-friendliness, efficacy, coolness, functionality and so forth which has allowed them to thrive even in the hardest of times and the most competitive category.<\/p>\n
Apple is another brand behemoth that sings the praises of innovations and reaps the benefits as well.\u00a0 Apple asserts that a culture of innovation belies innovative product. Their cutting edge technology is a result of an organization that is dependent upon creativity, freedom & disagreement.\u00a0 They perpetually consider human behavior, how it is evolving, and what products can be created to meet and exceed those needs.<\/p>\n
But how much of innovation is divine inspiration, and how much of it is hard<\/ins>work?\u00a0 Peter Drucker, noted expert in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation says that innovation isn\u2019t inspired by a bright idea, rather it \u201cis organized, systematic, rational work\u201d and can be woven into the fabrics of any organization. Drucker asserts that innovation lies in areas of opportunities from industry to demographic trends.\u00a0 Once a clear opportunity and framework has been identified, the imagination and creative genius can begin.<\/p>\n Innovation is both \u201cperceptual and conceptual\u201d and thus going out into the real world, asking questions and listening, is paramount in divining the right direction.\u00a0 Successful innovators are right and left brained.\u00a0 They think analytically, but can execute creatively.\u00a0 They start with a small idea, that is need based and answers a question.\u00a0 The best innovations are obvious, logical ones that are brilliant in their simplicity. Whatever your brand consists of, whether it\u2019s a healthcare product or a technology service, you have to perpetually evolve it for it to compete in the marketplace.\u00a0 Brand innovation may seem daunting, but when you think about it both \u201cperceptually and conceptually\u201d its actually just the logical next step.<\/p>\n Think back to those two brand greats we just mentioned.\u00a0 Rather than pouring over the competitive environment, and constantly looking over their shoulder, they are forever considering their consumer.\u00a0 Rather than asking what is the competition doing that I am not, they are asking \u201chow is the consumer behaving and how can I support that?\u201d\u00a0 Even further, they often create consumer behavior trends by asking, \u201cwhat will the consumer do next and how can I encourage that?\u201d<\/p>\n If you think that innovation is dictated by the brand and not the consumer: you may consider looking at things in reverse.\u00a0 Perceived value is what drives consumer choice and decision.\u00a0 Consider this, brands that fail to demonstrate changes in value for the consumer also demonstrate the slowest growth in terms of sales and market share.<\/p>\n Consumers Demand Innovation<\/p>\n French juice brand Pampryl was a market leader for years.\u00a0 With the rise of lower priced copy-cat brands, the juice giant saw a decline in profit, distribution and market share and eventually slide to position number 4.\u00a0 Pampryl didn\u2019t take this lying down.\u00a0 Knowing very well that the consumer opinion is the lifeblood of any business, they sought to deliver a better quality product with added convenience.\u00a0 They revolutionized their package to extend the shelf life of their product by 12 months and they dramatically enhanced the quality of their juice.\u00a0 They innovated and changed their value proposition to deliver \u201creal\u201d juice not from concentrate in a beautiful package that was easy to store and didn\u2019t require refrigeration.\u00a0 Within 2 years the brand was back in the number 2 spot, and they single-handedly drove demand for the premium juice category by putting emphasis back on juice quality.\u00a0 They doubled distribution and enjoyed their highest margins ever.<\/p>\n Of course, not all innovation can lead to growth.\u00a0 But a few valuable lessons can be learned here- namely, that the consumer drives innovation.\u00a0 The moment you ignore your consumer another brand will swoop in to satisfy them better.\u00a0 One of the great things about modern marketing is that there is always a dialogue between brands and consumers. Tap into that.\u00a0 Understand why consumers like your products and anticipate what they want to see next.\u00a0 Keep serving their evolving needs, and they will keep coming back.<\/p>\n Amina AlTai is the Marketing Director for the Imagemme New York City office.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In essence, consumer behavior is studying the effect marketing stimuli has on neural receptors.\u00a0 As marketers we are perpetually studying how to to activate those neural receptors favorably, to capture…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1.jpg",349,344,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1-300x296.jpg",300,296,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1.jpg",349,344,false],"large":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1.jpg",349,344,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1.jpg",349,344,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/iStock_000016317399XSmall1.jpg",349,344,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":252,"uagb_excerpt":"In essence, consumer behavior is studying the effect marketing stimuli has on neural receptors.\u00a0 As marketers we are perpetually studying how to to activate those neural receptors favorably, to capture...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":943,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}