OUGD401: Practical Exploration (Psychology Behind Branding, Packaging & Advertising)

My question focuses on the relationship between branding and the consumers self and a large portion of that is made up the psychology between the consumers and the brands themselves so their ways of advertising, the design of the product etc. Which brings me onto how products are branded to be aimed at certain people, how brands use particular methods of advertising and product design to deceive people into buying something they don't necessarily need.

A lot of brands nowadays tend to focus more on the connotations of their own branding rather than the denotation, which is how these brands thrive. By creating a lifestyle, an atmosphere, a way of life as opposed to just a bunch of products all individual to one another, they can entice people into their branded way of life. This is where part of the need to buy more and more products from particular brands come from when they don't necessarily need it, because they trick people into believing they need more than what they have. 

For example:

With this Nike advertisement, it focuses a lot on creating this idea of 'these shoes will make you run faster', which realistically is a bit far fetched. Granted they might ever so slightly improve your running ability over the other pair of running shoes you bought just 3 months ago but by no means are they going to allow you to knock ten seconds of your 100m time. It's advertisements like this that, in a way, trick consumers into not always buying but at the very least taking a look into the product itself.

Another aspect of branding that I explored also was the packaging side of things and the clever little psychological tricks that brands play on us without us even knowing. Brands tend to use a lot of trigger words, single words that grab your attention at an instant, words such as Boost, Cure, Energize, Vibrant etc. are all words that can be seen on everyday packaging. Hollow words are also something that can sound good but can be very deceiving, words that have potential to be good but ultimately have no real meaning behind them, these include words such as may, possibly, up to, about etc. 

For example, a study was conducted by Psychologist Daryl Benn on how advertisers use word choice and catch phrases to sell different, but identical in effectiveness, brands of aspirin. One brand advertised their product was "unsurpassed in speed - no other brand works faster", when the same study showed that this brand themselves worked no faster than any of the other brands. The claim they were making wasn't false per say but it was, however, completely hollow, thus supporting this idea of brands fooling people into believing that they should choose their product over other brands simply through their use of words.

Aside from the terminology used on packaging, the design itself makes up for a big portion of how we perceive a brand and their values. Even down to the last pin point matters with the design, because supposedly it has been estimated that 60-70% of buying decisions are made in store and given that the design is the first immediate thing you see of a product, it needs to have an impressive wow factor to influence the consumer to buy it over another product.

'Cusps' are something that are often used by brands to give a product a feeling of urgency, fear and caution all of which are things that demand our attention. These are sharp, pointy shapes that are used, for example in the packaging above if you was to view this amongst other hair products it's likely that this would jump out more at you simply because of it's cusps used in the typography, especially on the 'X's.

Coca Cola logo even has cusps

This is even done with brands we don't even realise, until researching into the psychology behind branding I had no idea what 'cusps' were, let alone that they had been used in a brand I've consumed for the majority of my life.

Even just making a much more simplified packaging can improve the relationship and more importantly for the brands the sales of their product. For example, 'Buster, the drain cleaner once barking on the heels of Mr. Muscle, unseated the giant in England by introducing a small pack devoid of the power graphics that typify products in the aisle. An Elmwood client, Buster also recognized the emotional agitation of consumers who need to unclog a drain, and answered it with a calm, clean, simple package that contrasted with the visual noise at the shelf. Sales rose 42% and market share hit 30% with no above-the-line support, and the brand is now expanding into Europe and Asia.'

It seems as though it doesn't take much at all to convince consumers to buy your product, if you design and advertise properly and precisely using the right techniques. This is something I'm going to aim to do for my practical response to my essay, create a piece of brand packaging that manipulate consumers into thinking they need this product to improve their lifestyle or simply to fool them into spending more money on a product branded in such as a way that gives the impression it's more effective or better than other products on the market.

OUGD401: Essay Improvements (3rd Person & Unsupported Points)

From the feedback I received on my draft essay submission, there was one or two pieces of unsupported opinions and even though the points I had made linked into the underlying point of the essay, it was weak simply because it was unsupported. Along with that I made several claims that were made within the 1st person, this is something that had to be changed into 3rd person as the whole point of the essay is to come from an objective view point as opposed to subjective. This is how I think I ended up with some unsupported points as I had too much of my own opinion in there as opposed to structured and evidenced claims.

In light of this, I watched BBC's documentary from 2005 'The Century of the Self' which focuses on the work of psychoanalysts Sigmund and Anna Freud and also Edward Bernays. Within the first part of the documentary a point was made about the psychology behind consumers and the products they purchased which fit in well with the point I had made, but not supported. The point I made was mainly about how brands can control consumers without us even knowing by using clever tricks and techniques within their advertising and packaging of the product making people desire more things than what they actually need, ultimately influencing them into buying more products.

Revised Essay Point with Support

Within The Century of the Self (2005), it discussed how it was discovered by Edward Bernays, who took his uncle’s idea, Sigmund Freud, of human being manipulative mind’s and ‘showed big name corporations how they could make people want things they didn’t need, by linking mass produced goods to their unconscious desires’ which ties in well with the main underlying point of the whole argument, that brands can control us. Even Paul Mazer of the Lehmen Brothers in the 1920’s (2005, The Century of the Self) stated that ‘they must shift America from a needs, to a desires culture and for this to happen, people need to be trained to desire to want new things even though the old hadn’t been consumed yet.’

OUGD401: Practical Exploration (Brand Comparison)

To develop my idea further I had a look into luxurious branding of things such as packaging, personal branding etc. to see what they have in common. What colours and typeface combinations they all use to give off the impression that their particular product is of better quality to justify the typical price difference that comes between one product and another.

Non Luxury Branding

Luxury Branding

Both of these pictures display the same product, the only difference being the potentially slight difference in quality, which there might not even be one. But yet one looks a lot more expensive and luxurious than the other, leading people to believe that it would taste better, which isn't always the case. This can trick people into spending a lot more money on a product, when it's not necessary.

These deceitful ways are what make brands so powerful within the industry and is why they have so much control over us, the consumer.

OUGD401: Study Task 08 - Practical Exploration (Initial Thoughts / Ideas)

What is the relationship between branding and the consumer self?

Given that my essay was about the relationship between brands and consumers, the underlying question that I chose to focus on was who holds the power within the relationship and to what extent.

After analysing several sources relevant to my question it soon became clear that the brands have the upper hand within the relationship. In most cases, brands can manipulate consumers to buy products they don't need or even want, through clever marketing and advertising campaigns that shed light on a new 'revolutionary product' that will in some way improve their lifestyle, their relationships etc. even though this obviously isn't the case for the most part.

So following on from this fact, my initial thoughts for my practical investigation to go along side my written essay was to look along the lines of branding a 'product' which is something that we already have as a given, that we don't need to physically buy.

The first thing that came to mind was human rights; these are something that every human being has and is entitled to, regardless of any other environmental factors.

A few examples were things such as:

- The right to life
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom of thought, belief and religion
- Right to participate in free elections
- Right to education

I thought that branding something like this in such a way that is done with most products these days would put emphasis on this idea that brands are infinitely powerful when it comes to controlling consumers on a physical, mental and emotional level.

Given that a big aspect of selling products to consumers is the aesthetics of packaging/product etc. this is one thing that reels people in to buy more products they don't know and spend more on certain brands they feel are more 'luxurious'.

Examples of Branding

Packaging

Even though these are only basic products that most people will buy on a regular basis, by branding them in such a way that makes them feel more high quality, even though the product may be the same as others, people are deceived into believing that this product is better out there than others simply because of the way it looks. 

This is something I want to harness within my idea, creating something that appears as though people would feel the need to buy it, even though ultimately it's something that doesn't need to be physically bought.

OUGD401: Study Task 6 - Establishing the requirements of your practical investigation

1. TECHNIQUE(s)

I plan to use a range of techniques within my practical piece to ensure that I have explored most if not all possibilities when creating my work. These will potentially include a range of techniques including letter press, screen print and digital printing.

2. CONTENT

The content of the practical piece will be based around my question, but more so will be a branded object to support my question.

3. COMMUNICATION / MESSAGE

The underlying message of my piece will be that brands hold the power within the relationship between them and the consumers and that they can essentially convince us to buy products we think we need.

4. RESEARCH / ANALYSIS

My research for this piece will be varied from relevant books, some of which have been used within my essay, but also self driven research through the likes of questionnaires etc.

5. EXPLORATION / EVALUATION

Evaluating my piece will useful as it will depict whether or not I was successful within proving my hypothesis and this will not be evaluated by just me, but will also include the opinions of other fellow students who will critique my piece.

1. What is your research question?

What is the relationship between branding and the consumer self?

2. Do you have a hypothesis (an assumed conclusion that you will endeavour to prove)?

My hypothesis is to prove that brands hold the power within the relationship between them and the consumers and that they can essentially trick/convince us to buy products we believe we need due to their clever ways of advertising and packaging of the products.

3. What are the contexts of your research interests (politics, advertising, consumerism)?

Contexts of my research include consumerism and also branding, which links into advertising given advertising is a large part of how brands become known and show off their products.

4. Sources of primary/secondary research.

Books:

- Klein, N. (2000) No Logo. London: Flamingo.

- Olins, W. (2003) Wally Olins: On Brand. London: Thames and Hudson

- Miles, S. (1998) Consumerism: As a way of life. New York: Sage

5. How will your practical work answer the research question?

It will answer the research question through providing evidence of how consumers can fall victim to brands ways of advertising and packaging products to make them believe that this particular product will in some way improve their lives by making it more luxurious etc.

6. What methods will you use to research, develop, create and test your work?

Research will come from online sources, books but also questionaries of fellow classmates, family and also friends. These questionnaires will be aimed at proving my hypothesis by providing the work I've designed along side some relevant questions. This in turn will help me to further develop my designs and overall concept, in the hope to ensure I can fully prove my hypothesis from my practical work.

As for the creating and testing side of my practical work, I will aim to use a range of mediums throughout the different development stages of my investigation and adapting my designs to fit with feedback on my work along the way.

7. Provide a proposed timeline for your work to completion (consider carefully whether you will need access to college facilities).

All practical work to be completed by the ~20th April.

OUGD401: Essay Research (John Berger: Ways of Seeing - Episode 4)

I came across a documentary that I thought would come in useful in supporting my point of how brands are consuming us and manipulating us into thinking we need more than what we actually do, ultimately forcing us into buying products that aren't necessary.

John Berger makes a point within the episode of how ‘publicity of these brands, in a way, forces us to buy more and more products as if it would in some way improve our lives and will make us in some way richer, even though we will be poorer by having spent our money’. This is done by companies showing off models who appear to be living an ideal lifestyle because of these products, which results in consumers envying these people and wanting to buy the product thinking that it will do the same for them.

He also mentions how it ‘forces consumers into this vicious cycle of wanting more and better products, needing more money to buy these, taking out loans and spending that money on more and better products’. This all ultimately leads to the big name companies leeching off the consumers who are naive  and are just wanting to obtain these ‘dream’ lives the portray in their adverts, all because of people feeling insecure about themselves.