Symbols and Signs
Symbols have a lot of power. I was driving down the road the other day feeling absolutely fine, when I saw a sign outside a store that said “Peet’s Coffee and Tea.”
It’s a local company with stores in Los Gatos and a few other areas around the San Francisco Bay. What do you think happened? I started to think about coffee. I started to think, “You know—I really deserve a cup of coffee.” I could smell the coffee in my imagination. I could visualize myself sitting with that cup of coffee, enjoying the surroundings, perhaps browsing through a magazine or a newspaper. Next thing I know, I’m parking the car and going in and ordering that cup of coffee. How many of you have had an experience like that? That’s the power of a brand. When we see that logo and the particular style of the place, our mind tells us what to do, and often we just follow right along.
What’s another brand that might lead you to the same kind of associations? Starbucks, of course. It’s now one of the most recognized brands. What about Maxwell House? Not such a strong or positive set of associations for most of us.
Pavlov worked this out at one level, through his experiments with dogs and bell ringing. He trained the dogs to associate the ringing of a bell with food. After a while, he didn’t have to feed them: he just rang the bell and they would salivate. It’s called operant conditioning. That’s what brands—especially consumer brands—do.
Many symbols work like that. When we see a picture of someone having a great time, we tend to connect with that experience. When we see a happy mother and child, we think different thoughts from when we get cut off on the freeway. Each set of images causes us to respond in a particular way.
Of course, our response to symbols is context-specific. Think about the American flag. This is an extreme example, and it is one that polarizes people to some degree, because it has strong associations. To patriotic Americans, the flag is a symbol of all that makes America great. It reminds them of the constitution, the founding fathers, and the opportunity that America offers its people. To members of other nations, the US flag may be a neutral symbol, or it may have negative associations because it contradicts symbols and beliefs that are important to them.
This is a very important point. Most symbols don’t have universal meaning. Even the image of a baby, which for many of us is a very positive symbol, can be negative. How do you feel when you climb into seat 35B on that cross-country flight, and a mother with a vocally precocious baby sits down next to you? It’s not such a positive set of associations for everyone. I think my reaction to that situation has changed since I had my own children—although my tolerance seems to lessen as my children move past that phase. That’s partly about context, and partly it shows that we have a multiplicity of associations with a particular symbol or stimulus.
That all means that we have to influence the associations our customers have with our product and brand. It’s simply not enough to “put it out there” and hope for the best. Branding is not just about creating a graphical identity. We must make sure that it’s properly reinforced and managed. That includes the way we manage the channel, the way products are displayed, the way the brand is linked to other products and activities. That’s the discipline we call brand management.
So the first big point I want to make is this. Our minds work like pattern matchers. We take in a stimulus—like seeing that Peet’s Coffee sign or the picture of a mother and child—and our minds rapidly try to match it up with something we already know. That’s how we understand the world. If we understand how people make these associations, we’re well on the way to being able to create influence and positive associations—which after all is the purpose of branding.
Now let’s discuss the way brands work on our psyche in a bit more detail.
