Brand 'Em, and Let 'Em Roam Free

We are exposed to people interacting with their favorite brands every day—for instance, commuters drinking bottled water. Might these glimpses of others using common brands influence our own brand choices? This new research says yes.

These researchers asked consumers to focus on the faces of people in a "study" of a series of photographs. The photos showed people engaged in everyday activities like waiting for a bus. In some photos, however, the "focal person" was holding a bottle of a familiar brand of water. At the end of the "test," participants were offered a free bottle of water as a thank-you, and were given the choice of four popular brands.

Turns out, the participants who saw a high number of photos with a person holding a branded water bottle chose that brand from the four offered. But these researchers also pointed up some interesting additional facts:

The branding effect worked only when participants were not aware of having seen the branded bottles in the photos.
The branding effect failed when participants were shown too many photos with the branded bottles.
Conclusion: brand exposure works, but too much of it can backfire.

Randomness played an important role here, too: Exposure to others' brand choices influenced a consumer's choice when those others were "not associated with any particular group," the researchers said.

The Po!nt: Brand away! Let a wide range of consumers interact with your well-labeled products. This may be your best form of brand marketing.

Source: "The Power of Strangers: The Effect of Incidental Consumer Brand Encounters on Brand Choice," by Rosellina Ferraro, James R. Bettman and Tanya L. Chartrand. Journal of Consumer Research, 2009.

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