The science behind brands with Dr. Ella Ward

The subtle power of branding with leading a marketing scientist from The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute

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We interact with marketing and branding throughout our entire lives, yet it’s not a concept that many people know about or understand. Dr. Ella Ward is a marketing scientist at Ehrenberg-Bass Institute which is considered to be among the best marketing and brand science organizations in the world

Dr. Ward shares with us the history of brands and how they work at the conscious and subconscious level. See below for the top takeaways.

Top Takeaways:

1. Brands have been around for thousands of years, originally to indicate the origin of cattle and pottery, later for traders to sell wares to illiterate people, ultimately evolving to the modern era with first brand trademark ever filed by Bass Ale in 1875.

   

2. For the longest time organizations tried to understand how people interact with brands using human psychology and social science concepts. Over the last 20 or 30 years, marketing science has evolved using real data and has learned that people think very little about brands but rather rely on subtle clues and subconsciouses processes to filter down options and make decisions.

3. Technology is rapidly accelerating the brand sciences primarily due to the ability to collect, store and analyze big data. However, technology is moving faster than research which leaves for some uncertainty as to how effective new technologies will be when it comes to marketing and branding.

Resources:

• How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp, Director, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute

Full List of Topics Covered:

• The history of brands

• What we know about human psychology that explains why we resonate with brands

• The key ingredients of a brand that people evaluate consciously or unconsciously

• The concept of mental availability, which means that buyers think of a brand when considering a purchase

• Competitive links and how they impact consumer decision making

• New technology and the new ways to reach customers

• Companies that have adapted / failed to adapt to changing times

• Forecasts on the impact of AI

Hope you enjoy the conversation, feel free to share and let me know if anything resonates with you in the comments.

-Adam