This buying behavior responds to film production. Who else would buy a stone with eyes or a plastic fork with ‘red arms and hands’, unless it’s Forky from Toy Story.
Aleythia Reyes, a Marketing teacher at the Banking and Commercial School (EBC) Tlalnepantla campus, points out that all products that are marketed under the backing of a brand offer experiences (of use, purchase, life), which are not satisfactory.
“The same a movie, a concept, a lifestyle or a public figure add value to the object itself. It is not a stone with eyes that is offered and demanded, but rather the experience that having the stone means, living with it and feeling part of the film”, he says.
Rodrigo Díez, CEO of the branding consultancy Padre Group, assures that when it comes to popular culture, brands are not the ones that determine if an object is funny or not; it is consumers who define what is fun for them. What brands can do is be in a process of active and systematized listening, with the aim of detecting what has been well adopted by the target and then capitalize it.
“It is important to observe what the reaction to the film is from a social and not just a commercial point of view, and then try to capitalize on some of the dynamics that have been generated and take advantage of them to build a promotion beyond the marketing apparatus itself behind it. of them,” he says.
For David González Natal, partner and general director of the Northern Region of the consultancy LLYC, Disney has been doing it very well for decades, through licenses and the creation of universes of merchandising or cross-sell. Pop iconicity and the creation of a universe are key elements to be able to connect with audiences over time through liquid ideas that work just as well in a film format as in any consumer object.
What role does emotion play in the purchase decision?
It is essential, 80% of purchase decisions are emotional, says Reyes. If people buy a product, it is because it gives them something, be it on a practical, emotional or meaningful level.
Emotional decisions tend to be more difficult to replicate and more inherent to brands, while functional ones are less likely to generate differentiation for them as they are more practical and less visceral, explains Díez. Some emotional choice reasons may be security, status, belongingness, gratification, while functional ones are price, proximity, convenience, or availability.
In the case of the film, when a viewer sees the stone with eyes as a consumable product, “a memory is generated and levels of consciousness rise.” engagement. In fact, video ads are twice as likely to elicit emotional responses than static ads. human beings are driven by emotions”, mentions Mariano Serkin, co-founder of the agency ISLA México.
Luis Felipe Días Muñoz, neuromarketing expert and Marketing professor at the EBC Tlalnepantla campus, explains that as human beings we want or desire what another has. The brain identifies it and desires it as something it is admiring, so it seeks to replicate it and when it obtains it, it feels satisfied or happy.
Thus, the consumer believes that he has the items that the person admired or that he is part of a group. This is not only the case with screen characters who jump onto the store shelf, but also with aspirational brands. “Here the brain has already given a value and special attributes to the desired object. It has to do with the belief system that society has generated about what we believe to be success. That is why the piracy market is incredible, because it makes others believe that they have a brand that they cannot pay for,” says Días Muñoz.
Through emotion, brands do get the consumer to buy an item with no apparent joke. “Everything everywhere at the same time shows that great stories have the power to install products and even create a brand because they have the power to form communities of fandoms who share the same interests and passions”, concludes Serkin.