Oh Snickers! you had me fooled
Learning the art of persuasion and influence from Snickers
Every day new baits of “needs” and “wants” are pushed towards to influence potential consumers by the capitalist world. Hopeful marketers, on the other end, hoping to reel in consumers by the dozens. We, the consumers, on the other hand, have to be smart and not fall prey to such tactful traps. I pride myself on being able to overcome such strategies and not let them influence me or convert my nonexistential needs to must-haves. This was until I learned about how Snickers had me fooled. Yes, Snickers the brand owned by Mars Corporation. Yes, I am talking about a chocolate bar.
Products reach an epitome of success when they smartly and subtly manage to take over spaces in our minds to do dedicated tasks. For example, to search-Google, to text-WhatsApp, tissue-Kleenex, make a copy-Xerox; we use brand name alternatives. Snickers had a similar effect on me. For this caramel-peanut bite-sized chocolate bar, through their clever marketing strategy and persuasive techniques, have taken over space as the chocolate bar that can satisfy your hunger. And I truly adopted this belief.
*(This may act against the brand too, well that article for another day)
Snicker’s Sad Past
Snickers was unable to improve its sales and find their niche in the vast consumerist ocean. Its sales were much lower than its competitor, another chocolate brand named Milky Way (again owned by Mars Corporation). They had several marketing strategies to stay afloat, including a tagline “Most satisfying” to showcase it to bring about relaxation, ease, and happiness to the consumer (Refer to Ad1). Also, I found another ad that tried to sell the chocolate bar showcasing sexual innuendo and objectification (Refer to Ad2). These failed attempts led to the need to re-brand the image of Snickers.
Snickers- Why Would Anyone Buy Me?
This re-branding project as explained by Bob Moesta(2017),current president of Re-Wired Group adopted a new research direction, to identify why would anyone buy Snickers. Basically to find what is the value proposition Snickers has to offer or what intrinsic job does it get done. To uncover the use cases that leads to this bar’s sale, they implemented the JTBD framework (Jobs to be Done).
Through his observations, it was found that Snickers sell faster at airports than their competitors Milky Way. It was then identified this was because consumers believed Snickers to be a quick meal replacement that can be picked up when running late for a flight or when the hunger pangs hit. Through understanding that Snickers helped the hungry and Milky Way was for relaxing and comfort, enabled him to identify specific use cases. They rode on this finding and further changed the image of Snickers as a product to satisfy your hunger. Sales of the chocolate bar thus increased through famous tag lines such as the below. (Moesta,2017)
Hungry? Grab a Snickers
Several people, including myself, buy Snickers for what it is marketed. A quick and easy snack to satisfy hunger pangs, or a meal replacement to help you get through the day. I have deliberately bought it and have seen others buy it too during short lunch breaks. Also have seen people carry it for long treks or before they go out to play. Whether it was an old habit or one influenced by the advertisements is unknown. Either way, it seems that the marketing strategy has achieved what it set out to across countries.
Snickers Art of Persuasion and Influence
Target Relevant Beliefs: One approach to persuade people is to target their relevant beliefs(Perloff, 2017). Snickers shed its assumption that the brand stood for something it doesn’t and instead targeted the existing relevant belief.
You are not yourself when hungry campaign bet on the existing belief of the people on what a Snickers chocolate is to them, i.e. satiate a hunger pang. The Jobs to be done framework helped to gauge what the product does and sell it as perceived by the existing consumers.
Persuasive Association and Mere Exposure Theory: Once they identified the formula or direction for persuasion, they used it to influence consumers through a persuasive technique called Association. The heavy-marketing associated the product with hunger, hence marketing it as a snack. Several other products have done this too, Kitkat associated itself with breaks, Coca Cola associates itself with celebrations, and similarly, Snickers associated itself with hunger. Through association, it is easier to influence people by making them believe that the product is of integral importance to get a task or job done. The advertisements via constant exposure reinforced the notion of Snickers as a tool to fight hunger (Fournier,2016)
Authority Agent Altercation and Humor(Engaging on Emotional Level): Humans, in general, tend to listen to authority. Snickers, like other brands, incorporated people in higher positions to infuse an air of authority and influence the consumers. Another aspect is that these ads showcased a sense of humor. The use of emotions for persuasion is also critical, humor was used to sway the audience in their favor. And if all fails, Snickers also brought in personalized bars to engage and persuade the consumers on an emotional level.
To Conclude, Snickers had me fooled
Snickers has managed to create a behavioral change by subtly associating its product as the solution to hunger, which I, as a consumer, continue to believe. It is unknown if my belief was something that contributed to the re-branding or if it one that the advertisements drilled down into my brains ( Which came first: the chicken or the egg?)
Probably my next Article: Et tu Maggi ?
Hello readers,
So this series Better Late Than Never is built from the 100s of reflections,work and reports I had to write as a student. This particular work is from our studio, Persuasive and Emotional design, guided and conducted by Vineeta Rath .
Through this studio, I particularly enjoyed uncovering my biases and my beliefs. It also led me to,unfortunately or fortunately discover how easily I can and have been influenced. Also, a shout out to haritha pitla for her studio presentation on understanding cognitive biases. It was really engaging and presented with good humor . Hopefully it will be out to read soon.
You can read first article of the series Building Aspirations here :
Link : https://uxplanet.org/building-aspirations-a8ade4ab1b24
You can read another article on persuasion and Anxiety here:
Link : https://uxplanet.org/hello-anxiety-my-old-friend-54648d197807
ABC: Always be clapping because who does not enjoy some external validation. Cheers.
References
1.Darling, Emma. 2015. “Eat A Snickers Bar, You Crazy Fool!”. Persuasion-And-Influence.Blogspot.Com. http://persuasion-and-influence.blogspot.com/2015/01/eat-snickers-baryou-crazy-fool.html
2. Perloff, Richard M. 2017. Dynamics of Persuasion. London: Routledge
3. Moesta, Bob. 2017 . “No One Wants A Loan — Bob Moesta & Chris Spiek | No One Wants A Loan -Bob Moesta & Chris Spiek | Bankonpurpose | The Premier Global Event For Banking Leaders”.2017. Bankonpurpose. https://www.bankonpurpose.com/videos/no-one-wants-a-loan-bobmoesta-chris-spiek-2/.
4. Schenker, Marc. 2017. “How To Use Cialdini’s 6 Principles Of Persuasion To Boost Conversions”. CXL. https://conversionxl.com/blog/cialdinis-principles-persuasion/.
5. Fournier, Gillian. 2016. “Mere Exposure Effect | Encyclopedia Of Psychology”. Encyclopedia Of Psychology. https://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/mere-exposure-effect/.
