Blog Posts, Branding

Conversations in my head, making decisions for me.

I’m fairly normal I think, and I do have conversations in my head, decision-making conversations. I’m probably using Somatic markers, a hypothesis that states that we use emotional processes that can guide behavior, particularly decision-making. When we make decisions, we assess the value of the choices available to us, using cognitive and emotional processes. When we face complex and conflicting choices, we may be unable to decide using only cognitive processes, which may become overloaded and unable to help us decide. So we use Somatic markers to help us decide.

In the book “Buyology” by Martin Lindstrom, the author talks about our Somatic decision-making process when buying peanut butter at the supermarket. Is the Somatic process the same when we choose one brand over another when it comes to business-to-business advertising?  The book states that we rely on instantaneous shortcuts our brains have created to help us make buying decisions. “I associate Skippy with childhood…it’s been around forever, so I feel it’s trustworthy, but isn’t it laden with sugar and other things I shouldn’t be eating?...Same goes for Peter Pan, Plus the name is so childish. And I’m not buying that generic brand. It costs 30 cents less, which makes me suspicious. In my experience you get what you pay for…Jif…what’s the old advertising slogan of theirs: “Choosy Mothers Choose Jif”…Well I’m a fairly discriminating person…”

I have to admit that I have these thoughts rattling around in my brain, they seem to come out especially when I’m supposed to be doing yoga. Does something as industrial as a Supply Chain Management firm or a Logistics Company adhere to the same concept of Somatic decision making as a consumer product? Is there anyone who would admit to choosing one logistics company over another because they believed in the brand portrayed by the company?