Behavioural Science in Brand Activation
How many times do you get asked what you do for a living?
For most of us, the answer is likely to be very often.
Whenever someone asks me this question, I rarely ever give the same response.
What I answer depends on a variety of factors. It might be the insight I understand the other person is wanting, for example, a physiotherapist might want to know if I’m predominantly sedentary.
Or, I may focus on a detail I believe the other person needs to fully understand what I do.
And, importantly, it also depends on my general appetite to get into a discussion with the other person.
But, for the most part, my response changes because the role itself can be so varied.
Behavioural Science in Application
At The Team, I spend a sizeable chunk of my time within the brand activation team. We develop campaigns, create content and shape customer experiences in service of both bringing a brand strategy to life and achieving specific marketing goals.
I don’t doubt anyone’s ability to find examples of creative work which has moved them.
Still, more than twenty years on, I find it hard to surpass the Guinness “Good things come to those who wait” campaign.
It completely reframed the way we perceive an experience.
Waiting for a pint to be poured evokes emotion – excitement and reward, and changed behaviours – bringing a far younger demographic of Guinness drinkers into the fold.
It successfully delivered the holy trinity of brand activation – it got people to think, feel and do.
One of the more surprising elements of working here at The Team over the last 4 years has been speaking to clients about the applications of behavioural science.
After sharing a handful of applications, more often than not I’ll see their minds excitedly wander with the possibility of using them to resolve another issue they’re encountering, either with colleagues or their customers!
One client deserves special recognition for saying, 'I’m totally using that on my partner!'"
As they say – all’s fair in love and war, right?
Behavioural Science and Brand Activation at the Team
So, how do we apply behavioural science insights to our brand activation projects at the Team?
In essence, we do so by:
- Developing content and communications which consider how people think and consume information
- Designing choice architecture to make the customer experience with the brand seamless and attractive
- Utilising nudges, behavioural insight and design to optimise the customer experience (increasing retention, advocacy, and NPS)
- Increasing emotional engagement with the brand, while ensuring the right brand associations are consistently activated
- Changing consumer behaviour (either winning new customers or nudging existing customer behaviour)
Behavioural science informs every part of the double diamond design process.
And while, we recognise that behavioural science supercharges our critical thinking capabilities as a consultancy. It’s also key to note that the design team love having the freedom to find creative ways of achieving more accurately identified levers of change.
We love integrating behavioural science, but it is just part of a wider toolkit. A diverse capability set which enables critical thinking and creativity to come together to solve real-world brand challenges.
Get in Touch
If there’s any part of you intrigued to see how behavioural science could be incorporated to solve your own brand | people challenges, please reach out for an intro chat at hello@theteam.co.uk.
