Dogs Love Meat.

One of my best friends in the world is BJ Bueno, a partner here at Nonbox. BJ is a great teacher and an insightful student of human behavior. One of the key concepts he preaches is taking advantage of the power of associative memories, or linking new information or stimuli to a memory that already exists within the consumer. It’s about making simple and meaningful connections.

Good branding is about simplification. That’s why it’s important to tap into the power of your customer’s memory bank and find something that already has the ability to motivate them to act.

An associative memory is linking new information to a pre-existing memory or anchoring emotion. Ivan Pavlov demonstrated the power of associative memories. He knew that the dogs anchoring emotion was it’s love of the taste of meat. He then conditioned the dog by ringing a bell before giving the dog meat. The association was bell = meat. Once the association of bell and meat was made, Pavlov could ring the bell, not give the dog meat, and still get the desired response….making the dog salivate, by creating the expectation of the satisfying taste of meat.

If Pavlov had incorrectly identified the dogs anchoring emotion and instead chose to use broccoli or a carbonated beverage in his experiment, then the frequent and consistent ringing of the bell would have only served to irritate the dog.

Identifying anchoring emotions within your customers is the key to creating an associative memory, and creating an associative memory is the key to simplifying your brand message.

When you’re tempted to start talking more about your company than creating a reflection of your consumer, do what BJ Bueno has taught us to do, simply stop the conversation and say, “Yeah, but dogs love meat”. That should keep you focused on what’s important.