'We don't pay for perfection, we pay for non-crapness' #Squared2012

In advertising, it is our job to make consumers aware of brands, services and products. It is the job of the brand, service or product to fulfill the needs of their consumers. But what makes a consumer need and want them? What makes the consumer decide on a particular brand, product or service?


Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman of Ogilvy One, came to talk to us at Squared about the irrational intelligence of behavioural design. I have touched on this previously in behavioural economics, but I am going to bring another theory to the table - the dual system theory.

Evans and Frankish believed that the brain has two systems - System 1 and System 2 (see table). These two cognitive spectrums of the human mind are in constant battle when we come to making decisions. The way to look at our brain is to think of a rider (System 2) on an elephant (System 1) - the rider thinks it has a plan but ultimately he is not in total control. All our feelings and motivations are determined by what gets filtered by the ‘elephant’ - this processing power is deeply uneven. In neuroscience, decisions are taken elsewhere in the brain, but the rational side of the brain tries to make post-hock rational sense of the decision. Ultimately, we are very bad at making decisions, ‘we do what is convenient and then we post-rationalise’.


System 1 is do to with our belief - it is our instinctive feelings. It has a tendency to see everything in context, whereby we see things in light of our beliefs; this is what Stanovich referes to as 'fundamental computational bias'. However, sometimes there is a need to decontextualise a problem in order to make more rational and logical decisions - this is the primary function of System 2. Businesses focus on talking to the rider, whereas marketeers focus on talking to the elephant.


Businesses often believe that you need to change the attitude of the consumers and this will change their behaviour. This is not necessarily true. The trick is to change their behaviour and then their attitude will change - if the elephant turns right, the rider will rationalise as to why it did so. Humans are very good at post-rationalisation, we always attribute success to a grandiose strategic design and not a fluke, it is this idea of proportionality, big effects = big causes.

However, some of the best creations come from small ideas. In evolution, there is no grand design, sometimes it is about changing smaller things overtime and seeing what happens - progress happens through little improvements. The invention of the generic coffee cup lid for all coffee sizes was a small solution yet it changed everything - we no longer have to search for the 'small', 'medium' or 'large' lid, the difference is in the volume size of the cup, not the rim. Yet, no one gets a noble prize for a coffee cup lid?


Many businesses and marketeers are not doctors in psychology, nor do they use it as a primary mechanic in making their decisions. Most successes and fundamental truths are stumbled upon by accident. Who would have thought that McDonalds, an average burger company, would become one of the most internationally recognised burger companies in the world? The truth is, people don’t want the best burger in the world, they want the same as the last one they had. McDonalds is standardised to military levels. It is pretty safe to eat something that you have eaten before - humans are socially heuristic, you eat what you know it safe. People pay a premium on reassurance - not perfection, just non-crapness. Essentially, brands are a proxy for non-shitness. Although our System 2 brain would massively disagree with this, our System 1 brain tells us 'it's OK, McDonalds won't kill us.'


We need to start thinking more heuristically, so that we can target the elephant more empathetically and strategically. Intuitive judgement is nothing to be sniffed at, some of the best chess players in the world play heuristically - not probabilistically. Rational thinking can cloud creativity, though this is not to say that an element of rationality should not be included when creating advertisements and campaigns. However, being arbitrary can very, very valuable.


Essentially, when designing advertisements and campaigns, think heuristically and target the elephant. You will win.


Rory Sutherland was one of the most inspirational speakers I have ever had the enjoyment of listening to. Follow him on twitter @rorysutherland.


Lesson 17: It is possible to be irrational but highly intelligent, as it is to be rational but illogical and stupid.