Your brand's purpose has three parts

It's no longer enough to divide a consumer's motivations into practical and emotional.


We know from neuroscience that our reptilian brands trigger our initial response to any stimulus, and it's thought that our neocortex and our mammalian brain justify and rationalize our decisions.


Therefore, in order to appeal to the whole brain (including the brain in the consumer's gut), your brand's purpose needs to be a braid of practical, emotional and sensory elements.


We know sensory experience triggers emotions.

• Imagine nestling into a soft, down comforter.  What do you feel?
• Imagine smelling bacon frying?  What emotion is triggered?
• Now imagine hearing a woman screaming.  You have an emotional response to that, too, I'll bet.

Sensory experience is what EVOKES emotion in consumers, which is much stronger than describing emotion to consumers.


And, the sensory experience of using the product is what gives consumers "face validity" that the practical element is true.

The American Dream - 2012. Are you in it?

Consumers' dreams are precursors to where society is heading.


That's why we have created a way to ask consumers about their dreams.  Then we interpret what those dreams mean for marketers in the next 12 - 18 months.


Wondering if your consumers are dreaming about you?


Attend our webinar by emailing alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com

Marketing claims are dead.

We marketers have co-opted claims so much that they are no have any currency with consumers.


Consumers simply do not believe the claims any advertiser makes any more.


We see this when we test claims for marketing communication.  Consumers say things like, "I'd have to know more about that" or "Depends on who really did the research."  What this means is, "Advertisers have lied to me so many times that I do not believe a single thing they say."


Consumers trust random strangers on the internet more than they believe a brand itself.


Learn more.  Email alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com to attend our next webinar.

The Sensory Pathway to Emotional Response

Sensory stimulus triggers emotions.


Think of the smell of bacon frying.  The feel of your lover's touch.  The taste of orange juice.  The screech of brakes.


Each triggers a different emotional state.


Advertisers think they have to show an emotion in order to convey it.  Instead, they should use the sensation that triggers the emotion in the viewer/user.


Learn about the new American Dream.  Email alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com to attend our next webinar.

The case for PURPOSE vs. POSITIONING

Did you know that positioning was created by Trout & Ries back in 1972?  Think about how far we've come from then in terms of technology and our understanding of how our bodies and world works.


And yet, we mostly fill out the same time-tested positioning formats and use benefit ladders for our marketing.


Consumers today are looking for brands, services, products and ideas that have a PURPOSE that is relevant and interesting to them.  In Clayton Christiansen's words, they hire products to do jobs for them.


And each purpose is a braid of functional, sensory and emotional tasks.  


The focus is on how your product can HELP the consumer achieve his or her larger purposes in life.  Not on how different your brand is from the other brand.


Learn more.  Attend our next webinar by emailing Alexis.Oddson@energyinfuser.com.

A spiritual revival?

72% of the people we talked to are relying more on spirituality than ever.


Particularly among people at mid life, there is a desire to shed the material and focus on what really matters.  As Peter, in his mid-50s said, "I can plan for my retirement or I can plan for a much bigger future... what happens to me after I die."

From Ladders to Trapdoors: No Way to Get Ahead

The traditional ways of improving our lots in life no longer work, according to 72% of the respondents we polled.


Tried-and-true ladders up the socio-economic scale have crumpled.  

• Owning a home now, in many cases, is a liability rather than a way to increase wealth.  
• Getting a law degree today means a debilitating amount of student debt rather than a ticket to a comfortable life style.
• Getting a "steady" job in construction or teaching now is shaky ground.
• Starting a new business is next to impossible due to the tight credit market.

As a result, consumers are relying more on themselves and their close-in networks (87%).  They're doing what makes them happy rather than doing what society expects (83%).  They're turning to faith and spirituality more (72%).

They're looking for steps to follow to improve themselves and their families, their communities.  

Is your brand providing direction and action?

The Occupy Wall Street protesters are NOT the lunatic fringe

81% of the respondents we surveyed have a negative attitude about big corporations...including 42% (!) who are disgusted with them.  Disgusted!


That's a pretty strong emotion.  


The rest were angry (21%), bored (11%) or afraid (7%).


Our Change Energy study also shows that consumers trust online reviews from strangers more than they trust ANY CLAIM that any advertiser makes about its product or service.  Unbiased human recommendations (even when they're from humans we don't know) carry more weight than anything advertising can claim.  Learn more on November 29th.  Email alexis.oddson@energyinfuser to sign up for our next webinar.


How much time and energy does your team spend developing, testing and vetting claims?  Is that a good investment of that resource when most people tune claims out any way?


So, what to do?


Well, social media has pretty well subverted the carefully scripted claims that advertisers make.  So why not direct people to the Facebook page or the review page for your product?  It's a gutsy move because you can't control what those pesky humans are going to say, but it shows that you really believe in your product.


When consumers say they want "transparency" from big companies, what they really mean is "honesty."  Try telling the truth.  Tell the consumer what your brand is NOT good at.  When you screw up, tell them.  One of the reasons consumers are burned out on big companies and big claims is that the wording is fudged to make the brand only look good.  Think consumers know the difference between a food being a "good" source of a nutrient and an "excellent" source?  Come on.  Try telling the real story, not just the part of the story that looks good if you squint really hard.


Last, consumers' hearts are with the local brands.  What big brands offer is lower price.  I'd run away from that game as fast as possible.  What fun is it to be the lowest cost provider of any commodity?


Stand out by winning trust.  Tell the truth.


For more join our webinar on November 29.  Email alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com

Does your futures company listen to consumers' dreams?

Remember the story about Joseph and his "technicolor dream coat?"  

Well, let's skip over the part about his jealous brothers throwing him down a well and focus on the part where he went from being jailed to being a leader of Egypt.  What led to that miraculous transformation?  His ability to listen to the Pharaoh's dreams and articulate what those dreams meant for the future.

That's what we do.

Humans are the only animals (that we know of) that can imagine their futures.  So we ask them about what they sense will make them happier in the future than they are today.  And we ask about what's becoming no longer acceptable to them.

We look for what's missing today (as we know nature abhors a vacuum).  And we look for conflicts that have no resolutions today.

Those are the unmet needs that successful innovations will fill within the next 12 - 18 months.

We're going to share the pattern of one of those dreams at a webinar on October 14th at noon CST.  We promise not to take more than 20 minutes.

Please send an email to Alexis Oddson at alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com if you'd like to join us.  Or let her know if you'd prefer an individual meeting.

Observational research can't tell what's coming...

I learned this week that some of the leading so-called "futurists" identify trends based on:

1.) What new behaviors they observe and/or
2.) What the media is covering.

While all of this is a fine and good snapshot of what's happening today, it's insufficient to the task of showing what consumers will want in 18 months.

In 18 months, the new behaviors that are observable and what the media will be covering are ideas, products and services that do one of two things:

1.)  Resolve some type of conflict that consumers are sensing today or
2.)  Filling a vacuum that exists today.

By really listening to what people are struggling with today and what they're longing for, we can articulate what kinds of new products and marketing ideas will have traction in 18 months.

If you're interested in learning more, send a quick note to Alexis Oddson.  Her email address is alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com.  We're holding a webinar at noon CST on October 14th.

We believe the best ideas come from listening creatively to consumers.

And we are passionate about telling consumers stories engagingly.  Because we're entrepreneurs, inventors and marketing strategists, we can't help ourselves from seeing (and telling you about) the opportunities that those consumer stories point to.


We have created a research approach that engages consumers in the question of what they think it will take to make them happier tomorrow than they are today.  We also ask them what's becoming no longer acceptable to them.  


We engage them via the web and in person.  On the blogs that they create for us, they upload collages about their hopes and goals, right-brained journals of different shopping or consumption experiences and digital ethnographies.  We film out heartfelt conversations with them in person in which we delve into what's animating them and driving their decisions.


Then we take all of these learnings and techniques digital.  Through visual internet survey techniques, we learn even more through our quantitative research.


Last, we show you how the changes these people are making will affect product categories and which brands are aligned with their new direction... and which are not.


Please join us for a webinar on October 14th at noon CST to get a glimpse of what we're cooking up.

Meet the Team

The Energy Infuser team is a colaborative group of innovators.

We believe that the best marketing ideas come from listening more creatively to consumers.   And we're passionate about telling consumers' stories engagingly.

Because we're entrepreneurs, innovators and marketing strategists we can't help ourselves from seeing (and telling you) the opportunities that these forward-leaning consumer insights present.

We're charismatic speakers and workshop leaders.  Engage with us today!

Because It's Bleak Outside, Consumers Want to Stay Positive Inside

Despite the news reports of how scared, anxious and depressed Americans are about the state of the economy, we've found that underneath that surface level, American optimism is alive and well.

We've talked to hundreds of Americans across the country from 20-somethings to 60-somethings, and absolutely everybody has been affected in some way by the economic crisis. However, they've found that the silver lining in the cloud is that the things that matter - people who love us, sharing a laugh around the dinner table, seeing a glimpse of sunshine in late winter - don't cost money. And, we believe, more than ever in keeping a positive attitude. When fear pervades, we do what we can to keep ourselves on the sunny side of the street.

I've also found consumers being more proactive about their health today. Instead of feeling like they "should" be healthier, now they are motivated by the dollars and cents implications of bad health.

The consumers we are in contact with are grateful for the blessings in their lives, even when they're hanging on from paycheck to paycheck, or experiencing a lower standard of living.

And marketing messages that match that inner resolve to be positive are the most attractive and motivating today.