Leslie Zane, CEO of Triggers: "All Brands Have Unrealized Growth Potential"

Zane learned brand marketing at Bain ampamp Company Harvard Business School PampampG Johnson ampamp Johnson and Revlon before establishing Triggersamp174 a brand strategy and innovation consulting firm in 1995amp160 She is unabashedly optimistic about the growth prospects of legacy brandsamp160 quotEvery brand has unrealized growth potential even longstanding brands that seem to have lost their lusterquot she assertsamp160 quotThe secret is in knowing what drives brand growth today amp8230 and what stands in its way for the futurequotTriggersamp174 draws on the advances in decisionmaking theory discovered by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky beginning in 1970amp160 Their academic work in behavioral economics led to Kahneman39s winning the Nobel Prize in 2002amp160 Tversky unfortunately passed away in 1996 amp160Later Kahneman published his bestselling book Thinking Fast and Slow in 2011 popularizing their academic work on the dominant and often illogical influence of the subconscious mind on individual and collective decisionmakingZane explained quotKahneman and Tversky showed us that our minds operate on two levels when it comes to decisionmakingamp160 One there39s an 39alwayson39amp160subconscious level that makes nonstop judgments and decisions without our knowing it and two there39s a 39whenrequired39 logical dataanalytical conscious level that is called up when judgments and decisions are more complicatedamp160 Often the subconscious mind 39overrules39 the conscious mind even though it has less correct dataamp160 Research has since confirmed that 95 percent of purchase decisionmaking takes place in the subconscious mindquotZane has adapted Kahneman39s work for marketing purposes showing that inside every subconscious shortcut is a collection of associations that dictates the brand choices that we makeamp160 In quotCracking the Code on Brand Growthquot she and Wharton Professor Michael Platt explain that this network of accumulated memories is both dynamic and easily influencedIn Triggersamp174 consulting practice brand associations are dissected and all associations both positive and negative are identifiedamp160 Zane described how it worksamp160 quotPositive associations support brand purchase negative associations inhibit itquot she saidamp160 quotWhen we39re confronted with a brand purchasing decision our subconscious 39votes39 instinctively in proportion to the positive and negative mixamp160 The brand with the most positive associations in our subconscious is the one we instinctively prefer and buy over and over again as if we39re on autopilotamp160 The key to accelerating brand growth is to increase the mix of positive versus negative attributes through thoughtful brand communicationsquotZane claims that Triggersamp174 has created more than 2 billion in incremental revenue for Fortune 100 brands through its focus on brand association modificationamp160amp160She is critical of the industry39s rush to quotpersonalizequot marketing messaging believing that it does not appropriately influence the subconscious influencers of purchasing behavioramp160 quotMost efforts at personalization fragment brand messages and destroy brand valuequot she explainedamp160 quotMarketers can39t just pick and choose a specific mix of attributes to target a particular consumer segmentamp160 Instead marketers must reinforce a brand39s positive associations and eliminate the negative ones amp160to enrich the positive mix and strengthen their positive effect on purchasing behaviorquotTriggersamp174 has been selective about the clients it takes onamp160 According to Zane Triggersamp174 will work only in those situations where top management is committed to a quotrethinkquotamp160of the drivers of brand growth and is willing to embark on an unconventional marketing journey to alter their mixamp160 quotWe39re looking for mutual commitment and agreed objectives to improve brand growthquot she saidamp160 quotWe39ve turned down a lot of business because we did not think that a potential client was prepared to follow throughamp160 Of course we hope that there will be fewer of these in our futureamp160 We39d like to see Triggersamp174 become as wellknown as say Bain ampamp Company for its performanceimprovement practicequotCartoon credit Gahan Wilson The New Yorker The Cartoon Bank With permissionClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Leslie Zane, CEO of Triggers: "All Brands Have Unrealized Growth Potential"

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Michael Farmer

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Leslie Zane, CEO of Triggers: "All Brands Have Unrealized Growth Potential"

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