Rethinking Pavlovian Marketing - Kitty Kolding - MediaBizBlogger

There seems to be a trend among marketers today for practicing what I think of as Pavlovian Marketing: inducing consumers with an incentive to complete some small task, in the mistaken belief that consumers' opting into the bargain is a step toward marketing success. More and more marketers seem to be dangling meat, watching consumers salivate, and confusing that reaction with a desire for their brand. There are reasons marketers are attracted to these techniques, and they can look like they're effective, but I think they can end up accomplishing the opposite of what marketers are intending.

Here's an illustration of Pavlovian Marketing. A marketer advertising on a Web publisher's site offers consumers points and prizes for correctly finding hidden clues in its rotating banner ads on the site. The more clues the consumer finds, the more points and prizes he or she wins. A bunch of consumers get really into it, racking up clues and converting many, many points into prizes. The marketer sees the verified-views of its banner ads growing and growing. That, along with surveys showing substantial lifts in these consumers' brand recall, purchase intent and the like, makes the marketer feel like it is succeeding.

Boy this is great, the marketer thinks. It's low-risk – I'm paying only for ads viewed. It's highly measurable – who doesn't like data-backed marketing? And it's getting consumers interacting with my brand, participating, engaged.

But is it really? True, performance-based pricing does keep spending controlled and efficient. And, indeed, who doesn't like data-backed marketing?

But putting aside the age-old complaint about these pay-to-view ad models – that they only draw consumers who have the time and desire to win trinkets viewing ads – it seems to me that a marketer that pays consumers to watch its ads is not only accomplishing less than those lifts in metrics suggest, but actually damaging its brand. Rather than underscoring a powerful image and message that has likely cost many millions to cultivate, the marketer is presenting itself to consumers in a cheap, transaction-oriented way. While the marketer might see a lift in brand recall, or even stated purchase-intent, common sense begs the question: how are consumers going to feel in the long-run about a brand that resorts to bribing them to watch its ads? Just as brands are careful about the signal that, say, price promotions send, shouldn't they also be careful about using these kinds of tactics?

Contracting with consumers to view and remember your ad isn't the same as getting them interested in viewing it – or in your product. I think that when engagement programs work, it's because they tap consumers' authentic interest in a brand and engage them at a deeper level. Of course I think we do this well at House Party, but I'll cite a different example I recently encountered: a contest run by marketing services firm Brickfish, to design a new, younger-targeted handbag for Coach. Consumers were given the means to design and share their creations online. Design and share consumers did, hundreds of them spending hours and hours creating virtual handbags, laboring for love, then digitally showing them off everywhere, all fully tracked by Brickfish. This is the kind of program that gains mindshare, loyalty and customers.

I believe marketers ought to rethink Pavlovian Marketing. It prompts consumers to salivate at rewards and fools marketers into seeing that salivation as a sign of success. Marketers should instead employ programs that invite consumers to relate to their brands and incorporate them meaningfully into their lives. They should focus on authentic engagement, not tricky tools that seem to demonstrate a marketing win but really don't. It takes more thought and can be more expensive, but rather than just looking effective, it truly is.

Kitty joined House Party in 2006 as SVP Sales, Service and Marketing. In March 2007 she was appointed CEO and has led the company to strong growth and profitable operations. Kitty can be contacted at Kitty.Kolding@houseparty.com.

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