Usually, after watching a few hours of TV, most people immediately forget it – using their mind-space for more important endeavors. But sometimes, there is that one show that just sticks with you and keeps coming up in different contexts. For me, that show was an interview with Clotaire Rapaille on Frontline a few years back. This French man turns traditional Marketing Research on its head, saying that you can’t ask people what they think, since most people have no idea why they make certain decision (eg. they don’t know why they want to buy a Hummer).
Rapaille is a Child Psychiatrist turned Marketer, and he uses psychoanalytic techniques to analyze the codes associated with certain products. He believes that it is something that he calls the "Reptilian Brain" that makes decisions on products, rather than logic.
When we [are] born, we have the reptilian brain. The reptilian brain is there already. It’s part of survival; it’s breathing, eating, going to the bathroom.
He says that when it comes to the Hummer decision for example, traditional market researchers look for logic, which has nothing to do with the decision:
Why do you need a Hummer to go shopping? "Well, you see, because in case there is a snowstorm." No. Why [do] you buy four wheel drive? "Well, you know, in case I need to go off-road." Well, you live in Manhattan; why do you need four wheel drive in Manhattan? "Well, you know, sometime[s] I go out, and I go — " You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that this is disconnected. This is nothing to do with what the real reason is for people to do what they do. So there are many limits in traditional market research.
He says instead, it is the reptilian brain at work:
How can I decode this kind of behavior which is not a word? My theory is very simple: The reptilian always wins. I don’t care what you’re going to tell me intellectually. I don’t care. Give me the reptilian. Why? Because the reptilian always wins.
Rapaille’s techniques are very unusual. He gets his subjects to lie on the floor and brings them back to their first memories of their interaction with different products in order to understand the true essence of the product. He then "cracks the code" about what drives the buying decision and consults Marketers to emphasize those aspects of the products in ad appeals and design. He has consulted to companies such as P&G and Chrysler on this. Here are his conclusions after analysis on the Jeep Wrangler:
When I worked with Chrysler, for example, we discovered that Jeeps should not have square headlights. That’s a very practical thing: no square headlights. Why? I don’t want to go into anything secret, but let’s suppose the code for a Jeep is an animal like a horse. You don’t see a horse with square eyes. The Jeep people didn’t say that; they said, "Yes, I want round headlights, like a face." And we use the face of the Jeep with the grille as a logo for Jeep. So when I discovered that, that was like a very reptilian dimension. And since then, no Jeep Wranglers have square headlights.
Can you see why he is hard to forget? He has recently published a book called The Culture Code.
All quotes are from Frontline – The Persuaders. Pic is from the New York Times.
Jargon – annoying isn’t it? Frequently, the people who use it are ones who want to appear smarter than others through using words that they don’t understand. It is also used by people who don’t really understand what is going on, so they repeat words that others have used before instead of communicating their own point. This runs counter to the whole point of communication – it should be inclusive, not made for only a specific group to understand. After all, communication should seek to elucidate, not complicate. 
