An article in today's Wall Street Journal reports that “according to new research examining brain reaction to commercial brands, strong product identities can create more excitement than weaker ones–even in areas generally perceived as dull, such as insurance.” Who would have thought?!?
The Journal article goes on to report that one of the biggest surprises of the study was that “under examination by MRI, brains respond just as powerfully to strong insurance brands as to strong automotive brands.” The result surprised the researcher, she said, because “cars are a status symbol. Insurance is an abstraction.”
An “abstraction,” huh? Tell that to the next person who runs to his agent or carrier when his car is wrecked, his house burns down, or his business is destroyed in a hurricane!
The Journal reported that “up to now, consumer research has shown that brand is very important in the purchase of cars, apparel, food, vacation spots and goods for the home–but less important in the purchase of insurance, shipping services, household cleaners and paper products,” according to one consultant who is an expert in consumer shopping habits.
Still, according to the Journal, Michael Silverstein, senior vice president with Boston Consulting Group, said that despite the study's shocking result, he doubts that insurance brands mean as much to consumers as automotive brands. “I find that hard to believe,” he told the Journal–conceding, however, that when it comes to studying how shoppers think, “you're at the end of the art, in an area that has not been very well explored.”
Is this so shocking? Have the “Good Hands” people at Allstate and the “Good Neighbors” at State Farm been throwing away billions in advertising for no good reason? What about the “Trusted Choice” effort by the Big I to–yes–”brand” the independent agent? I think these neurospecialists might have underestimated the power of insurance branding.
In the MRI study reported on by the Journal, “the logo of the strong insurance brand–a European insurer named Allianz–produced just as powerful a reaction as did Volkswagen. The weaker brand of insurance–Volksfursorge–evoked the same response as the Seat brand of auto.”
How about that? What do you folks make of this?
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