We are Humans, not Consumers (Marketing, listen up!)

In recent years, Brands have started tapping into logic and (not or) emotions to connect with consumers however more recent research shows that ultimately feelings, not facts, overwhelmingly drive our behaviors when making decisions. 

Humans are feeling machines who think and not thinking machines who also feel. (Tweet This!)

So what does this mean for the world of brands and marketing!

1. Let your Story rise above the Medium: As the media landscape continues to evolve, we pay too much attention on the medium instead of connecting with consumers that matter. Consumers are humans. And humans don't connect with media. They interact and connect with emotions and people respectively. So before providing a logical reason for a person to buy into you, you need to emotionally connect with him. So start telling stories that emotionally connect with humans (not consumers). Weave in the story with their lifestyle and help address pain points.

2. Seamless Storytelling: While the story is more important, people do need a seamless experience for consistency in an omni-channel world. Today it might be about mobility and cross platform marketing, the future of media is in the internet of things. As our media becomes more sentient and we head towards a future with the internet of things, seamless brand storytelling will no more be an option. It is the need of the hour and one of the fastest growing trends in media today.

3. Humanize your Brand: It is our thoughts and emotions that define our beliefs and intentions, which in turn drive behaviors and resulting actions. Since emotions play a stronger role than logic in making decisions, we need to understand behaviors of individuals. And hence, if a brand can track behaviors, it can truly influence the emotions and thoughts of individuals to take desired actions that are beneficial for the brand. 

Possible? Would love to hear your thoughts on the above point of view.

Lucy, Internet of Things and The Big Digital Brain

What we learn from Lucy -

Our brain only uses 10% of its celebral capacity.

Should we have the power to fire up unused cells, we will become more capable.
That may not be possible today.

What is, however, possible is - connecting to other people's brains.

How?

The internet is a platform to connect people and things.
Everyday more things and people are getting connected (14.8 billion+ and counting).

Consider each person or thing like a brain cell.
When billions of things starting connecting, talking and learning with each other,
The more knowledgeable we become.

Access to this collective capacity of knowledge results in innovation.
Application of this collective knowledge can take us to the next evolution of mankind.

The earth is like one big brain
that is getting more and more connected every day
providing growing knowledge and opportunities for evolution.

Implications for brands, media and marketing

In the age of digital consumerism, brands need to understand consumers better and more than ever before. Brands today that have the most data on their target consumers have a competitive advantage. 

Besides publicly available consumer data on social media channels and company-owned transactional data, there are also some new technologies, being developed by Neuro-insight and Thync, that are making it possible for us to gain access to the consumer's brain. If brands having access to this data, the possibilities of exceeding consumer's expectations will become limitless.

Is the future of marketing in the Internet of Things? What do you think?