Two Birds & One Stone – Brand Strategy

Monday, January 21st, 2008

For the past seven years, The New York Times Magazine has published the “Annual Year in Ideas” to highlight some of the most interesting ideas, perspectives and innovations from different disciplines during the year.

One entry was particularly telling and relevant to marketing. “Two-Birds-With-One-Stone Resistance.” Psychologist Ayelet Fishback of the University of Chicago conducted an experiment that showed connecting one tool or method to multiple goals weakens the mental association between the tool and any one goal.

In one study, participants were informed that jogging both strengthens muscles and increases the body’s level of oxygen. When researchers reinforced the idea of strengthening muscles, participants illogically decided that jogging was less effective for boosting oxygen.

In another study, test group participants were shown a pen and told about its dual function as a laser pointer. Later, they joined a control group to complete a short form and were given the choice of the laser pen or a conventional pen. Of the participants in the test group 17% selected the laser pen, in contrast 50% of the control group chose the laser pen.

Knowing that the pen had more than one purpose made the students reluctant to use it. Fishback explains, “Once you associate the pen with another function, that same pen doesn’t come to mind as easily when it comes to writing.”

So, it is not possible to communicate two or more things with equal effectiveness and doing so could be damaging to the message of a campaign.

One Brand. One Voice.

Messages bombard people everyday – watching television and listening to the radio; driving through the city and driving a shopping cart: reading the newspaper in a kitchen or online; in airports, restaurants, movie theatres, malls, and at ballgames; through text messaging, e-mail blasts and sky writing. It’s a wonder that any messages get through at all. That’s why the messages that are the most successful are the ones that are simple, clear and single focused.

Bill Bernbach founded DDB Advertising in New York in 1949. He said, “Our job is to simplify, to tear away the unrelated, to pluck out the weeds that are smothering the product message.”

It may be tempting to try to kill two birds with one stone, but as research shows it just doesn’t work. In fact, it could confuse consumers into selecting the competition, because they can’t remember your brand, your voice, or your message.

Tags: advertising focus, brand development, brand strategy, innovation, marketing
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