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The return of the hidden persuaders | page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Valentine is hardly the only lapsed academic to fall back on this therapeutic view of market research. The view goes as follows: Unlike the old depth men, who were megalomaniacal, full of aggressive contempt for the consumer, the new depth men -- and depth women -- are crusading idealists, bent on spreading love, happiness and goodness. They make no distinction between brand potential and human potential. By selling us on our own wishes -- by helping us decide to do what we already wanted to do -- they not only grow the economy; they "enhance the functioning of the individual," in the words of Sam Cohen. "I might be kidding myself," says Dr. Robert Deutsch, a neuropsychiatrist and cognitive anthropologist now employed full-time at DDB Worldwide. "But I really do believe that advertising can do a better job at providing communications that offer an anchor point and an uplifting to the Volk, as I would call them respectfully." Dr. Deutsch, a genial, bearded man, is sitting in an outdoor cafe, munching on Wellfleet oysters as he expounds on his revolutionary approach to merchandising. "See, you can't give consumers a new message that they have to take in," he tells me. "Then, at best you have a fad. But if you communicate to people -- and do it in such a way as to make the familiar novel to them -- what you do is you open up the self, in an insightful and authentic and mysterious way." Dr. Deutsch orders another glass of champagne. "To me, this is what advertising is all about," he says. "It's all symbolic. It's all in the service of propping up the self." At the end of the meal, Dr. Deutsch presents me with a copy of a speech he has just delivered. "Strip-Searching the Mind of the Consumer -- Lovingly," reads the title page. Dr. Sam Cohen, president of PsychoLogics, also represents this holistic, humanistic breed of hidden persuader. "I'm asked that question all the time: 'Here you are, on the one hand, dealing with therapy and truth. Aren't you, on the other hand, dealing with insight and manipulation?'" he says. "Where I've come to terms with that, in my own mind, is understanding what I call the 'prop' quality of brands." To hear Dr. Cohen tell it, brands actually act as teeny-weeny-therapists -- enhancing our self-esteem, curing us of infantile hang-ups, helping us manage conflicts between pleasure and guilt. "Brands assist people in their day-to-day functioning," he says. "That's not something I invented. Brands are already used by the consumer in that way. The question is, which brand gets to own it, and make better use of it?" To illustrate what he is talking about, Cohen mentions one of his current clients, Poland Spring Water. "I can use my Poland Spring water to quench my thirst," he says. "But I may unconsciously use it as a cleansing ritual, to rid my body of bad thoughts. If I can take my spring water, and actually think of it as a cleaning ritual -- and as a result, feel cleaner, purer inside -- doesn't that help me in my day-day-living? It's almost like good therapy." Dr. Cohen is growing animated. "If Poland Spring is the best prop to help me get rid of bad feelings -- which maybe I don't know how to do so well -- aren't we doing a service, both to the brand and to the consumer? What we're doing here is we're making brands more meaningful. Which is helpful, because we don't all have time for therapy anymore. HMOs make it nearly impossible. And so, from a clinical perspective, brands can be used as a sister, an assistant, in promoting people's better functioning."
Part 2: Hypnotizing slackers for Starbucks, and other visionary acts of marketing research
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