A bright, red tag hung from a bottle of chemicals that I recently purchased to remove mold from our deck. It read: "Failure! This product is only effective if you read the instructions thoroughly." Smaller type continued: "Failure to do so will result in you moaning and groaning that the product doesn't work and generally being a pain in the bottom. Make a positive change in your life will you, and read the instructions."
The message was pretty clear that if you want the mold on your deck to disappear, measure the contents accurately and only add the specified amount of water. It was an amusing warning tag that got the manufacturer's message across to the consumer — probably more so than the standardized warning labels on most chemical bottles.
The warning tag reminded me of the book, Buyology: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy is Wrong, by Martin Lindstrom. The author writes about neuromarketing — which melds scientific studies of the brain and marketing — and the subconscious reaction of consumers to logos, ads, commercials and products. Lindstrom's team of scientists used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner and a technique known as SST, which measures electrical activity inside the brain. The result was the ability to see instantaneous brain reactions to an assortment of stimuli.
The outcome of Lindstrom's study confirmed that subconscious thoughts, feelings and desires drive purchasing decisions. But it also suggests how neuromarketing campaigns can resonate with consumers on a subconscious level, and how they trigger the hot spots in the brain. Sometimes the response is unexpected. For example, one of Lindstrom's conclusions was that warnings on cigarette packages do not deter smokers, but rather trigger their urge to light up.
Consequently, I started to wonder whether warning lights for unfastened seatbelts, airbag signage and the installation of data recorders on apparatus actually deter reckless drivers. Does the warning alarm on SCBA really cause firefighters to exit the fire in time?
The fire and emergency services have many tasks beyond call response. Among them are: selling your community on fire prevention; marketing fire safety to youngsters; generating financial support from local government officials; selling your personnel on improvement through education and training classes; and selling them on personal safety. Can neuromarketing help you in these tasks?
Lindstrom concluded that fear of a person's own insecurities can drive one toward a product or action that addresses those insecurities. What insecurities do your personnel have on which you could base your safety campaign? For instance, do they worry about being unfit or too inexperienced to fight fires?
Last year, several firefighters in one department refused the H1N1 flu vaccination. One firefighter said that his wife was a critical-care nurse and that she said it was not necessary to get the shot. The next day, however, the same firefighter was in the clinic asking for the H1N1 shot. He said his wife had come home from work upset the night before because a patient her age had contracted H1N1, developed respiratory failure and died. Both the husband and wife now wanted the shot. The possibility of contracting the potentially fatal disease changed their minds.
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has experienced a tremendous amount of success in developing new programs for surviving families of fallen firefighters. Why? Fear of dying and leaving a family? The "Everyone Goes Home" program is similarly effective. Why? What's the alternative to "everyone goes home"?
Neuromarketing is what an old editor used to call "finding out what hits a nerve." Or, as the red tag might have stated, what prompts you to "make a positive change in your life."
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