is the mother of invention. Because of the great growth of competitive enterprise, marketing research was given impetus. Much progress has been made in marketing research in recent years. We no longer need to rely on hunches and hope that we have guessed right about how consumers will react to a new product.
Modern research can get for us the answer to every marketing problem. Great strides have been made in the field of psychology, and the techniques from the field of psychology are being applied to marketing research. Tests that are conducted on an unconscious level reveal the true attitudes of consumers and disclose real preferences.
In modern research, we do not rely on what people say about a new product, a new package, a new brand-identifying image, a new brand name or about an ad or a filmed commercial.
We know now that people cannot or will not tell how they feel about a product. Usually they are not aware how they feel about the matter. Often, they think they know, but believe that they should not tell for a number of psychological reasons. The respondent in an interview normally wants to make a favorable impression. He desires to be fashionable or pleasant. All sorts of defense mechanisms come into play in an interview.
However, in tests that are conducted on an unconscious level, the respondents are not aware of what is being tested. The tests are structured; controls are built into them. The tests are designed and conducted so that the representative individuals in the consumer test respond naturally, spontaneously, and reveal their real feelings and true attitudes.
Tests conducted on an unconscious level are being used for measuring the effectiveness of all sides of the marketing structure—product, package, advertising and price—and for determining the marketing potential of the total marketing program.
In order to use modern methods for predetermining the marketing effectiveness of a marketing tool or a new product, we must free ourselves from past practices of conducting business on the basis of hunches and open our minds to the new ways, to the new techniques and procedures for solving present-day marketing problems.
Those who have vested interests in the old ways, in the old research methods, are resisting the new research techniques. They try to confuse, to mislead and throw suspicion on the new methods. In every field the old resists the new. This is in the nature of life itself.
Those of us who are alert and progressive do not fear the new. We open our eyes and minds and examine the facts objectively, coolly, without preconceived notions and without prejudice.
The techniques of testing on an unconscious level were introduced into the marketing field in September of 1944. I trace the history and progress of unconscious level testing in my book, How to Predict What People Will Buy, which was published in September, 1957. I outline the techniques used, and report on the marketing successes that confirmed the findings of the tests. I tell about the research that was done on Good Luck margarine and Lux soap, both products of Lever Brothers, Marlboro cigarettes, Bissel sweepers and many other well-known brands.
My main objective here, however, is not only to outline the interdependence of the four sides—product, package, advertising and pricing—in supporting a healthy, profitable marketing program, but to go deeper into the scientific, psychological, unconscious-level factors in marketing.
IMAGERY AND COLOR IN PACKAGING
EACH HUE, tint, shade or tone has a specific optical and psychological effect. A color occupies area or space and is generally part of an image. The psychological impression the image makes depends greatly on the color, because the color is a vital component of the image.
The image on a package may be simple or complex. It may be a basic geometric shape or an intricate design, or an illustration of an animate or inanimate object. It may consist of a combination of various types of elements. Simple or complex, with or without color, it serves as a symbol. It identifies the package or brand and characterizes and classifies it by its symbolism.
Often, the image symbolizes the company as a whole and serves as the focal point of the entire company image. It performs as the hub of the company identity to the consumer and is a trademark that may have favorable or unfavorable connotations.
All the elements that characterize the company and everything that is related to it constitute the total company image. The pivotal point of the total company image is a basic image or trademark which performs as a symbol.
The total company image comprises a symbolic image or trademark, a color or several colors, the architecture of the building in which the company is housed, the character of the advertising, the kind of press comments about the company and the manner in which the company performs its services or delivers its goods. The symbolic image, generally, is the key to the total company image.
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