How do you judge a person's status? Do you look at his or her clothes? Or their possessions?

According to the Shape-SES theory, most people tend to infer a person's socioeconomic status from his or her body shape. And this turns out to be the case for products and their shapes as well! 

So, what kind of package shape do you think of as luxurious? Or what would you describe as a high-status product?

A recently published paper suggests that packaging shape affects how we categorize products and judge brands' status. 

Do you want to learn more about how product packaging is used to position a brand in the consumer's mind? Continue reading!

Imagine walking through the electronics store looking for a new coffee machine. Suddenly you hear a familiar melody echoing through the shopping corridors. It happens to be that one song you played over and over again back in high school. Overwhelmed by nostalgic feelings, you continue your search for that coffee machine and you notice two offers. One is the store's #1 best-selling coffee machine, while the other is a limited edition machine with unique features. What do you do? Will those nostalgic feelings affect your choice? 

A new neuromarketing insight suggests that nostalgia undoubtedly affects the choices we make by influencing our tendency to either conform to or deviate from the group, which is moderated by the existing social ties between the consumer and others.

Are you curious to know which coffee machine you would prefer? Keep on reading! 

Did you know there's a hidden route to consumer preference? A recent study has demonstrated that even the most subtle features of a brand name, such as the mere pronounceability of words, affect consumer attitudes. By choosing a favorable brand name, consumers' attitudes towards your product or brand might improve. But how to come up with such a brand name? 

Every word requires specific movements of the lip, tongue, and throat muscles. Changing any movement can distort the whole name. For example, try articulating ''L'' without moving your tongue. Pointless! Movements on specific locations within the mouth are necessary to articulate consonants. Some consonants are pronounced in the back of the mouth, some in the middle, and some at the front, resulting in either inward-wandering or outward-wandering words. Research has now demonstrated that this direction of the movements in articulating consecutive consonants has a considerable impact on consumer preference. Also called the 'in-out effect'. 

Do you want to know more about the in-out effect and how to come up with a favorable brand name? Continue reading! 

As retailers are always driven to increase sales and purchase intentions, they often rely on promotions. Consequently, we are exposed to attractive offers all the time. But how can you make sure that these promotional offers are really effective in increasing advertising success?

Well, if you're a fan of italicized or slanted fonts, you might want to read this. A recent study has demonstrated that even the selected font style has a considerable impact on consumers' purchase decisions. 

Continue reading and find out when we tend to fall for promotional offers!

What brand do you think of when you hear ‘George Clooney’? And ‘Michael Jordan’?

Exactly, Nespresso and Nike! These are both brands that have successfully implemented celebrity branding.

Many organizations use this type of advertising. But does every celebrity endorsement work for every product or brand?

You might have already guessed correctly: no. Well then, what makes it effective? Does the celebrity simply have to be attractive? Match the product? Have a good public image?

Over fifty years of research on celebrity endorsements has tried to explain this. Recently, two researchers proposed a framework that structures these theories. It explains which strategy is valuable for you, based on your product’s or brand’s value proposition. Curious? Let’s dive into it!