2011 Jay Chiat Awards Winners

Research Innovation —Gold
BrainJuicer
"Let's Get Emotional About Advertising"

The established and prevalent model of advertising and pre-testing dictates that business effectiveness lies in communicating a well-branded and persuasive message, with sufficient "cut-through" to gain the viewer's conscious attention.

Anyone with an interest in Behavioural Economics and how humans make decisions will be familiar with System 1 and System 2 thinking, a model that describes the mind as being composed of two "competing" parts: System 1 forms impressions and gut judgments; System 2 favors reflective and deliberative thought. Our capacity for System 2 thinking is limited. Our actions, including purchasing decisions, however, often rely on (System 1) gut feelings that come easily to mind.

Advertisers currently think about advertising entirely in System 2 terms—our System 2 mind with its limited processing ability is alerted to a new piece of information, which, when processed, persuades us of a brand's benefits.

This submission shares the result of an experiment that reveals the limitations of the predominant model of advertising and pre-testing, and a case study to illustrate it. It points the way to a new way of thinking about advertising and pre-testing that will lead to more efficient and more creative advertising.

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