Chapter 9: Memory, Metaphor, and Stories Peter Hayashida Lynn Maikke Marketing 642 Fall 2003.

Chapter 9: Memory, Metaphor, and Stories

Peter HayashidaLynn Maikke

Marketing 642Fall 2003

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Social Contexts for Memory

Memory, metaphor and story contain truths and fictions, thoughts and emotions, and all three overlap

The fusion of memory, metaphor and story enables consumers to create meaning around, or to see personal relevance in, a company or specific brand

Storytelling

Not something we just happen to do; it is something we virtually have to do if we want to remember anything

Particular story changes depending on the stimuli of the moment and the goals of the actors

Marketing managers provide props and costumes and help consumers create memories and define their self-identities

Marketing’s Role

Through marketing, companies re-present events to consumers and tell a new story about those events– Marketers partner with consumers in creating

consumers’ memories– Marketing efforts alter not only how easily

consumers recollect a product experience but also whether they remember the experience as satisfying or dissatisfying

E.g., Moviegoers basing memory of film on reviews

Memory and the Mind-Body-Brain-Society

Paradigm

Memory is highly social

“[T]he process of remembering can only be understood as a kind of chemistry between inner processes and out settings.

It is the dynamic interplay between inner and outer that gives rise to the thing we know as memory.”

Susan Engel, Context is Everything: The Nature of Memory

Co-evolution of Biology &

Culture

How we remember and what we deem important to remember are functions of both our biology and our culture (scientist and conservationist Edward .O. Wilson)

Culture strongly influences cognitive “wiring” Stories we hear starting in early childhood

become important frames of reference or mental models that later influence the products and brands we buy

Social Memory

Cultural artifacts, events, and rituals facilitate encoding, retrieval and reconstruction of memory

Do more than just contain shared understandings; also shape those understandings

Information maybe misplaced or lost, or may undergo change owing to extensive use or neglect

Social-memory containers can also serve as engrams, retrieval cues, and purposes or goals they can produce the experience of memory

Separation of internal & social memory is not real; each shapes and is shaped by the other

Social Memory resides in:

Social norms Rituals and rites Vocal and instrumental

music Icons Bodily movements,

posture and gestures

LanguageArchitectureSocial structuresObjectsSensory stimuliFormal archival

records

Social Norms Norms serve as guidelines governing our

aspirations, such as our desire for world harmony and our behaviors, such as how we relate to our children– Include when and what to provide as a treat to

our children and what constitutes moderation

– Even whether a consumer will buy a particular product in the first place

Sensory Systems

Sensory systems play a critical role in our encoding, retrieval and reconstruction of memories

Varies from one social setting to another– Certain odors make us more alert and enhance our

ability to process information– Odor can also operate outside our awareness

(“blind smell”)– Music enables people of similar minds to transmit

information to one another, to find shared meaning, and to respond to specific events in common ways

Rituals and Rites

Through rituals and rites, we honor national and religious holidays, celebrate birthdays and wedding anniversaries, and participate

in ceremonies

Advertising for diamonds, jewelry, and graduation gifts is designed to evoke these social memories

Icons

Brand names, packages, logos, and other symbols can become icons (symbolic images)– Take on meaning based on people’s experiences

in the external world as well as conveying private meanings

The Power of Social Memory

We acquire much semantic knowledge through unconscious observation & imitation of others

Also through formal instruction & work experience– People and institutions act as gatekeepers, influencing the

kinds of semantic and episodic memories we create Learning to ride a bike, blow bubbles, sing, split an atom, launch a

rocket, sail a ship – all require a social order

Souvenirs are obvious social markers of memory Once we establish memories, people, institutions &

culture reshape & store them in external repositories

Implications

Relates to customer relationship management (CRM)

People who manage customer relationships must grasp how consumers store, retrieve and reconstruct memories of every interaction with a firm

Every consumer interaction can make or break a brand

Unconscious Metaphor

We often understand new things by relating them to past experience– “It tastes like chicken”

But memory can also be creative– Represent prior experience differently with each recall

“Unconscious metaphors”– Re-creations of the past, mistaken as accurate

reflections of what happened– We’re unaware our memories have changed

Unconscious Metaphor

Some people’s memories represent the kinds of things that occurred in the past, event though specific episodes never happened– Literally false, but figuratively accurate

E.g., consumers’ single most upsetting experience with a product or store – really an amalgamation of multiple experiences

Memory as Story

Memory is story-based A story:

involves both episodic and semantic memorycontains both our beliefs and our knowledge about the

world A belief is something we recall and consider truth Knowledge is he information on which truth is

based

As a Matter of Fact

“What happens is fact, not truth. Truth is what we think about what happens.”

Factgeneric brands are as good as national brands

Truththe national brand is better and they will buy it instead

Successful brands help consumers create stories full of promiseThe story exceeds the brand’s physical features

“... Driving a Corvette makes me feel cool and sexy.”

The Drivers of Memory Processing

Knowledge Belief

Memory scheme Memory scheme

Information

New experiences

Information

New experiences

Values

Attributes

Consequences

Implications for Marketing

Marketers should always present a product’s functional and emotional benefits closely together in their communications to consumersExample: Michelin’s ad communicates the

benefits of extra traction using the image of a baby in a tire to trigger feelings or thoughts of safety in a powerful way

Memory and the Familiar

People remember new information more easily when:it has some connection to what they already

knowit has personal relevance for themit is associated with an emotion

Thus, the familiar strongly influences what people notice, remember, and feel

An Animal on Another Planet

The exercise demonstrates how:quickly we refer to what we already know when

we encounter a new challengeunaware we are of the influences of the familiareasily we represent on thing in terms of anotherwe struggle to create a new idea that doesn’t

relate to what we already know

Ingredients for Storytelling

“What we know and remember constitutes the ingredients for storytelling, the re-presentation of

our beliefs.”

Storytelling can be verbal, pictorial, or take many other forms, such as music or dance

Hence, marketers must: learn the ingredientscarefully select and design additional cues

distinctive and familiar elements

Conclusion“Memory is one more source

of fiction.”

Stories

Social Norms &

IconsMetaphors

Stories

Stories

A New Memory

Personal Memories

Social Memories

StoriesStories

Questions?

Peter HayashidaLynn Maikke

Marketing 642Fall 2003