High Altitude Marketeering

Satellite Design continues to push the boundaries of neuroscience. Well, sort of. Last week, we released our quarterly white paper on a model for developing marketing messages. We call it “Lustify and Justify.” It’s something we’ve developed to help sort out how to create brand and product messages that appeal to consumers on both a rational and emotional level. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. You can read all about it here.

Now we think we’re pretty smart over here but we never though our little model, developed from anecdote, observation and experience, would reach the same conclusion as a research project by a bunch of brainiac neuroscientists at Stanford. So you can imagine our surprise when we heard this story on National Public Radio the day after we published our article.

Using MRIs to scan the brain function of their subjects, the scientists are discovering just what happens in our brains when we shop. It turns out that two very distinct areas of the brain light up as we evaluate products for purchase: a pleasure center when we first encounter the product and a fear center when we second-guess ourselves for wanting it. The Stanford researches, pioneers in the new science of neuroeconomics, found that emotions related to desire and fear appear to play a big role in consumer decision making. Not exactly lustify and justify but pretty close. We’ll be sending our PhD applications in soon.

Twenty or thirty years ago, product innovation was all about quality. Rich, vibrant FM replaced tinny AM on the radio. CDs edged out albums in the record stores. Products got better and better and it looked like the cycle would go on forever.

And then something happened. Over the past ten years, the pursuit of ever increasing quality has faded into the background. Today’s innovations focus on adding convenience rather than improving quality. Fast. Easy. Quick. There’s nothing wrong with that. Who doesn’t like an iPod?

Consumers have voted with their dollars. They’re willing to give up a little audio quality to move from the relative hassle of CDs to the convenience of MP3s. Tivo is another example. Timeshiffted DVR TV just doesn’t look as good. And TV on the web is even worse, but it looks like that’s the next big leap in convenience.

It’s starting to happen in sporting goods too. In the bike industry, cruisers, commute bikes and urban utility bikes are cropping up everywhere. The market for ever-lighter, ever-less-comfortable, race-oriented bikes is flat. But new riders are being lured onto wide, extra-cushy saddles by the comfort and convenience of less aggressive bikes—the kind of bikes most hardcore riders would call low quality.

Will the outdoor industry react? The focus of innovation over the past ten years has been on ultra-lightweight gear, but maybe the shift to convenience is getting started in the outdoor market as well. JetBoil has made a name for itself making camp cooking more convenient. Camelbak is trying to open up new markets with an easier-to-use water bottle. Is there room in the low and mid-end of the market for pop-up tents, Velcro® closure sleeping bags and packs with interior lights?