When you visit a foreign country, you will most likely be influenced by the local culture even if your stay is brief. For example, if you visit the US, you will probably end up with a Starbucks Coffee or a Coke in your hand for at some point in the day. What drives such behaviour? You would have heard of the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt”. It turns out that the flip side is also true. Familiarity breeds consumption too!

Exposure effect

Research has shown that people tend to develop a preference for products or people they are familiar with. And it is the repeated exposure to products or people that causes this familiarity. The behaviour is, hence, called “Exposure Effect”.

Repeated exposure to Coke, for instance, stimulates our desire for the drink. Interestingly, our desire can be implicit. That is, we do not have to always consciously recall our liking for the drink to want one now; the desire can be unconsciously stimulated because of our continual exposure to seeing others drink it. What are the implications of this human behaviour? It may be possible for firms to step up sales by increasing consumer “exposure” to their products. One way is through consumer brand encounters - exposing people to brands through marketing activities as well as through daily encounters with other people who are customers of the brand. You want a Starbucks coffee because you see half a dozen other people holding a latte as you stroll down the sidewalk, not because you saw an advertisement on TV.

Of course, there is an optimal level of exposure that implicitly induces people to like a product. Too much exposure through conscious marketing activities could cause an unhealthy dislike for the product. That is, perhaps, why marketers consider customers as their best brand ambassadors.

(The author is the founder of Navera Consulting. He can be reached at enhancek@gmail.com )

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW