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

2. The Metaphors Just Keep Coming…

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Social Memory resides in:  Social norms  Rituals and rites  Vocal and instrumental music  Icons  Bodily movements, posture and gestures  Language  Architecture  Social structures  Objects  Sensory stimuli  Formal archival records

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Memory as Story  Memory is story-based  A story : involves both episodic and semantic memory contains 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

19. As a Matter of Fact “What happens is fact, not truth. Truth is what we think about what happens.”  Fact  generic brands are as good as national brands  Truth  the national brand is better and they will buy it instead  Successful brands help consumers create stories full of promise The story exceeds the brand’s physical features

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

21. The Drivers of Memory Processing Knowledge Belief Memory scheme Information New experiences Information New experiences Values Attributes Consequences

22. Implications for Marketing  Marketers should always present a product’s functional and emotional benefits closely together in their communications to consumers Example: 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

23. Memory and the Familiar  People remember new information more easily when: it has some connection to what they already know it has personal relevance for them it is associated with an emotion  Thus, the familiar strongly influences what people notice, remember, and feel

24. An Animal on Another Planet  The exercise demonstrates how: quickly we refer to what we already know when we encounter a new challenge unaware we are of the influences of the familiar easily we represent on thing in terms of another we struggle to create a new idea that doesn’t relate to what we already know

25. 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 ingredients carefully select and design additional cues  distinctive and familiar elements

26. Conclusion “ Memory is one more source of fiction.” Stories Social Norms & Icons Metaphors Stories A New Memory Personal Memories Social Memories Stories

27. Questions? Peter Hayashida Lynn Maikke Marketing 642 Fall 2003