Like starry-eyed children witnessing a magical scene from a
Disney classic, enlightened marketing people are discovering Behavioural Economics
(BE) also known as nudge theory – or so we’re led to believe.

Behavioural Economics claims to examine consumer activity through
understanding the social, cognitive and emotional factors behind purchase decisions
– using these insights to redefine the choices offered to customers (or should
that be prospects?).

And, apparently, there’s something called ‘choice architecture’
that we need to be aware of (I wonder if that’s a bit like the old decision
tree we studied in the early 70s?)

A lot of nudge theory seems to be based around the premise
that some purchase decisions are made over time – and that to convert someone successfully to your brand or beliefs may take more than simply saying ‘here
I am, buy me’. Well blow me down, who would have thought that!

This week’s Marketing magazine devotes a double page spread
to this latest form of marketing alchemy, full of self-important statements attempting
to put a scientific spin on the art of marketing.

And the article backs up the BE/nudge theory (please make your
mind up on what to call it) – with a series of mundane case studies…and that,
perhaps, is the nub of the challenge.

So many campaigns today are ordinary, uninspiring – therefore agencies and marketers attempt dress them up with science, to justify
mediocrity.

Perhaps the reason we spend so much time on science and
theory is that we live in a cautious environment where companies need the reassurance
that they are spending their marketing money wisely; that they’ll get
predictable results; that even if it all goes terribly wrong ‘all the boxes
were ticked – so it wasn’t their fault’.

All this is understandable, but the danger is that all the
theory gets in the way of creativity – the magic that gets people to sit up and
think and, sometimes, do something different.

I find it hard to believe that people will rush out to test
drive a VW  because the choice architecture has been tweaked based on the
exhaustive interrogation of Behavioural Economics…however, I can believe that
VW might appeal a little more to families thanks to the charm of their Darth
Vader inspired campaign…simply brilliant.