By: Kim Saxton

Okay, you need to figure how and why people are behaving the way they do towards your brand. So, where do you start? The good news is that there are analytic frameworks that can help you untangle behavior. One of these is Leo Burnett’s Behavioral Archetypes, released in 2009. They interviewed more than 10,000 people and asked them how likely they are to behave in different situations. Then, they threw the data into two different statistical analyses to see what patterns emerged. Voila’ – the Behavioral Archetypes. Actually, there are over 100. But, they’ve boiled it down into 8 categories based on whether you want to change or stay where you are and if you are doing it for yourself or others. A framework like this one gives marketers a way to structure their customer investigations. Explore the underlying reasons customers behave the way they do and look for the tensions they experience as they are torn between two alternative behaviors.

Sounds great, but how would this really work? Check out this video from Robbins Brothers Jewelry, the Engagement Ring store. They ran a campaign asking customers to send in their secret wedding proposals. They repurposed them into 30 sec. TV commercials. Now, they’ve compiled several of them. Watching them is insightful. Most couples go through the same set of emotional responses: He gets her attention and she looks fascinated. He gets down on his knee – as trite as that is, it’s a huge signal of what’s about to happen and it has strong tradition overtones for most of us. Now she knows what’s happening and she looks intrigued. Her hands go up to her face in surprise and delight. Immediately, she wants to hug him – she moves anything in the way aside, she has to be touching him. Most of the time, it’s a whole body hug rather than “peck on the cheek” type activity.

Relating it to Behavioral Archetypes, she moves from self-interest to other interest. This is a big behavioral swing. Imagine that your brand is present as that shift occurs. It’s a powerful moment.

Try it out on your brand – Look for those moments of tension and enable customers to transition through them.