Image00 Smart marketers create ads, landing pages and campaigns that don’t just appeal to their rational brain—they appeal to their emotions. Fortunately, this isn’t rocket science. It is science, however, and cognitive biases can be easily used to improve the performance of your marketing. The Mere Exposure Effect Ever heard the expression, “familiarity breeds contempt”? While that certainly might be true, there’s another, similar truth that you can add to your marketing toolbox: familiarity breeds content. Let me explain. Over fifty years ago, Professor Charles Goetzinger ran an experiment on his OSU students. Unbeknownst to the rest of the class, he asked one of the students to come to class every day wearing a large black bag over his entire body.
I’m not quite sure how he convinced Whatsapp Database the student to do this, but the student cooperated and Dr. Goetzinger was able to observe how the other students responded to this odd behavior. What’s interesting about this experiment is the way the students’ behavior changed over time. At first, people were hostile towards the “black bag” and the student inside. As time passed, however, and the student continued to wear the black bag to class every day, that hostility was replaced with curiosity and eventually acceptance. Students even began to make friends with their mysterious classmate in the black bag.
Familiarity breeds content. Our brains naturally regard new things (especially if they fall outside of our normal range of experience) as potentially dangerous or risky. But, as the newness wears off, that level of perceived risk decreases. We become more open to that new thing—even though it made us uncomfortable at first. HOW THE MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT WORKS IN BUSINESS The mere exposure effect is easy to observe in the marketplace.