A selection of articles and essays on consumer behaviour, research, and decision-making.
While no longer updated regularly, this archive reflects some of the themes and thinking behind Philip’s work.
Feeling Good
Most marketing people are aware that it’s important for all the aspects of product marketing to be consistent. If your ad is saying that your product is used by kings and queens it’s not going to feel right if it arrives in a tatty cardboar…
Should You Care About Customer Satisfaction?
Frequently companies are concerned about customer satisfaction. Are customers satisfied with the products and services on offer? It seems a sensible enough concern. And if you want to find out it’s a good idea to ask, isn’t it? …
Influencing the Consumer Appeal of Your Advertising
Everything’s relative. Except for truth, apparently. Philosophers point out that if you say “everything is relative” you’re making an absolute statement, rather than a relative one, and you’ve just defeated you…
Why Groups Might Prefer Big Brands
Picture the scene, the Rolling Stones have left the stage, having got plenty of satisfaction from the reaction of the crowd and dripping with sweat, they’re ready for a refreshing beer (or six) and something to eat. “Let’s…
The True Cost of ‘Free’
Getting something free is great. You can save yourself no end of money on market research by simply assuming that customers would like your product, provided it doesn’t cost them anything and they don’t have to give up anything …
The Consumer Need Myth
It’s all a matter of consumer need. If you can understand the consumer need your product satisfies then you can tell prospective customers about it and they will buy it. And the great news is that you find out what consumers’ ne…
Why Women Take So Long to Choose and Men Jump to Conclusions
Let’s face it, most of us are familiar with the situation. The couple sit in the restaurant chatting happily, smiling at each other and enjoying themselves. Then… The menu arrives. He glances at it, selects something and puts th…
Why Advertising Fails
It’s nice to tell ourselves that we’re inherently simple creatures. If we want something we can decide we’ll go out and buy it. Perhaps we’ll see an advert that will encourage us to buy something and we’ll deci…
Words Don’t Mean What You Think
Language can be tricky. I remember when I was trying to encourage my three-year-old son to be more polite I encouraged him to say ‘pardon’ rather than ‘what’ when he hadn’t heard someone. This resulted in a ver…