According to the British Psychological Society (what, isn’t that where everyone gets their news?), the “age-of-acquisition” effect has now been proven applicable to corporate brands.
For those unfamiliar, the effect basically observes that individuals have an easier time processing information they encounter at an early age—in other words, while their brains are still maturing.
Now, Andrew Ellis and colleagues have observed the same kind of hard-wiring effect for brands. Which means that the key marketing demographic may not be 18-49 at all, but rather 0-5.
Gives one a whole new appreciation for the Babies ‘R Us marketing strategy, doesn’t it?
Additionally in the experiment, Ellis observed that older participants had an easy time recognizing long-defunct brands from their youth, but a difficult time recognizing current popular brands.
In fact, participants over 80 professed nearly 100% brand loyalty to the Hudson Motor Company, even though it hasn’t produced a working automobile since 1954.
So what’s the takeaway? Maybe it’s something that I’ve long suspected, but secretly feared: that ubiquity is truly more powerful than logic.
Whatever the reason, it helps explain my persistent hankering for a Charleston Chew.
Tags: Ancient Candy, Formitive Years