Hypnosis in Advertising: New Strategies Incorporate Successful Techniques

"Time to Get Trigger Happy," reads an article by Dan and Chip Heath in the October 2007 Fast Company magazine. The best-selling authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, discuss how effective environmental triggers can help a person remember to do simply daily tasks, and how on a much larger scale, new research suggests that triggers have the potential to make an idea exponentially more successful. Dan and Chip Heath explain that "triggers are highly effective, yet under used tools," especially in marketing and advertising.

Perhaps triggers are under used tools because they are so simple that we don't really consciously think about them. Or maybe we refer to them as something other than a trigger.

In elementary school, the teacher taught acronyms and little rhymes to help the class remember the answers to test questions. One question was, name the cardinal directions in order. To help us remember North, East, South, and West, we were to think of a red cardinal bird and then to remember that the cardinal Never Eats Shredded Wheat. More than two decades later, I haven't forgotten this trigger. Simple. Corny. Yet highly effective.

With little thought, I find myself subconsciously doing this throughout my day. Here are a few other examples that I've noticed. The living room ceiling fan has two chains that turn the light and the fan on or off. I was forever mixing the two controls up and it was annoying. Then I had an ah-ha moment. I really looked at the two chains and realized that one chain was about an inch shorter than the other one. Then I determined that Long = Light and Short = Spins around. Now, I don't even think about it. Seeing the different length chains triggers me to remember which one I need to pull to get the desired effect. Long is the light. Short and the fan spins around. Simple. Corny. Yet highly effective.

It works with people too. A friend of mine has identical twin daughters. I had a difficult time telling the two girls apart especially since their names both begin with the same letter. When I tried to come up with something to help me, I noticed that one wore glasses. I thought, in order to see my own Destiny, I have to have glasses. Now, I can always tell which twin is which as I remember that Destiny has glasses. In fact, I've shared this little trigger with other family and friends who generally have an ah-ha moment themselves afterward. They see it as simple. Corny. Yet highly effective.

Triggers not only work, they really increase the effectiveness of an idea. This is not a new concept either, particularly within the field of Hypnosis. The Art of Hypnosis, by Roy Hunter, defines a trigger as "something seen, heard, felt, etc. which triggers a response, urge, memory, or emotion, etc., such as turning the key in the car might trigger a smoker to light up a cigarette" (Hunter, 208).

Successful hypnotists and hypnotherapists recognize the importance of triggers and how to incorporate the technique in such a way which can help the client positively achieve his or her goals.

Since advertising is suggesting that a consumer needs or wants something for one reason or another, perhaps advertising and marketing companies should consider collaborating or exchanging some notes with a few hypnotherapists or even some individuals who understand the basics of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Or maybe, higher learning should include an introduction to Hypnosis within their advertising and marketing degree programs. Simple. Corny. But, could it just possibly be a highly effective and strategic business maneuver? I wonder.

Dan Heath and Chip Heath do give credit to a few marketers who are successfully trying their hand at incorporating triggers, including the popular "Got Milk?" The "Got Milk?" campaign seems to resonate favorably and similarly to the new research suggestions of professors Jonah A. Berger and Grainne Fitzsimons which details how they use lunch trays to trigger healthier eating habits in college students.

The triggers in advertising are certainly interesting and food and beverages are just a few examples of how triggers are being used. It is also important to consider the possibility that triggers, as tools, have the equal and opposite potential to trigger negative eating habits. For that reason, triggers in advertising are certainly a phenomena that consumers should be aware of.

A little thought and a few television commercials later, another food trigger jumped out at me. Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheat. The simple, corny frosting coated wheat square with arms and legs hops around the kitchen while a child is busily getting her bookbag ready for school. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Then the little wheat square man explains why she has to take him along and he jumps into her bookbag.

Hmm...First lunch trays and now bookbags. Is Kellogg's pulling a trigger?

A smart one too. Now, if I was Kellogg's and I already had a trigger where my cereal was jumping into a child's bookbag, an even smarter venue would be to explore and team up with other like-minded school suppliers. Elmer's? Crayola? Sharpie? Others I'm forgetting?

In an interesting sort of way, triggers in advertising could certainly be used to perpetuate industry gang-related activities. I am not trying to imply that this is necessarily a bad idea. I am however trying to point out how potentially powerful the concept itself can be with some intentional thought.

In a highly dynamic media world where drive-by ads and commercials seem determined to target my undivided attention, I wonder if the development of this new research will instigate a mad dash to bear arms where everyone suddenly rushes out and gets trigger happy.

If so, I predict Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy will maintain an equally thriving clientele and that maybe Kellogg's would be even better served if they provide teachers with a new trigger acronym for learning directions. Since the cardinal is the official state bird of seven states, including Virginia, I wonder just how many children have already been instilled with the trigger "Never Eats Shredded Wheat."

I'm sure Kellogg's has nothing to be concerned about. Then again, I never eat Shredded Wheat.