Yesterday I read an article in Duke Magazine (July-August Issue) that reviewed a study by two professors of marketing and psychology that casts new light on the power of well-established brands. The study by Gavan Fitzsimons and Tanya Chartrand of Duke was published in the Journal of Consumer Research. They found that exposure to well-known brands can cause people to behave in manners that reflect those brands’ traits.
According to the article, “Whether you are a Mac person or a PC person, even the briefest exposure to the Apple logo may make you behave more creatively.” (p.23) During the study, 341 college students were led to believe they were taking a visual acuity test and were exposed to a flash of either the IBM or Apple logo, without being aware of the exposure. They were then given the task of making a list of all the possible uses for a brick. According to the report, the students who were exposed to the Apple logo “generated significantly more uses for the brick compared to those primed with the IBM logo.” Beyond that, an independent panel of judges determined that the responses from the Apple-primed participants were more creative.
Not only does this study point out the power of these well-established brands, it also speaks to the potential power of environmental stimuli that surrounds us all. It made me wonder how the way we decorate our offices impacts (or limits) our creativity? Just a thought. Interesting but not surprising information from the researchers at Duke. You can check out Duke Magazine online at http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu.
