While innovation remains essential for brands, the definition of innovation is moving away from focusing on continuous product launches to incorporating genuine advancements in environmental and social practices, for example, sustainable manufacturing production, materials and techniques. Nowadays the significance of authenticity has moved from being centred on a brand’s compelling story or niche positioning to being about the strength of a company’s sustainable operations internally and across its entire supply chain. I think this evolution underlines the importance of sustainability and ethical considerations in modern business strategies. What do you think?
Creativity in the moment
We don’t have time in our everyday lives to tap into every little detail before taking a decision, so we tap into mental shortcuts e.g., authority, scarcity, etc., etc., to help us make decisions. And this is why good photography matters, and this is why good design matters, and this is why good branding matters. These mental shortcuts are based on reliable information, unfortunately, designers and brand managers try to exploit these shortcuts for their own gain, by using counterfeit evidence and shady tactics to make you buy their products under false pretences.
Social proof is relying on others’ opinions to make choices especially when we don’t have enough information to make an informed decision. Social proof is more effective when the people promoting the product seem like our peers. And that’s why marketers focus on using the terms, “best-selling and highest rated.” As then they don’t have to convince you that the product is good, they just have to convince you that other people think it’s good. And this is why I think social proof can be used for manipulative purposes.
What's social proof?
The first time I came across the term, “social proof” was in Robert Cialdini’s book ”Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” from the mid-80’s. Cialdini wrote… the principle of social proof says the greater the number of people who find any idea correct, the more the idea will be correct. Social proof is a phenomenon where people follow and copy the actions of others in order to display accepted or correct behaviour, based on the idea of normative social influence. Here are some current examples of social proof, customer testimonials, online reviews, social media shares, celebrity endorsements, and case studies. I think we all use the actions of others to decide on proper behaviour for ourselves, especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves.