How Novelty Appeals to Our Survival Instinct
“Hmm… what’s this?”
“Oh, this looks pretty cool. Yeah, I like the color. And it smells soooo good… but the bottle, I don’t know know… I’ve never really seen anything like it. Maybe it’s too high end for me? How much does this cost?”
“Oh, what the heck, I want a different style… Yeah, I’ve gotta get it!”
And so goes the human animal – Homo Shopperus – in her journey through a world of knowns, unknowns and, as Donald Rumsfeld was fond of saying, unknown unknowns. In other words, a world of novelty.
The fact that novelty is crucial to a brand’s success isn’t exactly… novel. But you may be surprised to learn why.
Viktor & Rolf's innovative Flowerbomb packaging
Human beings have five basic needs – what I call our 5 Primal Needs. Survival, Love, Sex, Power and Exploration. Since the dawn of humanity, we have been exploring our world. We emerged from the caves and spread across the land. We crossed the land bridge between Asia. We built ships and set sail across the oceans. We built railroads, wired our world and touched the stars. Ours is a history of constantly seeking out uncharted territories, both large and small. It is a need as old as humanity itself.
Simply put, we’re genetically wired to explore, to learn, to grow. And the brands that are able to fulfill this need will position themselves to do very well.
The key is to create something novel – without scaring the hell out of your consumers.
But there’s a catch…
Because too much novelty can actually trip the fear circuits way down in our croc brain. Instead of stimulating intrigue and curiosity, it can trigger our fight or flight reflex, causing your customers to run away. And all those warm, fuzzy feelings disappear, replaced by negative associations that are very difficult to overcome.
On the flip side, if your brand is ordinary, it has no appeal to our Primal Need for Exploration. We all need to experience new things, to be intrigued, stimulated, have fun. It’s what keeps us alive. Brands that have no differentiating qualities give consumers no reason to engage with them. Why would I buy cologne if it smelled like everything else? Would I even try it if the packaging was the same as the other colognes? After all, I have limited space on my arm for cologne testing, so I’m going to be pretty discriminating about what even makes it to the test stage.
As a brand shepherd, what attributes give your brand that sense of novelty? How can you craft your brand’s language that appeals to our need for Novelty, without triggering our Survival Instincts?
It’s a competitive world, and you’ll need insight, strategy and, above all, creativity, to build a brand that hits just the right notes.
