Thinkbox
Beautiful bias and the value of TV: Three top insights from Thinkbox’s latest event
As human beings, we are fantastically lazy when forming opinions and making decisions. ‘Cognitive misers’, as American psychologist Susan Fiske put it – instead of wasting energy on rational thought, we’ve evolved to respond to the world based on highly biased mental reflexes.
This might sound like a flaw, but it’s a trait advertisers can use to great effect. Understanding and leveraging cognitive biases can significantly boost campaign effectiveness and brand growth.
At Thinkbox’s latest event, author and behavioural science expert Richard Shotton joined a panel of advertising practitioners to explore the biases that shape TV’s impact and how advertisers can use them to their advantage. Here are three key takeaways from the day.
Our brains trust TV
Trust is vital in advertising, and according to Shotton, the medium in which a message is delivered plays a critical role in establishing it. Behavioural studies show that consumers are far more likely to believe a claim made in a public setting, such as on TV, than in a private one, as the reputational risk of lying is higher in front of a larger audience.
“If you have a message that’s struggling to gain believability […] focus more on broadcast media,” Shotton said. “The same claim will be more believed than in digital, one-to-one, or direct [channels].”
TV also benefits from the ‘near-proximity effect,’ as investigated in a 2021 study by Heeyon Kim. The study revealed that when an ad appears alongside high-quality brands, perceptions of the advertised brand’s quality improve by 27%.
“It’s not just what you say, it’s who you’re surrounded by that matters,” Shotton explained. The regulatory standards and cost of TV ensure that advertisers share the stage with reputable brands, making it a powerful medium to build trust.
Mood and group size matter
The mood of a consumer is an often underestimated factor in advertising, but one that has a significant impact on effectiveness. A 2007 experiment by psychologist Bronner found that people in a positive mood recalled 50% more ads than those who were stressed or sad. Shotton’s follow-up research showed an even bigger impact on trust, with people in a good mood 62% more likely to trust an ad’s claim.
Sitting down to watch TV is already a relaxed state of being for most people, but brands can secure an additional tactical advantage by being clever about the genres and shows they advertise against. “If you can reach people during light-hearted, amusing, and upbeat content, you’re going to harness the benefits,” Shotton said.
Group settings also enhance ad impact, especially if an ad is funny. In a 1991 experiment, University of Houston psychologists Yong Zhang and George Zinkhan recruited 216 students to view amusing soft drink commercials. Those watching in groups judged the ads as 16% funnier than those who watched solo.
Likewise, Thinkbox’s Context Effects study found ad recall increases by 23% when watching in a group versus alone. People are also twice as likely to repeat or mimic ads in social settings, a figure that rises to 3.2 times when children are present.
“We are a social species,” Shotton said. Brands with amusing ads should target content that is often consumed in a group, such as films or documentaries, he added.
Both of these biases helped to inform the TV strategy for this year’s Sainsbury’s Christmas ad, which features the classic Roahl Dahl character BFG.
Amy Tocock, head of planning at media agency PHD UK, explained: “[The strategy was] all about trying to maximise moments where families are together, thinking about Christmas, and being joyful and excited. [The ad] really pulls on heartstrings and starts conversations, so [we wanted it to be] in talkable moments.”
Confident that context is a key tool for improving the effectiveness of campaigns, Tocock added: “Ad recall, memorability, and recognition all lift when there’s a match with the context.”
The Ostrich Effect makes humour even more powerful
When addressing serious topics like health or finances, brands often avoid humour and lean towards rational messaging. However, The Ostrich Effect – a term coined by Dan Galai and Orly Sade in 2006 – suggests that people naturally turn towards things that please them and avoid things that make them uncomfortable. Therefore, humour could be just the thing a serious topic needs.
“If you try to shock people, or make them feel uncomfortable and scared, they will turn away from your messaging,” Shotton explained. “Use humour as the sugar to coat the pill. This will get people to engage, and then you can slip your message in.”
Specsavers is a master of this approach. Its iconic ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ campaign has been making consumers laugh for decades, but as explained by Elizabeth Baines, head of planning at Specsavers Creative, the retailer actually has an important purpose at its heart: to change lives through sight and hearing care.
“As an industry, we talk about purpose and humour as if they’re mutually exclusive,” Baines said. “But actually, humour can help you supercharge your purpose. And the reason for that is its ability to drive connections. Fundamentally, if you are going to achieve your purpose, you need others to join you – whether by working for your company, supporting your cause, or simply buying your product.”
Kit Altin, chief strategy officer at The Gate, agreed that “you have to entertain for commercial gain”, even when a subject is considered taboo. Take haemorrhoids - a subject few particularly want to talk about. In fact, according to Altin, it used to be that 52% of people who had haemorrhoids weren’t seeking treatment. There hadn’t been a haemorrhoid ad on TV since the early 1980s.
Working with healthcare brand Anusol, The Gate decided to change this. It created a playful, tongue-in-cheek ad (wittily titled ‘Bum’s the Word’), and broadcast it across prime-time TV. The campaign sparked mass conversation across social platforms, drove record growth for Anusol, and in 2022 won a gold Effie award for long-term effectiveness.
“It’s a real case study in not just humour, but where you appear,” Altin said. “Prime-time telly is by far the safest place to put your game-changing work – don’t hide it on YouTube.”
This article offers only a small window into the world of behavioural biases and TV. To learn more, you can download our new whitepaper, authored by Richard Shotton, which delves into each of these biases in detail.
The Beautiful Bias event is available to watch in full and on demand here.