Digital brand management: people as unique mood makers

Nothing interests us as much as other people. This can also be used for digital brand management.Do you know this? We take a quick look at a picture. We are immediately magically drawn to a person in the picture. Fascinated, our eyes glide over the face, clothing and posture. The blink of an eye is enough time to take it all in. But how can we capture a portrait so quickly? How can a likeness touch our hearts so quickly and deeply? And why can we remember it for so long? First of all, our brain is a social brain. Nothing interests us more in life than other people. We look to them for guidance, they give us security and together we achieve outstanding results. Successful relationships are good for us, and studies show that a quarter of a second is enough for us to make a comprehensive judgment of our counterpart. Even if we believe that we assess other people carefully and consciously, our judgment is clear even before our mind has switched on.► People are also extremely important for our digital brand management: we associate Microsoft with the inner images of Bill Gates, Apple with Steve Jobs, Virgin with Richard Branson: We notice and recognize people particularly quickly.► Taking in: We prefer people who activate us - in pictures we look at them for longer.► Summarizing: A person can convincingly summarize the diverse characteristics of brands.► Stake: People are rated very similarly internationally.► Unique: The brand we associate with a unique image leaves us with particularly clear inner images that have a strong impact on behavior.► Clarity: People make brands vivid. This is particularly important for service providers whose service is immaterial, i.e. not tangible.► Emotionality: People are particularly good at conveying and triggering feelings.Particularly effective: We think, feel and act like othersNothing interests us as much as other people. There are a number of mirror phenomena that enable us to build good relationships and learn from others. Mirror phenomena allow us to internally simulate the thoughts, feelings and actions of other people, i.e. to mirror them. This usually happens unconsciously and uncontrollably. Mirror phenomena occur very early on in communication between mother and child: The mother opens her mouth when feeding so that the baby imitates this. Mirror phenomena include when people return a smile; when one person yawns, others yawn too; people can infect others with their enthusiasm, but also with their boredom. Mirror phenomena ensure that people can learn from each other when they are just watching or even just listening. One of the biggest differences to self-experience seems to be the intensity: What people experience themselves activates thousands of sensory cells, while only a few fire when watching.When we perceive the feelings of other people, we reproduce the observed feeling ourselves internally, for example joy or disgust. What's more, we observe the facial expressions and gestures of the other person and imitate what we see: If the other person smiles, we smile too. If he or she changes their posture, we change it too. We usually don't notice this. Example: In the movies, we see the two protagonists Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet standing on the bow of the Titanic with their arms outstretched. The wind is blowing in their faces. We think we can feel the fresh sea breeze. Minutes later: passengers desperately try to leave the sinking ship. Now our hearts are racing too, ready to jump into the sea. Mirror phenomena make us believe that we are actually experiencing the scenes on the screen - we react as if we were acting ourselves when we watch them. Even hearing emotions activates empathy.Eyes and mouth particularly importantWe check other people's eyes and mouth to see how they feel. We want to know why they feel that way. If they feel bad, we keep our distance. If they feel good, we want to feel good too. This is a basic principle of advertising: show the user how they will feel if they buy the brand. We see eBay's advertising and want to buy there as well.When people experience stories and images, they can store this as their own experience. This makes a lot of sense, as it allows people to learn from the experiences of others without having to go through them themselves, which is particularly helpful in the case of bad experiences. The stronger the experience, the more likely we are to remember it. Boring stories leave us cold and are quickly forgotten.Authors: Prof. Dr. Dieter Georg Herbst and Thomas Heinrich Musiolik