5 Heuristics and Biases in Audience Decision Making
In May 2000, the president and CEO of Heinz (now Kraft Heinz) picked out his brightest young
marketing executives and challenged each of them to propose a project that would signifi-
cantly increase ketchup sales in the United States without spending any additional dollars.
Only the best proposal would get the CEO’s approval to proceed.
One of the young execs chosen to propose a project to the CEO, although somewhat quiet
and reserved, was a whiz at the numbers. After several months of grueling data collection and
statistical analysis, the young exec made his presentation to the boss. It contained hundreds
of complex charts and numbers to back up his claim: By optimizing marketing and promotion
spend in each city, Heinz could regain lost market share from its competitors.
To the young exec’s chagrin, when he concluded his presentation the CEO told him he had
no idea what he was talking about but that he would give him a chance to try again. The CEO
attended other, more engaging, presentations, but none of the proposals sold him.
Soon the young exec came back to present to the CEO and other top executives in one
final effort. This time, before he began, he first gave each person in the room a fleece jacket
with a big red rocket logo on it. He then announced the Red Rocket Project —optimization of
marketing spend would make Heinz ketchup sales take off!
This presentation was all visual, just exciting images that illustrated the exec’s key points.
When he finished, the whole room was buzzing with questions, and the exec had a backup
chart for each. The Red Rocket Project was a go. It soon exceeded sales expectations. Wall
Street analysts loved it. And the Heinz brand was re-energized.Why didn’t the CEO approve the young executive’s proposal after hearing his fi rst presentation?
Unlike his fi rst presentation, the second was both easier for the CEO to understand and was
framed by an easily visualized name— The Red Rocket Project , a compelling vision the CEO could
get excited about.
Audiences, even expert ones like the CEO in the story, do not always make decisions in acold, rational, and calculating fashion, weighing each alternative’s pros and cons. Instead, audi-
ences often make decisions intuitively and revise their intuitive decisions only if they are motivated