Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

86 Seven brand approaches

means that the recipient of a message understands the message as intended by the
sender. In cognitive psychology, the dominant man metaphor is that of the
computer and the human mind is supposed to process sensory data in much the
same way a computer processes binary data.
In cognitive psychology, an if–then logic applies. Ifthe marketer feeds the
‘consumer computer’ with the most appropriate information, thenthe consumer
will do as intended and choose the brand. One is able to programme a computer
into doing the same thing every time and this logic applies to the brand–consumer
exchange of this approach. In other words, the consumer is the focal point in this
approach, but the marketer is still assumed to control the brand. The approach
assumes the linear interaction between sensory input rconsumer rbrand choice.
At a first glance, the consumer appears to be all-powerful in the
brand–consumer exchange in this approach. But the consumer ‘ownership’ of the
approach is paradoxical; even though the consumer ‘owns’ the brand, he or she is
still treated as a generic entity that the skilled communicator is able to
‘programme’ into intended action. The chaotic, unpredictable and ‘autonomous’
aspects of consumer behaviour that are taken into consideration in the later
approaches (the relational, the community and the cultural approaches) are not
considered in the consumer perspective in this approach.

Summary

The consumer-based approach assumes that the brand is a cognitive construal
residing in the mind of the consumer.
This assumption indicates that the consumer is very much in control of the
brand–consumer exchange. This is, however, not entirely the case. The consumer
is seen through a lens borrowed from cognitive psychology and the main metaphor
for man in this perspective is that of the computer.
And just like a skilled computer programmer is able to programme the computer
into doing as intended, the marketer who is willing to map out the brand construal
in the mind of the consumer, will be able to choose exactly the right brand elements
and communicate them to a consumer who will respond accordingly. These, seem-
ingly contradictory, assumptions are what lie behind the consumer-based approach.

Sensory input Brand choice

the information

processing

consumer

Figure 6.2The computer is the central metaphor of man in cognitive psychology