CAN WE EVER REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW CONSUMERS THINK? For over 2000 years philosophers and historians tried to help us understand how human beings think. They developed some amazing insights. For more than 100 psychologists have built on this initial work to help us understand how human beings think.  They have compiled a wealth of fantastic […]

CAN WE EVER REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW CONSUMERS THINK? For over 2000 years philosophers and historians tried to help us understand how human beings think. They developed some amazing insights. For more than 100 psychologists have built on this initial work to help us understand how human beings think.  They have compiled a wealth of fantastic data, starting with the work of BF Skinner and his rats moving through to Daniel Kahneman and his theories on fast and slow thinking. If you accept my proposition that that marketing is all about managing human (consumer) behaviour then understanding how consumers think is critical. It is the key to understanding how best to manage their behaviour. More often than not – thinking precedes behaviour. Despite this I have found that surprisingly few business people and surprisingly few marketing people really understand how consumers think – and I am not just talking about how…