Breaking the habit code

This article looks at how marketers can create or change consumer habits. It explains, from a psychological perspective, what habits are and how they are triggered and uses the study of eating popcorn in cinemas to demonstrate the importance of context.

Breaking the habit code

Franck Sarrazit and Gerardo FuksmanTNS Brand & Communications

Cliché and neuroscience agree: Human beings are indeed creatures of habit – and that has big implications for brand strategies.

"Most of the time, what we do, is what we do most of the time". This statement from the psychologists Townsend and Bever captures one of the great truisms of human behaviour – and one of the great challenges for marketers. We know that we are, in the well-worn phrase, 'creatures of habit.' We know that those habits can shape the fortunes of brands and products....

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