Learning Principles and Their

Usefulness to Branding Associations

Focused Creativity
• Has to be meaningful to the target segment
• Has to have a competitive orientation so that the
communication gets differentiated
• Has to make an impact on the consumer mind-
set of a brand.
Brand
• The uniqueness of the brand has to emphasize
the following
▫ Brand differentiation
▫ Brand relevancy
▫ Brand equity
▫ Brand reinforcement
Kinds of Brands
• Functional brands
• Self-expressive brands
• Hedonic brands
The Concept of Conditioning
• Classical Conditioning
▫ Deals with the process of associating
messages/feelings/situations with a brand on the
assumption that the feeling/messages/situations
get strongly identified with the brand
▫ Such a process is aimed at creating the brand’s
associations in the mind-set of consumers.
▫ Develops brand associations that reside in the
memory of consumers creating a favourable
opinion towards the respective brand.
Brand Associations to Relationships
• Researching the market is a prerequisite, as a suitable
emotion is required to be paired with the brand.
• The imagery selected to be paired with the brand, should
have some relevancy to the product category.
• It is essential for a brand to plan a specific emotional
proposition (even a functional one) to ensure that the
brand offers a sustainable differentiation in the long-run.
• Extreme care should be taken in selecting an association
especially, when stimuli selected is over-exposed to
consumers.
• Negative emotions may also be used.
Memory, Learning & Brands
• Self-schemata indicate the associations about
self that is contained in one’s schema.
• Consumer preferences & brand
associations/personality take shape only from
the schema of the consumer.
• Consumers who have an incomplete self of
themselves seek to complete themselves with
appropriate brands.
• Memory holds key to several decisions made by
the consumer.
Instrumental Conditioning
• Instrumental conditioning is a concept which
deals with the desirable reward a consumer gets
when he gives a favourable response.
The Impact of Customized
Communication:
• Loyalty programs
• Pricing & loyalty
Consumer Behaviour & Information
Processing
• The basic assumption of this theory is that
consumers are likely to search for relevant
information and get involved in complex
problem solving situations with regard to their
needs.

▫ Test of imagery
▫ Test of processing style
▫ Tests of daydreaming
Important Aspects of Information
Processing Theory
• Sensory store
• Short-term memory
• Long-term memory