Cereal, Choices, & Chocolate

“We don’t believe anything.”

I was working with a group of soon-to-be university graduates entering the workplace with degrees in communications and marketing. When I asked about the biggest challenge in their field, that was the answer. We don’t believe anything.

And who can blame them? They are growing up in the age of AI. Recent studies by the World Economic Forum estimate that roughly 40% to 50% of newly published articles and text on the internet are primarily generated by AI, and up to 71% of social media imagery is synthetically made. Yikes.

So, what do you do when your audience can no longer believe their eyes? How do you build trust with a customer who has stopped believing anything new? These are questions I have been pondering a lot lately. Because as marketers, our foremost job is to build trust.

And then I bought some cereal.

More than a decade ago, citing safety concerns and costs, cereal manufacturers stopped putting toys in cereal boxes. As a kid, the toy was the most exciting thing about cereal. (And, as a mother of multiple children, it was probably my mom’s least favorite.) But then… it just stopped. The world went on. Cereal just became… food. People started eating more protein-packed breakfast options, and sugary cereals lost some of their popularity.

Until this year. When, in partnership with Pixar, Kellogg’s brought back cereal box toys. And the marketing world went a little nuts over it. In nearly every article, post, or video, one word was used most: nostalgia. That bittersweet emotion that combines a happy memory with a little sadness because that time is over.

A recent study by Kantar found that of over 250,000 ad campaigns, less than 3% used any element of nostalgia at all. But they also found that when it’s used, nostalgia works. Nostalgic ads score 15 points higher on enjoyability, 9 points higher on emotional connection, and they’re 13 points more likely to go viral than ads without it.

But more importantly, they build trust. When people feel uncertain, they reach for what they already recognize instead of betting on something new.So, how do we build trust with people who have stopped believing anything? We go old school. We appeal to the things our customers miss. The things they loved. The way those things made them feel. We become the tried-and-true thing they recognize.

Remember scratch-and-sniff stickers?
Remember how your grandmother’s house had that weird ironing board attached to the wall?
Remember chasing lightning bugs in the backyard?
Remember the old school way of sitting down with someone face-to-face and talking about your options?

If you want to build trust, friends… this is the recipe.
What makes your customer feel nostalgic? Lean into that.

I saw the coolest thing on Instagram last week.

Hotel chains are starting to offer Pillow Menus. These are exactly what they sound like: menus of available pillows that let you customize how you sleep. Silk? Buckwheat? Firm? Feather? Whatever you want, it’s available. And you get to choose.Helloooo, sexy hotel in Portugal with a dreamy pillow menu.

As someone who stays in a lot of hotels (and loses a lot of sleep because of terrible pillows), this is genius. It also highlights a key element of really great marketing, and a truly remarkable customer experience: choice.

Humans like choices. We love having the options presented to us.

But. (Yes, there is a but.)

The Psychology of Choice Theory shows us that too many choices paralyze our customers. The more options they have, the more their ability to make a decision increases. Or, as I like to say, “You don’t want to be a Cheesecake Factory menu.”

People love having a choice. But if there are too many options, your customers worry about making the wrong choice, about regretting the choice they’ll make, and ultimately, the choice itself becomes a distraction.

So, how do we approach choice in a way that empowers without overwhelming? Here are three things to remember:

1. Eliminate unnecessary choices. Humans love choice, but we also love clarity. Offer a strong recommendation and a second, lesser option.
“The fish is my recommendation tonight, but the pasta is a fantastic choice as well.”
“The gold marketing option is my recommendation, but the silver gives you x advantage at a slightly lower rate.”

2. Simplify. Don’t list all your options and prices in one place. Focus on one or two goals they want to achieve and keep it clear. Google has one key thing on its home page: a search bar. Stop trying to cram every option onto one page.

3. Tell them what each choice does. Include stories or testimonials from others who have made that same choice. People like to hear other people’s experiences.

Offering our customers a choice is a wonderful strategy, until it becomes another stressful thing to check off the list. Look at where you are offering options… and ask yourself.. does this feel like a pillow menu, or a pain in the ass?

Thanks for reading, friends! If you want to get these in your inbox every month, be sure to get on the mailing list. And if you are looking for a speaker who will motivate your organization to get up, get moving, and face change head-on, I would love to chat.