Comments on: Beating The Placebo Effect: Red Pill or Blue?

By: Lisa Erdman

Lisa Erdman — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:26:15 +0000

Interesting point you bring up, Paul, regarding placebo effect. My current doctoral research addresses this issue indirectly. I'm exploring audience reception to an ad campaign for fictitious (satirical) medications that cure 'social ills' such as lack of patriotism, xenophobia and other 'conditions'. The intent is to generate public discussion about social and political issues. Here is a link to the fake drugs I've created: http://www.lisaerdman.com/annual_checkup/print.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPQDbYVBt8Y

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:17:36 +0000

Claire, I absolutely love this quote from you, “It’s time for a fundamental question to be answered: “What’s our purpose? How can our product or service improve people’s lives?”
In the name of market share, capacity utilization and/or additional revenues, some companies continue to churn out marginal goods. And while this strategy keeps the factories humming, in terms of brand dilution, some companies are doing more harm than good without a clear strategy for innovation and meeting the needs of future customers.
In addition to answering your question, I think many companies would be surprised to know the answer to: “Who’s our customer?”

By: Claire Ratushny

Claire Ratushny — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:29:53 +0000

“Helping our companies understand, create and manage customer expectations is where the marketing function can add significant business value.” Well-articulated, Paul, and the issue among the many you raised I’d like to tackle.
Many products fall short when it comes to meeting customer expectations, don’t they? They’re just one more commodity in an overcrowded marketplace. To use your illustration, what about the products the consumers nixed in favor of placebos? What does that tell the producers and their marketers about their products? Where is the trust? Where is the perception of their value? Little wonder that Gerzema & Lebar’s research findings in the book “The Brand Bubble” point to the widening gulf between the financial markets valuation of brands and consumers’ valuation of them. As brand values dilute in the minds of consumers the world over, where does that leave companies? It is my hope that this economy has forced companies to examine how they’re doing business from their core. Nevermind cutting expenses here and there. It’s time for a fundamental question to be answered: “What’s our purpose? How can our product or service improve people’s lives?”

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:01:36 +0000

SGA, thank you for commenting on an important factor in the placebo effect – the power of belief. That’s why some patients improve their condition when doctors knowingly prescribe them a dose that’s too small to be effective.
The simple act of BELIEVING that a pill can help improve a condition, whether it actually can or not, plays a huge factor in the overall effectiveness of drug therapy. The power of expectations is extremely relevant in our daily marketing decisions. The tricky part I believe, is uncovering those expectations and then creating an experience to match or exceed them.

By: Strategic Growth Advisors

Strategic Growth Advisors — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:49:30 +0000

Thanks, Paul, for the insightful and informative post.
In my own point of view, what makes some things work for us is the inner belief that they will.
For example, we like to buy a certain brand or style of shoes because we “feel” comfortable wearing them even though others describe them as horrible.
We like to wear a certain style or line of clothes because we “feel” they are really nice although the people at the cleaners snicker when we get them.
I believe that the same goes for placebos. If we put our minds and hearts into believing that something shaped like a pill, tastes like a pill and is given by a medical practitioner as a pill, can cure us — then why not?

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:49:03 +0000

Neil, I really appreciate your contributions to the discussion.
You said, “if a placebo is beating blockbuster drugs, it would seem a good idea to study this effect very carefully.” In fact, while Big Pharma is guarded about their findings, they are in the process of pouring money into understanding the placebo effect. If these findings are ever made public, it will definitely be a welcome addition to the field of behavioral studies.

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:37:07 +0000

Ted, when it comes to experimentation, you really hit one of the key struggles of the pharma industry – how to remove bias. Because as you know, what people report they do or how they say they behave, is often wildly different than reality. The pharma industry now has accepted that the placebo effect is here to stay, and now they’re looking for how to test “placebo PLUS” effects. Discovering and removing bias is always going to be a challenge in experimentation.
You said, “Research has to come from many sources” and I completely agree. Multiple types of research are needed to fill in a more complete picture of consumer behavior.

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:23:58 +0000

Elaine, thanks for commenting and some terrific questions. I 100% agree that in all instances, marketers have a responsibility to resist the urge to manipulate customer expectations in an unethical and immoral manner. That said, I’m also a firm believer in personal responsibility and offering choice. I’m about halfway through Nudge by Richard Thaler, a great read on making sure choice is available with an appropriate “nudge” in a responsible direction –without coercion.
The next question from here is, who defines “responsible”?

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:14:12 +0000

Michael, thank you for taking the time to comment. I love that you added your expertise, especially around your launch of Mr. Clean. You are exactly right in that visual cues can appropriately set “expectations” with our customers.
On occasion, I enjoy watching the television show Hell’s Kitchen. To test his chef’s palette, Gordon Ramsey makes them put on a blindfold and then spoon feeds them different foods. Some foods, like eggs seem like they’d be the easiest to taste and discern, even with a blindfold, but it’s amazing how often these seasoned chefs get it wrong.
Just more confirmation of how important consumer expectations really are.

By: Neil Anuskiewicz

Neil Anuskiewicz — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:48:00 +0000

I saw that wired article. That is absolutely fascinating. It is especially interesting that drug companies always thought of the placebo effect as sort of something to overcome rather than something to understand.
I mean if a placebo is beating blockbuster drugs, it would seem a good idea to study this effect very carefully.
As for expectations, I wonder what would happen if they did studies pitting one placebo against another placebo with the variable changed having to do with expectations not pharmacology?

By: Ted Mininni

Ted Mininni — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:10:31 +0000

I’m not sold on control or focus groups, Paul. Over the years, I’ve seen answers influenced by the way questions are framed, as well as the prejudices of questioners. I’ve also seen people in groups influence each other’s answers. This hardly yields solid information. Can these groups be of use? Of course. But they have to be as free from bias as possible and then, respondents’ answers can’t be suggested. (Please see consumers’ responses to small car researchers’ questions in my previous post). The power of suggestion has been discussed in many circles, not only where marketing is concerned. So where does that leave marketers if they choose to put most of their research efforts into these kinds of findings? Not on very solid ground. Research has to come from many sources. I personally like to see how consumers interact with products when marketers are viewing them from outside the room. . .and can hear their comments in an impromptu manner. That is far more meaningful.

By: Elaine Fogel

Elaine Fogel — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:06:09 +0000

Hi, Paul. I’m not a pharma marketing specialist, yet it appears from your post that pharma studies are similar to CPG research. One can determine how packaging, color, and expectations affect consumer buying patterns and in this case, efficacy.
From the article:
“These new findings tell us that the body’s response to certain types of medication is in constant flux, affected by expectations of treatment, conditioning, beliefs, and social cues.”
Many CPG consumer decisions are dictated by emotions, which are centered in the Limbic system of the brain. So, the more we learn about the brain as it relates to marketing, the more marketers can affect expectations, conditioning, beliefs, and social cues to get the desired response.
If we really open a can of worms, don’t all marketers have a “great responsibility” in resisting “the urge to manipulate customer expectations in an unethical and immoral manner?”
The results in CPG, of course, may not affect an individual’s health in the same manner as medication, but there are other areas where manipulation can have a detrimental effect.
e.g.
- fast food and obese people
- credit cards to consumers already in debt
- beer to people with alcoholic tendencies

By: Michael Goodman

Michael Goodman — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:46:13 +0000

Experimentation has pretty much confirmed that “visual cues” are critically important to consumer acceptance of food products. Vanilla flavor with traces of [black] vanilla bean, for example, is preferred over vanilla flavor alone (i.e., without the black flecks of vanilla bean). Carrot cake with small [tasteless] orange bits is preferred over carrot cake without the bits. Etc. And the preferences are significant. This principle is pretty well known in food marketing.
Also, years ago we introduced “lemon refreshed” Mr. Clean, and the yellow, lemon-scented product beat the non-scented product for cleaning efficacy and for shine by enough to warrant a total brand relaunch around the lemon scent. (It also beat Top Job and Ajax — both ammonia scented — for shine connotation (i.e., doesn’t dull waxed/shiny floors). This was particularly important because the brand was yellow and could have consumers expecting that it would “yellow” their floors.
There are other examples, of course, but there isn’t much doubt that the visual cues can do a lot for consumer perception of efficacy.