Figuring out speech
Colm Carey reviews a book on how marketing metaphors actually translate

The metaphors we use when talking reveal much in how we relate to the world around us. By listening to the way people speak about their needs and the products and brands they use, we can identify deep insights which help successful marketing.

Financial planning can be a rocky road for some people while for others it can be smooth sailing. The language we use reveals our deep feelings for the subject being explored. Metaphors tend to transcend race and culture through the use of universal archetypes as pointed out by Carl Jung and as demonstrated using archetypes from western and eastern mythology to explore consumer views of brands globally.

It is an interesting area and a new book dedicated to it holds out the promise of an exciting and interesting read. Marketing Metaphoria (Harvard University Press) takes this promise of excitement and turns it into a long and winding uphill journey.

The problem lies in the fact that authors Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman did not simply take the core idea, explain it in a few short pages of pithy prose and then settle in to some interesting case studies to illustrate real life usage of the deep metaphor thesis.

There are case studies between the pages but they are scattered about in the text rather than elucidated in a way that would take you seamlessly from start to finish. The authors say the way people talk about brands can usually be categorised by how their expressed thoughts and feelings fit into one of seven main metaphoric categories.

Balance is a state of social, physical or psychological equilibrium. Certain brands and product categories elicit language that refers to the balance between natural ingredients and nurture in a handcrafted production process. A combination of these two particular scenarios would constitute an imbalance and result in rejection.

Transformation involves an actual or contemplated change from one state to another. Certain brands and product categories are clearly involved in the facilitation of transformative experiences. The most obvious example might be a slimming product but a recruitment company or estate agent also engages with people in a transformative stage in their lives. How a brand is seen to assist or inhibit the transformation affects customer loyalty. You will have negative feelings about a bank that refuses you the loan you needed to facilitate a key change in your life.

The metaphor of a journey is found in the language people use when they describe their career or any other time based experience. Some brands facilitate the journey, while others just get in the way. Much of the anger about the M50 motorway lies in the fact that it should facilitate journeys but perversely it inhibits them.

The container metaphor refers to brands that people associate with keeping things in or keeping them out. Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate built much of its appeal on the claim that it contained a glass and half of full cream milk. The outer shells of Toyota cars contain the best built cars in the world, thereby providing a place of physical safety and psychological security based on engineering reliability.

QUALITY AS STANDARD A scene from the current Toyota TV commercial created by Javelin. The Japanese car maker's slogan, ‘The best built cars in the world', has become a legend and, like Volvo, it symbolises the finest car protection standardson the market.

Connection is one of the main driving forces of human behaviour. A brand that creates a sense of positive connection amongst its users is in a strong position. Designer labels are an obvious example but Harley Davidson motorcycle owners buy into a strong sense of connection when they take delivery of their first Hog.

The resource metaphor can be applied to various products and brands. Those that stand out are goods and materials we need on a daily basis. So any FMCG brand can is a resource, as is a bottled water brand or Bord Gais and ESB energy services. With increasing environmental consciousness, brands associated with nurturing rather than squandering resources will develop strong relationships with consumers.

Last but not least in the language of metaphors comes the notion of control. The extent to which we do or do not have control greatly affects our sense of well-being. A good breakfast sets you up for the day and the company that makes the cereal facilitates your ability to stay on form and in control through the morning.

The key thing about these archetypal metaphors is that you can position your brand to own the most compelling metaphorical territory. If you listen carefully to the way people talk about the category you are in or want to enter, you can empower your brand with words and imagery that will trigger an understanding and empathy with your target market at a level that goes much deeper than might otherwise be achieved.

Marketing Metaphoria is hardly an easy read for most marketers but it rewards persistence and that is something all marketing professionals are going to need to navigate the choppy waters of the current economic sea.

Colm Carey (colm@theresearchcentre.com) is a psychologist and qualitative researcher