Brand Training as Threatening Confidence

People completing a challenging test using an MIT-branded pen average better than people of equivalent intellectual ability using a non-branded pen. It’s a matter of the MIT brand giving confidence—a process called “contagious magic” by consumer psychologists.
     Why then did researchers at University of Utah, American University, and, yes, MIT find that an MIT branding impaired the subsequent performance of people taking a training course? For the purposes of the study, participants were taught to translate between English and Na'vi, the 1,500‐word fictional language developed for the movie “Avatar.” Some of the participants were told the program was branded by MIT, while the others were told the program carried a University of Phoenix brand. A prior study indicated that the University of Phoenix brand is generally considered less prestigious. Aside from the branding announced to the study participants, the two programs were identical.
     On a translation test administered afterwards, those who completed the MIT-branded language learning did less well than those completing the program carrying the University of Phoenix brand.
     Companion studies by the researchers provided evidence that the use of the MIT-branded pen was a case of brand-as-a-servant while the MIT-branded training program was a case of brand-as-master. Labeling the language learning with MIT set the bar high, producing anxiety which interfered with task performance. Similar results were seen when a Goldman Sachs brand was used on a financial investment training program versus the same program without any branding.
     It’s the using the product rather than the product itself which evidences this type of effect. Columbia University researchers noted the outcomes when shoppers who viewed themselves as uncreative thought about purchasing an Apple computer—considered to have a creative product personality. Thinking about the purchasing led to shoppers’ estimates of the Apple computer’s creativity growing greater. The shoppers felt themselves to be competing on creativity with the product, which made them less likely to buy it.
     The way around this problem so that you can set a premium price for high-prestige branding is to turn the brand-as-master into brand-as-servant. Give the participant maximum control over the pace of mastery. Grant prestige for completion. Maybe award an Apple- or MIT-labeled pen or a financial calculator carrying the Goldman Sachs name. The contagious-magic confidence comes more readily from merchandise fabricated for our use by sponsors carrying prestige than from participation in experiences designed for us by those same sponsors.

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