Why Your Brand Should Do a Shot

8/14/2019 Why Your Brand Should Do a Shot

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How toin

Wh

ur brn

hu h

Jrmir.

Sally HogSHeadIno 1/16

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The bittersweetly harsh taste is unmistakable: black licorice laced with Robitussin

and battery acid.As the bartender pours the liqueur, it seems heavy enough to plopinto the shotglassglub-glub-gluband concentrated enough to make permanent stains

on an asphalt highway.

Partiers order it eagerly and repeatedly, paying a premium price or this particular brand. Yet watch

closely. Once the shot actually arrives, they oten hesitate imperceptibly, bracing themselves, jaw

clenched, suddenly aced with the reality o actually drinking it. Aterwards, theyre smiling once

again, this time with pride. Despite the corrosive throat burn, their empty shotglass has become a

medal o valor.

Have you ever consume Jgermeister? Yes No Do you lie the taste o Jgermeister? Yes No

I youre under age 45 or so, theres a good chance that youve tried Jgermeister. However the odds

are lowquite lowthat you actually enjoy the taste. And thats okay. Few people do. Very, very ew.

Ill wager that most o the people who make Jgermeister dont like the taste o Jgermeister. Yet the

brand continues to grow at an astonishing rate. I so many people actively dislike the taste, how does

the company manage to sell 83 million bottles a year?

With sales increasing up to 40% per year since 1985, Jgermeister is the most popular

rin noboy lies.

Many companies successully advertise products and services that consumers dont necessarily need

(bottled water, luxury cars) or even enjoy(backache pills, oil changes, burial plots). But heres a brand

that manages to sell an extraordinary volumeat a premium price point, no lesso a product that

people dont even want, and more to the point, actively dislike.

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Beore 1985, Jgermeister was a modest seller among blue-collar German immigrants, an ater-dinner

digesti. It served as a eld anesthetic in World War II. But ater marketing genius Sidney Frank

bought the importing rights to Jger, he came across a story published in the Baton Rouge Advocatedescribing his liqueur as a cult drink. The article claimed it was hopped up with opium, Quaaludes,

and aphrodisiacs. Did Frank suppress the article? Nope. He copied it and posted it in college bars all

around the country. College students visiting New Orleans clutched bottles o the potion back to

schools, spreading the mystique. And boom, Jgermeister was anointed the drink o dance naked on

the bar wild partying.

Jgermeister succeeds because it doesnt ollow the usual get attention and awareness model o

marketing. (I Jger had been put through consumer ocus groups beore it went on the market... is it

possible to even describe how desperately it would ail?) Instead o retting about gaining awareness,

as most brands do, this one outperorms with a dierent model: ascination.

Ins rin bu inin rn,

ms brn , hi n uprrm ih irn m: inin.

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JGERMEISTER IS LIQUID FASCINATION

All this doesnt make sense, o course, on a rational level. It doesnt have to. I the brand made senseintellectually, it wouldnt work.

Jger oesnt succee despite its taste, but because o it.

With this drink, repellant favor isnt a barrier to trial; its a reason or it. An overall toxic experience

is part o the brand promise.

We all have certain behaviors that dont exactly make sense, even to ourselves. We make certain

choices, and take certain actions, without understanding exactly why. Heres why: In a state o asci-

nation, we dont think and act quite logically. We do things we dont understand, we believe mes-sages we dont agree with, and we buy things we dont even want. The attraction short-circuits our

logical evaluation process.

Fascination explains why people join suicidal cults, or develop bizarre etishes, or willingly obey

tyrannical dictators. More commonly (but just as irrationally), they buy sports cars they cant aord,

procrastinate on major deadlines, or all in love with the wrong person. Our preerences are oten

driven by deeper, more primal orces. Our best riends and avorite oods, our pets and pet peeves,

the movies we see, the cereal we buy, the politicians we vote orwe oten dont choose to be asci-

nated by these things any more than we choose to eel thirsty or all asleep.

Oten, in act, our choices are actually not choices at all. In reality, the seven ascination triggers are

controlling our decision-making.

And what are the seven triggers?

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THE SEVEN FASCINATION TRIGGERS

MYSTIQUE Why were intrigued by unanswered questionsLUST Why were seduced by the anticipation o pleasure

ALARM Why we take action at the threat o negative consequences

POWER Why we ocus on people and things that control us

VICE Why were tempted by novelty and orbidden ruit

PRESTIGE Why we xate on rank and respect

TRUST Why were loyal to reliable options

Each trigger adds a dierent type o attraction. Mystique, as we know, adds curiosity. Trust adds

stability and comort. Lust adds warmth and humanity. Power adds respect, or ear. Alarm adds asense o adventure, or immediacy, or even danger. Vice adds irreverence.

By understanding the attraction behind each trigger, you can more precisely explain and predict why

otherwise meaningless things can become intensely desirable.

Jr n u pi i hrrif s,bu bu i ... n vr xi xprin ipr h brn prmi.

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ITS NOT THE THING, ITS THE TRIGGER

Let me explain. Nothing is, in itsel, ascinating. But triggers are. Triggers turn otherwise ordinaryobjects into ascinations. When one o your triggers is activated, you are compelled to ocus, whether

you want to or not. Triggers can take something thats relatively meaningless (e.g. a swoosh symbol)

and give it meaning (e.g. the Nike logo).

The strongest brands create triggers around things that would otherwise be meaningless. Even parity

goods, ones that general have airly universal value, become more valuable by adding a little mean-

ing: Morton salt is more meaningul than plain salt, and Clorox bleach is more meaningul than plain

bottled bleach.

When consumers buy a certain brand, theyre oten not paying or the utilityo the itemtheyre

paying or the trigger. When someone pays or a shot o Jger, they arent buying a drinktheyre

buying mystique.

Nhin i, in i, inin.Bu rir r. Trir urn hririnr bjc in inin.

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YOUR F SCORE

Every day, in your own lie, youre already using the seven ascination triggers. You might attractothers with the trusttrigger, through a consistent and stable relationships. Or you might use pres-

tige, earning respect within your group. Perhaps you use lust, with warm and generous relationships,

or vice, creating an excitement around new experiences.

Which triggers are you alreay using to persuae others? The F Score test will help you

uncover your natural ascination talents:SallyHogshead.com/FScore.

Since we only have so much time today, lets ocus on one trigger: Mystique. Many people dont think

o their company, or their own personality, as inherently mysterious. Yet anything, and anyone, can

increase their F Score by activating the mystique trigger.

Whn numr bu rin brn,

hr n n pin r h utility h imhr pin r h trigger.

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WHAT IS MYSTIQUE?

Eye-catching enough to get noticed, yet complex enough to stay interesting. Revealing enough topique curiosity, yet shadowy enough to prompt questions. Mystique firts with us, provoking our

imaginationhinting at the possibilities yet eluding our grasp. Topics that spark our curiosity be-

come discussed, debated, and dissected, oten without ever being understood.

From an evolutionary perspective, mystique plays an important role in survival. Research proves that

the human brain seeks patterns, because patterns allow us to understand and predict our environ-

ment. When a pattern is interruptedsuch as when a puzzle has a missing piecewere hardwired to

ocus on lling in the missing inormation. Thats why clihangers and unsolved murders grip our

attention: our brains crave the security o knowing what happens next. I theres a question, we wantan answer; the greater the mystique, the more irresistible the xation.

So what, exactly, is Jgers mystery?

In German, Jgermeister translates to master hunter, though the real hunt is or a denitive explana-

tion o the precise recipe. While Jger is known to contain 56 ingredients, urban myths abound on

just what exactly they are. Some claim it has elks blood, while others insist it has opiates, or Valium,

or dissolved Quaaludes.

This legend makes the drinks taste nigh irrelevant. In act, i Jger actually tasted good, would iteven be popular?

Think back to the Pepsi Challenge: One category leader going head-to-head with another in a blind

taste test, brazenly stripping away all marketing hype in a bare-knuckle battle o taste. How might

Jager are in a blind taste test? (Weve secretly replaced Marys usual cup o coee with a shot o

Jagermeister...) Its an absurd premise, because Jger isnt competing on anything resembling ratio-

nal product benets.

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Mystique is the opposite o a blind taste test. It elevates a product beyond rational benets, adding

value and dening a brand through layers o meaning.

Heres proo o what unique meaning Jger has created around its brand. I the company did a blind

taste test, what drink would it even compete against? Kahlua? Not really. Peppermint schnaps? Hmm.

Black crayons soaked in ormaldehyde? Yeah, maybe.

Jger has no competition. This bran is irrationally, irresistibly irreplaceable. A category

o one.

The raison detre o this brand is to broadcast a partiers intentions to the world, just as socialite

might faunt her Jimmy Choos. It says youre a little more adventurous, willing to stick your toe over

the line i not hurl your body across it.

How many brands can actually induce that kind o placebo eect?

Thats why Jger is so popular among groups at bars. Its a team-building exercise, o sorts. Can you

imagine someone at home, alone, on a Tuesday evening, pouring a JgerBomb? Sure, maybe its

happened beore, but it makes about as much sense as sitting on your own lap.

Consumers can dislike a product, but love its messageand when they use that product, they love

what it says about them.

Msiqu i h ppi bin s s.I v pruc bn rin bnf.

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GREEN M&MS, BULL TESTICLES, AND SECRET RECIPES

Lots o companies pour a jigger o mystique into their brands. By staying hush-hush about thedetails, they allow consumers to participate in the mystery.

Pop Rocks are lethal i mixed with Coke, and green M&Ms are an aphrodisiac. Vox vodka wont give

a hangover, and Zima cant be detected in a Breathalyzer test. Red Bull (the other hal o the

JgerBomb) lists taurine as an ingredient, which is made with bull urine, or bull testicles, depending

on which urban myth you believe. The Big Mac has secret sauce, which sounds ar more tantalizing

than its typical name: Thousand Island dressing. And whats that 33 on Rolling Rocks green bottle,

anyway?

For KFC chicken, Colonel Sanders mixes its eleven secret herbs and spices separately, in two dier-

ent actories, to minimize the number o people who know the exact measurements. Then, just to be

sure, the company combines all eleven ingredients at a third location.

Coca-Colas secret ingredient, the cryptically dubbed Merchandise 7X, has remained a secret since

the sodas invention in 1886. The company has kept its prized list o ingredients in a vault inside the

Trust Companys Bank since 1925.*

Jger ascinates consumers to the extent that theyll not only gulp down something they despise, but

pay extra or the pleasure o doing so. What about you? How might you ascinate others by tellingthem less, rather than more?

*Spoiler Alert:In the book Fr

G, Cunr n C-C,

Mark Pendergrast outs what many

believe to be the classic Coke recipe.

Coca-Cola inventor, John S. Pemberton,

kept it in a collection o ormulas:

Ingredients:

1 oz caeine citrate

3 oz citric acid

1 oz vanilla extract

1 qt lime juice

2.5 oz avoring (no urther clarifcation

here ... could this be the mysterious 7X?)30 lb sugar

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HOW TO ACT IVATE MYST IQUE

Intriguing people make us curious to learn more. We think about them. We talk with our riendsabout them. We research them. We want to be close to them emotionally, intellectually, or physically.

Products aect us the same way.

How to increase this rare ascination trigger? It doesnt require adding anything new to a brand;

rather, you need to shit rom marketing, and into ascination. Well take a look at 7 potential strate-

gies. Even applying one or two o these strategies can elevate your audiences curiosity, and draw

them closer to learn more.

1. Withhol Inormation.

2. Spar Curiosity.

3. Raise the Rewar.

4. Buil Mythology.

5. Limit Access.

6. Stories, Not Facts.

7. As Questions (rather than giving answers).

Above all, remember: Inormation is the death o mystique. The magic trick ends i you nd out how

the white rabbit appears rom the black hat. Rather than relying on data and specicity, consider

how you might strategically withhold some o the details.

Abv , rmmbr:Inrmin i h h msiqu.

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1.Withhol Inormation.

These days, mystique has become, alas, too rare. Condentiality is all but extinct, because we have

too much inormation. Were living in a time in which we can Google anything at any time. A time

when starlets race the tabloids to announce their own expos. When companies coness to problems

beore the bloggers expose them. When Larry Flynt oers a $1 million bounty or any proo o a

sexual encounter with a high-ranking government ocial. Were surrounded by kiss-and-tell-alls. And

then theres YouTube, the ultimate mystique killer. Yet this dearth o privacy makes mystique all the

more mesmerizing, because it sparks curiosity.

To achieve lasting mystique, a brand with mystique can never give away so much inormation that we

eel certain enough to turn away and ocus elsewhere.

I Jgermeister publically announced its list o ingredients, would it still be as popular? Inormation

kills mystique as surely as fipping on fuorescent lights in a candlelit restaurant and watching cock-

roaches scurry rom view.

2. Spar Curiosity.

Topics that spark our curiosity become discussed, debated, and dissected, oten without ever being

understood: The Shroud o Turin. The Bavarian Illuminati. Area 51. From the Bermuda Triangle to

crop circles, were obsessed with certain phenomena specically because we cantexplain them. Kids,

especially, love mystique: Birthday presents, the Tooth Fairy, and limited-edition Webkinz.

Once you spark curiosity, youve increased energy and conversation around your message. Next,

increase the interest by raising the reward.

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3. Raise the Rewar

The more valued the prize, the more others will vie or the inormation required to win it. In the grips

o high-stake guessing games, people become gripped with irrational ascination: The higher the

lottery, the more people try to guess the number.

The relationship between high reward and high participation plays out in everyday lie. A tech com-

pany might regularly scour public records on Apples patent les, trying to predict its next innova-

tion. A suspicious wie might try to conrm whether her husband is having an aair by counting the

number o her husbands Viagra pills.

In the case o Jgermeister, whats the reward? Not better taste, or lower price. Instead, one might

say, its a orm o street cred. These drinkers arent just consumers, theyre participants. And as withany colossal eat o human endurance (say, climbing Mount Everest or completing the Iditarod), they

must conrm and validate their accomplishment by reiterating the diculty o overcoming the

challenge. I youve ever done a shot o Jgermeister, and want credit or doing so, you share a vested

interest in perpetuating the myth.

I the legen is alsei there arent actually orbien ingreientswell, then youre just

some ranom guy rining a plain ol nasty German igesti.

I hr qusin, n n nr;h rr h msiqu, h mr irrisibh fxin.

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4. Buil Mythology

Mythology is the collection o stories, traditions, and belies belonging to a particular group or

event. People that ascinate the media, such as Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga, Tiger Woodsthey all cultivate

mythology.

Jgers mythology writes a permission slip to unleash. Ater all, who can be held responsible once

theyve consumed legal opiate? As one bartender said, Theres drunk. And then, theres Jgermeister

drunk.

Is Jger really is mae with Quaalues an els bloo? Probably not. But thats not the

point. The genius o the bran is that people believe its mae with that stu. Or more

specifcally, people wantto believe it is.

Drinkers semi-suspend skepticism about the ingredients, therby allowing tales o their exploits to

grow ever larger and more epic upon retelling the morning ater.

5. Limit Access

Successully mysterious people and groups limit access. They maintain control by making people eel

special being on the inside. When people eel that theyre part o the select chosen ew, theyremore committed. And they make all those people on the outside want to get inside to see what all

the uss is about.

With Jger, the taste itsel limits access: only a limited number o people will tolerate it. Other brands

limit access more literally.

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6. Stories, Not Facts

Today, most acts are a commodity. Most inormation is available via some iPhone app or PowerPoint

chart. Facts alone can help with other triggers such as power and alarm, but not this one. Stories

allow others to draw their own conclusions, and retell in their own way. Religions use stories to bind

people together, as do Disney, many support groups, and even our own amilies.

Creating new stories is an integral part o the consumers expectation o their Jgermeister

experience. As so tidily described in The Jagermeister Song: Woke up on the kitchen foor /

Breath smells just like cow manure / What I did last night Im not sure / Thank you Jgermeister.

7. As questions, rather than giving answers.

Earlier, we saw how humans are hardwired to solve questions. In everyday lie, we invest a great deal

o energy into trying to gure out the answers to questions big and small. When will the economy

recover? Will Obama overhaul health care? And more importantly, are Brad and Angelina splitting up,

or having another baby?

Ater a night o drinking Jger, people oten have a ew unanswered questions the next morning.

Whatever foats inside those green-tinted bottles, one things or sure: Ater a ew shots, your memo-

ry o the evenings events could well be an unsolved mystery.

Mystique, while powerul, is only one trigger. An overall F Score also includes six other ascination

triggers to leverage: lust, power, alarm, prestige, vice, and trust. Whether we realize it or notwheth-

er we intend to or notwere already using the seven triggers in our own lives.

Unanswered questions keep us ascinated. And here might just be the most ascinating question o

all: Are you using the right trigger, in the right way, to persuade the people around you?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Growing up with the last name Hogshead would give anyone an unconventional point o view. Today, ater

surviving years o harassment on the playground, Sally is a speaker, author, and brand innovation consultant,helping companies develop messages that persuade and captivate. Clients past and present include Nike,

MINI Cooper, Afac, Cole Haan, Target, Coca-Cola and Godiva. Her new book is Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to

Persuasion and Captivation. Find out more about creating ascinating messages at SallyHogshead.com.

Sally hopes that one day, youll be able to meet and talk about your answers in person. Perhaps over a cup

o coee, or glass o wine, or... well, anything except a shot o Jgermeister.

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BORN ON dATE

This document was created on February 10, 2009 and is based on the best inormation available at that time.

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