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Being at the Iron Man is a lesson in consumer behaviour

March 24, 2014

Being at the Iron Man is a lesson in consumer behaviour

Yesterday, one of my oldest friends swam, biked and ran The IronMan AsiaPacific here in Melbourne.  I remember thinking why on earth would anyone would want to train for a year and then exercise non-stop for 12 hours pushing their body to all sorts of limits.

But it is an interesting observation in consumer behavior being in the crowd at a triathlon.

To watch those amazing athletes put one foot in front of the other and keep going to the end is an incredible experience.

To cheer these people on who are practically on their knees is an emotional experience.

I am sure once Dave has recovered and had time to reflect, he will tell me it was the best thing he has ever done.  But how did he really pull it off?  He spent 12 months training yes but it is not until you see the athletes during the event that you realise it is really a mental win.

The mind plays a huge role in being able to finish this enduring race.  Someone who is not mentally prepared may not be able to finish the race. Throughout the event, there would have times when participants felt like their bodies were too tired to finish the race.   Dave was clearly knackered in his last 10 kms.

A strong mind is obviously needed to overcome the fatigue and finish the race as quickly as possible. Endurance of the human body may be limited, but the mind can push the body beyond its limit.

So how does this relate to consumer behaviour and the insights work that BrandHook specialises in.  We think it fits with our mantra of ethnographic research – being in the space of the consumers, watching and observing as they ‘experience’ your brand or service in their natural environment.  It’s prompting and probing them on this experience and understanding the why.

The reason why the main grocery buyer parks in the same carpark, on the same day of the week, walks the same aisles and purchases the majority of products on autopilot in some ways is as hard to explain as why Dave put his body on the line for the last 12 months and especially yesterday.  We make conscious and unconscious decisions and if you don’t spend time with the consumer, you won’t understand whether it’s the rational or emotional levers driving the consumer behaviour.

Consumers don’t always do the expected things – and they will go by their own rules and ways to get to where they want to be.  It makes sense to them – just like it would have made sense to Dave yesterday.

For me, being close to the finishing line and shouting at Dave ‘you are nearly there’ helped him visualise the finishing line and I hope, kept him moving his legs.  It also made me feel part of his experience and a little teary that he pulled it off.  Imagine being a brand custodian and seeing your consumers in that light?


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