Unleashing Consumer Psychology: The Betty Crocker Marketing Lesson

In the 1950s, General Mills launched the Betty Crocker brand, which consisted of dry ingredients plus eggs and milk in a powdered form. The consumer needed only to add water to the product and bake it. Although this innovative product would save the baker time, General Mills faced some challenges. In this article, I will discuss the importance of psychology when creating and launching a product.

  Despite the product saving time for the consumer, it all boiled down to one psychological word: guilt. According to the article “A Creativity Lesson From Betty Crocker'', “The psychologists concluded that average American housewives felt bad using the product despite its convenience.” To go deeper into the feeling of consumer psychology, when they served the cake to guests, they thought the baker spent hours making it. Consequently, this made people stop buying the product.

Traditional marketing would say to address consumer concerns directly through advertising campaigns. Meanwhile, innovative marketing suggests using an unconventional solution to the underlying consumer issue. As for General Mills, they did neither; they made a bold move and used the “subtraction technique.” According to Synthetic Creative Thinking, “The idea in Subtraction is to remove an essential component from a product and find usages for the newly created virtual product.” General Mill removed the powdered egg and allowed consumers to add an egg. After that, they launched the product with a new slogan, “Add an Egg.”

Marketers' key takeaway is conducting marketing research to understand consumers' relationship with the product and any barriers. In addition, the subtraction technique prioritizes a customer- centric approach. This approach can lead to innovative solutions that drive greater customer engagement and loyalty. Overall, customer psychology is a critical component in shaping consumer behavior. Marketers can develop products and services that align with consumers by understanding motivations, emotions, and cognitive biases.

For more insights on consumer psychology and marketing innovation, check out "A Creativity Lesson From Betty Crocker.”

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