UNEARTHING SUBCONSCIOUS BIAS IN WOMEN ABOUT EXERCISE
APPROACH (Regional / NYC /LA + National )
1.Discover weekly emotion changes.
2.Extract subconscious motivation (BELIEFS).
3.Identify influential motivation.
4.Test and quantify impact of motivation:
•Implicit Delta
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
1.SUBCONSCIOUS BIAS (BELIEF) = EXERCISE IS LARGELY REGIONAL
Exercise ties to regional identity, not unlike allegiance to sports teams.
MESSAGING RECOMMENDATIONS
1.NYC women need a sporting identity.
2.Female identities (e.g. who the women aspire to be) need to match the female stages of life.
3.Stories of real women were more inspiring in New York than Dream Crazier.
2.SUBCONSCIOUS BIAS (BELIEF) = THE PERCEPTION OF A WOMAN’S ROLE IS REGIONAL AND AGE DEPENDENT
Woman are viewed as inferior to men with greater responsibilities including the obligation to stay in shape.
MESSAGING RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Tackle women’s issues on a regional basis. Middle America is not ready for the revolution.
2.Sub-divide women to (i) school age, (ii) young professional, (iii) mothers and (iv) empty nesters.
3.SUBCONSCIOUS BIAS (BELIEF) = MEN ARE NOT HELPING AND MAY FEEL THREATENED
Women are not ready for empowerment or are seen as being solely responsible for their own well being.
MESSAGING RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Empower older women (e.g. mothers) within the status quo (see Kid’s slide).
2.Free apps, such as the NTC and NRC, are well received. They help women, are flexible and are free.
4.SUBCONSCIOUS BIAS (BELIEF) = WOMEN ARE INSPIRED BY SIMILARLY SITUATED WOMEN
Identity theory and inspiration is different in women. Aware of the inherent social responsibilities, women are more inspired by similarly situated women.
MESSAGING RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Ordinary stories of women with similar lives.
2.Avoid reminding women of the limitations society places on them. Inspire (e.g. let’s run up that hill together) without reminding them of everything holding them back (e.g. Society says you can’t, but let’s run up that hill).
5.SUBCONSCIOUS BIAS (BELIEF) = WOMEN ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE KIDS
1.Women are seen both by men and women as being responsible for the care of the children.
2.Child obesity reflects poorly on the mother.
MESSAGING RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Moms need special attention.
2.Children can be used as motivation by using the subconscious bias for a positive purpose.
RESPONDENT QUOTE
“This ad is about women who are at the absolute top of their game (Megan Rapinoe is an icon), but I still think there's a difference between these women whose jobs it is do be the best and regular people who have a 9-5 job and maybe don't have access to the same resources as top female athletes do. It is inspiring though, so I lowered my forecast a little bit, but I really don't think that Nike's ad is reflective of the working female population”
IMPACT OF MOTIVATION BY REGION
ACTIONS
Nike created NEW messaging based on the triggers and associated beliefs we revealed. Post message testing showed a positive impact on altering the relatable belief.
AVOIDING THE UNKNOWN DISASTER WITH Belief3
In 2021, the Colorectal Cancer Alliance and Ryan Reynolds were in the final stages of developing a major advertising campaign to raise participation in cancer screening (colonoscopies) with the goal of saving 100k lives.
Veriphix’s original task was to measure the campaign’s impact and identify additional actors/artists well-positioned to extend the campaign to underserved portions of the population. The low sample size of Belief3 enabled us to focus on specific demographics ideal for health equity related issues and allowed us to screen for individuals with specific medical conditions. We began with a baseline of the target population’s belief structure and identified influence metrics with respect to cancer and cancer prevention.
Then something happened: Belief3 exposed a negative nudge—a landmine buried in the population’s belief structure.
Colonoscopies are typically performed under some form of sedation in a hospital or specialized outpatient setting. In late 2021 and early 2022, hospitals and medical facilities required all patients to be vaccinated against Covid. Yet this was a time when opinions about the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines were split and feelings about them ran high—especially in some underserved populations. Belief3 revealed that “colonoscopy” was a negative nudge connected to beliefs about vaccines and Covid. Encouraging people to get a colonoscopy (1) implicitly pressured people to get the Covid vaccine—a vaccine they were strongly resistant to—and (2) implied that failing to get a colonoscopy would result in almost certain death. In other words, the planned campaign would have a Hollywood movie star putting marginalized people in, what they would perceive to be, a no-win situation. (Someone may have muttered “F—ing coastal elites!” when Veriphix shared its findings.) That landmine did not surface in any prior research or in any of the meetings preparing and planning for the campaign.
Had that unknown-unknown remained buried, the adverse impact on the well-intentioned movie star’s reputation and on marginalized people’s willingness to get a colonoscopy would have been measurable, but not in a good way. For the PSA to be effective and maintain Ryan’s brand health, we recommended first delaying the launch and then adding some footage of Ryan not wearing a mask. The team took it a step further and filmed business partner Rob McElhenney maskless through the same procedure.
MID-SIZED HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE COMPANY: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
DETAILED CASE STUDY
Fingercheck is a 10-year-old independent, mid-sized company in the $24B Human Capital Management (HCM) sector. This founder-led organization was looking for explosive growth and tasked their new marketing agency with analyzing the market, gaining deep knowledge of their customer, identifying the market opportunity, and executing a refreshed go-to-market strategy, including rebranding.
Veriphix applied the Belief3 suite of tools in a three-phased approach to deliver deep, nuanced, and action-oriented market and customer analysis in under 6 months and at a fraction of the cost of traditional market research and survey methods. Belief3 delivered these results using small panels of respondents and no Personally-Identifiable Information (PII).
In Phase 1, we used broad panels focused on American Entrepreneurs and their employees to identify key sales inflection points and opportunities for growth in the HCM sector. First we tracked HCM-related belief changes and used them to identify the following sales inflection points for the HCM industry: (i) new product acquisition, (ii) replacement products (switching), and (iii) feature upgrades. Then we identified new key economic indicators that correlate to the inflection points, Belief3 was able to divide the HCM market stakeholders into two distinct belief and behavior categories: (1) Knowledge Work and (2) Hourly Work.
This new understanding of the different group belief structures between Knowledge Work and Hourly Work revealed that the HCM market is saturated with products and services built for Knowledge Work. This revealed that most HCM brand names, communications and customer experiences were rooted in Knowledge Work beliefs and behaviors that do not translate well to Hourly Work Small Business Owners.
Belief3 then identified nudges that uniquely affect Hourly Work Small Business Owners. For example, B3 nudges revealed that ubiquitous Knowledge Worker terms such as “software” were believed by Hourly Work Small Business Owners to be products that were complicated, expensive, and not designed for Hourly Work Small Business Owner needs. In contrast B3 identified the term “apps” as inducing beliefs of useful business tools that were easy to use, cost-effective, and well-suited for Hourly Work Small Business Owners.
In Phase 2, we focused on U.S. states with the largest number of Hourly Work Small Businesses, (respectively FL, TX, PA, and SC) to unearth group beliefs that would guide Fingercheck’s rebranding initiative. (The rebranding initiative included naming, brand foundation (Mission / Purpose / Values), product development, messaging, and consumer experience.
During Phase 2 Belief3 unearthed a central belief for the Hourly Work Small Business Owner HCM market opportunity identified in Phase 1: Hourly Work Small Business Owners firmly believe that the people they do business with must be reliable and trustworthy. From Covid to supply chain issues, to inflation and conflicts overseas, dealing with uncertainty and seeking stability emerged as constant concerns for Hourly Work Small Business Owners. Security was also a belief central to these target customers: While overt patriotism (e.g., conspicuous “Made in America” branding) was seen as an unsophisticated ploy, subtle American themes around trustworthiness and security were very positively received.
In Phase 3, We worked with the marketing agency to design the go-to-market strategy, including the product roadmap and rebranding and deployed Belief3 message testing. First, we tested key product features to differentiate which product features appealed most to Hourly Work Small Business Owners. This allowed Belief3 to identify the core features that drive user purchases regardless of the economic state of the market. B3 also uncovered secondary values for features that customers are reticent to admit (e.g., limiting unnecessary communication between employees and management) and identified associated nudges that enable the marketing agency to reinforce those secondary values in marketing material without needing to overtly advertise. Belief3 was also able to optimize the market dependent features which allowed their selective use in sales during favorable economic conditions. This insight was used to re-prioritize products in development and create a simple app-based UI. Launch of the new Fingercheck brand is expected in the coming months.