Yearning for simplicity

Two diametrically opposed approaches exist to marketing. Expressed in simple terms, one is based on the doctrine of “the more, the better”, while the other holds to the principle of “less is more”. This year’s Neuromarketing Conference in Munich was devoted entirely to the latter approach. The event, organised once again by Haufe Verlag and Gruppe Nymphenburg, was entitled “The Magic of Simplicity”.
“The more complex the means used to try and get a message across,” said Jennifer Schmidt from Psyrecon GmbH, Wuppertal, “the more advertising is required to convey this.” Above all at a time when budgets were shrinking, it was advisable to communicate advertising messages clearly and simply. Bernd Werner of Gruppe Nymphenburg Consult AG added that, while an information overload might result in a high level of cognition on the part of the recipient, it didn’t mean that the recipient would necessarily remember it any better. “More does little to help from the emotive standpoint,” said Werner. “Creating an effective emotional appeal calls for clear, reduced messages.”
On the other hand, too many stimuli give rise to stress and this prompts avoidance behaviour. The shop system of a barbecue supplier was one of the successful practical examples cited. Dr Michael Hartschen, managing director of the Swiss company Brain Connection GmbH, emphasised: “Just being different is no longer sufficient. Overtaxing the customer is to be avoided at all costs.”
Dieter Brandes of the Institut für Einfachheit (Institute for simplicity), a former longstanding managing director and member of the board of directors of Aldi-Nord, began his talk by declaring that complexity was just a vehicle for enhancing self-importance. He gave several entertaining and onomatopoeic examples, including a confusing range of tariffs advertised by German Wings and a special offer promoted by Swiss Federal Railways for Mother’s Day under the ambiguous slogan ‘All women travel for nothing’. “Just consider how such an offer would go down on German railways.” Knowing laughter by the audience demonstrated how the rhetorical question had been interpreted by the delegates.

Simplicity, Brandes continued, also ultimately had an emotional appeal. So were the attractive packagings and testimonials on display at…