Perception Is Reality

Brand is often considered to be a "soft science", because it's difficult to directly quantify the effect of brand on a particular business. We all know we make decisions based on brand preference, but even when we do it, it can be difficult to articulate why we do it. At the same time, we all understand that brand drives market behaviors and influences company revenues.

This study, originally published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine , demonstrates how brand perception directly influences customer opinion. It describes how you can take food items and simply by wrapping them in different packaging, you can dramatically change the perception of the taste of the food. This study was conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine and involved testing 63 young children.

The researchers took identical food items and wrapped one in plain wrapping and one in a McDonald's packaging. Alarmingly, the food wrapped in the McDonalds packaging received consistently  higher scores for taste. When the food items were tested while both in plain wrapping, they were rated as tasting the same by the children.

Fries and Chicken Nuggets both rated as 6 times as tasty when wrapped in McDonald's packaging. In addition, the results were not limited to " junk food" items. Foods such as fruit juice and milk were also rated higher by the test subjects.

The study goes on to make a correlation between the degree of brand preference among the children and the numbers of  TV's in the home - suggesting that the brand preference is being driven by McDonald's  commercials. While almost certainly true, I would guess that the brand promise would also need  peer and parental validation to have this effect on the test results.