The document discusses the fundamental human motives that drive consumer behavior towards confectionary products. It identifies 12 main motives, from indulgence and playfulness to hedonism and security. These motives are described in order of their influence on buying decisions. The document argues that understanding these deeper human insights can help marketers develop intrinsically engaging narratives for their brands to more effectively improve people's lives. It presents a map showing how some leading confectionary brands are positioned in consumers' minds based on the human motives they express. The author's company, Brand Aviators, helps clients align their brand communications to these underlying human fundamentals.

1. WHAT MAKES
SWEETS SELL

2. Hi! My name is Constantinos
Pantidos and I believe that
companies could improve
people’s lives even more
effectively if they had
deeper human insight.

3. Using a multidisciplinary
approach, BRAND AVIATORS™
has captured and presents, for
the first time, the fundamental
human motives underpinning
our consumer behaviour
towards confectionery products
at the deepest levels of their
deployment …

4. … all the way from:
• their biological value
• to the neurosystems they engage
• to the cognitive operations and
psychological states they activate
• to the major social reinforcers they
cause and
• to the rich hierarchy of inherent
concepts they infuse into our
everyday life.

5. This methodology helps
marketers develop
Intrinsically Engaging
Narratives™

6. The motives are presented in
order of increasing relative
importance in line with their
power to influence our
buying decisions

7. INDULGENCE: On an initial
layer of motivation we
consume sweets because
they are not for
nourishment.

8. The meaning of their
purchase is precisely that it
is non-essential. We buy
them as “luxurious
indulgences”, expressions
of snobbery, gourmet at
times.

9. PLAYFULNESS: Proceeding into a
deeper layer of motivation, some of
the most successful narratives are
based on the intrinsic capacity of
sweets to enliven us. Sweets are an
essential part of playfulness, flirting
and lifting the spirit. They are things
that we do things to - we want to
handle them before we commit them
to our tongues, where we play with
them anew.

10. As they delicately explode
in the mouth, the glucose
rush elevates the mood,
removes mental pain, and
tips the balance of life in
favour of amusement.
Above all, sweets mock
seriousness.

11. ESCAPE: More significantly,
sweets help us “get away” from
the monotonous grind of our
everyday work. Anticipation has
always been associated with
sweets that come in huge
varieties that excite curiosity like
in a treasure hunt. And we are
impatient to see the different
pieces that each box contains, to
reach the core, to find the gift
inside.

12. STRENGTH: On a deeper
layer of motivation,
what makes sweets sell
are narratives that make
us experience them as
“usable energy”.
Intrinsically, sugar is a
fuel producing heat and
energy and the primary
energy source for brain
cells.

13. SOCIABILITY: Sweets are
democratic, unpretentious and
convivial. They are made for
sharing. Sweets have always
been used to build relationships.
The most shared product in the
world, chewing gum is the
quintessential candy. Eating a
sweet is itself a substitute of
company.

14. DEFIANCE: The very nature of
sweets is to be ambivalent
and subversive. As is the case
with all passions, sweets are
dimorphic: We want more of
that which is forbidden.

15. METAMORPHOSIS: Sweets are
subtle, paradoxical, alchemical,
polymorphous substances,
magical objects that change our
mood: Our eyes open wide, our
face and body are filled with
energy, the volume of our voice
increases, we are filled with an
appetite for life, with an appetite
to solve our bigger problems
understanding that all depends
on our mind and our mood.

16. HEDONISM: On a more
profound layer, embodying the
inherent gustatory and
emotional pleasure of sweets,
some of the most successful
brands claim the sensual nature
of sweets as their own. Don’t
we call our lover “honey”,
“sweetie”, “sugar baby”? Don’t
we often give chocolate as gifts
on a first date? For our mind
love itself is sweet.

17. SECURITY: On the innermost
level of human motivation,
sweets are the most efficient
emotional compensators.
Humans want to have good
feelings now. The speed with
which sugar is digested is one
of the reasons we like sweets.
Sugar provides swift sensations
of fullness and satiation and
with this the feeling of security.

18. This map
illustrates the
way some
leading brands in
the confectionary
business are
positioned in the
consumers’ mind

19. Successful brands
coherently express
the fundamental
human motives
driving their
category

20. BRAND AVIATORS™ are trusted by some of the world’s
leading companies:

21. (Re)define your brand through
the human fundamentals if you
seek to:
• Deeply engage people
locally and across cultures
• Develop genuine concepts
that work year after year
after year
• Align all brand
communications under one
master idea
• Increase the ROI of all your
brand activities

22. My mission is to help clients
around the world build
brands that liberate the very
forces of life. Contact us now
for a free discovery audit by
clicking on the icon: