Marketing psychology and AI

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a significant role to play in marketing, especially as it relates to understanding and codifying psychology principles that apply to marketing, and broadening the use of psychology in marketing. To understand how to use this effectively, we need to look back at the emergence of marketing and its interrelationship with psychology.

Marketing as a field emerged in the first half of the Twentieth Century, largely driven by advances in mass media and the ability to influence a large number of people. This had been used most effectively in the world of political propaganda where psychological principles like persuasion, conformity, and obedience to authority had been used to mold public opinion or behavior in support of a political or ideological cause. Meanwhile, early marketers realized they could use thes same techniques to influence consumer choices and perceptions about a product or service.

By the 1970’s the use of psychology had extended into the concepts of brand identity and brand management, which went beyond the product. Establishing a strong brand identity created a unique design and narrative for the brand that are easily recognizable, and are essential in differentiating the brand from its competitors. Think of how brands like Nike, Apple, and Guinness dominated markets by the end of the Twentieth Century.

Jungian archetypes as a psychological framework for marketing

One of the key psychological frameworks underpinning marketing has been the application of the Jungian archetypes, a concept derived from the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung. These archetypes represent universal, mythic characters that reside within the collective unconscious of people the world over.

In his explorations, Jung found universal models across religious texts, literature, and art, spanning centuries and geographies, and so linked them to innate, universal psychic dispositions that are shared across humanity. For instance, one of these is the Great Mother which shows up in various mythologies. The Great Mother is seen in earth goddesses or fertility goddesses, such as Gaia in Greek mythology, or Isis in Egyptian mythology, and the Virgin Mary in Christianity.

While these archetypes have been used heavily in the field of psychology, in the context of marketing they help in defining a stand-out brand identity, and in crafting narratives that resonate deeply with audiences. For instance, Nike with it’s “Just Do It” mantra/tagline appeals to the Everyman archetype, which emphasizes our down-to-earth, supportive nature that values community. Check out this collection of ads from the campaign:

This application of psychology to brand marketing has typically been the preserve of large, well-funded companies, as brand agencies that do this work typically charge hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, with recent advances in Generative AI, some of the key principles of marketing psychology are now available to businesses of all sizes, including startups and non-profits.

Using Generative AI and the Jungian archetypes for marketing

Generative AI refers to a type of artificial intelligence that is capable of generating new content, whether it be text, images, music, or even code. It’s distinguished from other forms of AI by its creative capabilities. These systems are trained on large datasets to produce outputs that are original yet bear a resemblance to their training data.

They can work particularly well for creating text for marketing campaigns that can be expressed using the different Jungian archetypes. Take a look at this output from a Nustory Project where we developed a campaign to promote organic farming:

Here’s the output text in the Everyman archetype:

“Good Neighbors: We’re all in this together. Healthy fields mean a healthier community and stronger friendships.”

And this is what the tool produced when asked to use the Outlaw archetype:

“Break free from conventional constraints. Let’s cultivate our land our way, proving that organic farming isn’t just about growing crops; it’s about growing a movement.”

In these cases, ChatGPT was used to generate the multiple advertisement copy options based on Jungian archetypes. While the copy was not strong enough to put in market directly, it did offer us good directional ideas around use of the archetypes that we could refine.

These options were then tested in market through a Facebook ad campaign, seeing which option resonated more with the audience, and iterating the campaign based on the results. In one instance, we were able to see that an ad crafted with the Hero archetype had 38% higher engagement than one with the Explorer archetype.

How do these tools know so much about the Jungian archetypes? Generative AI tools use Large Language Models which have been trained using the public internet as source data. As there has been much discussion and many articles written about the Jungian archetypes on the internet, generative AI tools distill this information and use it to create new text based on the Jungian archetypes when prompted.

Goals and future directions of the Nustory project

This is a key to the Nustory initiative, where we look at how AI can reshape marketing. There are many different directions when it comes to specifically looking at this use case.

For instance, we can use this methodology to test different psychological frameworks beyond the Jungian archetypes, whether it’s the Trait Theory of Personality (including the Big Five), the DISC model, or Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

We can also apply the Jungian archetypes to different audience segments and see how they respond. For instance, are there certain communities that might identify more strongly with the Outlaw archetype? Taking this in a slightly different direction, how do motivators change over time: if the economy is in a downturn, would certain archetypes be more successful than during a time of prosperity?

There is ample space for experimentation to continue, and to refine this model, especially as we continue to see advancements in Generative AI capabilities.

Learn more

How AI Will Help Marketers Harness Psychology To Drive Consumer Purchase Decisions
Examples on how to use AI for advertising

Case study on marketing and AI
See how students at the University of Miami use AI on a marketing campaign for the Black Farmers Index