More Business Columnists

• Stacy Sacco: Savor 'Cheese' book's lessons on tackling change
• Randy Burge: Locally grown foods grow in popularity
• Stacy Sacco: Want to develop a situation card?

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

Several years ago, when writing copy for a national advertising campaign, I contracted a bad case of writer's block. Since my boss, Monty Redfield, had many more years of experience in the ad biz, I asked for his sage advice.

Redfield said I just needed to "focus on what motivates people."

Since I'd already spent an hour racking my brain in search of perfect prose, I questioned his simple response.

"Well, then what does motivate people?" I asked.

To my chagrin, he answered: "There are only two: fear and greed. That's it."

Redfield, who are you kidding? With time, I realized his true genius. Any behaviorist worth his salt, such as Pavlov, would mirror his sentiment that we basically want to avoid pain and, conversely, want more pleasure in our lives.

The trick was to then tie this back to my ad copy. I found the answer in author Abraham Maslow's writings, and in particular Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, as a model for explaining consumer behavior.

It's actually a fairly simple theory as theories go, but I've found that it's the basis for all of the marketing decisions I've made in my career.

So how does it work? Basically Maslow believed that some needs take precedence over others. For example, if you are hungry and thirsty, you will tend to take care of your thirst first. After all, you can do without food for weeks but you can only do without water for a couple of days.

Maslow defined five levels of needs and arrayed them in a pyramid-shaped hierarchy similar to a ladder or building blocks.

According to Maslow, you first need to satisfy your physiological needs like our need for oxygen, water, food, etc. When our physiological needs are largely taken care of, we then seek out safety and security such as shelter, job security and money.

Next up is our need for love and belonging, which would include friends, companionship and a sense of community.

After that, we begin to look for a little self-esteem. Here, Maslow identified two levels in one. The lower level is external and involves your need for respect, appreciation and fame. The higher level of esteem radiates from the inside out and includes our need for self-respect, mastery and freedom.

At the top of Maslow's hierarchy is self-actualization. Although a bit hard to define, it's about becoming "all that you can be." It's when everything comes together and you begin to live your passion.

Now I think I had my answer to my question. I began by defining the boundary between the second and third levels, the physiological and safety needs, as the "survival line." You have to eat and stay out of the rain in the short run, or you could die. Conversely, you can live without anything above that line, such a companionship and status, at least for a while.

If you sell products that are related to your consumers' survival, than you'll want to motivate them with "pain" or at least create some sense of fear that their safety or physiological needs are threatened. That's why insurance companies focus their commercials on photos of burning buildings or flood damage or victims wandering the streets. Their ability to make you whole again and restore your needs is compelling.

If you have a product that falls above the "survival line" - which I would define as a "want" - then greed becomes the key motivator to drive your promotions. That's why cologne or perfume companies show users who are more attractive than their counterparts and garner the attention of an attractive suitor.

So the lesson learned was to use fear to promote "needs" and greed to promote "wants."

Since I was promoting renter's insurance at the time, which relates to safety and security, I came up with the tagline, "We protect your property . . . even when you're not home."

That definitely makes more sense than, "You'll get more dates with renter's insurance."

Sacco is vice president of marketing at Kirtland Federal Credit Union, and an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico Anderson Schools of Management and at Webster University.