Aesthetic incongruity is a theory which relates to branding and advertising because it describes a mechanism for creating excitement and increasing perceived hedonic pleasure, as well as describing why some new products fail. Aesthetic incongruity is a flexible and creative approach with many possible manifestations, but it is a strategy which must be implemented with a delicate touch because it is ultimately about interpreting and balancing consumer perceptions of products, their expectations of those products and the incongruent features of the product, the experience design or the consumption environment.
Consumers like incongruity- it heightens excitement and hedonic pleasure- but they only like a moderate level of incongruity, and this can be difficult to determine and achieve (Bloch, 1995). Yoon (2013) describes how schema incongruency increases the favorable response of consumers, creating interest, recognition, and excitement. While there is considerable practical application of schema incongruity, there is little insight regarding the mechanism or why it works. When incongruity is not resolved, however, the result is unfavorable consumer interpretation. Lee (2016) examined the low success rate for novel features of traditional products. The competitive disadvantage of new products or products with new features was hypothesized to be related to cognition and expectations in relation to the product known as the schema congruity effect (Lee, 2016). The findings from the experiment indicated that marketers can use strategies to facilitate meaningful cognitive resolution, and this leads to consumer acceptance of the incongruity and a more favorable evaluation of the product (Lee, 2016). There is an effort and the use of cognitive resources needed in order to overcome incongruence, and this requires motivating the consumer to find meaning. An emphasis on the hedonic benefit to the consumer is a recommended approach when promoting new products (Lee, 2016). Aaker and Sengupta (2000) noted that in studies of dual process persuasion models it was found that the way that individuals respond to incongruity may be culturally specific and use different strategies for resolving incongruity in presented information. Marketers must therefore analyze incongruency strategies and interpretations as a regular aspect of marketing research.
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Good experience design refers to the maximization of hedonic pleasure in the process of considering a purchase, making a purchase, and/or using the product which fulfills needs and leads to repurchase behavior (Van Rompay & Ludden, 2015). The fact is, even when experience design in not a specific goal, all experiences impact on the context of the product, its use, and how it is assessed by the consumer (Van Rompay & Ludden, 2015). Like any product feature, experience design can add value to a purchase decision and ease consumer choice, and further it can be the medium for incongruity. Patrick and Hagtvedt (2011) investigated experience design by looking at incongruity with the consumption environment. The design salience and the extent to which it led consumers to resolve the incongruity was determined to be the critical factor.
Outcomes based segmentation refers to the identification of consumer needs clusters to determine opportunities by needs segment (Paola, Marco, & Maurizio, 2015). This contrasts with the demographic/geographic segmentation by age, income, gender and residence. Outcomes-based segmentation captures that population that might not fit the marketers’ variable determination of target audience. For example, it might be noted that females between the age of 35 and 39 are likely to be a target audience for a romantic comedy movie which has a soundtrack from the 1990s, however by actually targeting those who have the desire to see a romantic comedy movie with a soundtrack from the 1990s for reasons that the marketers are not even aware of. Marketers may discover niche markets that would otherwise have been missed by defining the external features of the most likely member of the needs population, rather than the needs population itself. Outcomes based segmentation illustrates the various theories of aesthetic incongruity, brand personality, product design and experience design because it casts a wider net to find those for whom the hedonic pleasure of incongruity is maximized by the highly differentiated product, rather than attempting to differentiate products based on marketing research regarding the targeted demographic group states that the desire and need. From the perspective of outcomes-based segmentation, defining a segment based on common features of the largest group in the needs population, and then retrofitting a product’s features, is many steps removed from just finding the people who desire the product, presumably as their resolution to the incongruity is balanced with their excitement in response to the incongruity.
A real-world example of these principles in action can be seen in the introduction of Yoplait yogurt, which inverted the typical product design of the container so that it was broader at the bottom and slimmer at the top, contrary to every other yogurt on the market (Bloch, 1995). The incongruent aspects of the product design were mitigated by the familiarity of the purchase environment of the supermarket, among other things. Had Yoplait introduced the new yogurt packaging in a size which was not standard yogurt container size, this might have tipped the scales to the negative in consumer decision making as the incongruence would not have been as easily resolved.
Aesthetic incongruity relates to branding and marketing because it helps a new product to stand out, and it provides ways of presenting old products in a new light through experience design. It relates to outcomes-based segmentation as these together provide the best way to target those individuals who desire the product or the experience, rather than determining a target and then drawing out what that target population might desire that is new or novel. Aesthetic incongruity is a powerful and persuasive marketing tool; however, it is best used sparingly as resolution of the incongruence is a necessary part of success in this process of persuading demand.
- Aaker, J. L., & Sengupta, J. (2000). Additivity versus attenuation: The role of culture in the resolution of information incongruity. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 9(2), 67-82.
- Bloch, P. H. (1995). Seeking the ideal form: Product design and consumer response. The Journal of Marketing, 16-29.
- Lee, J.L. (2016). Enhancing New Product Acceptance by Facilitating Cognitive Resolution of Incongruity and Affective Response of Excitement: Focusing on the Comparison of Hedonic vs. Utilitarion Benefit Appeal (Doctoral dissertation, Seoul National University Graduate School).
- Paola, P., Marco, P., & Maurizio, B. (2015). Outcome Based Business Model Innovation: Rethinking the Business Model Innovation. In Third 21st CAF Conference (Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 310-321). 21st century academic forum.
- Patrick, V. M., & Hagtvedt, H. (2011). Aesthetic incongruity resolution. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(2), 393-402.
- Van Rompay, T., & Ludden, G. (2015). Types of embodiment in design: The embodied foundations of meaning and affect in product design. International journal of design, 9(1).
- Yoon, H. J. (2013). Understanding schema incongruity as a process in advertising: Review and future recommendations. Journal of marketing communications, 19(5), 360-376.
