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A good friend and I got into a conversation a while back about actions and people. It’s not people we like or dislike, it’s their actions. It really got me thinking how that can be extended across to brands and products too. If consumers say they don’t like you – it’s often not your product or brand (unless you really do have a lousy product), but the actions taken on behalf of that product or brand by marketing and advertising campaigns, or people associated with the company.

Let’s look at this whole Motrin kerfuffle as a shining example. Motrin is the same product it always was, however, now there are swarms of mothers out there who say they will not use the product again. It has nothing to do with how good or bad the product is; it has to do with a choice that was made to run a specific advertising campaign. Because of this action, it has changed the perception people have of the brand and their feelings towards it.

If you think of the traditional marketing/advertising brief, there’s usually some sort of question around, “What do we want the consumer to think/believe after seeing our ad/product?”

And then there are questions around brand perception, asking what people currently tend to think of the brand or product.

If the folks at Motrin were to fill this out now vs. before the campaign, the answers to those questions would look a whole lot different, and if I lived under a rock, I wouldn’t know why a good many people have the perception of the brand it now seems they do.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to understand why people think the way they do? What “action” took place to put those thoughts in someone’s head?

What would happen if you broke down the actions that your company has taken over the last two to five years and started writing down the perceptions of your brand, company or product that people had before and after each action? Yes, I know there are focus groups and brand perception studies that do this now – but do they go to the next level?

What if you began tracking the perceptions against more than ad campaigns – anything you’ve done (donations, social media presence, etc.) – and began looking for patterns to understand what kinds of actions generally changed consumer’s perceptions – whether it be for good or bad… or indifferent.

You could suddenly start making a case for doing – or not doing – any number of things because of how your consumers *should* react (Note: no such thing as a sure thing).

It’s not just about asking why, it’s about understanding how and why your actions affect others.