Neural Synchrony and the Science of Resonant Brands
You’ve felt it before—that instant connection with someone when the voice in your head says, “Yep, we’re friends for life. No doubt about it. We understand each other.”
Have you ever wondered what exactly is happening upstairs in these moments?
Neural synchrony is when our brain activity literally syncs up, like your iPhone to your Airpods. Incredibly, it can be measured and visualized by neuroscientists.
The foundation of this connection? Commonalities—those that are innate and those we discover and build over time.
When synchronicity is high, we feel trust, effortless enjoyment, and kinship – three things that every CMO yearns to achieve. Communication comes naturally. We comprehend each other, our ideas and emotions flow, and we more easily commit things to memory.
If you feel like you’re on the same wavelength with someone, it’s because you are.
Commonality is Synchronicity
Some commonalities arise in conversation – a shared alma mater, favorite team, career in the same field, a love of camping, and so on. But neural synchrony happens on subtler, sensory levels like appearance, body language, eye contact, word choice, and tone of voice.
Beneath these facts and subtleties, deeper commonalities can be revealed over time, such as shared values, interests, goals, and experiences. There is nothing like a good secret or an inside joke to spark a friendship. And overcoming a traumatic or triumphant obstacle will often cement a friendship for life.
Is Commonality Possible for Brands?
When consumers cry out for brands to be authentic and live their values, they’re illuminating the same lack of trust, kinship, and understanding that happens when people are out of sync.
While corporations and nonprofits don't possess physical brains, we process their communications similarly to how we process interactions with individuals. Sometimes those communications are delivered by people – employees, spokespeople, or influencers.
Most of the time, we’re indifferent to the daily deluge of messages. Spam folders overflow. Commercials become white noise. Direct mail skips from the mailbox to the recycle bin, unopened.
But our brains light up when a brand resonates with us. When it fills a need, brings us joy, simplifies our lives, stirs an emotion, rescues us at the right moment, or effortlessly accomplishes a task, our brains exhibit the same signals.
Tools to Build Connection
The concepts below aren't new, but viewing them through the lens of neuroscience reveals their deeper importance and why they’ve become popular topics at every marketing conference.
These are unidirectional—things you can control in your outbound communications. (In the future, we’ll touch on bidirectional communication like customer service, feedback channels, and live events.)
Emotional Storytelling
Perhaps the most oversaturated topic in marketing (before AI), storytelling done well checks so many boxes in building commonality. Before you default to a talking-head testimonial, invest the time to produce a slice-of-life story with your subject. Greater trust, kinship, comprehension, and memorability are the rewards.
Language & Tone
Information overload — and sometimes jargon — is a surefire way to lose your audience. In an effort to sound smart, comprehension dives low and perceived effort shoots up. Too hard to read becomes TL;DR.
Instead, talk and write like your audience. Slang, abbreviations, and jargon can work, if people “on the team” talk that way.
Design
Every design element, from colors and imagery to typography, texture, and sensory attributes, communicates values that should align with your audience and enhance the connection.
Personalization
Conversations are two-way streets. Talk my ear off and I’ll slip away. The same is true for brands, which must create dialogue rather than monologue. Craft bite-sized messages and mix in questions to provoke thought or invite feedback.
Automation
Timing is fundamental to synchronicity, so the timeliness of messages and deliveries matters. Whether it’s a home service brand using a weather event to prompt outreach, or a reminder to update my subscription payment card, timely messages resonate and build trust.
Finding Elusive Common Ground
Most marketers don’t have eye-tracking, heart rate monitors, EEG or fMRI machines, but we can start to discover the pathways to neural synchrony by understanding the audience.
Any research has value, but to truly understand an audience and their potential connections to your brand, start with one conversation… and just keep going.
It’s important to go to where they live, work, shop, play, relax, or explore. Note their communication style and language. Ask about life experiences. If it’s a product, observe them using it. If possible, walk in their shoes for a day, a week, or a year. We, too, learn and remember better when we’re in sync with our research subject, so in-person will always beat remote, if you can do it.
Everyone says business is about relationships. As a brand steward, are you willing to forge relationships with every customer? Give it a shot.
I researched this article using Notebook LM and the following sources:
Nabeel Ahmad, “The Science of Connection,” Chief Learning Officer, September 5, 2018, https://www.chieflearningofficer.com/2018/09/05/the-science-of-connection/.
“What is Neuromarketing & How to Use It?,” Neurons Inc., accessed February 23, 2023, https://www.neuronsinc.com/blog/what-is-neuromarketing.
Thalia Wheatley, Olivia Kang, and Carolyn Parkinson, “Synchrony and the Social Brain,” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 6, no. 8 (2012): 589–606, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00450.x.
Peter J. Uhlhaas et al., “Neural Synchrony in Cortical Networks: History, Concept and Current Status,” Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 3 (2009): 17, https://doi.org/10.3389/neuro.07.017.2009.
Ruth Feldman, “Brain-to-Brain Synchrony during Naturalistic Social Interactions,” Scientific Reports 7, no. 1 (December 2017): 17339, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17339-5.
