Constantinos Pantidos argues that confectionery brands can be redefined by understanding deeper human motivations, which are often unconscious and driven by biological and psychological factors. He presents a model called the 'wheel of motives' that helps marketers craft compelling consumer propositions based on fundamental human needs and desires. The document emphasizes the importance of engaging consumers on a deeper emotional level to create successful and authentic brand narratives.

1. (RE)DEFINING
CONFECTIONERY
BRANDS
THROUGH
HUMAN
FUNDAMENTALS

2. Hi! My name is Constantinos
Pantidos and I believe that
companies could improve
people’s lives even more
effectively if they had
deeper human insight.

3. For consumer satisfaction
to be as complete as
possible, we must take
care not only of the needs
consumers understand
and are able to evaluate
but also and especially
the ones they are not
consciously aware of

4. While 95% of our purchase
decision making takes place in
our unconscious, we tend to
spend a disproportionally high
time on product characteristics
and price and promotions
because they are easier to
grasp

5. Instead, this
presentation
delves into the
unconscious
mind of the
consumer

6. Biological Value Brain &
Body
Systems
Cognitive
Operations
Psychological
States
Human
Morality
Behaviour
Rewards
Engagement
The
pathways
of human
behaviour
While the models for shaping
brand strategy used by most
multinationals today ignore
the contribution of modern
sciences such as
neurobiology and cognitive
science, BRAND AVIATORS™
use a comprehensive model
having an evolutionary
foundation and a
multidisciplinary approach
enabling marketers to build
consumer propositions that
are impossible to resist

7. Our psyche consists of a code

8. We are an
ordered pattern
of fundamental
motives capable
of generating life

9. Having captured our
fundamental human
motives, the irreducible parts
of our nature, all the way
from their biological values,
to the inherent concepts they
imbue into our everyday life,
this model traces emotions
from their roots, and creates
concepts that bear the
freshness of the source.
CONNECT
CONTROL
The wheel of motives™
GROW
CARE
BALANCE
DESIRE
FEEL
SAFE
SEEK
PLAY
CREATE
DEFY
TRANSFORM
TM

10. Motive Main biological
advantages /
survival value
Possible
neurosystems
involved
Examples of
cognitive
operations
Main psychological
states
Main sociocultural
manifestations and
reinforcers
Feel safe Detection of threats,
Dissipation of fears,
Endurance via
rewards,
Creation of
optimism that
facilitates success
Reward systems
(opioid
neurosystems that
induce a sensation of
pleasure and
suppress pain), Fear
dampening systems,
Defensive system
Retrospection,
Reminiscence,
Comfort and
enjoyment,
Believing,
Increasing positive
emotions,
Constancy, Coping,
Resolution of
emotional conflict,
Incognisance,
Anthropomorphism
Stability,
Regression,
Renewal, Nostalgia,
Daydreaming,
Comfort, Hope,
Happiness, Satiety,
Plenitude, Joy, Bliss,
Instant gratification,
Reward,
Perfectionism
Postponement,
Shame, Guilt,
Humbleness, Self-
sacrifice, Narcissism
Belief systems such
as religion, Morality,
Ethics, Mores,
Folkway, Tradition,
Authenticity
Example: the pathways of our motive to feel
safe.

11. Beneath all the
phantasmagoria of
global marketing
communication, lies
order and rhythm,
the source code of
our human
behaviour

12. * A book will shortly be published,
extensively analysing the motives
underpinning 20 categories of everyday
consumer goods and our fundamental
human motives. It puts forward the
most integrated platform for engaging
people to date.
The motives for buying sweets
are presented in a summarised
form in order of increasing
relative importance in line with
their power to influence our
buying decisions*

13. INDULGENCE: On an initial
layer of motivation we
consume sweets because
they are not for
nourishment.

14. The meaning of their
purchase is precisely that it
is non-essential. We buy
them as “luxurious
indulgences”, expressions
of snobbery, gourmet at
times.

15. PLAYFULNESS: Proceeding into a
deeper layer of motivation,
some of the most successful
narratives are based on the
intrinsic capacity of sweets to
enliven us. Sweets are an
essential part of playfulness,
flirting and lifting the spirit.

16. They are things that we
do things to - we want
to handle them before
we commit them to our
tongues, where we
play with them anew.

17. As they delicately explode
in the mouth, the glucose
rush elevates the mood,
removes mental pain, and
tips the balance of life in
favour of amusement.
Above all, sweets mock
seriousness.

18. ESCAPE: More significantly,
sweets help us “get away”
from the monotonous grind
of our everyday work.
Anticipation has always
been associated with sweets
that come in huge varieties
that excite curiosity like in a
treasure hunt.

19. And we are
impatient to see the
different pieces that
each box contains,
to reach the core, to
find the gift inside

20. STRENGTH: On a deeper
layer of motivation,
what makes sweets sell
are narratives that make
us experience them as
“usable energy”.

21. Intrinsically, sugar is a
fuel producing heat and
energy and the primary
energy source for brain
cells

22. SOCIABILITY: Sweets are
democratic, unpretentious
and convivial. They are made
for sharing.

23. Sweets have always
been used to build
relationships. The most
shared product in the
world, chewing gum is
the quintessential
candy. Eating a sweet
is itself a substitute of
company.

24. DEFIANCE: The very nature of
sweets is to be ambivalent
and subversive. As is the case
with all passions, sweets are
dimorphic: We want more of
that which is forbidden.

25. METAMORPHOSIS: Sweets
are subtle, paradoxical,
alchemical, polymorphous
substances, magical objects
that change our mood

26. Our eyes open wide, our
face and body are filled
with energy, the volume of
our voice increases, we are
filled with an appetite for
life, with an appetite to
solve our bigger problems
understanding that all
depends on our mind and
our mood.

27. HEDONISM: On a more
profound layer, embodying
the inherent gustatory and
emotional pleasure of
sweets, some of the most
successful brands claim the
sensual nature of sweets as
their own.

28. Don’t we call our lover
“honey”, “sweetie”, “sugar
baby”? Don’t we often give
chocolate as gifts on a first
date? For our mind love itself
is sweet.

29. SECURITY: On the
innermost level of
human motivation,
sweets are the most
efficient emotional
compensators.

30. Humans want to have
good feelings now. The
speed with which sugar
is digested is one of the
reasons we like sweets.

31. Sugar provides swift
sensations of fullness and
satiation and with this the
feeling of security

32. Leading brands
express the
fundamental
human motives
driving their
category *
* In some cases, the
same brand can be
manifested in
different ways in
different countries

33. Deep category
understanding is just the first
step in creating engaging
narratives. To build a
proposition that is both
authentic and deeply
engaging, the brand must
germinate the bare motives
that drive the category in a
unique and profoundly
human way.

34. CONNECT
CONTROL
The wheel of motives™
GROW
CARE
BALANCE
DESIRE
FEEL
SAFE
SEEK
PLAY
CREATE
DEFY
TRANSFORM
TM
The Wheel Of Motives™ can
help us activate the unique
codes of a brand, those that
engage people at a
profound human level
based on a three-phase
methodology *
* For the complete theory about
how the fundamental human
motives work please contact the
author or wait until the
publishing of the book

35. Phase 1: Psychographic
landscaping
• Mapping the meaning people
derive from the category
• Deconstructing the meaning
systems of the brands in the
category
• Tracing meaning-saturated
areas and fundamental
motives which are catered for
less effectively

36. Phase 2: Brand (re)definition
• Locating the core of the brand
(based on the fundamental
motive(s) it activates)
• Mobilising the core to give a
unique answer to what
consumers have always
wanted from the category

37. Phase 3: The unique
language of the brand
• Imprinting brand strategy
into our fundamental human
motives, the roots of human
communication
• Translating brand strategy
into Intrinsically Engaging
Narratives™ - tangible and
ownable experiences based
on the profound code

38. To capture the deep
resonances that make
a brand successful,
and its consonances
with the category, a
profound knowledge
of the rich hierarchies
of inherent concepts
of our mind, and their
underground
connections, is
required.

39. In tracing the pathways our
mind uses to create reality and
by activating the very forces of
life, The Wheel Of Motives™
offers considerable advantages
over the brand strategy models
used by multinational companies
today. Brands and concepts
developed through The Wheel
Of Motives™ are heartfelt, and
profound.

40. Above all, by founding brand strategy on
our fundamental human motives the brand
becomes deeply humanistic in that it offers
holistic, universal experiences that no
longer simply satisfy some individual
needs but the needs of the species

41. BRAND AVIATORS™ are trusted by some of the world’s
leading companies:

42. (Re)define your brand through the
human fundamentals if you seek
to:
• Deeply engage people locally
and across cultures
• Develop genuine concepts that
work year after year after year
• Align all brand communications
under one master idea
• Increase the ROI of all your
brand’s activities

43. My mission is to help clients
around the world build brands
that liberate the very forces of
life. Contact me now for a free
discovery audit at
c.pantidos@brandaviators.com
or by clicking on the icon: