On Attraction and Appraisal


This poster from graphic designer Anthony Burrill has been on my wall for many years. It has always struck me as a beautiful articulation of how Interestingness works.

To be Interesting is to be appraised as worth thinking about. Both "I like it," and "What is it?" are appraisals.

The object of "I like it" is communicating cues of interestingness attracting the viewers’ attention prompting the response “I am involuntarily attracted to it, and it appeals to me, but I can't yet explain why.”
The second appraisal "What is It?" is more conscious. “I want to think about this more to figure out what it is, what it means to me, and why I like it.” It is worthy of further thought and discovery.
Both are vital to creating long-term memory and mental availability.
The point of being worth thinking about is so that you will be thought about and therefore increase mental availability. Interesting propositions invite reappraisal and reconsideration. That’s what makes them interesting, they are worth thinking about.

If brand growth requires constantly getting new customers to appraise the brand, then creating interest (thinking about/conscious processing) as a response seems essential to effective advertising. In the absence of new interest, people would stick with what they like instead of trying new things. As Sharp says, "When buying patterns are established and ingrained, it takes cognitive effort to break the habit. And we don’t like spending mental energy, so we keep buying the same things from the same shops in the same way." Therefore, getting more people interested in your brand/product (willing to think about it) is necessary to generate trial and growth.
So, if the job of marketing communications is to maximize the chances of your brand coming to mind, especially at decision-making moments, being worth thinking about (being interesting) is a good way to increase your chances.

As Gossage said: "An ad should ideally be like one end of an interesting conversation." It should draw the reader in and leave them wanting more.

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