Sprinkle brain
I recently came across a TikTok video of Rory Sutherland describing three categories of product attributes citing Kano theory. As he describes them, they’re table stakes (not failing at anything markedly), performance (how well it does what it’s intended to do), and delight (things that are tangential to the core function of the produce that you didn’t expect so you notice them).
This rather fun graphic also tells the story well.
My girlfriend’s daughter, who’s a couple weeks away from finishing kindergarten, is the queen of identifying delight attributes. To most of us, a donut is a squishy thing covered at least 50% in extra-sugary frosting. It’s full of empty calories but just one won’t kill us. To her, it’s simply a thing with sprinkles, preferably ones nestled into a bed of pink frosting.**
Yesterday we went to an interactive aquarium where you get to look at tiny sea creatures under a microscope and (gently and supervised) touch sea anemones and sharks, and hold hides and bones from seals and whales. As we were walking up I asked if she remembered going last year. “Yeah! That’s where I got my dolphin!” Feeling sea otter fur is cool; stuffed animals from the gift shop are exciting. The sprinkles of the sea.
I suspect most of us process information like this and just get better at giving a smarter answer as we get older. Confirmation bias suggests that we look for evidence to support what we already believe. And what if what we believe started with something silly and trivial that we felt?
For reasons beyond the control of brilliant, well-meaning people, consumer research often leads us to smart answers, but not the right ones. A focus on asking people what they think about product attributes too-often nets us, surprisingly enough, respondents parroting back facts about functional category attributes (we want cars with good gas mileage, detergent that makes whites whiter, drinks that taste better). Even a quick Q&A gives people enough time to turn off their sprinkle brain.
Strategists and brand leaders get to take this kind of data and put it in cultural context. Twist it, shake off the smart veneer, find out what’s actually going to resonate, and speak to the sprinkle brain.
**I know this not from asking her directly. I know from multiple failed experiments of bringing surprise donuts home when the donut shop was out of sprinkle donuts, and observing the emotional eruption that followed.
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I write these posts, 3-MINUTE MONDAYS, every other week. My goal with them is to share a snippet of insight into how to do strategy, build teams, and grow. Comment here or message me on LinkedIn if you want to chat. — Ben
