Michael Aaron Flicker

And we become more graspable, more emotionally resident

when we use concrete phrases rather than abstract ones.

And the behavioral science behind this is really quite interesting.

It's 1972, Ian Begg at the University of Western Ontario recruits students and he reads them two-word phrases.

He reads them 20.

I'll just give you a few examples, Mike.

Impossible amount.

rusty engine white horse subtle fault and he challenges the participants listen to those phrases

and now write down all that you can remember.

And on average of the 22 word phrases he read, they could recall 23% of the terms.

Now that's interesting, but what was striking was that only 9% of the terms were abstract phrases like impossible amount versus concrete terms like white horse were 36% recalled.

That's a fourfold difference.

And what Begg argues is that vision is one of our most powerful senses.

So if you can picture something in your head, like a white horse or a rusty engine, you are much more likely to hang on to that thought and insert it into your mind.

And if you think of amazing brands today,

Red Bull, it gives you wings.

M&M, it melts in your mouth, not in your hand.

Skittles, taste the rainbow.

Maxwell House, good to the last drop.

These are taglines that you can imagine.