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In a world of cognitive misers, where the head follows the heart, and attention determines affection, is it better to lead with a strong first impression or wait until decision time to make a last-minute move? The answer to this admittedly leading question is quite obvious to anyone who has ever watched The Bachelor, a reality tv franchise in which the titular lead has to choose their spouse from a pool of two dozen contestants. But what does this have to do with marketing? To borrow a LinkedIn trope (but at the risk of having this article end up on LinkedIn Lunatics), here is what The Bachelor franchise can teach B2B marketers about branding: 

Although the Bachelor or Bachelorette embarks on their “journeys” over the course of several weeks, many of the frontrunners are often predetermined by Night One, when they bestow The First Impression Rose (FIMP) to an early favorite. And if you look at the stats, frontrunners have a significant advantage, as first impressions often become the last impression. More than half of FIMP receivers eventually make it to the Final Four, which is widely regarded as the point when the real evaluation begins. But even more importantly, FIMP receivers have a ~4x greater chance of winning the Final Rose than the average contestant. Because the Bachelor and Bachelorette have too many options and too little time, their decisions are often more of a reflection of their cognitive biases than objective, rational evaluations.

The B2B Buyer is prone to the same cognitive biases as the Bachelor. Although the B2B Buyer’s “journey” is long and can take months, if not years, before they sign a contract, 86% of Buyers already have their choices predetermined on Day One. Of all the thousands of brands that B2B Buyers could consider, they typically only shortlist ~3 to 4 brands to evaluate. On top of that, 92% of Buyers with a “Final Four” will eventually give their “Final Rose” to one of the brands they shortlisted from Day One.

Suffice it to say, the brands that earn the First Impression Rose at the start of the buyer journey will have a much better chance of winning the Final Rose at the end of the buyer journey.

Just as brands don’t have equal chances of being evaluated, neither does their advertising. According to the theory of Selective Processes, when we’re overwhelmed with information, our preexisting beliefs influence how we select which information guides our decisions. Although this theory originates from the world of political communication, it can be helpful to extrapolate these insights into the world of brand communication. For example:

• Selective Exposure: Buyers are more likely to pay attention to ads from brands on their shortlist while overlooking (or even avoiding) ads from other brands
• Selective Perception: Buyers are more likely to interpret messages from their shortlisted brands in a way that confirms their shortlist, while misinterpreting (or even challenging) messages from other brands that may contradict their preexisting beliefs
• Selective Retention: Buyers are more likely to remember messages that support their shortlisted brands while forgetting (or even downplaying) messages from other brands

This phenomenon helps us understand why the B2B Buyer’s consideration set is a foregone conclusion before Day One of their evaluation journey. Nevertheless, so many brands end up wasting the majority of their media budget trying to “steal” the Buyer’s fragmented attention with free product trials and whitepapers. Trying to intercept a Buyer on their journey with this type of demand advertising without first investing in brand advertising is much like a contestant trying to “steal” the Bachelor’s attention before the Rose Ceremony without developing a genuine “connection” beforehand: it rarely ever works and it’s often a waste of time and resources. Said another way, if you’re not on the Buyer’s Day One List, all the advertising you do towards the bottom of the funnel is too little, too late.

To optimize your brand’s chances of getting on the Day One shortlist, here are three crucial lessons marketers can learn from studying The Bachelor.

While these lessons may sound easy in theory, we must acknowledge that these lessons can be expensive and ‘risky’ to execute in practice, requiring extensive upfront investment and buy-in. Great creativity takes guts, but our Day 1 List and 95-5 Rule research show that creative risk is a misconception. The real risk is not making an impression. No team understands the importance of memorable creative better than the folks at SAS, who increased their chances of showing up on the customer’s Day 1 list by 40% with their new campaign.

Brand Spotlight: SAS Bets Big On Creativity With Their SAS Viya Campaign

So let me ask the question again. Is it better to lead with a strong first impression or wait until the Cocktail Party to make a move right before the Rose Ceremony? Brands need to do a little bit of both, but getting the calculus right is what separates the winners from the losers, whether you’re navigating the world of marketing or the constructs of a dating competition on reality TV.