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🤔 Did you know…

In 1995, former NFL star O.J. Simpson was on trial for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend.

A key piece of evidence was a glove found at the scene that contained the DNA of Simpson, his wife, and her friend.

When Simpson was asked to put it on, he was unable to squeeze his hand inside.

His defence lawyer famously turned to the jury and said, “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit”… and the jury did.

Using rhyme to shape an argument is surprisingly persuasive.

Let’s dig in…

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Imagine this…

You’re scrolling through your social media feed and an ad for a travel mug catches your eye.

It’s not the flashy image or the bold font that grabs your attention; it’s the headline:

‘Sip and zip’.

“That’s cute”, you think to yourself.

Then you keep scrolling.

A few hours later, your friend asks you for a travel mug recommendation… suddenly you remember ‘sip and zip’ and suggest the mug from the ad.

What was it about that ad that stuck with you?

In today’s edition of Why We Buy 🧠 we’ll explore Rhyme as Reason—why we perceive statements that rhyme as more believable than those that don’t.

Let’s get into it…
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🧠 The Psychology of Rhyme as Reason

A rhyme makes a message stick like glue in your brain. The science suggests that rhyming phrases are easier to process and that’s why they’re so memorable.

In 1999, psychologists Matthew McGlone and Jessica Tofighbakhsh set out to test whether poetry impacted the perception of truth.

They collected a bunch of pithy statements and then created new statements by dropping the rhyme but keeping the meaning so ‘woes unite foes’ became ‘woes unite enemies’. They then tested them with a group of volunteers.

It turns out the statements that rhymed were judged to be 22% more accurate than the ones that didn’t. Bananas 🤯

What does this mean for smart marketers?

If you want to craft a persuasive promise… it might be time to rhyme. (#sorrynotsorry)

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🤑 How To Apply This

Alright, so how can you apply this right now to sell more?
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Branded slogans​
Position your brand the go-to product

Heinz has been one of the top canned beans brands for decades. Their beans certainly are tasty, but it’s their famous slogan that helped them own the category in buyers’ minds.

The slogan: ‘Beanz meanz heinz’

Heinz wants potential buyers to know that when they think beans, they should be thinking Heinz. Because if they do, they’ll be more likely to buy.

And the slogan was so good, it was voted the ‘Best Advertising Slogan of All Time’ in 2012.
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Promo copy​
Make your website copy singggggggg

Gillette famously wrote their tagline ‘Gillette–the best a man can get’.

They clearly know the power of rhyming. So it’s not surprising to see that they’ve sprinkled another rhyme on their website to promote their Valentine’s date promotion:

‘Valentine’s hits that won’t give you the nicks’

This subtle use of rhyme makes the message more believable. And with a brand valuation of $6.6 billion, it seems to be working for Gillette.

E-commerce​
Create ads by remixing beloved rhymes

Since starting out, Innocent Smoothies has made a splash with its distinctive and out-of-the-box branding.

One clever thing they did was jump on the back of rhymes that are universally recognized.

We all know the rhyme ‘easy peasy lemon squeezy.’ Innocent took that famous rhyme and made it their own with this ad.

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💥 The Short of It

Consumers see thousands of marketing messages each day. They can’t possibly remember it all. You’ve gotta find ways to stand out.

Rhyming jingles and slogans may not be as popular as they were back in the day, but that’s too bad because they’re still hella persuasive.

As the old saying goes, a rhyme a day keeps the bankruptcy away.

(Ok. That’s not an old saying. We made it up. But pretty convincing, right?

Until next time, happy selling!​

P.S. Wanna *really* get inside your buyer's head?

There are a few ways we can help: