The report, called How humans decide and based on analysis of WPP Media’s database of 1.2 million consumer purchase journeys, said that ‘brand priming’ – or the influence shaping consumer decisions pre-shopping – means that 84% of purchase decisions consist of consumers choosing brands they are already biased towards before they start shopping.

The research said that this trend held up across all categories, including high-value and everyday purchases, with the proportion of primed shoppers never falling below 70%.

Brand-building communication is therefore vital, the report said, to lay the right groundwork for a brand to be in contention when a purchase decision arises.

Effective brand growth requires a deeper understanding of how consumers make decisions, the report added, focused on three critical dimensions, with the first being brand priming.

The other two factors cited are audience receptivity, covering a consumer’s openness to marketing communication and their likelihood of being influenced by it, and touchpoint influence, which is the ability of media channels to impact consumer purchase decisions.

Receptivity to a brand was a key metric in whether media reach could transfer into purchases, with people’s resistance or openness to brand communication dictating how they will respond to marketing communication.

A touchpoint’s ability to influence consumer perception and decisions also varied widely, depending on the context in which they are encountered.

The research suggested that many of the most effective channels integrate owned, shared and earned (OCE) touchpoints with paid media, with channels containing OSE touchpoints deemed three-times more powerful than paid media alone.

WPP said that marketers should therefore focus on prioritising long-term brand priming, understanding category-specific receptivity and optimise marketing for influence, not just reach.

“Current ‘golden rules’ for media planning, when applied universally, can yield only average performance,” the report concluded.

“This is because they fail to account for the inherent heterogeneity across consumers, categories, and channels.”