What does evolution teach us about peacocks and Porsche buyers? Why do women's tastes in clothing become less conservative from week to week? Understanding the motivations buried deep within the human psyche offers marketers insights that could help them immeasurably in the industry.

This premise is at the core of Draftfcb's Institute of Decision Making. Matthew Willcox, the institute's executive director, has taken on topics like these in hopes of learning more about humans and the way consumers think. Thursday at Times Center Stage, Willcox introduced a fascinating talk by Vladas Griskevicius that capped off Advertising Week in style.

The evolution of the modern consumer

Willcox opened the talk with some statistics illuminating the nature of human bias. For example, 100 percent of men think they're in the top 50 percent in athletic ability, while 100 percent of students expect themselves to be in the top 50 percent of the class at the end of the term. Clearly, not everyone is evaluating his or her ability accurately.

Then the star of the program emerged. Griskevicius, who is the McKnight Professor of Marketing and Psychology at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, opened with a story about arriving in the US at age 11 and kept the audience spellbound for the rest of the program.

Griskevicius reminded the audience that the evolution of the human brain took place almost entirely before the dawn of modern civilization. As a result, we are carrying equipment built by hunter-gatherers in our skulls. That's the reason we fear snakebites more than car accidents. What's the likelihood of dying from a snakebite? It happens about three times every year, Griskevicius told the crowd, compared to the 33,000 auto deaths that do not concern us. For marketing strategies, Griskevicius was pointing out how creative teams should never think in terms of black and white.

Bad strategies may just be bad timing

In terms of breaking down complex evolutionary psychology for marketers, Griskevicius used the example of two categories often targeted. Is a consumer going after products that are popular or products that are different? To find success, he suggested considering the state of mind at the time of the consumer's life.

When it comes to consumers concerned about their family (protective, clan instincts), marketers will have more success proving to be popular (safe). If marketers are targeting young and single consumers (mating instincts), they may have more success with the "think different" approach popularized by Apple. Griskevicius brought out data his team collected about women's shopping habits next.

Women were given the opportunity to choose 10 out of 100 different products one week. A week later, they again were given the opportunity to pick 10 pieces of clothing. The choices became much sexier the second time around. What happened during the week? The women in the study were ovulating by the time they had the second go-around. Their instincts told them it was time to select a mate and their clothing should be more provocative.

From Porsche to peacock

Griskevicius then brought out the most compelling example of gratuitous beauty in nature: the peacock's tail. This 10-pound tail makes it difficult to escape from predators, yet it attracts attention better than anything else in existence. Peacocks are out to attract mates when flashing their tails.

That brought Griskevicius to his point about Porsches. Luxury vehicles are so extravagant, so wasteful, that it couldn't possibly have a root in the evolutionary mind, right? These men are peacocks, the professor explained, and the statistics show women are likelier to date men with flashy cars than those driving a boring compact car.

Women draw a distinction when it comes to choosing a mate, however. They prefer that Porsche driver for a few dates but when they want to settle down, Griskevicius noted they prefer safe mates (presumably driving a Toyota) by a huge margin.

There is so much marketers can learn about their consumers that goes beyond Big Data and mobile statistics. Griskevicius and Willcox were only scratching the surface in their presentation. Griskevicius's new book, “The Rational Animal,“ offers the main course.

This article is part of Allvoices' coverage of Advertising Week, the world's largest and most important advertising gathering. This series is supported by Advertising Week.

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