The use of mimicry to improve evaluation of unsought beverages

The chameleon effect in customer relationship management: Experiments on the spillover effects of mimicry in natural settings of a chain hotel and a chain grocery shop

“…From a more general perspective, the results support previous findings (e.g., Tanner et al, 2008 ; Jacob et al, 2011 ; Kulesza et al, 2017 ) which show that spillover of mimicry is an important phenomenon from the perspective of marketing/business psychology. Previously it was shown that mimicry, despite aiding in selling more products to the mimickee, can also create a positive evaluation of the entire company/organization that mimicker represents ( Jacob et al, 2011 ).…”

“…The literature demonstrates that mimicry positively influences the perception of the mimicker (e.g., Chartrand and Bargh, 1999 ; Kulesza et al, 2022a ), and this effect can spillover to the products ( Tanner et al, 2008 ; Kulesza et al, 2017 ), and to the entire company/organization that the mimicker represents ( Jacob et al, 2011 ). The presented studies correspond to the research gap related to mimicry and its spillover potential by systematically verifying, in different contexts, the issue of spillover effects of mimicry and conceptually replicating the result previously reported by Jacob et al (2011) .…”

“…As a consequence of mimicry manipulation, participants changed their evaluation of the drink: it became much more positive ( Tanner et al, 2008 ). In the context of drinks, it was also shown that poor-tasting beverages can, in terms of mimicry manipulation, become tasty drinks that are worth buying ( Kulesza et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Mimicry led to more positive opinions concerning isotonic soda, even when participants were notified that the marketer has a personal interest in this research. Treating the described work as a launching pad, another team wanted to investigate if mimicry changes the initial opinion of the drink to a more positive one (if an initial assessment was negative, it would become more favorable after imitation), or strengthens the existing one (if an initial assessment was negative, it would become even less favorable after imitation; Kulesza et al, 2017 ). To test this, participants were provided with poor-tasting isotonic drinks and during testing as well as the interview they were mimicked (or not) by the marketer.…”

“…Mimicry in both laboratory and natural settings creates trust ( Maddux et al, 2008 ; Swaab et al, 2011 ) and rapport ( Muir et al, 2020 ), it also influences purchasing decisions ( Tanner et al, 2008 ; Jacob et al, 2011 ; Stel et al, 2011a ; Kulesza et al, 2014b , 2017 , 2019 , 2022b ; Christie and Chen, 2018 ) by eliciting susceptibility to the persuasiveness of the mimicker ( Van Swol, 2003 ; Drury and Van Swol, 2005 ). On this grounds, it may be assumed that research on mimicry and its spillover potential has focused mainly on products, and only partially considered the crucial aspect of spreading the benefits of mimicry to the entire company/organization.…”