“Marketing isn’t just communication—it’s chemistry.”
That’s how Ritz Bernardo, Marketing Strategist at RB Multimedia Agency, opens her eye-opening interview with Financial Adviser PH. For her, modern consumerism is no longer about product features or price points. It’s about neurochemical triggers—specifically dopamine—the pleasure chemical that makes people click, scroll, and buy.
“It’s not the product—it’s the hit,” she explains. “Brands that understand the pleasure principle don’t just sell, they stimulate.”
In a landscape saturated with ads, pop-ups, reels, and promotions, Bernardo says the most successful brands are the ones that trigger anticipation. She calls it the anticipation-reward loop, and it works by priming the consumer’s brain to release dopamine before the actual reward is delivered.
“It’s not the satisfaction that hooks people. It’s the feeling before the buy, the rush of anticipation,” Bernardo says.
This is why limited-time offers, countdown timers, and last-call deals feel so hard to resist. They’re not just clever sales tactics—they’re dopamine stimuli. “Urgency isn’t pressure—it’s pleasure deferred. That’s what makes it irresistible,” she explains.
The neuroscience of buying behavior, according to Bernardo, reveals that much of what we call “loyalty” is simply a learned loop of reward-seeking behavior. Loyalty programs, she notes, are rarely about the points or perks alone. “Loyalty programs aren’t just about points. They’re about predictable hits of dopamine.”
In short, we’re not as rational as we think we are. “People think they’re making rational purchases, but most decisions happen before logic even kicks in,” she says. And once a brand makes someone feel something, logic becomes an afterthought. “When a brand makes you feel something, you’re already halfway to buying.”
This dynamic is amplified in the digital world, where attention spans are short and rewards are instant. Bernardo points to how social media and ecommerce have weaponized scroll culture. “Scroll culture wasn’t designed to inform. It was designed to reward your brain every 8 seconds,” she explains.
As a strategist, Bernardo uses this insight not to manipulate but to better understand what drives engagement, addiction, and brand recall. “You’re not loyal to the brand. You’re hooked on the feeling,” she says.
That quote, perhaps more than any other, encapsulates her philosophy—and the heart of her dopamine-based marketing framework, which she calls DopaMINE. It’s a lens through which she views the entire consumer experience—from the first ad impression to the final checkout.
She warns, however, that with great psychological insight comes great responsibility. “If you’re going to stimulate, you better understand what kind of behavior you’re reinforcing. Not all engagement is ethical.”
For marketers, this raises an important ethical question: Are we designing campaigns that empower consumers or merely trigger addictive loops? Bernardo believes there’s a line—and that professionals must choose whether to respect the psychology of their audience or exploit it.
“Marketing isn’t just about conversions anymore. It’s about controlling the experience—and that includes the chemistry behind every click,” she adds.
With consumers spending more time online than ever, and with brands constantly fighting for mindshare, Bernardo’s insights are more relevant than ever. She reminds us that attention is the currency, emotion is the vehicle, and dopamine is the fuel.
The future of marketing, it seems, won’t be led by flashy ads or viral content alone—but by those who understand what’s happening in the brain behind the screen.
