What do consumers have in common with earthquakes? Both, researchers say, broadly conform to patterns described by a formula known as Zipf’s law. In

Zipf’s Law, or the Considerable Value of Being Top Dog, as Applied to Branding

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2022-06-22 05:30:05

What do consumers have in common with earthquakes? Both, researchers say, broadly conform to patterns described by a formula known as Zipf’s law.

In the 1930s, the Harvard linguist George Kingsley Zipf found that “the” — the most-used English word — occurred about twice as often as “of” (second place), about three times as often as “and” (third) and so on.

Since then, scientists have found similar relationships between the size and frequency of earthquakes and in a variety of other natural and artificial phenomena.

Jan H. Hofmeyr, an expert on consumer behavior at Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis, said he recently discovered that Zipf’s law also applied to the brand preferences of consumers and their spending habits.

“Marketers have always known it’s better to be No. 1 than No. 2, but now you can attach a revenue consequence to that,” Mr. Hofmeyr said.