Psychological drivers and subliminal cues in modern marketing: Strategic applications for brand recognition, sales growth, and sustainability of agribusiness startups

Introduction

Modern marketing has increasingly shifted from a product-centred approach towards a consumer-centred approach, in which understanding consumers' thoughts, emotions, perceptions, motivations, and decision-making processes has become critically important for business success (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Consumer behaviour is influenced not only by functional characteristics such as price and quality but also by intrinsic psychological factors such as trust, emotions, values, perceptions, and previous experiences (Solomon, 2018). These psychological factors play an important role in shaping consumers' responses towards products and brands, heavily dictating brand consideration, choice, and post-purchase behavior. The importance of consumer psychology and marketing cues is particularly relevant to the agribusiness sector. Agribusiness startups today operate in increasingly competitive, digitally mediated markets involving agricultural inputs, food products, processed foods, health-oriented natural products, farm technologies, and direct-to-consumer businesses. In this competitive landscape, agricultural and food products are often evaluated through extrinsic cues related to quality, safety, authenticity, health, sustainability, and trust, largely because the intrinsic attributes are often credence characteristics that cannot be verified prior to consumption (Grunert, 2005) [1] . Agribusiness startups, therefore, require highly effective marketing strategies to communicate product value, establish consumer trust, differentiate their brands, and develop sustainable market relationships (FAO, 2017). In modern marketing, subliminal and subtle cues refer to stimuli presented below or around the threshold of conscious awareness that may influence subsequent psychological responses or behaviour under certain conditions. Marketing communication uses subtle visual and sensory elements such as colours, typography, logos, packaging, imagery, music, voice tone, and product presentation to influence consumer attention, perception, memory, and emotional responses. Research on subliminal priming suggests that exposure to certain subtle stimuli can influence subsequent judgments and behavioural responses, although such effects depend strongly on the context and conditions in which the stimuli are presented (Huang & Murnighan, 2010).

The development of agricultural entrepreneurship and startup ecosystems in India has created new opportunities for innovation, value addition, market linkages, and direct marketing of agricultural products. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has supported various initiatives related to agri-startups, incubation, and market linkages, highlighting the increasing importance of entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector. For agribusiness startups, effective branding can help differentiate products from competing offerings and communicate attributes such as quality, authenticity, health, sustainability, and trustworthiness. However, comparatively limited attention has been given to the combined application of psychological drivers and subliminal/subtle cues specifically within the context of agribusiness marketing. Therefore, the present study focuses on examining psychological drivers influencing consumer trust and adoption, evaluating the role of subliminal cues in brand recognition, analysing their relationship with sales growth, and proposing a sustainable marketing strategy for improving competitiveness and developing long-term brand loyalty among agribusiness startups.

Objectives of the study

To study the psychological drivers influencing consumer trust and adoption of agribusiness products.

2.

To evaluate the role of subliminal and subtle marketing cues in influencing brand recognition.

3.

To analyse the impact of psychological drivers and marketing cues on sales growth of agribusiness startups.

4.

To develop sustainable and consumer-oriented marketing strategies for agribusiness startups based on psychological insights and marketing cues.

Literature review

The theoretical foundation of this study is grounded in interdisciplinary research spanning consumer psychology, sensory marketing, and agribusiness management.

Psychological drivers and consumer trust

Erdem et al. (2004) [2] examined the role of brand credibility in consumer consideration and choice across different product categories. Brand credibility was considered in terms of trustworthiness and expertise. The study found that credible brands were more likely to be included in consumers' consideration sets, which is particularly critical in situations involving greater uncertainty and perceived consumption risk. In agribusiness, consumers frequently face uncertainty regarding food quality, safety, and production claims, making credibility a paramount driver. Furthermore, Yeh et al. (2020) [3] demonstrated that trust is an essential consideration when consumers evaluate attributes that cannot be directly verified. Parwez et al. (2022) [4] examined antecedents of behavioural intention towards organic food in India, finding that trust had a positive and significant influence on purchase intention through attitude towards organic food. This connects trust directly with the psychological process underlying consumer intention in the Indian market.

Role of subliminal and subtle marketing cues

Trappey (1996) [5] conducted a meta-analysis of research on subliminal advertising and consumer choice, finding a small overall effect, which suggests that claims about subliminal messages directly controlling consumer behaviour should be treated cautiously. However, subtle and symbolic cues significantly alter perception. Machiels et al. (2016) [6] indicated that packaging characteristics such as shape, size, colour, and imagery communicate symbolic meanings and influence consumers' perceptions of a product. Recent research by Rehman et al. (2024) [7] indicated that symbolic and visual packaging elements can positively influence brand image, perceived brand quality, and purchase intention. Timpe Callebaut et al. (2026), in a meta-analysis covering visual packaging elements, provided comprehensive evidence that colour, material, logos, and text design heavily dictate product inferences and behavioural responses, establishing the role of visual design in decision-making.

Sustainable marketing and sales growth

Sustainability has particular importance in agribusiness. Magnier and Schoormans (2015) examined consumer responses to environmentally friendly packaging and found that visual design and environmental attitudes intertwine to affect consumer evaluations. More recently, Macready et al. (2025) [8] found that trust moderated the relationship between consumer motivations for sustainable living and their actual intention to make sustainable food choices. This indicates that sustainable marketing strategies must be supported by credible information and robust trust-building mechanisms to realize sales growth.

Data and Methodology

Research design and study area

The present study adopts a descriptive and analytical research design based on primary data to examine the impact of psychological drivers and subliminal/subtle marketing cues on consumer behaviour towards agribusiness products. The descriptive component profiles the respondents and gauges their baseline perceptions. The analytical approach utilizes statistical modeling to examine the relationships between these psychological drivers, marketing cues, brand recognition, and sales-related outcomes. The study area was selected purposively to cover consumers and stakeholders who have consistent exposure to modern marketing channels, social media, digital advertising, and ecommerce platforms.

Sampling design and sample size

Due to the broad nature of the consumer population, a combination of convenience sampling and purposive sampling techniques was utilized. Convenience sampling ensured access to respondents willing to participate, while purposive sampling ensured that respondents possessed relevant experience with modern marketing and agribusiness products. A total valid sample of 95 respondents was achieved and considered for the final data analysis.

Data sources and measurement variables

Primary data was collected directly from the 95 sampled respondents via a highly structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into specific sections targeting respondent demographics, consumer perceptions, brand awareness, psychological drivers, subliminal/subtle marketing cues, brand loyalty, and sustainability indicators. Most constructs were measured using a five-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree).

Analytical tools

The collected primary data were systematically classified, tabulated, and analysed. Descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation, were used to summarize the data and rank the severity or importance of various drivers and cues. A lower mean score on the Likert scale encoding (where lower values correspond to higher agreement ranks) indicated stronger agreement. For analytical purposes, multiple regression analysis was applied to examine the influence of the independent variables (psychological drivers and marketing cues) on the dependent variables (brand recognition and sales performance). Hypothesis testing was evaluated at the 5% level of significance (p < 0.05).

Results and Discussion

Demographic profile of respondents

The demographic profile of the respondents (n = 95) provides critical context regarding the consumer base engaging with agribusiness startups. The age distribution indicated a predominantly young sample, with 73.68 per cent of respondents belonging to the 21-30 years age group, while 10.53 per cent were below 20 years, and 10.53 per cent were between 31-40 years. Male respondents accounted for 74.74 per cent of the sample, whereas females constituted 25.26 per cent. Occupationally, students formed the largest group (46.32%), followed by consumers (30.53%), farmers (14.74%), and entrepreneurs (8.42%). Regarding brand awareness, 77.89 per cent of the respondents confirmed their awareness of agribusiness startup brands, indicating substantial market visibility. Furthermore, a combined 76.84 per cent of respondents purchased agribusiness or organic products either regularly (25.26%) or occasionally (51.58%). Brand image was identified as the primary factor influencing purchase decisions (28.42%), followed by price (22.11%), recommendations (21.05%), product packaging (16.84%), and emotions/values (11.58%). These demographic baseline metrics validate the sample's engagement with the research context.

Psychological drivers influencing consumer trust

Understanding the psychological mechanisms that drive consumer trust and product adoption is paramount. Four major psychological drivers were analyzed: Authenticity & Transparency, Personal Values, Emotional Storytelling, and Discounts & Offers. Table 1 presents the mean scores, standard deviations, and relative rankings of these drivers.

Psychological Driver Mean SD Rank

Authenticity & Transparency Discounts & Offers recorded the highest mean (2.3684), relegating it to the fourth rank. This suggests that contemporary consumers prioritize trust, authenticity, and alignment with their personal environmental/health values over traditional price-based incentives.

To validate this, a regression analysis was performed with overall psychological drivers as the independent variable. The results yielded a Multiple R of 0.93379 and an R 2 of 0.87197, explaining 87.20 per cent of the variation in the dependent variable (consumer adoption). The F-value was 633.37 with a highly significant p-value (2.73E-43).

The regression coefficient (𝛽 = 0.8193) confirms a very strong positive influence. Consequently, the null hypothesis is rejected, solidifying that psychological drivers significantly influence consumer trust and adoption.

Role of subliminal and subtle marketing cues

Subtle and visual marketing cues communicate product-related meanings that influence perception and memory. The study assessed four cues: Logo/Colour Scheme, Hidden Messages/Emotional Appeal, Colours/Fonts/Visuals, and Subtle Background Music/Voice Tone. Logo and colour schemes ranked first (Mean = 2.0105), indicating they possess the strongest influence on consumer recall among the tested variables. When subjected to multiple regression analysis to test their influence on brand recognition, the overall model was highly significant (R 2 = 0.76579, F = 73.57, p = 1.52E-27). Individual coefficients revealed that colours, fonts, and visuals (𝛽 = 0.5596, p < 0.001), background music and voice tone (𝛽 = 0.5639, p < 0.005), and logo/colour scheme (𝛽 = 0.5593, p < 0.001) all possessed significant independent predictive power. Interestingly, hidden messages/emotional appeal were not statistically significant independently (p = 0.576). This indicates that observable, coherent visual and sensory elements reliably predict brand recall better than obscured, strictly subliminal messaging.

Integrated impact on sales growth

To evaluate the cumulative impact on the commercial viability of agribusiness startups, an integrated regression model mapped overall psychological driver impact and overall subliminal/subtle cue impact against sales performance (incorporating repurchase intention, recommendation behaviour, and sustainability perception).

Predictor Variable Coefficient (β) p-value

Overall Psychological Driver Impact 0.12377 0.026985 Overall Subliminal/Subtle Cues 0.49974 7.53E-22

The integrated regression model demonstrated a robust relationship with a Multiple R of 0.88667 and an R 2 of 0.78618. This denotes that 78.62 per cent of the variation in sales performance is explained by this integrated model. The overall F-value was 169.13 (p = 1.52E-31). As detailed in Table 3, both predictors were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Notably, the coefficient for subliminal/subtle cues (

Conclusion and policy implications

The empirical findings of this study establish that psychological drivers and subtle marketing cues fundamentally dictate the modern marketing efficacy of agribusiness startups. In an increasingly saturated digital market, consumer decisions transcend the traditional functional evaluation of product quality and price. Instead, choices are deeply intertwined with trust, authenticity, emotional engagement, and visual brand identity. Authenticity and transparency ranked as the foremost psychological drivers. Consequently, agribusiness startups must prioritize building credibility through honest, transparent supply chain communication and ethical sourcing claims. In parallel, consistent visual and sensory marketing elements-most notably logos, colour schemes, and cohesive typography-serve as critical mechanisms for strengthening brand recognition and recall. The study invalidates the reliance on strictly 'hidden' subliminal messages, advocating instead for coherent, observable sensory marketing. With the integrated regression model explaining over 78 per cent of the variation in sales performance, it is evident that these psychological and sensory dimensions directly facilitate commercial growth. For sustainable business development, it is recommended that agribusiness enterprises integrate value-based promotion, emotional storytelling, and aesthetic consistency. Policymakers, incubators, and agricultural extension agencies supporting agri-entrepreneurship should incorporate capacity-building programs focused on digital branding, consumer psychology, and packaging semiotics to ensure these startups maintain long-term market competitiveness.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors sincerely express their gratitude to all the respondents who provided valuable information, insights and cooperation during the course of this research. We are thankful to the faculty members and research guide of the Division of Agribusiness Management, Dr. Sharadchandra Pawar College of MBA (Agri.), Baramati, for their valuable guidance, constructive suggestions and continuous support throughout the study. We also acknowledge Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, for providing the academic platform for undertaking this research.

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12. How to cite this article: Pingale GT, Gadhave A, Pisal M, Deokate P, Shitole P. Psychological drivers and subliminal cues in modern marketing: Strategic applications for brand recognition, sales growth, and sustainability of agribusiness startups. International Journal of Agriculture and Food Science. 2026;8(9):742-745. doi: https://www.doi.org/10.33545/2664844 X.2026.v8.i9j.1948