Buyology

From the publisher:

Based on the single largest neuromarketing study ever conducted, Buyology reveals surprising truths about what attracts our attention and captures our dollars. Among the long-held assumptions and myths Buyology confronts:

Sex doesn't sell - people in skimpy clothing and provocative poses don't persuade us to buy products.

Despite government bans, subliminal advertising is ubiquitous - from bars to supermarkets to highway billboards.

Color can be so iconic that the sight of the robin's egg blue of a certain famous jewelry brand significantly raises women's heart rates.

Companies shamelessly borrow from religion and ritual - like the ritual, made up by a bored American bartender, of drinking a Corona with a lime - to seduce our interest.

"Cool" brands, like iPods, trigger our mating instincts.

The fact is, so much of what we thought we knew about why we buy is wrong. Drawing on a three-year, 7 million dollar, cutting-edge brain scan study of over 2000 people from around the world, marketing guru Martin Lindstrom's revelations will captivate anyone who's been seduced - or turned off - by marketer's relentless efforts to win our loyalty, our money and our minds.

Packed with entertaining stories about how we respond to such well-known products and companies as Marlboro, Calvin Klein, Ford, and American Idol, Buyology is a fascinating tour into the mind of today's consumer.

The author's site is here - and if you sign up you receive a complimentary chapter from the groundbreaking book BUOLOGY and you'll also receive Lindstrom's award winning brand education letter in your inbox every month.
Ideal for your English - and your Business Studies!

You can also get a free Press Pass:

"Here you'll find everything you need to know about Buyology and author Martin Lindstrom. Simpy follow the navigation bar above to access the Chapter-by-Chapter video explanation of the book, latest news, press releases, Martin's biography, hard facts, Martin's article archive, and the high resolution photo library.

The Buyology Press Portal also includes more than 40 broadcast quality videos as well as extensive b-roll footage in six different NTSC and PAL formats. To access the video broadcast library (Facts and Q&A or Video Library), you need to register for a free press pass. If you already have the pass, simply sign in with the password below."

This is what the Financial Times thought of the book (extract only):

"Unfortunately, Lindstrom’s book is more speculation than serious science. Little of it actually reports on his own neuro-research; the rest consists of marketing war stories that are rehashed with speculative spin on unrelated topics such as mirror neurons and neurotransmitters.

According to him, all you have to do is look at a shiny digital camera and “wham, before you know it,” your brain is flush with dopamine and “a few minutes later, you exit the store, bag in hand”. Why, then, do we not buy every shiny object we see?

A defining feature of mirror neurons is the disconnect between the observer’s internal brain activity and his external, observable actions. But Lindstrom turns this into its opposite. You look at a Gap window display and see a picture of a gorgeous model wearing its clothes. Your mirror neurons make you imagine yourself as equally good-looking and “override” your more rational thoughts. “You just can’t help it”, declares Lindstrom, you go into the store and buy. Many Gap marketers must be thinking “if only Lindstrom was right”.

Lindstrom’s own research did not actually investigate the effects of dopamine and mirror neurons. But it did include functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging brain scans of people looking at brand icons and religious icons. He reports evidence that both trigger activity in the same parts of the brain, and uses this to draw the conclusion that the emotions generated by religious belief and by iconic brands are “almost identical”. That’s a huge claim. But according to Professor Gemma Calvert of Warwick University’s Applied Neuroimaging Group, who actually conducted the research, these particular results were only weakly statistically significant.

There’s little doubt we have a lot to learn from neuroscience. But for this we need thorough, careful research accompanied by thorough, careful analysis and reporting."

Watch these....

And now for comedy....