NeuroMarketing
Buy.ology, the book by Martin Lindstrom is a new take on marketing. In this book he tries to delve deep into the consumer's subconscious to learn, ‘why we buy what we buy’. After testing a lot of techniques, he has devised a new way to revolutionize the marketing industry. He also has a lot of findings from the experiments that he has conducted.
I would like to discuss the key points and findings of his experiments. According to Lidstrom, our subconscious is in the favor of our emotions every time there is a conflict between feelings and rational thought. Thus it's very important for brands to relate to the customer at an emotional level. George Loewenstein, a behavioral economist from Carnegie Mellon University has this to say; “Most of the brain is dominated by automatic processes, rather than deliberate thinking. A lot of what happens in the brain is emotional, not cognitive.” (p. 13) But just because emotions sway us, doesn't mean we do not close down to all the ads that are constantly put in front of us through various mediums. Thus product placement has a chance of success only if its fully mingled into the show. For example Lindstrom states the success of Coca-Cola by saying, “Whether through semi-subtle imagery or traditional advertising spots, Coca-Cola is present approximately 60 percent of the time on American Idol.” (p. 18) It should be very subtle, well placed and not explicitly mentioned (Lindstrom p. 48). Continuing on the thought of subtle, the brand message should be subliminal . Any kind of direct mention will lead customers to shut the advertising out as discussed. Subtlety also means no explicit logo display should be done. In certain cases like luxury brands, the logo actually increases the value of the product, but for other products in the normal category, customers tend to open their minds to the ad if no explicit logo display is done. Apart from being subtle, Lindstrom has found utility in ritual. According to him, we live in a very fast paced and changing world. And most of us need an anchor to provide the feeling of belongingness. Ritual or even superstition can provide this anchor. Thus some brands can bank on this. Like Oreo shows us the way to ‘dunk and lick’ a biscuit (which is sort of a ritual). “Oreo is not just a cookie, it’s a ritual,” Mike Faherty (p. 39) It provides us the sense of security and thus we do buy such products. Most of the advertising medium today are visual, or audio visual. But Lindstrom asked marketers to involve more senses. The more senses the marketing engages, the more chances of success it has. For similar reasons, many luxury hotels have now started hiring expert perfumers, to create customised aromas, so that it can help customers recall the whole experience, just at a wiff of something similar. Similarly, different kind of music affects us differently. If there is good music playing, that we associate with a particular place, say spanish music is playing, the probability of our buying something that reminds us of Spain goes up considerably. After trying all the methods, marketers had discovered the shock value of showing erotic content in the ads. But according to Lindstrom, such kind of advertisement actually acts like a 'Vampire' and sucks the attention away from the actual product or brand. “Sex doesn't sell anything other than itself” (Linstrom p. 66) This cannot be good news for brands that are trying to create brand recall among customers. Thus after experimenting on all the aspects of advertising, Lidstrom, suggested that the neurons that are responsible in our brain (mirror neurons) to make the decision of to buy or not to buy, should be specifically targeted.
Lindstrom, thus explored a lot of theses that were already in existence, but the method of targeting mirror cells in the brain was novel. The scans, serve as a proof of his thesis. But how dependable these are, will only be tested with time.
The idea of 'being subtle' is not exactly novel, but in a world where all marketers are becoming increasingly fierce and aggressive, the proposal is sort of counter intuitive. But our transition from singing our favorite ad jingles, to shutting out any noise that remotely resembles an ad, might warrant such an approach. Thus some ideas are new in the book, and some are vaguely familiar concepts.
The ideas presented here are concerning marketing and how to tweak advertising so as to make a product successful. Hence the literature that has been taught in the marketing and business classes about product placement sounds similar. This books idea builds on the basic theory that is taught in the classes. It also points out some of the differences that have come in the marketing landscape, since the basic theories were propounded. Thus the book was like bringing myself up to date with times, and learning about things that work in the changed world.
Managers in this world are all trying to figure out ways to sell more, and build lasting brands and capture that ever shrinking pie of the consumer's disposable income.
Hence any hint a manager can get, as to what to avoid in his marketing campaign, and how to rather do it, I think they would like it. Moreover, a new and fool proof method of testing the product appeal to customers, before spending big bucks can be helpful.
Thus according to me, this book can be very useful to managers who are ina position to take risks and try a new methodology to marketing. Openness of mind is also a very important pre-condition. Thus This book can be of use to managers that are dynamic, and like to be proactive.
This book can also be helpful to students who are going to join the workforce soon. They can have additional insights into the marketing world and what actually works. It can give them the edge that is needed to land a creative job. I can even help them suggest strategies that might work well.
I would recommend this book to all marketing managers. It provides the thesis for new age advertising and how to achieve it. But it has to be taken with a pinch of salt. This book though very thought provoking and insightful, might not be perfect. The scan methodology involved may be scientifically not accurate, as MRIs can be affected too easily by any other thought or even affected by the conditions of the experiment itself.
Thus it can be a good book for insights, but following it to the letter might not lead you anywhere. Thus if the manager uses his skills and talent along with the ideas in the book as food for thought, it might prove to be helpful.
My overall opinion of the book would be that it is good, in terms of ideas. But there could have been more data to the thoughts. Experiments were scientific, but the delta effect of the experiment might not be good.
Nonetheless, the book is very educative and sounds more like a white paper on a subject that is a new idea. It also made a good read, but a little lacking in scientific solidity.
That said, it's useful to professionals and students alike.
Works Cited
Lindström, Martin. Buy Ology: Truth and Lies about Why We Buy. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Print.
