Martin Lindstrom’s Buyology had been reviewed, covered, and referred to so much that by the time it crossed my desk it was one of those must-reads you no longer want to read because you know all about it. I read it anyway (thank you Multnomah County Library) only to discover my familiarity with the content was of a different kind.
Buyology is based on the author’s research study and his experience. Its main theses include:
- Context reigns supreme in your customers’ purchasing decisions.
- Customers make purchasing decisions subconsciously.
If these statements sound familiar, it’s because they are. That Lindstrom’s study was a large one makes no difference; size is not everything if it confirms what’s already out there. (The grandeur hype – “a historic meeting between science and marketing”, “astonishing findings from his groundbreaking study” – only makes things worse.) Or, as a laid-off market researcher recently told me, “We’ve been doing this for at least a decade.”
Nonetheless, the book is an extremely readable and example-rich overview of how contextual factors affect your customers’ decision-making.
- Other people – mirror neurons make people imitate others’ behavior.
- Subliminal messages – environmental associations transform brands into collections of cues, of which logo is but a minor part.
- Rituals and superstitions
- Religion and faith – sense of belonging, symbols, and stories are just a few religious elements successful brands integrate into their marketing.
- Somatic markers – brain shortcuts collapse experiences, memories, facts, and emotions into quick associations between incompatible elements, which then guide action.
- Sensory stimuli – odors, sounds, images, touch, and combinations thereof create brand experiences.
- Sex and beauty
If it takes a special effort to popularize science or marketing, Lindstrom pulls it off. Buyology is a solid and easily digestible popularization of neuromarketing, which promotes the discipline and brings it to the forefront of marketers’ attention. It’s good to be prepared for the ever-increasing use of subconscious marketing.
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Martin Lindstrom, Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, New York: Broadway Business, 2008.
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Nice review of a book I haven’t read! But I feel like I have because a friend recently sent me this:
http://bit.ly/psPQ2
Now we always refer to our ‘reptilian brains’ when the impulse to shop seizes us. We humans are strange creatures. In so many ways.
Glad you found the book of interest. I haven’t read it yet. Have to admit I’m not a big fan of marrying neuroscience and marketing to help large consumer products companies (i.e., Lindstrom’s clients) sell more stuff we don’t need and our planet can’t afford. Still waiting for neuroscience to tell us how to resist the mindless desire to consume.
@Bernice Paul: Our not thinking, or thinking with reptilian brains, is precisely what neuromarketers are counting on, and exploiting.
@Rich Bruer: I’m with you. Neuromarketing is just another way to get people to buy more. While the book tries to position itself as a guide to avoiding getting duped by neuromarketers, it also succeeds in positioning the author and his colleagues as experts in their effective method.