Thursday, October 30, 2008

Buyology Author: Martin Lindstrom Publisher: Doubleday Business ASIN: 0385523882

About This Book

How much do we know about why we buy? What truly influences our decisions in today’s message-cluttered world? An eye-grabbing advertisement, a catchy slogan, an infectious jingle? Or do our buying decisions take place below the surface, so deep within our subconscious minds, we’re barely aware of them? In Buyology, Lindstrom presents findings from his three-year, seven-million-dollar neuromarketing study. This experiment looked inside the brains of 2,000 volunteers from all around the world as they encountered various ads, logos, commercials, brands, and products. His results prompt questions about long held beliefs on what seduces our interest and drives us to buy. Among his findings:

• Gruesome health warnings on cigarette packages not only fail to discourage smoking, they actually make smokers want to light up.
• Despite government bans, subliminal advertising still surrounds us – from bars to highway billboards to supermarket shelves.
• "Cool” brands, like iPods trigger our mating instincts.
• Other senses – smell, touch, and sound - are so powerful, they physically arouse us when we see a product.
• Sex doesn't sell. In many cases, people in skimpy clothing and suggestive poses not only fail to persuade us to buy products - they often turn us away.
• Companies routinetly copy from the world of religion and create rituals – like drinking a Corona with a lime – to capture our hard-earned dollars.

Filled with entertaining inside stories about how we respond to such well-known brands as Marlboro, Nokia, Calvin Klein, Ford, and American Idol, BUYOLOGY is a journey into the mind of today’s consumer that will intrigue anyone who’s been turned off by marketers’ relentless attempts to win our loyalty, our money, and our minds.