Buy.ology by Martin Lindstrom |Book Brief

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>> Host The book "Buyology" explores the psychology behind what drives us to consume. Author, branding advisor, and marketing expert, Martin Lindstrom, reveals the subconscious forces that motivate us to choose one brand over another.

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>> Martin Lindstrom Let's face it. We're exposed to so may brands every day. Coca Cola ads. Tiffany ads. Everything from Swiss wrinkly creams to cars. It's bombarding us everyday. But how come some of this information goes straight into our brain and hit our subconscious mind, and how come sometimes it just passes away. We can't remember a thing. I wanted to find out. This is the reason why I conducted the largest neural marketing study in the world. We scanned 2,000 consumers' brains, spending seven million dollars on finding out what really goes on in our brain. The results were interesting. In fact, a little bit scary too. Take a look at this.

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>> Martin Lindstrom Health warnings on cigarette packs are mandatory. Surgeon's general warning. You know, it right? Well, what about the European versions like "Stopping smoking reduces the risk of fatal heart and lung diseases." You got the point? Across Asia, they're even more dramatic. You have pictures of lungs and open heart surgeries on the pack. That's how nasty they are, but do they work. Well, in fact, when we take a look at the numbers, the answer's no. In fact, from 2003 to 2006, we smoked 13 percent more. The same as 15 billion cigarettes everyday or 10 million cigarettes every minute. How come? What's the truth behind this? We wanted to find out. So we recruited smokers from across the world, placed them in huge scanners, and exposed them to those health warnings. We looked into an area called the nucleus accumbens. It's also called the craving spot of the pleasure zone. When you're addicted to alcohol, to drugs, to gambling, or to cigarette smoking, you actually see the nucleus accumbens fire off like a fireball. And what we learned was shocking. The fact is that those health warnings have absolutely no effect on our brain whatsoever. In fact, a total opposite was taking place when people were watching those health warnings lying in the scanners, the nucleus accumbens were actually activated. They were certainly encouraged to want to smoke even more.

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>> Martin Lindstrom Ever wondered why you squeeze a lime down the bottleneck of a Corona beer whenever you drink it? Is it (a) because it's a ritual from 1800 something in Mexico, or is it (b) because supposedly there's so many flies in Mexico, this is the way you clean the bottleneck? Or is it (c) a story inaudible in 1981 in California to see how fast a ritual can spread around the world? If you guessed (c), you're right. This is branding. Branding is much more than just a logo. Think about the Coca Cola bottle. The bottle, which was invented in 1915, had a very interesting brief behind it. The briefing was to develop a bottle design which is so recognizable that if you drop it on the floor, and it smashes into a thousand of pieces of glass, a consumer can pick up one piece of glass and recognize the brand. My question to you is can I smash your brand, meaning can I own a color or shape or sound, whatever it is because that is true branding. After years of studying product rituals and their effect on branding, it struck me. Are there similarities between the way our brains react to religious and spiritual symbols and the way they go back to products and brands? The answer's yes. I interviewed 14 prominent leaders of various religions across the world, and what I discovered was that despite the differences, almost every one has ten common pillars on the line of foundation. A sense of belonging. A clear vision. Power from the enemy. Sensory appeal. Storytelling. Grandeur. Evangelists. Symbols. Mystery or rituals. And just as I suspected, these pillars have to have a great deal in common with our most beloved brands and products. A few examples. What about Harley Davidson? The owners have their own subculture. It's a definite sense of belonging. Apple had the same vision over the last 20 years to put products that would truly change the world. Disney, I think, is a great example of storytelling. You can't think about Disney without thinking of its colorful characters. In our brain scan story, some of the world's most smashable brands were discovered that consumers did, in fact, have similar brain patterns as those of a religious experience when associated with a brand they really believed in. Up until now, most marketers and advertisers haven't really known what drives our behavior or our preferences. But now that we know that 85 percent of our consumer buying habits are unconscious, by understanding our unconscious habits, we can gain better control of what we buy as consumers, and what we produce as companies. Good luck with your journey into your buyology. I hope you enjoy my book.

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