‘Buy.ology - How everything we believe about why we buy

is wrong’.

Heather Martin

Contents:

• About Buy.ology

• Most important points in each chapter

• What I found interesting about the book

• What I didn’t find interesting about the book

About Buy.ology

• Buy.ology is ‘the subconscious thoughts, feelings, and desires that drive the purchasing decisions we make each and every day of our lives’.

• Neuromarketing is not a tool to ‘subjugate the mind and use it for commercial gain’ rather to ‘help us decode what we as consumers are already thinking about when we’re confronted with a product or a brand – and sometimes even to help us uncover the underhanded methods marketers use to seduce and betray us without our even knowing it’.

fMRI

SST

Chapter One: A rush of blood to the head

• The largest Neuromarketing study ever conducted.

• 2,081 volunteers 32 chosen for study• What was Lindstrom doing?

– He was hoping to use fMRI technology to reveal the hidden truths behind how branding and marketing messages work on the human brain, how our truest selves react to stimuli at a level far deeper than conscious thought, and how our unconscious minds control our behaviour.

Experiment Background and Details:

Other warnings:• Giorrú saoil tobac a chaitheamh –

Smokers die younger • Nuair a chaitear tobac, tachtar na

hartairí agus is é cúis le taomanna croí agus strócanna – Smoking clogs the arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes

• Caitheamh tobac is cúis le hailse scamhóg mharfach – Smoking causes fatal lung cancer

• Má chaitheann tú tobac le linn toirchis, déantar díobháil don leanbán – Smoking when pregnant harms your baby

• Cosain leanaí: ná cuir iallach orthu do chuid deataigh a análú – Protect children: don’t make them breathe your smoke

• Is éasca a bheith tugtha do chaitheamh tobac, ná tosaigh leis – Smoking is highly addictive, don’t start

Pepsi vs. Coke

Taste Test

Tug of War

Emotions are a clear winner every time as is:

Immediate gratification or delayed reward – which would you choose?

$15 $20

Chapter Two: This must be the place

• Product placement – what is it and why is it done?

• Different rules for different countries

American Idol

Chapter Three: I’ll have what she’s having

• Video

YAWN

• How do they impact on buying behaviour?

• Purchasing decision

• Ways used to ‘trick’ you into buying

Chapter Four: I can’t see clearly now

Subliminal Advertising?

1990 Pepsi Cans

2006 KFC Buffalo Snacker

Harvard Experiment:• Harvard 1999

– 47 people aged 60-85 divided into two groups– Positive and Negative words

Smokers & Imagery• Are smokers affected by imagery that lies beneath their

level of consciousness?

• Can cigarette cravings be triggered by images tied to a brand of cigarette but not explicitly linked to smoking – say the sight of a Marlboro red Ferrari or a camel riding off into a mountainous sunset?

• Do smokers even need to read the words Marlboro or Camel for their brains craving spots to compel them to tear open a cigarette pack?

• Is subliminal advertising, those secretly embedded messages designed to appeal to our dreams, fears, wants, and desires at all effective in stimulating our interest in a product or compelling us to buy?

Chapter Five: Do you believe in magic?

• Rituals– All to do with gaining control– Brands use it to their advantage

• Fears– 13 & 4 are unlucky numbers in different

cultures

• Superstitions

Chapter Six: I say a little prayer

Religion vs. Brands:• Two different experiments

– ‘Nun Study’ & Brand Study

• All different religions have 10 common pillars underlying its foundations - a sense of belonging, a clear vision, power over enemies, sensory appeal, storytelling, grandeur, evangelism, symbols, mystery and rituals. Same can be applied to brands and products

Chapter Seven: Why did I choose you?

Somatic markers – what are they?

Advertisers try and create these

Chapter Eight: A sense of wonder

• Visual ‘in-your-face’ advertising = largely a waste of time & money for advertisers

• Sensory Branding:– Appeals to:

• Sight• Smell• Touch• Sound

Chapter Nine: And the answer is…..

Quizmania!

Chapter 10: Let’s spend the night together

• Does sex sell?

• Does beauty sell – are models more effective than using ‘real people’?

What I found interesting:

• Lindstrom’s use of examples throughout the book made it very easy to understand everything.

• Rituals, fears & superstitions.

• Smoking experiments.

What I didn’t find interesting:

• Very repetitive – he starts with an experiment, explains the concept, gives examples, goes back to experiment and gives results.