Nowadays, most brands are simply like keys of a hotel room; people forget where they put them even before entering the room for the first time. Every year, approximately 21000 new brands are created and around 52% of them fail. After observing statistics like this one, the author of the book came to the conclusion that there had to be something wrong in the way market researches were conducted. He saw that there were too many failures and that none of them should have happened according to market researches. As a result, the author decided that he would start his own research project to investigate the 'mysteries' of our minds and buying behaviors. He wanted to understand how marketing techniques and strategies affect our brains and how influential those effects are to our decisions. The following paragraphs talk about how the test was carried out, the results of each test, and the logic behind them.
The tests and the research that are mentioned in the book occurred over a time period of three years, from 2004 to 2007. It costed around $7 millions dollars and it was sponsored by a group of 8 multinational companies. The experiment was completely based on science and it comprised a team of 200 researches, 10 professors, an ethics committee and thousands of subjects from around the globe. All of the tests were made with the use of fMRI or SST machines. Both are usually used by medics to make scans of the brain and to understand what areas are activated under different stimuli.
The basic idea of these tests were to understand what truly generates our buying behaviors. By directly studying what happens in our brains, the author found a way to avoid many of the biases and external influences that happen in traditional market researches. I "We may think we know why we do the things we do - but a much closer look into the brain tells us otherwise". An example can be the test that was made with the smokers
[2]The first test that was made measured the effectiveness of product placement in movies, television and other medias. Over the last years, people have been more and more exposed to commercials and information. As a result, we adapted to it by creating a certain filter to what we accept or just ignore. In 1965 a consumer remembered 34% of ads, in 1990 it fell to 8%. As a way to 'force' the audiences to see their commercials and products without the creation of that barrier, advertisers started to use product placement. This consists of exposing the products and brands during the show, instead of in the commercials time. Some examples of successful product placements are the one with Hershey's Reese's Pieces that was done in E.T. (sales tripled) or the one with Top Gun, which increased the recruitment of air force and navy by 500%!
For their test, they decided to compare the effectiveness of product placement of the three main sponsors of the show American Idol. The three companies were Coca-cola, Cingular and Ford, and they all had different advertising approaches. At the end, they found out that product placement worked extremely well when the products were related to the storyline of the show. The products were successfully remembered by the people, and they actually inhibited the memories of other brands. The only brand that was not successful was Ford, which was also the only one that did not advertise during the show . The people knew that everything was just a commercial and they responded by simply ignoring it.
[3]Mirror Neurons are neurons that are activated when we observe specific actions that have some significance to ourselves. These are the responsible for people moving their arms when their team make touchdowns, or for us crying when our heroes suffer in movies. The mirror neurons basically work by allowing us feel what we see and by allowing us to imitate other people. This connects to our buying behavior as mirror neurons are activated when we see people with different products. These neurons create thoughts of necessity and 'love' for new products, and we end up thinking that we must be equal to the others. At the same time, it is due to the mirror neurons that we are able to look at mannequins and famous people and think that we can be like them if we purchase a certain product. Examples of the influence of mirror neurons may be the popularization of the Apple white earphones or of games such as guitar hero and The Sims. This connects to merchants of cool since it gives an explanation for our constant tentative to be cool, to have new lifestyles and to follow brands. We just want to be like our idols.
[4]The fourth chapter of the book talks about the existence and power of subliminal messages. Subliminal messages are any messages that are registered below our level of consciousness. Our brains perceive them, but we don’t. In most times, subliminal messages appear as ways to instigate us to consume a certain product or to make allusions to sex. An example of a subliminal message that became really popular was the one included in Bush's campaign video against the bureocRATS.
An experiment made in Harvard University found out that subliminal messages do work. People were displayed positive and negative words while playing a videogame, and their performance improved in when positive words were shown. We must not forget, however, that not all kinds of subliminal messages are extremely implicit. If we pay attention to the world around us, we will see hundreds and hundreds of allusions to brands or other unrelated ideas. It was thinking in this kind of subliminal massage that the author decided to make another test. This time they tested how the colors of F1 and NASCAR cars influenced the people. At the end, they found out that people who smoke are actually more susceptible to start smoking after seeing one of those cars then after seeing the logos of the cigarette companies. With that, we can see how corporations are becoming able to dangerously influence our thoughts about certain products and brands without caring about the ethical and social implications of their actions.
[5]Rituals and Superstitions have great influences over our behaviors. In our society, we are in constant contact with rituals and superstitions. These appear in the sports' world, in our everyday lives, and, why not, in our buying behaviors too . Rituals are responsible for giving feelings of stability, control and of being part of a group. In our world, products may differentiate themselves by creating rituals involving their consumption. This can relate to 'the right way' of drinking a beer or to the right type of person that can consume a certain product. Nevertheless, after all, nothing really changes, and everyone is just trying to consume images and lifestyles instead of just the product. Guiness - "good thing come to those who wait"
In the case of superstition, even though there might be some disagreement, it is almost a fact that the majority of the people is subconsciously affected by Superstitions. An example of that is the fact that the number of car crashes increased by 32%and 51% in Germany and London, respectively, during the Friday the 13th. Consequently, associations of brands to superstitions may also work as a way to subconsciously make the consumers like a product and buy more of it. KitKat in Japan
[6]Similarly to superstitions, religions also play an important role in our lives. With this thought in mind, the author decided to make a test to compare how we react to religious symbols and to brands. The experiment ended up demonstrating that people have the exact same reactions to religious icons as to powerful brands. Religions and brands are based on really similar ideals and principles: Sense of belonging, clear visions, power over enemies, sensory appeal, story telling, grandeur, evangelism, mystery and rituals. This fact allows us to see how brands have become important to our lives and how society has changed over the past years.
[7] Why do we buy a product of one specific brand instead of another without even thinking of it? The answer to this question lies on the existence of Somatic Markers. These are basically shortcuts that are formed in our brains based on our past experiences of pleasure and punishment, and they are responsible for subconsciously connecting our emotions and memories to specific reactions. Association of German cars to safety and trustfulness. Everyday, we manufacture new somatic markers when we have surprises or shocks. In addition, one of the main objectives of advertisement is exactly to try to create somatic markers related to their brands. It is because of somatic markers that advertisers often try to shock their audience.
Somatic markers also explain why advertisers have been trying to use fear as a way to sell their products. They are basing themselves on our past experiences of punishment to try to convince our brains that we will suffer if we do not consume their products. A good example of this action can be how drugs are advertised.
· SELLING TO OUR SENSES
· Companies often invest a lot in visual commercials and logos. But what about sound and smell?
· The test that was made compared how people reacted to smell and pictures .They found out that the smells activated the same areas as sight. When we smells something, images come to our minds.
· Smell is one of the most basic senses and we associate it with memories andexperiences. Advertisers know it and try to create it.
· Every company hastheir own smells. Some examples are the smells of new cars, baby powder or “Just made hamburger”.
· Touch was also proven to work
· People thought that a lighter remote control was broken. People need to feel the clothes before buying them
· Color creates Somatic Markers and attract the people’s attention
· “Seul International color expo” found out that color increases brand recognition by 80%
· Sound and Jingles cause us to make associations (subconsciously) and they affect our emotions (buying behavior).
· In a test similar to the smell one, they found out that sounds together with images made people pay more attention, remember more and feel more pleasure.
· Only the Nokia tune was bad – Associations to work and bad feelings (shows that sound really affect our emotions)
SEX IN ADVERTISEMENT
Over the last years, sex has been increasingly used in advertising. But does it really sell?
· Here the book creates some contradiction
· Firstly we see that some companies think that it only distracts people
· When talking about sex in advertising, the most famous brand is Calvin Klein
· When they started, there was a lot of controversy. In the next years, they even made commercials knowing that they would have to take them off.
· This Shocked the people. This was the responsible for making the brand more popular +image of cool
· - Beauty
· It was also proven to not work
· Tentative of brands to create commercials with ‘normal’ people à Apple, Dove, Reality Shows
· CONCLUSION
· NEVERTHELESS, these may alsowork due to mirror neurons. People see the models and sex and their mirror neurons make them think that they can be like that. All about creating dreams à Over the last years, however, people society is valuing happiness more.
· Will get worse and worse
This was the union of science and advertising. Marketing has always been completely uncertain, but we found a way to reach certainty.
· Many companies do it: Microsoft, Dior, Unilever
· Traditional marketing simply does not work
· In the future, more and more companies will use the fears of the people: the will make them think that they are losing something. Branding is going to reach unseen levels: Saki Saba prices went up by 600% after it became a brand + 24h human brands
Advertising is increasing and becoming more powerful. The only way to be safe is to lock ourselves in dark rooms.
