dispatches from the new world of work

Cool Friend #131: Martin Lindstrom

We think this is a Cool Friends interview you won't want to miss. Martin Lindstrom's studies are in the field of Neuromarketing. He describes it as a marriage between marketing and science that uses non-verbal expression techniques to make people express what's going on in their subconscious mind. In other words, it predicts buying behavior a customer can't express verbally, because even she may be unaware of what's going on in her subconscious. Sounds useful, right? But, would you want advertising based on the techniques aimed at you? Through his book Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, Lindstrom takes the discussion of whether this technique should be used, how much it should be used, and when it should be used (in politics, for instance?) to the consumer. He feels that getting the consumer involved in the decisions made in this stage of the discipline's application is of paramount importance. You can read Martin Lindstrom's Cool Friends interview to learn more, or visit his website, www.martinlindstrom.com.

Cathy Mosca posted this on 12/11/08.

Comments

hmmm, I suddenly have an overwhelming desire to purchase Mr. Lindstrom's book.

Posted by jimi at December 11, 2008 12:16 PM

Very interesting - thanks for sharing this one.

This highlights one of the reasons I don't like the "recomend to a friend" type customer satisfaction survey. It asks would you - it doesn't actually track your behaviour. If you want to know if someone got value from your product or service track repurchase.

PS - Good see brand label removal as a cool topic! Labels spoil so many designs.

Posted by PaulH at December 12, 2008 8:23 AM

Erik....

This is a zinger of an interview... Whether you agree with Martin Lindstrom or not he is a modernist and he is showing us the way forward...

This interview makes three key points:

1) Our brains are built in such a way that we cannot cope with all the information we're receiving. Information is being deleted constantly. If a brand doesn't help to complete the storyline, then the brain chooses to delete it so that it can concentrate on understanding the story instead.

2) My message from the Sydney Harbor Bridge story is "Give the brand to the consumer." Make the consumer become the owner of the brand. Let them spread the word of mouth. Let them develop new products. Let them develop the communication package and spread it around the world. And then it will be a success.

3) Almost every time we did a research study for Buyology, people said one thing, and we learned that what they said was totally different from what was happening in their subconscious mind.

For a look at these concepts it might be worth dipping into "Neuromarketing - understanding the buy buttons in your customer's brain"... by Patrick Renvoise and Christophe Morin.

Well done mate!

Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at December 13, 2008 5:45 PM

Lindstrom is always demonstrating an attitude of being on the verge of being trully honest and concerned about the human/customer and like going towards manipulation in marketing and branding.. still his conclusions are really nice.. in Brand Sense after first chapter i thought he was really strange with his attepmt to investigate brains of faithfull/religious people on order to pour in others brains brand loyalty and reap a premium price.. brand as a religion.. finally he focused on cool ambients, decoration like aspects of branding including senses, sounds, small icons like this singapore airlines girl.. lets hopw this time he wont go to far either

Posted by Ania at December 14, 2008 6:05 AM

thanks, richard.

Posted by erik at December 14, 2008 5:03 PM

You can find out more on this topic by seeing Martin Lindstrom live in person, presenting his Buyology Symposium - www.globalleadersevents.com/lindstrom

Posted by J Wight at February 18, 2009 8:57 AM