Buyology

Martin Lindstrom, a global branding expert, argues that traditional market research methods such as surveys and focus groups are fundamentally unreliable because consumers cannot accurately report why they buy what they buy. Approximately 90 percent of purchasing decisions, he contends, occur subconsciously. To uncover what truly drives consumer behavior, Lindstrom launched what he describes as the largest neuromarketing study ever conducted. Neuromarketing uses brain-scanning technology to measure consumers' subconscious responses. Beginning in 2004, the three-year, approximately $7 million project involved 2,081 volunteers from five countries. It employed fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), which measures blood flow to pinpoint active brain regions, and SST (steady-state topography), which tracks brain waves in real time. The research was led by Dr. Gemma Calvert of the University of Warwick and Professor Richard Silberstein of Neuro-Insight in Australia. Lindstrom acknowledges ethical objections but counters that neuromarketing is a neutral tool that can help consumers understand their own behavior.

The study's first major finding involves cigarette health warnings. Smokers underwent fMRI scans while viewing graphic warning labels. On questionnaires, they reported that the warnings discouraged them from smoking, but Dr. Calvert's analysis revealed that the warnings had zero effect on suppressing cravings. The labels actually stimulated the nucleus accumbens, a brain region associated with craving, meaning they encouraged smokers to light up. This result demonstrated the fundamental gap between what people say and what their brains reveal.

Lindstrom traces his inspiration to earlier neuromarketing research. In 2003, Dr. Read Montague at Baylor College of Medicine revisited the famous 1975 Pepsi Challenge using fMRI. When subjects tasted unlabeled drinks, more than half preferred Pepsi, with brain activity concentrated in the ventral putamen, a taste-reward region. But when subjects knew which brand they were drinking, 75 percent preferred Coke, with additional activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a region involved in higher thinking. Emotional associations with the Coca-Cola brand overrode rational taste preference.

A product placement experiment used SST to test whether the three major sponsors of the television show American Idol, each paying an estimated $26 million annually, were getting their money's worth. Coca-Cola and Cingular Wireless integrated their products into the show through Coke-red walls, Coke-shaped furniture, and text-message voting, while Ford Motor Company relied on traditional thirty-second commercial spots. After watching the program, subjects remembered Coca-Cola far better than Cingular, which far outperformed Ford. Ford's recall dropped below its pre-program baseline, meaning its sponsorship had effectively driven away potential customers. Lindstrom concludes that product placement works only when a product is woven into a program's storyline.

The book turns to mirror neurons, brain cells that fire both when a person performs an action and when that person observes someone else performing it. Discovered in 1992 by Italian scientist Giacomo Rizzolatti in macaque monkeys, mirror neurons help explain why consumers imitate purchasing behavior: Seeing someone with white iPod earphones triggers desire for the same product. Mirror neurons work in tandem with dopamine, the brain's pleasure chemical, which floods the brain during the anticipation of a purchase and drives impulsive decisions that can occur in as little as 2.5 seconds. Lindstrom illustrates the combined effect through Abercrombie & Fitch stores, where half-naked models trigger mirror neurons in passing teenagers while the store's atmosphere heightens dopamine-driven engagement.

An fMRI experiment on subliminal advertising produced some of the study's most striking results. Twenty smokers viewed logo-free images associated with Marlboro or Camel alongside explicit cigarette pack imagery. The subliminal images triggered activity in the nucleus accumbens just as powerfully as, and sometimes more powerfully than, overt brand imagery. Because these images lacked recognizable logos, smokers did not identify them as advertising and lowered their mental defenses. Lindstrom cites the British brand Silk Cut as further evidence: After years of pairing its logo with purple silk, the company ran logo-free billboards featuring only purple fabric, and 98 percent of consumers identified them as Silk Cut-related. The finding challenges a core assumption: The logo is among the least effective advertising elements, while subliminal brand associations are among the most powerful.

Lindstrom examines how rituals and superstitions forge emotional bonds between consumers and brands, citing the Corona beer-and-lime tradition and the Guinness slow-pour as examples. Product rituals, he argues, differentiate brands and provide an illusion of control in an uncertain world. This leads to a central experiment on the relationship between religion and branding. Lindstrom identifies 10 pillars shared by major religions, including belonging, vision, sensory appeal, storytelling, symbols, and rituals, and maps each onto the branding world. In the fMRI experiment, 65 male volunteers viewed images of strong brands, weak brands, and religious icons. Dr. Calvert found that strong brands produced neural activity virtually identical to that produced by religious images, with strong brands generating significantly more activity in memory and decision-making regions than weak brands. Sports imagery activated reward regions but proved less powerful than strong brands in stimulating memory and decision-making.

Lindstrom introduces somatic markers, a concept from neuroscientist Antonio Damasio describing cognitive shortcuts formed by accumulated experiences of reward and punishment. These mental bookmarks enable rapid, unconscious purchasing decisions. Companies deliberately create them: Michelin's baby mascot forges associations of safety, while Andrex toilet paper's Labrador puppy creates links to growing families, helping it outsell Kleenex nearly two-to-one in the U.K. Fear creates particularly powerful somatic markers, from Johnson's No More Tears Baby Shampoo evoking the pain it promises to prevent to pharmaceutical advertising cultivating anxiety around conditions like attention deficit disorder.

Two sensory experiments challenge the assumption that visual stimulation is paramount in advertising. In the first, congruent image-fragrance pairings were rated more pleasant than either stimulus alone, and odor activated many of the same brain regions as the sight of a logo, suggesting smell could substitute for visual branding. In the second, subjects viewed images and heard signature sounds for brands including Nokia and British Airways. For most brands, congruent pairings increased preference and memory. Nokia was the exception: Its ring tone produced a strongly negative emotional response that suppressed favorable reactions to the phones, transforming the brand into a negative somatic marker.

To test whether neuromarketing could predict commercial success, Lindstrom screened an unaired pilot of Quizmania, a British game show, alongside two benchmark programs: How Clean Is Your House?, a proven hit, and The Swan, a proven failure. On questionnaires, subjects rated Quizmania lowest. But SST scans showed higher engagement for Quizmania than for The Swan, accurately predicting its middling real-world performance.

Lindstrom also examines sex in advertising, arguing that sexually suggestive content often fails to sell products. A MediaAnalyzer study found that men fixated on sexual imagery while bypassing brand names, a phenomenon called the "Vampire Effect." He traces the Calvin Klein case to argue that controversy, not sex itself, drives sales, and notes that consumers respond more positively to relatable, natural-looking people than to supermodels.

In conclusion, Lindstrom describes companies already applying neuromarketing, including Christian Dior's fMRI-tested J'adore fragrance and Microsoft's plans to use electroencephalograms (EEGs), which record brain-wave activity, to measure emotional responses. He predicts that fear-based marketing will intensify and that branding will extend into previously unbranded categories, illustrated by the story of Seki saba, an ordinary Japanese mackerel that commanded a 600 percent price increase after receiving an official quality certificate and strict branding rules. He closes by arguing that understanding the subconscious forces behind purchasing decisions empowers consumers to pause before buying and reclaim their rational minds.