Book of The Month January 2009: Buyology

Okay so you just got through the holidays with some great new gifts and goodies.  Hopefully you got you wanted and you gave even better than you got.  so now that is over did you ask yourself either of these question:

• Why did I buy that?
• Why did that person buy me that?

Well this months book of the month may give you insight into your own noggin and why you or your friends and family made those purchases.  Buyology: Truth and Lies about Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom is a great book the provides information on what happens in the brain.

In Buyology Martin Lindstrom shares some of his experiments he did with brain studies while having people see different forms of marketing.  For me the eye opener happened very early on in the book.  He did an experiment around smoking and specifically the warning labels on the packs.  To me it has always been an interesting addiction when people knowingly smoke, especially when the put death on the package.  The summary of that experiment was the labels did not work and in some cases actually induced the craving portion of the brain.  In other words, the labels subconsciously increased a persons desire to smoke.  Scary Stuff!

The book also talks about and goes after some of the long-held assumptions and myths about advertising and marketing:

• Sex doesn’t sell - people in skimpy clothing and provocative poses don’t persuade us to buy products.
• Despite government bans, subliminal advertising is ubiquitous — from bars to supermarkets to highway billboards.
• Color can be so iconic that the sight of the robin’s egg blue of a certain famous jewelry brand significantly raises women’s heart rates.
• Companies shamelessly borrow from religion and ritual — like the ritual, made up by a bored American bartender, of drinking a Corona with a lime — to seduce our interest.
• “Cool” brands, like iPods, trigger our mating instincts.

Overall this is a very interesting book and a quick read.  Enjoy!