Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

Martin Lindstrom

Oct 2008 · Sold by Crown Currency

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A fascinating look at how consumers perceive logos, ads, commercials, brands, and products.”—Time

How much do we know about why we buy? What truly influences our decisions in today’s message-cluttered world? In Buyology, Martin Lindstrom presents the astonishing findings from his groundbreaking three-year, seven-million-dollar neuromarketing study—a cutting-edge experiment that peered inside the brains of 2,000 volunteers from all around the world as they encountered various ads, logos, commercials, brands, and products. His startling results shatter much of what we have long believed about what captures our interest—and drives us to buy. Among the questions he explores:

• Does sex actually sell?
• Does subliminal advertising still surround us?
• Can “cool” brands trigger our mating instincts?
• Can our other senses—smell, touch, and sound—be aroused when we see a product?

Buyology is a fascinating and shocking journey into the mind of today's consumer that will captivate anyone who's been seduced—or turned off—by marketers' relentless attempts to win our loyalty, our money, and our minds.

Ratings and reviews

Buy-OLOGY written by Martin Lindstrom examines the “Truth and lies about why we buy.” Buyology was voted "pick of the year" by USAToday, and, between 2008 and 2009, reached ten of the top 10 bestseller lists in the U.S. and worldwide. Which does not surprise me, this easy to read educational book is a fast read that brings up factual and interesting points. Buyology examines everything that we as marketers and advertisers have believed to be true when it comes to what consumers want and think. We are made to believe that sex sells, the impact and importance of product placement, but what you will find when you read Buyology is that Lindstrom goes more deeply into what captures consumers attention, consumers loyalty, and their money. Through the largest neuromarketing study every conducted, Buyology will examine what really makes the brain tick and what impacts consumers decision making. What I really enjoy about this book is the examples of products that are given to make Lindstorm’s point. If you were like me and thought that cigarette cartons that display the hazard warning labels, government regulations, and all the anti- smoking campaigns, you would think that maybe this would make some impact on smokers, and some impact on sales, which it has as you learn when you read the book. In short, the FMRI results showed that cigarette warning labels not only failed to deter smoking, but by activating the nucleus accumbens, it appears they actually encourage smokers to light up. So instead of the government spending millions of dollars to decrease smoking, these campaigns and warning became instead a killer marketing took for tobacco industries. This was found through a study of the brain that was done by Lindstrom and his team using a fMRI ( functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging ), which is a machine that measures the magnetic properties of hemoglobins, the components in red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body. This machine is used to show what part of the brain is engaged through experiments that are conducted, which is explained more deeply in the book. This is a great book; I recommend it to any person interested on getting a different outlook on consumers and their buying process, and the way we market and advertise to them. This book defiantly gave me a different outlook on market research, and on the traditional ways of advertising and marketing. These are new studies and upcoming marketing and advertising tools that show a new outlook on what I had never thought off. Overall, a good book that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in marketing and advertising and sick of the traditional marketing research this book will defiantly broaden your outlook.

If this were the first book I had ever read about the concept then it would have been interesting and illuminating. What is the concept? People operate on a level below their consciousness and that level influences what we do more than the conscious level does. Knowing about the concept and influencing it is crucial to businesses as well as individuals who need to defend against the manipulation. There are much better books that cover similar issues. The invisible gorilla or books by Dan Arielly come to mind.

It's a very interesting book that makes us realize why we behave in certain ways while wanting to buy some things and the reasons why we don't buy them either.

About the author

MARTIN LINDSTROM is one of the world's most respected marketing gurus. With a global audience of over a million people, Lindstrom spends 300 days on the road every year, advising top executives of companies including McDonald's Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Microsoft, The Walt Disney Company and GlaxoSmithKline. He has been featured in The Washington Post, USA TODAY, Fast Company, and more. His previous book, BRANDsense, was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the ten best marketing books ever published.