Jake

Book Notes – Buyology: The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

I like to read a lot. I’ve always intended to do book reviews but lacked the time. So, in lieu of that, I’ve decided to post the notes from Kindle books that I’ve read. I hope that you find them beneficial. If you desire to read the whole book, please consider purchasing through the link provided as it will put some pennies in my pocket.

Buyology: The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

The problem was that we are better at collecting data than doing anything with it. Location 64

Under stress (or even when life is going along pretty well), people tend to say one thing while their behavior suggests something entirely different. Location 333

What we know now, and what you’ll read about in the pages that follow, is that what people say on surveys and in focus groups does not reliably affect how they behave—far from it. Location 350

Because emotions are the way in which our brains encode things of value, and a brand that engages us emotionally—think Apple, Harley-Davidson, and L’Oréal, just for starters—will win every single time. Location 434

what’s beginning to show up in the fledgling world of brain scanning is the enormous influences our emotions have on every decision we make. Location 454

In 1965 a typical consumer had a 34 percent recall of those ads. In 1990, that figure had fallen to 8 percent. Location 581

Uncreative companies are simply imitating other uncreative companies. In the end, everyone’s a loser because we as TV viewers can’t tell one brand from the next. Location 602

Over the years, neuromarketing research has found that consumers’ memory of a product, whether it’s deodorant, perfume, or a brand of tequila, is the most relevant, reliable measure of an ad’s effectiveness. Location 722

In other words, Coke was integrated fully into the narrative (company reps might as well have been pouring the stuff over our volunteers’ heads), while Ford wasn’t at all. Location 747 

In short, the results revealed that we have no memory of brands that don’t play an integral part in the storyline of a program. Location 751

As our SST study showed, for product placement to work, it has to be a lot slyer and more sophisticated than simply plunking a series of random products on a screen and expecting us to respond. Location 765

This amazing phenomenon was what Rizzolatti would eventually dub “mirror neurons” at work—neurons that fire when an action is being performed and when that same action is being observed. Location 808

Thus mirror neurons not only help us imitate other people, they’re responsible for human empathy. Location 863

sometimes just seeing a certain product over and over makes it more desirable. Location 917

(researchers generally agree that it takes as little as 2.5 seconds to make a purchasing decision). Location 924

As Professor David Laibson, an economist at Harvard University, puts it, “Our emotional brain wants to max out the credit card, even though our logical brain knows we should save for retirement.” Location 932

consciously or not, we calculate purchases based on how they might bring us social status—and status is linked with reproductive success. Location 938 

the human brain is capable of recalling images before those images register in our consciousness. Location 1119

In answer to the question, does subliminal advertising work, one would have to say yes—chillingly well. Location 1206

It’s a little scary to find out that what we thought had the least to do with smoking is actually the most effective in making us want to smoke, and that the logo—what advertisers and companies have long endowed with almost mythic powers—in fact works the least well. Location 1234

In all my years helping companies develop and strengthen their brands, there’s one thing I’ve seen time and time again: rituals help us form emotional connections with brands and products. Location 1269

The more unpredictable the world becomes, the more we grope for a sense of control over our lives. And the more anxiety and uncertainty we feel, the more we adopt superstitious behavior and rituals to help shepherd us through. Location 1283 

On the other hand, eight is a lucky number in Asian cultures, as it sounds similar to the Chinese word signifying “wealth,” “fortune,” and “prosper.” Location 1359

For one thing, products and brands that have rituals or superstitions associated with them are much “stickier” than those that don’t. Location 1395

in many ways, brand obsession has a lot in common with rituals and superstitious behavior—both involve habitual, repeated actions that have little or no logical basis, and both stem from the need for a sense of control in an overwhelming and complex world. Location 1470 

If people are willing to pay sums large and small for things—like dirt and water—that they believe have religious or spiritual significance, then clearly spirituality and branding are inextricably linked. Location 1553 

What I discovered was that despite their differences, almost every leading religion has ten common pillars underlying its foundation: a sense of belonging, a clear vision, power over enemies, sensory appeal, storytelling, grandeur, evangelism, symbols, mystery, and rituals. Location 1558

Like religions, successful companies and successful brands have a clear, and very powerful, sense of mission. Location 1578

Sensory appeal (I’ll explore this further in Chapter 8) is another key characteristic of the world’s great religions. Close your eyes and walk into a church, a temple, or a mosque. You’re immediately enveloped in the ambience of the building, as you smell the air, the incense, and the fragrance of the wood. Location 1588   

Another integral part of religion is storytelling. Whether the New Testament, the Torah, or the Koran, every religion is built upon a heft of history and stories—hundreds and hundreds of them (sometimes gruesome, sometimes miraculous, and oftentimes both). And the rituals that most religions draw upon and ask us to participate in—praying, kneeling, meditating, fasting, singing hymns, or receiving the Sacrament—are rooted in these stories upon which the faith is built. Location 1600 

What about the notion of evangelism—the power to reach out and secure new acolytes? When Google rolled out its Gmail service, it attracted followers in a devilishly shrewd way. By making the service available by invitation only, Gmail became almost like a virtual religion; when a friend invited you to join its ranks, you felt as though you’d been welcomed into a semi-exclusive, lifelong community (it was only when they’d secured an estimated 10 million users that Gmail opened its doors to mere laymen). Location 1621

Symbols like these can have an extremely powerful impact on why we buy. Location 1641

the more mystery and intrigue a brand can cultivate, the more likely it will appeal to us. Location 1665 

In fact, as the results of our brain-scan study would show, the most successful products are the ones that have the most in common with religion. Take Apple, for example, one of the most popular—and profitable—brands around. Location 1678

Bottom line, there was no discernible difference between the way the subjects’ brains reacted to powerful brands and the way they reacted to religious icons and figures. Location 1737 

I quickly learned that overt use of religion in advertising (as opposed to a more implicit, suggestive approach) not only didn’t work, but could actually harm a legendary brand. Location 1765  

A recent study conducted by German brand and retail experts, Gruppe Nymphenberg, found that over 50 percent of all purchasing decisions by shoppers are made spontaneously—and therefore unconsciously—at the point of sale. Location 1809

Today, we are more visually overstimulated than ever before. And in fact, studies have shown that the more stimulated we are, the harder it is to capture our attention. Location 1956

But the truth of the matter is, visual images are far more effective, and more memorable, when they are coupled with another sense—like sound or smell. Location 1968

But it was Dr. Calvert’s last finding that amazed me the most. On the basis of our sight-and-smell experiment, she concluded that odor activates many of the exact same brain regions as the sight of a product—even the sight of that product’s logo. In short, if you smell a doughnut, you’re likely to picture it in your head—along with that Dunkin’ Donuts or Krispy Kreme logo. Smell that signature Abercrombie scent? The letters spelling A-B-E-R-C-R-O-M-B-I-E & F-I-T-C-H will flash like a Broadway marquee behind your forehead. So while companies are spending billions of dollars a year saturating our sidewalks, our airwaves, and everyplace else with logos, they’d do just as well in capturing our interest—if not better—by appealing to our sense of smell instead. Location 2000

In other words, when a branded theme tune and a well-known logo are paired together, we both prefer the brand and remember it better. Location 2225  

Remember, the road to emotion runs through our sensory experiences, and as we’ve shown in this chapter, emotion is one of the most powerful forces in driving what we buy. Location 2264  

The point is, whether it’s soda or cigarettes or video games—or any other item under the sun—companies are woefully bad at predicting how we as consumers will respond to their products. As I’ve been saying throughout this book, because how we say we feel about a product can never truly predict how we behave, market research is largely unreliable and can at times seriously mislead a company or even completely undo a product. Location 2308

In other words, the sexually suggestive material blinded them to all the other information in the ad—even the name of the product itself. Location 2484   

Among the companies taking advantage of neuromarketing is Christian Dior, which put its new fragrance, J’adore, to the fMRI test, assessing everything from its scent to its colors to its ad placements. The company won’t say what it uncovered, but it’s worth noting that J’adore has been one of the most blazingly successful launches at Christian Dior in years. Location 2656 

Every one of us ascribes greater value to things we perceive—rationally or not—to be in some way special. Location 2746 

In other words, when we brand things, our brains perceive them as more special and valuable than they actually are. Location 2761