INTRODUCTION: Let's face it, we're all consumers. Whether we're buying a cell phone, a Swiss antiwrinkle cream, or a Coca-Cola, shopping is a huge part of our everyday lives. Which is why, each and every day, all of us are bombarded with dozens, if not hundreds, of messages from marketers and advertisers. TV commercials. Highway billboards. Internet banner ads. Strip mall storefronts. Brands and information about brands are coming at us constantly, in full speed and from all directions. With all the endless advertising we're exposed to every day, how can we be expected to remember any of it? What determines which information makes it into our consciousness, and what ends up in our brains'industrial dump of instantly forgettable Huggies ads and other equally unmemorable encounters of the consumer kind? Here, I can't help but be reminded of one of my numerous hotel visits. When I walk into a hotel room in a strange city, I immediately toss my room key or card somewhere, and a millisecond later I've forgotten where I put it. The data just van
CONTENTS: FOREWORD BY PACO UNDERHILL vii INTRODUCTION 1 1:A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD The Largest Neuromarketing, Study Ever Conducted 7
2:THIS MUST BE THE PLACE Product Placement, American Idol, and Ford's Multimillion-Dollar Mistake 37
3:I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING Mirror Neurons at Work 53
4:1 CAN'T SEE CLEARLY NOW Subliminal Messaging, Alive and Well 68
5:DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC? Ritual, Superstition, and Why We Buy 88
6:1 SAY A LITTLE PRAYER Faith, Religion, and Brands 107 7:WHY DID I CHOOSE YOU? The Power of Somatic Markers 128
8:A SENSE OF WONDER Selling to Our Senses 141
9:AND THE ANSWER IS ... Neuromarketing and Predicting the Future 166
10:LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER Sex in Advertising
11:BRAND NEW DAY The Future of Marketing and Advertising 194
12:CONCLUSION Good Times, Bad Times 206 APPENDIX 219 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 223 NOTES 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY 239 INDEX 245