Two fascinating new advertising resources
Two new books with fascinating views on advertising and consumer behavior have recently been published. They are:
"The Numerati"
How They'll Get My Number And Yours
by Stephen Baker
and
BUY.OLOGY
How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy Is Wrong
by Martin Lindstrom
The first one is mostly about how they use algorithms to predict people's behavior.
The second one, IMHO, is even more interesting. It discusses how using fMRI machines to scan the brain reveals the truth going on when people are exposed to advertising and other buying stimuli. It shows, for example, that cigarette pack warnings don't work; they light up the same part of the brain as the desire to smoke.
Another thing it shows is how people don't always tell the truth (duh!). Some subjects in focus groups, for example, said they didn't like a TV show but their brain scans revealed that they really did. So these techniques are often useless.
I'm not out to do a full book review, just to tip people off about these new books. They've already given me some great new ideas on how to improve my website and sales tactics. Let's face it: a lot of the old ways aren't working as well anymore.
"The Numerati"
How They'll Get My Number And Yours
by Stephen Baker
and
BUY.OLOGY
How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy Is Wrong
by Martin Lindstrom
The first one is mostly about how they use algorithms to predict people's behavior.
The second one, IMHO, is even more interesting. It discusses how using fMRI machines to scan the brain reveals the truth going on when people are exposed to advertising and other buying stimuli. It shows, for example, that cigarette pack warnings don't work; they light up the same part of the brain as the desire to smoke.
Another thing it shows is how people don't always tell the truth (duh!). Some subjects in focus groups, for example, said they didn't like a TV show but their brain scans revealed that they really did. So these techniques are often useless.
I'm not out to do a full book review, just to tip people off about these new books. They've already given me some great new ideas on how to improve my website and sales tactics. Let's face it: a lot of the old ways aren't working as well anymore.