The Branded Mind

What Neuroscience Really Tells Us About the Puzzle of the Brain and the Brand

Kogan Page, 2011

15 min read

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Neuromarketing can tell you why you want to buy things.

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In 2005, marketing expert Erik du Plessis published The Advertised Mind, an approachable synthesis of neuroscience and marketing that explained how advertising shapes the brain’s responses and perceptions. In this book, a follow-up that you can understand on its own, du Plessis brings an even more focused treatment to the topic of neuromarketing, including commentary on the debate his earlier work provoked. He breaks his fairly dense material into brief chapters, so you can pick and choose according to your interests, ranging from cognitive science to branding, with many intriguing stops in between. getAbstract recommends du Plessis’s research, insights and engaging questions to marketing professionals and to readers interested in decision making, advertising, neuroscience and neuromarketing.

Summary

The Changing Picture of the Brain

Using brain science in marketing and advertising has become popular, and neuromarketing is a powerful buzzword in selling and promotion. Neuromarketing, which is based on science’s evolving understanding of the brain, holds the promise that marketers can mold their messages to affect people’s mental and emotional states, thus impelling a bond with their brands. That idea bespeaks the tantalizing possibility of using such insights as practical advertising tools, but the field is still in its infancy. Some proponents base grandiose claims for neuromarketing on a small number of highly visible but inconclusive experiments. To understand neuromarketing’s real potential, focus on what the brain is, on what thinking entails and on how people make decisions.

The way scientists understand the brain and its functioning is changing. For hundreds of years – since philosopher René Descartes declared, “I think, therefore I am” in the 17th century – Western philosophy, psychology and neuroscience have seen emotions as distinct from rational thought. Researchers posited that rationality was the brain’s core function, and that emotions blocked it. ...

About the Author

Erik du Plessis is chairman of Millward Brown South Africa, a market research firm.

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A. 1 decade ago

really interesting summary. I am very much looking forward to reading the book!

Erik Du Plessis