Neuromarketing for Dummies

A breakthrough for the field of neuroscience: in September 2013 Neuromarketing for Dummies will present our industry to a wide audience. This book, 408 pages in 24 chapters, is the most comprehensive neuromarketing guide ever published. It should be part of the bookcase of anyone interested in understanding the science behind
neuromarketing and decision-making.

The authors acknowledge that marketing is devoted to influencing people, and because people have brains, marketers actually want to influence their brains. They
distinguish neuromarketing from marketing, defining neuromarketing as the field of science that enables its users to get an objective understanding of decisionmaking that also allows them to measure the effect of marketing efforts. This science is based on technology and an objective view of the human brain.

his book presents up-to-date case studies and scientific advances that can fundamentally change the way people think about the different aspects of evaluating, preferring, buying, selling or experiencing products. It explains the master variables of neuromarketing research; emotion, attention and memory. The authors also literally dissect the scientific foundations of neuromarketing, treating subjects such as Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 and System 2, the priming effect, the emotional “somatic markers”, approach/avoidance measurement, implicit memory or reverse inference, and much more.

It also offers a new perspective on consumer behavior: the intuitive consumer model. This is the opposite of the rational consumer model that underlies most traditional consumer research, classical economic and marketing theories. This model is used to develop predictive theories and measures of how consumers navigate and make decisions in today’s complex and noisy world. The contrast of the rational versus the intuitive consumer decision-making model is appealingly illustrated by two characters from the television series Star Trek: Mr. Spock (logical) and Dr. McCoy (emotional).

Many examples of using neuromarketing research to make marketing more ”brain-friendly” are given. These include brand testing, product testing, packaging design, advertising, shopping environment, online experiences, TV shows, trailers, video games and product placement. Each type of testing is treated in a separate chapter that provides details on the methodology used, the kind of signals and measurement, the insights and the marketing outcomes. Both the benefits and the risks or drawbacks of each tool are reviewed elaborately. The authors explain how to choose the right approach depending on the research question and how to avoid designing inappropriate research. They also help in formulating hypotheses, choosing the right testing materials and population samples. The book also considers the practical and ethical considerations of using neuromarketing, as the industry is developing standards and practitioners needed to improve and prove validity and reliability.

Author: Steve Genco et.al.
By Monica Diana Olteanu (Bercea)