Neuromarketing: How brands are getting your brain to buy more stuff

Summary

This video script explores the concept of neuromarketing, a powerful strategy where companies delve into the human brain to influence consumer behavior. It explains how businesses use neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics to understand our subconscious desires and persuade us to buy more. The script debunks early marketing myths, highlights the role of subconscious decision-making, and discusses tactics like exploiting consumer fatigue, setting price perceptions, leveraging the 'hedonic treadmill' for continuous upgrades, and using visual 'primers' to subtly influence choices. It concludes by emphasizing the balance between consumer autonomy and corporate influence, suggesting awareness of these tactics can empower us to make more informed decisions.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Companies are using neuromarketing to understand consumer behavior and influence buying decisions.
• 💡 The concept of neuromarketing is likened to 'marketing on steroids', indicating its powerful influence on consumer psychology.
• 🧐 Companies are aware of consumer needs and desires better than the consumers themselves, shaping brand perception in their minds.
• 🎥 A historical example from the 1950s about subliminal messaging in cinemas was debunked as a myth, showing we're not easily brainwashed.
• 📚 Prince Ghuman and Matt Johnson's book discusses how companies align their marketing strategies with the workings of our brains.
• 🛒 Consumers often make decisions subconsciously, which neuromarketing aims to tap into by understanding what people truly want.
• 🧐 Traditional marketing studies may not capture the full range of factors influencing decisions, as people are largely irrational and unaware.
• 🔍 Neuromarketers use technologies like fMRI and EEG to observe brain activity and eye-tracking to monitor attention, among other methods.
• 🤔 Uma Karmarkar's research highlights that neuroscience provides insights into emotional elements that influence decision-making.
• 🍿 An example of neuromarketing success is Frito-Lay's campaign for Cheetos, which capitalized on the subversive pleasure of getting fingers messy.
• 💸 Businesses invest in neuromarketing research to understand consumer behavior better and use this knowledge to increase sales.

Q & A

What problem did companies in the Western world face about a hundred years ago?

Companies faced the problem of market saturation where consumers had everything they needed, leading to a lack of demand for new products.

What is neuromarketing and how does it differ from traditional marketing?

Neuromarketing is a field that studies consumers' brains to understand their buying habits and persuade them to buy more. It differs from traditional marketing by focusing on subconscious influences and using brain imaging technologies to gauge consumer responses.

What was the outcome of the 'DRINK COCA-COLA' and 'EAT POPCORN' experiment conducted in the 1950s?

The experiment, which involved subliminally flashing messages on a cinema screen, was later revealed to be a fabrication. It was claimed to have influenced people to buy more Coke and popcorn, but there was no scientific evidence to support these claims.

How do companies use neuromarketing to understand consumer behavior?

Companies use neuromarketing by employing technologies like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalograms (EEG), eye-tracking, heart rate monitors, and skin conductance sensors to measure brain activity, attention, and emotional responses.

What is the significance of the 'hedonic treadmill' in consumer behavior?

The 'hedonic treadmill' refers to the idea that the pleasure derived from material possessions is fleeting. Brands use this concept to encourage continuous consumption by introducing new products, which in turn creates a cycle of seeking the next pleasure.

How do companies manipulate the 'right price' perception in consumers' minds?

Companies use the anchoring effect by placing items with higher prices next to the ones they want to sell. This creates a context that makes the original price seem like a good deal, influencing consumers to make a purchase.

What is the role of 'priming' in advertising and marketing?

Priming involves using subtle visual or auditory cues in advertising to influence consumer behavior. For example, showing a smiling can of Coca-Cola or setting the time on a watch to 10:10 to make it appear as if it's smiling can subtly influence a consumer's perception and decision-making.

How do shopping malls exploit consumer psychology to increase sales?

Shopping malls are designed to be confusing and overwhelming, which can exhaust shoppers and make them more prone to impulsive purchases, especially when faced with enticing offers at the checkout counters.

What are the two thinking modes of the human brain, and how do they influence purchasing decisions?

The two thinking modes are System 1, which is fast, unconscious, and automatic, and System 2, which is deliberate and conscious but requires more effort. When consumers are tired or overwhelmed, they are more likely to rely on System 1, leading to impulsive buying decisions.

How can consumers protect themselves from the influence of neuromarketing?

By being aware of the subconscious tactics used by neuromarketers and understanding how our brains respond to these stimuli, consumers can make more informed and conscious decisions, thus reducing the impact of neuromarketing on their purchasing behavior.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 The Rise of Neuromarketing

This paragraph discusses the evolution of consumerism and marketing strategies. About a century ago, Western companies faced a saturation point where consumers seemingly had everything they needed. To counter this, companies began employing neuromarketing techniques to persuade consumers to desire more, even things they didn't realize they needed. Neuromarketing is likened to 'marketing on steroids,' suggesting its potency in influencing consumer behavior. The paragraph introduces the idea that companies now delve into understanding consumer brains to drive purchases, hinting at the sophistication of modern marketing tactics. It also touches on the debunked myth of subliminal advertising in cinemas, suggesting that while such tactics are not as straightforward as once believed, companies are still keen on understanding and exploiting subconscious desires.

05:04

🛒 The Subtle Influences of Neuromarketing

This section delves into the practical applications of neuromarketing, exploring how companies subtly influence consumer decisions. It explains the concept of 'wear down' tactics, where consumers are more likely to make impulsive purchases when they are tired or overwhelmed, such as at the end of a shopping trip. The paragraph also discusses how retailers use price anchoring to manipulate perceptions of value, with the example of a $15 bottle of wine seeming like a good deal when placed next to a more expensive bottle. It further examines the 'hedonic treadmill,' a psychological phenomenon where the fleeting nature of pleasure drives continuous consumption, exemplified by the constant release of new iPhone models. Lastly, it touches on 'primers,' subtle visual cues in advertisements designed to nudge consumer behavior, such as the smiling Coca-Cola can or the 10:10 positioning on watch ads to create a sense of happiness.

10:08

💭 The Power of Consumer Choice in Neuromarketing

The final paragraph reflects on the balance between the power of neuromarketing and the autonomy of consumer choices. It acknowledges that while total mindlessness and total control are rare extremes, there exists a significant gray area where consumer decisions can vary from informed and thorough to impulsive and cursory. The importance of personal preference as a key determinant in consumer choices is highlighted, emphasizing the agency consumers have despite the influence of neuromarketing. The paragraph concludes by recognizing neuromarketing as a powerful tool that grants companies access to consumers' subconscious minds, but also suggests that awareness of these tactics can empower individuals to make better-informed decisions.

Keywords

💡Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing is a field that combines neuroscience and marketing to understand how the human brain responds to marketing stimuli and to influence consumer behavior. In the video, it is described as 'marketing on steroids,' highlighting its ability to deeply understand consumers' subconscious desires and persuade them to buy more. The concept is central to the video's theme, which explores how companies study the brain to encourage continuous consumption.

💡Subconscious decisions

Subconscious decisions refer to the choices we make without being fully aware of the underlying factors influencing them. The video emphasizes that while we feel in control of our decisions, studies show we are often irrational and unaware of the full range of factors that inform our behaviors. This concept is crucial as it underpins the effectiveness of neuromarketing strategies that target our subconscious mind.

💡Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a neuroimaging technique that measures and maps brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. In the context of the video, fMRI is used by neuromarketers to observe what happens inside consumers' brains, providing insights into their preferences and reactions to marketing stimuli.

💡Electroencephalograms (EEG)

Electroencephalograms (EEG) is a method that measures electrical activity in the brain. The video mentions EEG as one of the technologies adopted by neuromarketers to study brain activity and understand consumer responses, which helps in crafting marketing strategies that resonate with the subconscious mind.

💡Eye-tracking

Eye-tracking is a technology that records where and when a person looks. In the video, eye-tracking is used as an example of how neuromarketers can determine where consumers direct their attention, which is valuable information for designing advertisements and marketing materials that capture interest.

💡System 1 and System 2

System 1 and System 2 are terms coined by psychologists Daniel Kahneman to describe two modes of thinking. System 1 is fast, unconscious, and automatic, while System 2 is slow, deliberate, and effortful. The video uses these concepts to explain how marketers can exploit our brain's tendency to default to System 1, especially when we are tired or overwhelmed, to encourage impulsive buying.

💡Price anchoring

Price anchoring is a concept where the brain relies on an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments. In the video, it is illustrated by placing a more expensive bottle of wine next to a cheaper one, making the cheaper option seem like a good deal. This technique is used by marketers to influence consumers' perception of value.

💡Hedonic treadmill

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the idea that people tend to return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events in their lives. The video uses this concept to describe how brands exploit the fleeting nature of pleasure by constantly introducing new products, prompting consumers to seek the next 'pleasure' through consumption.

💡Priming

Priming is a psychological phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus influences a response to another stimulus. The video discusses how marketers use visual 'primers' such as placing a dollar bill in an ad for a $1 burger or setting a watch to display 10:10 to create a smiling effect. These subtle cues can influence consumer behavior without the person being consciously aware of it.

💡Subliminal messages

Subliminal messages are stimuli processed by the subconscious mind without conscious awareness. The video refers to an early marketing experiment where subliminal messages were flashed on a cinema screen, supposedly influencing consumer behavior. While the experiment is debunked as a myth, the concept is used to discuss the evolution of marketing tactics into more subtle and legal forms.

💡Consumer autonomy

Consumer autonomy refers to the ability of consumers to make informed and independent choices. The video concludes by discussing the balance between the influence of neuromarketing and consumer autonomy, suggesting that while we are not completely controlled by marketing, we do have the power to make decisions based on our preferences and awareness of marketing tactics.

Highlights

About a hundred years ago, companies in the Western world faced a problem where consumers had everything they needed.

Companies came up with the idea to persuade people that they need more things, even things they didn't know they needed.

Neuromarketing is a strategy used by companies to study consumer brains to encourage more purchases.

Neuromarketing is likened to 'marketing on steroids', with companies knowing consumers better than they know themselves.

The brand's existence is solely in the mind of the consumers, and companies are finding ways to get into consumers' heads.

In the 1950s, a marketer claimed to have used subliminal messages to increase sales, though it was later debunked as a myth.

Prince Ghuman and Matt Johnson wrote a book on how companies tailor their marketing strategies to appeal to our brains.

Neuromarketing aims to understand how our brain works to figure out what we truly want.

Traditional marketing studies often fail to capture subconscious desires, unlike neuromarketing.

Neuromarketers use technologies like fMRI and EEG to measure brain activity and understand consumer behavior.

Uma Karmarkar's research shows that neuroscience can reveal unconscious elements influencing decision-making.

Frito-Lay discovered that consumers enjoyed the messiness of Cheetos, leading to a successful ad campaign based on subversive pleasure.

Businesses are increasingly investing in neuromarketing research to understand consumer behavior and drive sales.

Companies exploit the brain's two thinking modes, System 1 (fast and unconscious) and System 2 (deliberate and conscious), to influence buying decisions.

Retailers and shopping malls use environmental factors to wear down consumers, leading to more impulsive purchases.

Stores use pricing strategies to create a context that influences consumers' perception of a 'good deal'.

Brands exploit the brain's constant seeking of pleasure through the 'hedonic treadmill', encouraging continuous consumption.

Subtle marketing 'primers' like visual cues and music can influence consumer choices without their conscious awareness.

Despite the power of neuromarketing, consumers still have the ability to make informed choices and resist impulsive buying.

Understanding the subconscious mechanisms at play can help consumers make better decisions and resist neuromarketing tactics.

Transcripts

About a hundred years ago, companies in  the Western world ran into a problem:  

Consumers had everything they needed. So,  the companies came up with a great idea: 

Persuade people that they need MORE things!  Even things they didn't KNOW they needed.  

Nowadays, companies are studying your brain  to get you to keep buying more stuff. 

This is called neuromarketing. And...

"...neuromarketing is like… marketing on steroids."

"Companies know us better than we know ourselves." 

"The brand exists nowhere else  but in the mind of the consumers."  

"We're going tell you how companies  are getting into your head."  

In the 1950s, a clever marketer shocked  the world with an astonishing experiment.  

He flashed the messages "DRINK COCA-COLA"  and "EAT POPCORN" on a cinema screen – too  

briefly for the audience to even notice.  He claimed this had people rushing to the  

counters in droves to buy Coke and popcorn. 

"If this story sounds too good to be true, then  

that's because it is. Thankfully,  we're not THAT easy to brainwash."  

"Turned out it was all B.S. – he made that up.  There's no such thing as a brain's buy button." 

This is Prince Ghuman, a marketing  professional. He and neuroscientist  

Matt Johnson wrote a book on how companies  tailor their marketing to our brains.  

So, the good thing is: we're not mindless  shopping zombies. But we do make a lot of  

our decisions subconsciously. And that's  where neuromarketing comes in. Companies  

are trying to better understand how our brain  works – to figure out what we really want. 

"Traditional marketing studies work like this.  Someone will ask me: do you want an apple  

or do you want a chocolate bar? And I'd  say: I of course want the apple.  

But… do I really want the apple?”

"We feel as if we're in control, we feel as  

if we're the author of our decisions and we're  thinking through these things very rationally.  

But study after study after study shows that  we are extremely irrational and that we're,  

generally speaking, pretty unaware of the  full range of factors which ultimately  

inform and sometimes actually decide the  different behaviors and paths that we take." 

"In short: we don't always know what we  want. We don't know if we actually want the  

apple or if we prefer the chocolate  bar. But our brain doesn't lie."  

And that's why neuromarketers have adopted a range  of technologies in their marketing studies to see  

what's happening under the hood--inside consumers'  brains. Functional magnetic resonance imaging  

and electroencephalograms measure activity  in the brain. Eye-tracking shows where we  

direct our attention. Heart rate and skin  conductance show what we find exciting. 

"For better or worse, people are complex  and the brain is really complex."  

Uma Karmarkar is a scholar whose research  revolves around how we make decisions.  

"What neuroscience does is it gives us  access to some of these emotional elements or  

these elements that might not be fully conscious  and tells us a little bit more about some of the  

things that might also be contributing  to people's experiences and choices."  

"Take Cheetos, for example. When its parent  company Frito-Lay asked consumers how they felt  

about the brand, many said: well, it's a bit of a  kids' snack. But when they looked at their brains,  

it turned out people got a real kick out of  getting their fingers messy with this orange  

dust that they're covered in. It IS fun…"  "There was something subversive about that  

orange dust on your fingers. There was  something a little unusual about it,  

and people kind of enjoyed it, even  though it was not that respectable."  

Frito-Lay took these findings and built an  entire ad campaign around this feeling of  

subversive pleasure. It became a huge success. 

"More and more businesses are investing  in this type of research – most of  

which is happening in secret."  Through neuroscience – but  

also with the help of psychology and behavioral  economics – they get a pretty good idea of what  

makes us tick. And they use this knowledge  to get us to buy more of their stuff.  

"I'm going to give you four examples of this that  you've probably seen in your everyday life."  

One: They wear you down. Our brain operates in two different  

thinking modes. There's what's called system 1,

which is fast, unconscious and automatic.

And then there's system 2, which is deliberate  and conscious – but takes a LOT of effort. 

"If I ask you: what is your name?

System 1 will immediately have an answer to that question.

But if I ask you what is 23 times 48, you're going to have to switch to system 2.

This requires effort. Now imagine,  you're going grocery shopping."  

You have to find your way around the  different aisles and make loads of decisions  

in a short amount of time. When you finally  get to the checkout counter, you're tired.  

"One way in which you can get somebody to be more system 1 oriented

is actually through wearing them down.

So system 2, very resource intensive,  

requires a lot of metabolic resources.  When we're tired, when we're malnourished,  

we're much more likely to go with a much  more impulsive system 1 response." 

And that's why right at the end of your  shopping trip, retailers tempt you with  

loads and loads of sugary snacks – that you  might just pick up at the very last moment.  

Shopping malls exploit the same situation.  They're confusing, they're overwhelming, they're  

quite frankly exhausting – so you're more prone to  spend money on something you might not even need.  

Two: They tell you what the right price is.

"Let's say you walk into a store and see  

a bottle of wine for, I don't know, let's say 15  dollars. 

Your brain doesn't really know  if this a lot or this is not a lot.  

So, it's immediately starting to look for some context." 

"Typically, people don't really have a sense of  price,

like they don't really know how much wine  should cost or what's the right price of a wine." 

This is Moran Cerf, a computer hacker turned  neuroscientist and business professor. 

"People create their kind of impressions  of the price range not by knowledge, 

by information – but by sampling reality."

The store will happily give your brain a reality to latch onto –

 by placing a second bottle next to it, costing 50$.  

Now your brain thinks: 15$, that's  actually a PRETTY good deal. So it's  

very likely you're going to buy this bottle.

"Our brains are like ships, we're looking  

for places to anchor, right? And adding any  sort of context or understanding of value,  

having an anchor helps." 

Three: They keep you on the treadmill.  

Another quirk of our brain that brands are using

is that it's constantly seeking pleasure.

And the key word here is "seeking".

"Once you're experiencing a sort of thing that you wanted, you don't just

get to bask in that pure pleasure for a long time. It's not the type 

of emotion which is enduring over time. And  that's a very, very good thing for brands."  

Because pleasure is so fleeting, brands keep sending us

to what's called the "hedonic treadmill".

"…the iPhone 6…"  

"…the iPhone 6S…"  "…this is iPhone 7…" 

"…iPhone 11…" "…the iPhone 12…"

"You buy an iPhone 8. It's a brand new physical  design and you're loving it. And just like  

clockwork, 12 months later, 8S comes out. Whatever  pleasure you got from achieving and purchasing  

the iPhone is now immediately gone. And now  you're looking to again, jump on the hedonic  

treadmill and look, chase the next pleasure."

Four: They hide little nudges in plain sight.  

"So… you remember that cinema  story from the beginning?  

Subliminal marketing messages like this, so  things that we can't pick up on consciously,  

are actually illegal in most countries. But a  few companies must have thought: well, why don't  

we just hide them in plain sight?" 

Check out this ad from KFC. See anything unusual?  

Well, look again. There's an actual  dollar bill photoshopped into the  

burger – which happens to cost 1 dollar. 

And check out this can. Coca-Cola made it  

look like it's smiling-- to tie in  with its brand image of happiness.  

And in literally every ad for watches, the time  is set to 10 past 10. 

Because that makes it look like the watch is smiling at you.

These types of subtle hints are called 'primers'.  

"I would say right now, it's controversial whether  priming works. That said, we still teach that in  

school and in business school as kind of a  mechanism people should be aware of because  

it's easy to implement. For the small  chance that it does work, why not try it,  

if you're trying to sell something" 

"If you see a 10:10 watch, you're not compelled  

by some physical force to go out and do everything  you can to buy it. But if you're already feeling  

like buying a watch, maybe you're very favorable  towards the brand, and that additional data point  

is going to push you maybe a little bit further." 

And this is not limited to visual triggers.  

An experiment showed that if a  wine store plays French music,  

customers buy more French wine. And if it  plays German music, they buy more German wine.  

"A lot of this stuff is hiding in archives for  companies and it is in their best interest not  

to reveal it. But we would be silly to think  that this isn't part of the experiential  

design that companies are creating to  better engage with their consumers."  

So where does all this leave us? Are  we ultimately just puppets, without a will  

of our own, buying whatever corporations  throw our way? Or do we have a choice?  

"Totally mindless behavior is rare, total  control is also rare. And in between there's a  

wide gray area and we can move the  needle between whether we make choices  

that are very informed and very kind of thorough.  Or very impulsive and not too thorough." \ 

"If you like something that's going to be  the most important determinant of whether  

or not you choose to spend money on it or your  time on it or your resources in general on it.  

And that speaks a lot to the power that  we have as consumers and individuals." 

"Now, neuromarketing is a very powerful tool.  It gives companies access to something that  

even we don't even have access to: our  subconscious. But just knowing that and  

knowing how our brain works, can  already help us make better decisions." 

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