BOOK REVIEW

Buyology – Martin Lindstrom

Innovative neuro-research provides for an explanatory position of real-world examples in marketing

        This New York Times bestseller was made mandatory reading for an introductory marketing class I took at university the year after I had completed the course. Naturally inquisitive about marketing at this point and having heard of the addition to the course’s curriculum, I bought myself a copy and flew through it in about a week. The author, a Danish businessman called Martin Lindstrom, claims to have spent three years conducting neuromarketing research on over 2000 subjects, with the results illuminating the psyche of consumers as they make their purchasing decisions.

        The main reason I thought this was an encapsulating read was that it was extremely rich with examples. It made reference to an array of fascinating marketing tactics and I found myself having to sit by a computer to research them as they were mentioned. Lindstrom discusses the impact of many common marketing techniques, including the employment of celebrity endorsement, product placement, catchy jingles and of course the perception that ‘sex sells’, a mentality that now drives the insight of so many marketing campaigns in platitudinous fashion.

         This is definitely a good book for anyone starting out in marketing as a student of the discipline, or even curious to learn more about what decisions go into creating a campaign or strategy so as to consider the consumer’s path-to-purchase. I’d claim it even holds a great deal of knowledge that could be of use to people whose marketing careers are in their infancy, like myself and many of my friends. 

-NP, June 2012