persuasion

OK, here’s a quick task: take a minute to write down some common characteristics and behaviors that superheroes might exhibit… (DON’T read further until you have jotted down some ideas.)

Done? You should know that I have manipulated you and influenced your future behavior… but in a good way! If your local non-profit called [...]

It’s no big surprise that our brains can process odors without the intervention of our conscious minds, but a study published earlier this year showed just how sophisticated that process can be. Specifically, brain scans showed that women responded differently when they smelled the sweat of sexually aroused males, even though almost none of [...]

My 2005 post, Neuroarchitecture Next Buzzword, was more premature than prescient. In the ensuing years, the idea that neuroscience had anything to offer architects received little public attention. Now, however, the field is again in the public eye.
Emily Anthes of Scientific American Mind has written an excellent survey of recent research [...]

One of the benefits of presenting at conferences is that you get to meet interesting people you might not otherwise encounter. One such individual at the Slovenian Advertising Festival was Jan Heemskerk, Netherlands-based editor of Playboy. His presentation showed how Playboy had created advertorial sections that combined pictorials with products in a way [...]

Why spend money optimizing your conventional television commercials, print ads, etc., when you could beam your product messages directly into people’s brains telepathically? Brain Ads offers to transmit your message globally for free, but only if you make a $2,000 “donation.” According to the website, the advantages of these telepathic ads include:

reach more [...]

In Mirrors and Images, I speculated that the presence of images such as a picture of Christ in a church or those omnipresent portraits of the leaders of totalitarian states might influence the behavior of people in their presence. Now, the New York Times reports that photos have been shown to influence the behavior [...]

My long-time buddy Dave Berry is a funny guy. And, he’s a published author. But, he’s NOT Dave Barry, the Miami humorist who’s even funnier and has more published books. Therein lies the problem – Google thinks he is. Or, more to the point, Google thinks that anyone looking for Dave Berry [...]

Japan’s second-biggest ad agency, Hakuhodo, is investing in the growing field of neuromarketing:
TOKYO – Hakuhodo has entered a business alliance with Buyology, a New York-based consultancy, to develop marketing-related neuroscience expertise.
Having identified the application of neuroscience to marketing practices as a growing worldwide trend, the Japanese agency has signed a capital alliance agreement with [...]

Green marketing. “Greenwashing.” Green is the hot color for marketers these days, but there’s an old-fashioned kind of green that most of us overlook: no, not money… trees. There’s evidence that viewing trees and similar greenery can have physiological and behavioral effects:
“Visual exposure” to settings with trees produced significant recovery from stress in [...]

Understanding how events occur in the brain – how we come to an “aha!” insight, how we make a decision, and so on – fascinates neuroscientists. And anyone interested in neuromarketing can’t help but wonder how we decide between two products, or whether to buy a product at all. And, since we like [...]