Archive | August, 2009

Collecting Visitor Info: Reward vs. Reciprocity

28. August 2009

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Many of us work with websites that depend on collecting user information – lead generation sites, charity sites, etc. Often, these sites have information useful to those visitors. The knee-jerk reaction is often, “Force them to give up their info before we show them the good stuff.” If there’s a search engine [...]

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Crap We Don’t Need?

27. August 2009

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One of the common views of neuromarketing, often expressed by those who are suspicious of business in general, is that the main purpose of neuromarketing is to manipulate consumers into making unnecessary purchases. In the words of a commenter on a blog post titled, This is Your Brain on Neurotechnology, neuromarketing is intended to [...]

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The Scarcity Effect

26. August 2009

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The Scarcity Effect

The idea that scarce products are more appealing isn’t new. The latest iPhone MUST be good if hundreds of people are standing in line to snag one of the small number available at launch, right? Game console makers seem to have turned scarcity into an art, ensuring that when a new model is [...]

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College Branding and Banner Ads

25. August 2009

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College Branding and Banner Ads

Banner ads may be the most common method of reaching consumers on the Web, but they don’t get much respect. Web marketers talk about “banner blindness,” implying that users become so used to the presence of these ads that they no longer even see them. I don’t think it’s time to write off [...]

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Training Your Brain to Multitask

24. August 2009

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It’s Monday, your inbox is full of unanswered emails, you desk is piled high with paper, and you’ve got a couple of important project deadlines looming. There’s one bright spot: although past research has indicated that people’s ability to multitask, i.e., perform several tasks at once, is very limited, a new study shows one [...]

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College Branding: Rooted in Reality

21. August 2009

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College Branding: Rooted in Reality

Some in higher education don’t like the concept of “branding.” This is so much the case that UK branding expert Robert Mighall wrote a lengthy article debunking some of the ideas those in higher ed have about the concept of branding (see College Branding Myths Demolished). To me, the biggest concern about [...]

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Neuromarketing at SXSW? Make it so!

19. August 2009

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Neuromarketing at SXSW? Make it so!

Want to see brain science in marketing showcased at South by Southwest 2010? My colleague Ben Sykes (@bensykes) has pulled together a panel, The Neurobiology of Optimal Human Design, that includes Dr. A.K. Pradeep (@Neurofocus), President and Chief Executive Officer of Neurofocus, yours truly, and Ben himself. Ben is founder of interActoid [...]

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Paralysis of Analysis: Overthinking and Bad Decisions

18. August 2009

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Paralysis of Analysis: Overthinking and Bad Decisions

Choking isn’t just for golfers and free-throw shooters. A particular kind of “choking,” thinking about the process of doing something instead of just doing it, can affect us all even when performing such mundane tasks as choosing a good-tasting fruit jam.

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When Subliminal Logos Attack

17. August 2009

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When Subliminal Logos Attack

In Subliminal Logos, I highlighted a some logos that incorporated elements so subtle that they might not be consciously processed, at least on first viewing. Several Neuromarketing readers pointed me at an interesting Fortune article on logo remakes, What’s In a New Logo?. A few of these remakes were prompted by some subtle, [...]

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Is Branding Dead? Ask These Kids.

13. August 2009

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As a followup to my post, Is Branding Dead? Our Brains Say No, here’s more evidence that advertising-driven branding is alive and well. In this video, neuromarketing expert Martin Lindstrom conducts a series of on-camera experiments with a group of “tweens,” kids 8 to 12 years old:

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