Roger Dooley 1114 posts 0 comments

Imagine that you are shopping for a few bottles of wine for your next dinner party. You probably aren't going to buy from the cheapest selections. You don't want your guests to think you are a cheapskate, or that you have such a low…

We didn't need Econ 101 to learn that a dollar in the future isn't worth as much as a dollar today. Our brains knew that all along. And, as it turns out, monkey brains know it too. The Pure Pedantry blog has a lengthy post on research…

How do you market a product that your customers know is bad before they try it, and which they may well dislike if they do? That's the dilemma faced by makers of boxed wines - even those of high quality that would fare well in a blind…

I'm guessing marketers of products for itch relief, athlete's foot, and the like already know this... but itching can be stimulated by seeing other people scratch, and even by images of itch-causing creatures like bedbugs. Last month's…

Just about every news pundit on TV has declared that THIS is finally the oil price change that shocks Americans out of their gas-guzzling ways. It's hard to argue with that logic. Trucks and big SUVs are piling up on dealer lots. Consumers…

Here's a scenario... You decide to venture into a cell phone store despite your reluctance to deal with a bewildering number of phones, options, plans, along with a confusing price structure. As usual, you find you'll have to wait a bit for…

Emory University has announced the establishment of a new Center for Neuropolicy. The focus of the entity will be on the intersection of brain science, individual decision making, and politics. A new Center for Neuropolicy at Emory…

A few days ago, I wrote about the power of the word "New" to get our attention - if there's a more potent attractor out there, it's almost certainly "FREE!" For years, advertising gurus have listed "free" on every compilation of…

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely does a great job of demolishing the idea that people make decisions in a rational manner. Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke, describes dozens of experiments that show how we procrastinate, when we…

Marketers know there are potent words in advertising, like "Free" and "New." Neuroscientists have now determined that the appeal of "new" is hard-wired into our brains. Novelty activates our brain's reward center, which may have been an…