SAXTON B. LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
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Saxton Reads! & Reviews

We invite the public to post reviews to our catalog by logging into our online catalog. Reviews will then be posted to this blog. Comments can be added to existing posts or may be added as separate reviews on our catalog
APRIL 24, 2009
Buy·ology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy ~ Martin Lindstrom

***CarolK
Hmmm, it's certainly harder to talk about a non-fiction book. Buy·ology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy authored by Martin Lindstrom reads a bit more like a text book that the narrative non-fiction that usually catches my eye. I picked it up because the subject of what influences our decisions to part with our hard earned dollars has always fascinated me. Many years ago I read Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders , a look at how advertisers used psychological means to tickle our unconscious minds to persuade us to buy what they're selling. Hidden Persuaders came out in '57 and since I was only 9, I doubt I used it for a book report, though until this moment I always thought that was why I read it. Also that year, James Vicary, a market researcher, scared us all with his claim that advertisers had inserted quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and that these had influenced people to purchase more food from the refreshment stand. The term subliminal message was born.

Turn the clock fast forward to my career in the library. Retail marketing and how it fits in the library world captured my interest. I want to know the best way to promote all the wonderful materials we have in our library. I picked up some interesting tips from Paco Underhill's Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping and Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping, So Buy·ology seemed a natural fit to continue my education in what factors make us brand loyal, buy certain products, respond to certain ads; what really influences our consumerism.

Martin Lindstrom spent 3 years and seven million dollars to conduct the study that became his book. He peered inside the brains of over two thousand volunteers, doing one of the first neuomarketing, science based study of what drives us to buy. His findings are very interesting and surprised many in the advertising world. His studies were conducted using brain scans and fMRI's. Here's one story as an example. A group of volunteers were shown a series of twenty product logos, including three that were aired on American Idol. Coke, Ford and Cingular. They were also shown products not part of the show. Then they watched a 20 minute segment of American Idol and another show without product placement. Then they were shown the logos again, three times in a row. Which logos would they remember? After seeing American Idol, the volunteers had greater recall for the branded logos vs. the unbranded ones. Coke and Cingular had placed the actual product within the product while Ford just did traditional commercials. Coke and Cingular actually crowded out memory of the other product logos, such as Pepsi and Verizon. More interesting was that Coke and Cingular were much more memorable than Ford. They remembered less about Ford at the end of the study than before they began. Ford had spent $26 million on their commercials and had actually lost market share! Whew! Complicated but intriguing.

I haven't a clue as to how I will put what I learned to use in our library to lure you into taking out more books. I think I got more out of Paco Underhill's books. Still, I'll mull over Lindstrom's study and try not to let the advertisers persuade me into buying things I don't need or truly want.

Add a comment  (0 comments) posted by Caro

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