Book review of "Neuro Marketing for Dummies" by Wiley Canada

1. Forthcoming in Journal of Consumer Marketing
Reviewed By: Sharad Agarwal, IIM Ranchi
Review Subject: Neuromarketing For Dummies
Stephen Genco, Andrew Pohlmann, Peter Steidl
Publisher Name: John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd
Place of Publication: Mississauga, ONTARIO
Publication Year: 2013
ISBN: 978-1-118-51858-8
Price: US $22.99
Article type: Review
Pages:408 pp.

2. Neuro Marketing for Dummies
In the last few years, neuromarketing is seen as one of the most hyped concepts which is also slowly
and steadily gaining ground in the mainstream marketing research. This book brilliantly integrates
the concepts from cognitive psychology, social psychology, behavioural economics, neuroscience
and cognitive neuroscience to look beyond the hype and appraise the readers of the scientific
foundations of this upcoming field in marketing and business.
The book consists of 24 chapters divided into six parts. Part 1, “The Brave new world of
Neuromarketing” consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 briefly defines neuromarketing and outlines
the topics discussed in further chapters of the book. The authors use the term “Brain Science”, to
refer to all the scientific fields that underlie neuromarketing which primarily includes neuroscience,
behavioural economics and social psychology. Chapter 2 discusses about the “Rational Consumer
Model” and the “Intuitive consumer models” used to understand the decision making process of the
consumers. The authors explain their point through Kahneman’s system 1 and System 2 decision
making models (Kahneman, 2003), which are also referenced in later sections of the book. Chapter 3
revolves around the process of brand perception by human brains. The authors discuss the process,
how brands catch consumers’ attention and are recalled at the point of purchase leading to the sales
of product. They also provide some suggestions for the new products: “What are the product
innovators to do? Neuromarketing says the best approach to combine moderate levels of innovation
with recognizable element of familiarity” (p.44). The authors explain their point with an example of
iPad, explaining how the product (iPad) despite being novel is able to incorporate features similar of
being a computer. Chapter 4 deals with the contributions neuromarketing can make to the
marketers, “Neuromarketing can help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing, reduce
the number of product and campaign failures, and ultimately make marketing more responsive to
the real needs and wants of the consumers” (p.59). The authors also opine that neuromarketing
enables the consumers to make an informed decision.
Part 2, “The Essence of Neuromarketing: The Nonconscious mind of the consumer”, consists of four
chapters. Chapter 5 revolves around the role of human brain’s unconscious processes in their
decision making process. The authors lead the readers to dwell upon the role of unconscious
information: “Brain scientists are slowly displacing the conscious mind with the nonconcious mind as
the center of human mental activity” (p.79). The authors further discuss about how advertisements
act as primes which in turn influence consumers’ buying behaviour later on and also makes a point
that though these primes influence consumers’ buying behaviour, it is not easy to create much
hyped “Zombie Consumers”. Chapter 6 centers on the role of nonconcious emotions and conscious
feelings in consumer responses. The authors relate the importance of consumers emotions with
their buying behaviour: “Experiencing emotional responses to products and brands stimulates and
reinforces learning which can shape our responses (as consumers) to future experiences with those
products and brands, creating habits and preferences that can last a lifetime” (p.98).Chapter 7
examines the role of consumer’s goal and motivation on their product preferences and choices. The
authors mention that, “Goals are the motivational divers behind the decisions and actions and are
extremely important to marketing and neuromarketing” (p.105) and further suggest that “They
(goals) are mechanism by which we connect our perception, emotions and preferences for brand

3. and products to our choices and behaviour as consumers” (p.105).The authors rehash the role of
brands in acting as primes and triggering nonconcious goals and exemplify their point by suggesting
that Apple primes creativity while Disney primes honesty in the minds of the consumers. Chapter 8
takes a deeper dive into previously discussed Kahenman’s system 1 and system 2 models of decision
making and also introduces the readers to “Judgement Heuristics” which are shortcuts and biases
built into the human decision making system. As 90 percent of human decision making is intuitive,
authors suggest that neuromarketing would help marketer to understand this part of their decision
making.
Part 3, “Neuromarketing in action” comprises of six chapters. Chapter 9 emphasize the connections
of the brands to the consumers’ unconscious mind which even the consumers themselves may not
be able to articulate completely. This fact suggests that the traditional methods which capture the
conscious brand awareness among consumers do not suffice to explain the brand consumer
relationships. Chapter 10 elaborates upon the applications of neuromarketing in the process of new
products and package development which would please the consumers’ brain. The authors present
the example of Apple’s products to explain how good design can transform into exceptional
performance in the marketplace: “Apple design across its product lines consistently embody the
three aesthetic principles that contribute to processing fluency: conservation of information,
symmetry, and contrast and clarity. Apple favours rounded corners, too.” (p.168). Chapter 11 deals
with the effectiveness of television advertising. Authors make their point by identifying two routes
to advertising effectiveness: “The direct route to advertising effectiveness” and “The indirect route
to advertising effectiveness”. Chapter 12 explores the multisensory nature of shopping to enhance
the readers understanding on why and how the consumer shops. The authors classify the shopping
pursuit into two categories: “Represented by the common phrases ‘doing the shopping’ (which
captures the idea of shopping as a chore) and ‘going shopping’ (which captures the idea of shopping
for pleasure)”( p.193). Chapter 13 recognizes the difference between online marketing and
traditional marketing and explains how consumers’ brain process webpages. Authors provide the
neuroscientific reasoning of the success of social networking sites such as Facebook : “Talking about
ourselves to others is intrinsically rewarding. It activates the same reward circuitry in our brains as
eating, receiving money, and having sex” (p.214). Chapter 14 examines the role of “mirror neuron
system” in appreciating the power of stories to entertain and persuade and adds to our
understanding on why our brains are attracted to movies and video games. “In a good story, we can
literally feel what’s happening and the emotions experienced by the characters, thanks to our mirror
neurons” (p.220).
Part 4, “Measuring consumer response with Neuromarketing” covers four chapters. Chapter 15
deals with the traditional approaches of market research .Through the explanation of several biases
it make the readers aware of the risk in asking the consumers about their preferences, as done in
traditional methods. Chapter 16 elaborates upon the neuromarketing measures from the body and
the brain. The authors explain the neuromarketing body measures such as facial expressions , facial
muscle movements, electrodermal activity (EDA), heart rate etc. to understand consumers’ response
to difference kind of marketing initiatives. The authors also explain the brain measures such as
positron emission tomography (PET),Electroencephalogram (EEG), functional magnetic resonant
imaging (fMRI), used to capture the neuronal activities happening in the brain. Chapter 17 provides
the readers with relatively inexpensive applications of neuromarketing for marketers such as online
webtracking etc. It also includes web links of some of the tools and service providers which acts as a

4. ready reference for the readers who want to further explore these topics. Chapter 18 summarizes
the range of consumer brain response measured by neuromarketing. Table 18.1 (p.288-289) depicts
the applications of different neuromarketing techniques used for addressing business problems and
is helpful in empowering the marketer to make an informed choice in choosing correct
neuromarketing approach.
Part 5, “Living with neuromarketing: Practical and Ethical Considerations” again comprises of four
chapters. Chapter 19 explains the reliability and validity of the neuromarketing studies. It also talks
about the statistical significance of the neuromarketing research. Through the concepts of “forward
inference” and “reverse inference”, it provides an understanding of the logic behind the inferences
derived in the neuromarketing experiments. Chapter 20 provides general guidelines for both
academic and professional neuromarketing researchers to make their neuromarketing research
experience more meaningful for addressing managerial problems. Chapter 21 provides some advice
which the businesses should follow before hiring their neuromarketing partners or consultants while
initiating a neuromarketing projects. It cautions the businesses to carefully scrutinize the
competencies of neuromarketing consultant: “After all, anyone with a Rolex and a fancy suit can call
himself as a consultant” (p.334). Chapter 22 deals with the policy and ethical implications of the
neuromarketing studies. It talks about the industry associations such as The Advertising Research
Foundation (ARF), ESOMAR and The Neuromarketing Science and Business Association (NMSBA)
which have crafted general principles and ethical guidelines for neuromarketing studies.
Part 6, “The part of the tens”, is described as “fun facts” part of the book. It comprises of two
chapters. Chapter 23 educates the reader about the truth behind the recent hypes created by the
neuromarketing research especially the claims about having found the “Buy Button” in the
consumers brain: “If people insist on using the ‘buy button’ metaphor, we believe they should be
ready to talk about a ‘don’t buy button’”(p.362). As its titles implies, Chapter 24 talks about the ten
scientific pillars underlying Neuromarketing. It reiterates the principles discussed in earlier sections
of the book such as Kahneman’s System 1 and System 2, priming, emotional ‘Somatic Markers’,
Processing fluency etc. to assert the science behind the applications of neuroscientific techniques in
solving complicated business problems.
The biggest challenge for any author to write a book involving topics from several academic
disciplines is to engage the readers of all disciplines, who might not be an expert in all the
disciplines. I believe that the authors have very well succeeded in their attempt and the reader
becomes more and more curious to understand the psychology and brain science behind the
consumer behaviour. It helps them understand why the consumer actually buys what he/she buys?
All in all, the book is a much needed one stop reference guide for both the beginner as well as
advanced readers of the subject. The book can very well be used as a textbook for the postgraduate
courses on neuromarketing and consumer neuroscience. It is at the same time an indispensable
guide for the marketers and managers planning to adopt the neuromarketing techniques in their
respective business areas.
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Reference:
Kahneman, D. (2003). Maps of bounded rationality: Psychology for behavioral economics. The
American economic review, 93(5), 1449-1475.