Why extreme right wing parties are champions in applying neuromarketing

Ever wondered why extreme right wing parties are so popular? After reading a book on neuromarketing it all became clear that right wing parties are champions in applying those models.

The book explains that according to neuroscientists we have three major parts in our brain that work as if they were separated organs: the neocortex (where we proudly think), the intuitive brain (where we intensely feel) and finally the primitive or reptilian brain (where we decide).

So if their theory is true, it is not our intelligence (cortex) which decides but it is our good old primitive brain. The part we share with a lot of other living and less intelligent beings on this planet. This part of our brain is action and “now” driven.

According to research there are 6 stimuli which act upon this part of the brain:
a. egocentric, only concerns with him/herself
b. thinking in opposites (black & white)
c. tangible and simple familiar information
d. remembers only the beginning and the end
e. visual information is most efficient
f. strong reaction to emotions

Doesn’t this look like the receipt of how extreme right wing political movements communicate? And if they do so, neuroscientists predict they made it easy for people to decide. And as human beings are strongly attracted to comfort zones… yes you got it…

For those interested in reading more on the subject follow the link to the book
in english http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Old-Brain-Discoveries-Influence/dp/0974348201
in french http://www.amazon.fr/Neuromarketing-nerf-vente-Patrick-Renvois%C3%A9/dp/2804147339

Neuromarketing: forget about Descartes if you haven’t yet

Considering ourselves at the top of the evolution, we tend to believe that what makes us different, our mental capacities, constitutes our essence. That’s why many of us continue to believe that the way we function is Think-Do-Feel. This paradigm is a logical consequence of Decartes cogito ergo sum, I think so I am, which has dominated the western world for centuries.

Over the last decades, neuro-scientists have made great progress to understand how the brain works. The result of their research is the opposite of what the Descartes paradigm has imposed: FEEL-DO-THINK. Yes, emotions always come first. Or if you like, thinking is a result of an emotion. Emotions are the motor and provide the energy and orientation to the thinking.

Marketers who are focused on customer behavior are concerned with these new findings. By integrating the results of neuroscience they can shift their paradigm too. It is not what people think about a product that is important, but what people feel about the product and it is measurable!

This new approach has a name: Neuromarketing. Neuromarketers integrate emotional parameters based on scientific evidence in the analysis of customer behavior. How they do this you can see on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JXyhJYsFbQ. It is a 49 min video, but as often the first 10 min are largely sufficient to get the main message from it.

The navel is the biggest labyrinth in the world

Many companies often wonder why they fail to implement powerful communication. They invested in expensive brochures, websites, etc. and still the results are not showing up.  They just can’t understand.

But in fact, often the reason for this lack of success is simple: they look in the wrong direction! They look at themselves instead of projecting them selves on the market. They spend months, years staring at their navel and get lost.

Companies feel more confident to talk about the features (the internal view) than about the value (the market view) they deliver. You can’t expect a customer to admire your navel when he is looking for value not features. But as long as companies focus their communication on features they will remain lost in a communication process which shows strong familiarities with autism.

The solution? A simple change of perception. In fact it is all about the difference between two questions «what do we do?» (the features) and «what we do for YOU?» (the value). One word that can change a world.

Technology is a “non”-sense

There has always been a big hype about technology as if it would be a consumer value. It is even more strange that this believe continues to reach the headlines, when reality shows that so called “superior technology products” get beaten.  It is difficult for me to understand how technology could be a consumer value on its own.

On the contrary of what one tends to believe, technology was not made to create consumer value but to solve a technical problem. That’s the basic (and there is no other) scope of its value. If you want to go beyond this technical view in order to meet customer value, there often will be a  long way to go to create a successful product. Let me give you an example.

Ferrari is believed to produce one of  the best technologies in the automobile industry. Now imagine I come to visit you and bring you a Ferrari motor to put it in your living room. The chance is big you will throw it away because what would you do with it? If I bring you the same motor with a red car built around it, you bet this car will be in your garage for the next 10 years or more because you surely know what do to with that car.

But, where is the difference? It’s simple, in the first case a Ferrari motor in your living room does not make sense. But a Ferrari car in your garage does make sense . It is so simple as that, customers are looking for a meaning, something that makes sense and it is surely not technology as such.

Many technology companies tend to make the mistake assuming their technology = a product and thus a customer value. Some go that far to think the customer has to invent the value that goes with it… “the customer creates the product” kind of product management.