SIT Journal of Management Vol. 1. No. 1. June 2012. Pp.

218- 220

Book Review
The Branded Mind : What Neuroscience really tells us about the puzzle of the brain and the brand
Debayan Nandi*

Author : Erik du Plessis Publisher : Koogan Page for Millward Brown, 2011

*Debayan Nandi, Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Siliguri Institute of Technology, India, email : debai@sify.com, M : +91(0)9832012382. 1

Nandi

SIT Journal of Management Vol. 1. No. 1. June 2012. Pp. 218- 220
After first phenomenal work, The Advertised Mind (2005), functions of human mind and the implications that this has for advertising; Erik du Plessis wrote his second book, The Branded Mind (2011) through Millward Brown, one of the worlds leading research and marketing communication agency. Neuromarketing (the term coined in 2002), is now a burning topic and widely used in Marketing media. Erik du Plessis through his The Branded Mind has answered the questions of Neuromarketing like How does the application of brain science affect the established market research techniques? Could neuroscience learn from established methodologies? In the first part of the book Erik explored the structure of human brain, explaining how the different elements of our brain interact and the role emotions and moods play in our lives, as the author offered rigorous analysis of how the environment is interpreted based on memories, and how thoughts become consciousness. In the second part, the author presented marketing implications of neuroscience and of understanding the essence of decision making for brands. He has presented details on the methodologies used in Neuromarketing research, specifying for each one when it should be used. He also explained what we can expect in the future and shares his opinion on how Neuromarketing will develop in research, in both academic and business fields. The two well known experiments in Neuromarketing research are presented and discussed: Martin Lindstrom's results of the study explained in Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy (2008) and Read Montague's Coke versus Pepsi Challenge published in Your Brain Is (Almost) Perfect: How We Make Decisions (2007). To complete a jigsaw puzzle you need to know the picture on the cover of the box, and you need to study the individual pieces when trying to assemble the puzzle. If you do not know what the final picture looks like and merely proceed by trying to assemble the pieces you will waste your time. Similarly, just looking at the picture on the cover tells you very little about the way the puzzle is assembled. Something similar is true of the brain. This brief excerpt suggests what this book is about and by what process de Plessis intended to explain what Neuroscience really tells us about the puzzle of the consumer brain and the brand. Erik has also demonstrated the relations between neuroscience and current theories of consumer behaviour, exploring the impact of long lasting feelings on purchase decision making and brand elements. Neuroscience contributes to marketing both at a macro level - importance of emotion in attention and role of feelings in brand choice - and micro level - giving the ability to measure arousal levels when people watch advertisements.

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SIT Journal of Management Vol. 1. No. 1. June 2012. Pp. 218- 220
Erik presented the new paradigm about the role of emotions, developed by Antonio Damasio, stating that emotions assist reasoning and cause rationality. With both rigor and eloquence, du Plessis explained why emotions are not in conflict with rational behavior; indeed, they cause rational behavior. For those who are eager to understand the consumer brain and the decisionmaking process it tends to follow, this insight is of incalculable value. Although in this book specific neuroscience techniques are not the sole concern but the author tried to layout what is known about how the human brain reacts with brand names and its interpretation in understanding the changing pattern of consumer behaviour. It is a brilliant achievement as du Plessis has challenged some of the currently accepted wisdom about how customers make decisions to buy any good or service. Emotions attract attention, and attention creates memories and influences our decisions. Thus, since brand choices are decisions, marketing is all about the impact of emotions, and advertising specialists should be more interested in understanding feelings. In this book, after detailing his understanding of how the brain works, du Plessis goes on to explore some implications for Neuromarketing practitioners: why the dichotomy between rational and emotional is unwarranted and why a one size fits all approach to market segmentation is absolutely unfit in todays business world. Du Plessis used some case studies from research conducted by Millward Brown and many stories from his own experience in order to illustrate the concepts. The author tried to caution the readers about the over-claims of Neuroscience applied in Marketing and to direct them to distinguish and be interested only in valid research from the literature. For those who read it and then re-read it with appropriate care, its value will be incalculable. Erik genuinely fulfilled the intellectual and practical needs of the marketers to establish their brands in the minds of the customers with his customary intelligence and good humour. So, The Branded Mind is worth reading for researchers of marketing field as well as industry professionals.

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