Summary Section 1: Price and Product Brainfluence.
This section starts with the idea that the less pain customers experience when paying, the more they buy. Certain approaches are used to help with the pain. Bundling products are perceived in a better way since it is hard to evaluate how fair the deal is. Credit cards also help since there is no physical cash going out of pocket. The exposure to price in a constant way is also detrimental in the purchasing behavior.
The use of money cues in advertising is also very popular but it strongly depends on the product you are trying to sale to determine if this is a good idea or not. Money images increase selfish behavior so this would be appropriate to satisfy selfish needs like financial independence. Customers set in their mind certain prices for different categories of products and marketers take advantage of what they call anchoring. For example, releasing the IPhone 6 at a premium price and months later dropping the price to make it look like a bargain when in reality still very expensive. However, certain premium products wont work with this strategy and a clear example is wine which the higher the price, the higher the benefit perceived.
Decoy marketing is a very interesting concept because you can boost sales by just manipulating the different options you offer. A decoy option makes other options look like a better value and this happens because our brain is always ready to compare. There are 2 ways to do this, by adding a high-end product or a “not-so-good” one.
Finally, Section 1 ends with the idea that the fewer options you have, the greater the chance you have to sell more. This phenomenon happens because our brain gets tired of making choices and when many options are offered the decision-making becomes more difficult.

The most interesting concept for me was decoy marketing. It is very interesting how the manipulation of options you provide can completely change the perspective of a costumer. Now that I am aware of it I will consider talking to my dad to implement it in my family business. We run a small cable company and perhaps providing decoy packages of our services would possibly increase the attractiveness of those packages we are most interested in selling.

Comments and Questions: * It was mentioned in the book the use of credit cards to help with “The ouch of paying”. When I first came to the US, I only used cash and weeks later when I acquired a credit card I realize my spending increased significantly the next months, I now recognize it was part of the pain process of my brain. * I wonder what are other examples of irrational anchors and what stores or businesses use this approach. * Decoy marketing. I remember going to buy some vitamins at GNC and I found that there were 2 different products with basically the same benefits but one with a cheaper price. I asked the salesperson if there was any difference and he replied, “No, they are exactly the same thing” on that opportunity I ended up buying 2 packages when my initial intention was to look for one.
Summary Section 2: Sensory Brainfluence.
It is suggested that the more senses you stimulate with marketing, the better impact people would have towards a brand. The marketing strategy should be consistent everywhere across time. More than the logo, companies should make their brand recognizable using other elements that tackle different senses.
Smell is a very strong way to create emotions and memories and in fact Lindstrom mentioned that 75% of the emotions come from what we smell. Scents can even change consumer behavior and their perceptions, it was mentioned in the book that people in the casino spend 45% more money when a nice scent was in the area. Every store and brand should have its particular scent because this may serve for different marketing purposes. However, if this is applied in the wrong way it can be detrimental, an example would be the excessive application of scent that customers may dislike. The use of scent in marketing can bring memories back. If there is one company that perfectly knows about this is Starbucks. They trigger customer memories with their aroma of coffee so when people pass by the store may be tempted to get in and buy a coffee. Here in the United Sates these scents can be trademarked which means that if marketers figure out the right scent they can actually protect it.
Companies should incorporate a sensory experience to their products because missing a sensory opportunity can be an advantage for competitors. Nespresso, for instance, modified their product in order to release more aroma and improve the sensory experience that customers have at home.
Sound is another element of sensory marketing that has a huge impact in consumer behavior. Stores should use music to boost sales but this one should be selected based on the products they are selling. Auditory branding efforts can go beyond just music and for me this was the most interesting concept because there are so many sounds that products generate that are there with a purpose. For instance, Mercedes had a team that designed a sound very attractive when closing their car’s door. It is very interesting how companies like Mercedes spend resources to create an appealing sound to influence consumer behavior. Companies should stick with their audio branding elements and avoid changing them every few years; they should be consistent because this will help customers recognize the brand.

Comments or Questions: * The use of music by companies when you call customer service is something very popular and now I understand that this approach help me to be more tolerant with the waiting time.

* What would be an example that stimulates the touch sense?

* The power of music is something I experienced recently where I heard a Disney song that apparently I have not heard for a long time. When I heard it again, I remembered a moment in the past with my grandma making me sleep that I have not thought about it for so many years.

Summary Section 3: Brainfluence Branding.
This section starts with a German study where individuals under fMRI were shown well-known brands and had certain parts of their brain activated. A blind taste test revealed people prefer Pepsi over Coke and fMRI says the same. However, here is where the power of brands come into play, when individuals were shown the brands, they actually switch to Coke and their brains as well which indicates that brands has so much value in consumer’s mind.
Branding messages are powerful; people sometimes make purchases that are outside of a rational logic. This goes along with classical conditioning and Pavlov’s experiment. An interesting example is Caltech that just by showing a symbol that is associated with a taste experience can actually have people’s brain to light up. Consistent experience and branding messages are extremely important, if customers have pleasurable experiences they will then associate that when just looking at the brand (Logos, jingles, and anything related). The next part is about attention, this starts with the idea that effective advertising goes beyond the cognitive process of paying attention. An example of this is TV advertising where the book compares people that are high-attention processors vs low and ultra-low attention processors and the results were that even the last ones showed brand shift after unconsciously being exposed. The key takeaway from this part is that brands should look for exposure even if it is an unconscious exposure. A clear example is Samsung electrical charging stations in airports. Passion brand is all about the feelings and emotions consumers have attached to a brand. How can we take a brand to this level? The book says: “hire pasionistas”. Hire people that will have fun when doing their job. This is for me the most interesting concept because I have experience it before with companies like Apple. Their customer service people talk in such a way that make me believe in their product, I suddenly feel enthusiastic and happy.
The last part of this section starts with the concept of social identity, which explains the tendency people have to categorize themselves into groups and become loyal to their group. Companies should provide cues to customers to make them understand that by choosing their brand they are better perceived and distinguish from other groups.

Comments and Questions. * When reading the attention part I remembered an article I read about an ad for the new Volkswagen convertible where it was a “slowmercial” so even when fast-forwarded on TV, people will see it as if it were a print ad. http://www.psfk.com/2013/03/vw-fast-forward-ad.html * Reading the Coke vs Pepsi experiment, I remember a study doctors did to my grandpa by giving him a placebo pill and telling him it was the best pain-killer pill for his knee. Brain scans showed outstanding results where the pain area of his brain appeared to be significantly better after the pill. This example reinforces the power of association that this section discusses about brands. * Wayfair was my last coop and 3 months after I was hired I asked my manager why was I hired? And she said: “You sound very passionate about the company and we want to hire people full of energy and enthusiastic”. This illustrates the concept of passion brand.
Section 4: Brainfluence in Print.

This section starts with the comparison between print ads and digital media. The last one clearly has different benefits that print ads can’t provide. Even though digital media has become very popular, we still think we will have print ads for many years. One reason is that paper ads cause more emotional impact on people’s brain.
The creation of a false memory is just an example of how powerful images can be in people’s brain. Paper ads beside its limitations can create experiences and positive feelings with well-designed vivid images. I remember the flyers my cousin in Venezuela made about his food, it was such a well-design flyer that just by looking at the picture made me feel hungry. High resolution is key in this situation.
Another aspect where paper is better than digital advertising is in the serious impression that each reveals. Studies show that weight is associated with “ being serious” and that is why we see printed documents on heavier papers. A screen gives a weightless experience so here paper ads have won the battle again.
The concept of cognitive fluency is for me the most interesting one. How easy you present information in term of the font determines how likely people are to commit to the response sought. I remember I was helping the marketing guy of my small business to make a flyer and I got fancy with the font because it looked nicer. He then told me that the font I pick took actually longer to process and read, he was in fact right because I then saw 2 different flyers and the one with my fancy font took me 5 more seconds to read it.
Exceptions exist, and actually using fancy fonts and big words can work in certain situations. Examples are: selling costly products or trying to imply complexity in the skills needed to provide the service or product. A clear example is restaurants were fancy font is perceived as that the dish requires difficult skills from chefs which makes the case to justify high prices.
Memorable complexity, this last chapters says that complex font enhance recalling. The reason is that complex fonts require more effort and deeper processing in the brain, which leads to better recall. However, this technique should be used for specifics pieces of information you want people to recall like a phone number, you should never write the whole ad with complex font because people will simple not read it at all.

Comments and Questions: * In my family business, not everyone has access to the Internet so we are highly dependent on paper ads. One of the things we have changed overtime is based on a concept from this chapter and that is that we now print flyers on heavier/thicker paper. We did this because we said it seems more professional but now I have a new reason for doing this. * I would like to know more about the backgrounds used in print ads, how are these chosen and how these influence people’s perception? * The use of complex fonts was a very interesting approach. I can now think of how fancy restaurants in Venezuela use fancy fonts very hard to read to a point where I had to read it very slowly. The process of reading it slowly gives that perception of complexity and fanciness attach to their dishes.

Summary Section 5: Picture Brainfluence.

Our brains like baby faces in fact the emotion area of the brain experiences high level of activity when exposed to a baby’s face. The business implication here is that to grab people’s attention companies can use baby pictures but of course they have to be align with the product or message. It is important to consider what the baby is looking at. Studies show that people unconsciously watch what the eyes of the face in the ad are looking at. If the baby is looking at you chances are you will look back at the baby’s face. Instead if the baby is looking at the product people will pay more attention to the product. The other topic of this section was about the use of psychological features to get better results for your business. A Bank experiment concluded that showing a photo of a female in a loan offer increased the response rate the same way it would happen if the loan interest rate were dropped 4.5%. This is all about testing and including different features to see which one would work best for your company. Sexy images of women tend to be associated with poor choices in the decision-making process made by men. Men want immediate gratification and become impulsive when they are shown these women bikini. Men that are exposed to sexual images tend to focus on short-term gratification and this is for me the most interesting concept of this section. Now I understand why Godaddy.com, beer companies and more have its ads with sexy women, even if it is a little bit out of context it can have a great impact on men behavior. Dilated pupils are more attractive to men and this is key when implementing this strategy. Including photos can also be a powerful tool; it changes people behavior and increases empathy. Nonprofit organizations looking for donations tend to use this strategy where the picture of the recipient is attached to letters asking for donations. We often see real state agents placing a picture of themselves in their business cards. For marketers this could be very useful but there are different situations where this does not apply so it is a real challenge to use it properly. Comments and Questions: * “The place to put them is at the point of sale” this sounds very familiar to me where many liquor stores in Venezuela have women in bikini in the door of the store. This strategy I assume clearly boost sales because it catches men’s attention. At the same time, it makes sense since alcohol buyers in Venezuela are mostly men. These women in Bikini are also consistent with the product image since Venezuelans tend to go to the beach over the weekends.

* As an example of “Photos increase Empathy” I remember my parents in Mexico received a letter by mail about a charitable foundation. It included a detailed biography and a picture of a poor child in Africa that needed help. My parents then went accepted the program to help this kid every month. This is a perfect example of how pictures can play with emotions and increase empathy in order to get a positive behavior.

* Women in bikini work very successfully with men, what is it for women that will have a similar effect (more impulsive, interest in immediate gratification)?

Summary Section 6: Loyalty and Trust Brainfluence.
This chapter starts with the idea that loyalty can be boost through imagination of “what if” scenarios. For example, if you help your customers visualize different scenarios (all the things they would be missing if they were not doing business with you) would definitely boost loyalty and emotion about the relationship. This can also work at the company level with employees to evoke positive feeling on them about the company.
Loyalty programs is an effective way to reward loyal costumers. Credit cards are an example where people tend to buy more from those cards with the best-perceived reward program. Loyalty programs work with those frequently purchased products like coffee. Successful ways to implement this is by showing your customers their progress and also offer them the ability to use their phones (the use of an app).
The goal gradient hypothesis was for me the most interesting concept of this section. This says that you will put more effort when you believe you are close to reach a goal. This is particularly interesting to me because its business application its everywhere. I remember joining a loyalty program in Venezuela in my favorite Ice cream store and I needed to get 5 points (a point per purchase) and just by joining I got 2 points.
The quality and quantity of contact time companies spend with customers is key. It is proven than if the company makes a mistake customers will react better to the situation if they feel they have been heard before. There is the example in the book where patients did not sue their doctor for negligence if patients have spent time with doctors before.
Telling customers to trust you is proven to work but besides this it is very important to demonstrate to your customers that you trust them. Ways to demonstrate trust to them is by giving trials, establishing credit without extensive screening process and by sharing confidential information and not asking them for nondisclosure agreements.

Comments and Questions: * Switching cost is a very interesting concept that my family business has been exposed to. Every cable TV business has cancellations every month and since we applied this concept of switching cost (contracts say that if you cancel, you will have to incur a cancellation fee) we noticed that cancellation rates decreased almost 50%. * Trust and the different ways companies demonstrate trust to customers is a very familiar concept. One of the key problems in the cable business in Mexico, especially rural areas, is the bad quality of the signal of cable TV. My father’s small business was able to deal with it by providing customers a 10-day trial of our service. This clearly reinforces the trust that we place on them because all the installation material we give them is just based on trust; we did not ask for anything besides its contact information. This helped the business to attract more customers. * I am very interested in CRM systems and I wonder how companies segment different customers and what are the criteria they use to put more effort on valuable customers. How do they deal with those bad customers?
Summary Section 7: Brainfluence in Person.

This section starts with the idea that negotiations should be made after a connection is established with the other subject. The ultimatum game is a clear example of this, where after having people chatting about random topics, fair offers rose to 83%. Hand shakes and nice talking are other powerful tools, which neuroscience attributes to the release of oxytocin. Along with this, we have people handing soft objects, providing soft chairs and even giving warm beverages, which are proven to have a positive impact on sales, or led to favorable deals. Researchers have shown that people prefer to process spoken information from the right ear and that requests are more likely to be successful if communicated to this ear. Dining meeting is an example where a salesperson can apply this strategy by sitting on the right side of the decision maker. Smile can also be another tool people use to sell more; smiling in person and even smiling subliminal images. Study shows that people would pay twice as much for a beverage if they see a happy face. This is known as the unconscious emotion phenomenon.
Showing confidence is a key factor. We have to make the most of what we know and communicate it with confidence. I have learned a lot of techniques from my dad where he has taught me different body language expressions that are signs of confidence.
The “ask for small favor first” approach was for me the most interesting concept of this section. The implication is that is you really want something from customers, you should first start with a small favor and then do the big request, studies show that chances of getting the second request done increases substantially when a small request is asked first. Very interesting to me because I remember in Miami I was asked in a shopping mall to do a quick survey for less than 3 minutes and after that I was asked to be part of a focus group for an hour and I said yes.
In sales, it is known that the most important skill is the ability to understand what the customer is thinking and studies have found a way to hire people with this characteristic. There is a correlation of advanced language skills with the ability to predict another person thinking so companies should hire articulate salesperson.
The flattery concept is something my father uses all the time in his small business. As a cable company we have trained our employees to always say something good to the customer, it could go from “nice shirt” to “I like your perfume”.

Comments and Questions: * I am a magician in my free time and I can understand how various techniques can certainly be applied to marketing. It is all about how you deviate people’s attention, how the combination of motion and unexpected cues can change the perception of people. * Establishing a connection before doing business is something my dad has taught me as well. When negotiating with concessions with the government he usually tries to find a connection and many times golf is a key topic for him. * How did CEOs like Tom Cook or Steve Jobs learn to talk with that confidence?

Summary Section 8: Brainfluence for a Cause.

Mirrors and any other self-images can reduce bad behavior because if people see themselves then they start to think more carefully about their behavior, which ultimately leads to better social behaviors. In charities, mirrors can actually boost the average commitment. This technique works with those organizations looking for social benefits.
People’s brain associate height with good. Generosity increases when individual are exposed to anything related with high altitude. If people are smart and create an elevated environment, it is very likely that receptors of this stimulus will positively change their attitude and contribute in a better way. You don’t have to necessarily invite customers to a fancy restaurant on top of a building, other techniques like a mural of clouds or an aerial photo can work as well.
The next chapter is about babies’ pictures and how they boost altruistic behavior. This happens according to Dr. Richard Wiseman because of an evolution-driven instinct where humans feel the need to protect babies for future generations. Many businesses like life insurance uses this baby technique in order to increase sales.
The concept of reciprocity was the most interesting concept in this section. It is incredible how changing a little bit your gift for a better one can boost the response sought significantly. It was very interesting to me because I can certainly see an application of this concept in my small cable business. We can get a list of different households that are with the competition and send them before January 1st a calendar for the upcoming year along with a pen. I remember having pens and other products in our stand on a convention event (it was a telecommunication event in Monterrey) and people who came to our stand and took a pen were very likely to hear our presentation.
Marketing that is very personal for non-profit businesses it is extremely important. Studies show that donors respond way more positive when they are shown just one kid instead of a group of kids in poverty. These organizations should use personalization and individual requests at its maximum level. In addition to this, non-profit organizations and even for profit ones should avoid business cues in order to boost donations or lead to better negotiations for for-profit businesses.
Finally, this section end with the idea that starting with a big number and then asking for the smaller amount (which is way lower than the first one) will make the lower number seem very attractive.

Comments and Questions: * Avoiding business cues like business clothing may lead to generous donations. It made me think what would the outcome of an academic experiment where the first group do an academic presentation wearing casual clothing and the second group under the same circumstances do the presentation but wearing business clothing. Would the grade given by the professor to the first group be more generous? If so, wearing business clothing to boost your grade is just a myth. * A high altitude increases generosity, what colors in rooms would boost generosity or better negotiating outcomes? * When reading the last chapter of this section it made me think about a famous commercial in Venezuela about chocolate “It is worth 1000 bolivares but we sell it for just 1 isn’t that great? Go a buy it in your convenient store”
Summary Section 9: Brainfluence Copywriting.

This section starts talking about how unexpected words, pictures or events can grab people’s attention to a larger extent. This happens because our brain is always trying to predict what is coming next. Studies show how powerful slogan can be at boosting sales. Saving messages cause people to spend more and a clear example of this is Walmart that has savings slogan all the time. Companies even build these saving slogans into their logo. The next section talks about Shakespeare and the way he use a linguistic technique called functional shift. Using words in an unexpected way can give positive results. Turning adjectives into nouns is a strategy done by Xfinity when they say “The future of awesome”. In the restaurant industry, it is very popular to change the name of different food in order to make them seem more attractive and perhaps healthy. Transformative naming was the most interesting concept in this chapter because it made me thinks of how powerful this technique can be in many aspects of life. I remember my cousin did not like to take vitamins but then his mom bought a product labeled as “gummies” (it was just vitamins) and my little cousin thought about it as candy and did not refuse to take them. The next section is about people’s interpretation of numbers depending on how you present them. If you want to maximize impact use real numbers. For example, If you want to claim good customer service, you will have a better impact if you say 9 out of 10 customers love our service than if you say 90% of the customers. The use of words like “Free” and “New” can be very powerful. If you want to boost sales attach something free to your product like “buy two and get the third one for free”. “New” is something that catches people’s attention; the brain releases dopamine in the presence of novelty so adding a “new” aspect to your products will boost sales. Properly used vivid adjectives are other words that can be powerful and increase revenue. Stories in advertising are a typical way to engage consumers. Motion, action and involving your product will activate different parts of consumer’s brain. In addition to this, our brain is proven to respond to personal anecdotes. These have a great impact and become more memorable to consumers, a clear example is word of mouth. When text tells a story in a commercial it can be more effective in branding and memorability than using imagery and sound. An example was Google in the Super Bowl. This chapter end with the idea that bad stories spread very quickly an stay in people’s brain forever so the key takeaway here is that companies must resolve problems quickly and avoid them before that turn to be viral and everyone gets the bad perception.

Comments and Questions: * “Surprise the Brain” chapter and “Use a Simple Slogan” made me think about a campaign my small cable business had few years ago. In Spanish there is a famous old saying “Cheap stuff becomes expensive” and we implemented a new one in TV commercial that went “Cheap stuff becomes more saving for you…” * The effectiveness of the “free” technique depends on social classes in Venezuela. For example, high social classes will typically avoid free stuff because other people perceive it as a stingy person. * What do giant firms do when bad news happens and people start talking about it?
Summary Section 10: Consumer Brainfluence.

This section starts with the idea that happiness increase among consumers when they buy complex products where the decision requires little conscious deliberation. The marketing solution here is to give your customer a simple reason of why they should buy your product. I can think about the marketing strategy Apple uses when advertising its computers, there is the emotional appeal and a clear, concise and simple message. Consumers tend to have this desire to learn and acquire more information. There is a reward experience in our brain when we acquire new information. Marketers should provide novel information in advertising. Absolute Vodka uses this strategy. The next section is about the want-self vs the should-self. Marketers should first determine if their products are a should or a want and then based on this plan the appropriate timing strategy. For example, want items are more likely to be ordered if they are available for immediate delivery. Should items focus on a long-term benefit. The concept of tightwads and spendthrifts were the most interesting concepts in this chapter. Minimizing buyers’ pain made me think about the strategy we used in our business to take control over our tightwads. We implement different techniques described in the book. For instance, “Cable TV plus internet for just 99 pesos per month” here we are creating product bundles and since this is a package we “avoid repeated pain points”. Phrases like “for just 99 pesos” make it seem like a bargain as well. Marketers of luxury and nonessential goods should target spendthrifts because these goods are mostly bought by this group. In order to do that, marketers should show fun and utilitarian functions of the product since spendthrifts care about the pleasurable experience. Another way can be by offering instant gratification. The next section talks about how our brain does not care about the probabilities of getting a reward; it is interested in the size of the reward. Companies can gain a lot from this. Pepsi, for example, gained a lot of publicity out of the billion dollars contest. Implicit egotism was another interesting concept. People love and have positive attitude toward things that are somehow connected to them. Marketers can use this concept by applying personalization to its maximum level. For example sending by mail a promotion that has somehow in the flyer the numbers of his/her birthday. The next section talks about how expectations and belief for a product or service shape the customer’s real experience. Marketing and branding efforts can significantly alter reality. A $100 wine may create higher expectations compared to a $5 wine even if they are the same and therefore the real experience is better for the $100 wine. The last part of this section is about how small surprises can create positive feelings. I remember it was the last week of December and my small family business gave away free calendars when customers were going to pay their bills and it was very surprising that we actually got more people than usual going to pay their bills on time.
Comments and Questions: * What are some real examples of companies that use this concept of implicit egotism? * A great example of infovore marketing would be the silhouette advertising campaign; it was based on intriguing, novel images. * My small business apply the reward concept in a small scale, we have had sweepstakes for iPads in order to boost buzz marketing.
Summary Section 11: Gender Brainfluence.

This section is about how marketers must understand gender in order to appeal them effectively. This section starts with the use of romantic priming for products. For instance, Marketers should look for ways to sell expensive things in a visible way since men like to show them. In order to achieve this romantic priming, marketers provide appropriate gender images to evoke this mating frame of mind.
Males and females process language in different ways and marketers should definitely pay attention to this. Studies revealed that advertising copies targeted for men should use simple and direct language whereas for females it can provide more context. This was for me the most interesting concept because I have come to realize in my family business how men and women tend to react different to promotions. During the father’s day we tend to do easy sweepstakes where there is low involvement in the activity. For mother’s day we actually send more complex flyers about different promotions for that day, for instance, asking moms to come to our stores and providing greater detailed instructions in the flyer compared to father’s day promotions. Differences go beyond the processing on language, there are so many action patterns that men follow where women just do the apposite or interpret information in a very different way.
The romantic priming effect could be exactly what you need to put your product for sale above the competition. If we were to have 2 products from different brand with the same quality and characteristics, clearly the salesperson that creates this effect will be the one to succeed. Another approach used by salespeople with males is by putting into question the authority, financial ability or masculinity of the client. A question like “would the payment of this car be comfortable for you?” will affect positively the sale process.
The last chapter of this section concludes with the idea that attractive women pictures makes men to focus on short-term rewards. Impulsive consumer behavior by men can be evoked with these female pictures. Marketers should implement these material during point-of-sale to increase the potential of men buying more.

Comments and Questions: * When reading the chapter “Guys Like It Simple” reminded me of a situation that happened to me time ago. I was with my friends and we were asking people a particular question about how to solve a problem (this was for my psychology class back in high school) and surprisingly guys took the simpler approach whereas females decided to solve the problem in a more complex way. The take away from this is that clearly gender plays a huge role in marketing because we have different attitudes, interpretations, ways of thinking that strongly depend on gender. * What can marketers possible use to trigger impulsive and short-term focus for women? (the same way we achieve it for men showing them women images) * There was an insurance company in Venezuela targeted for Fathers to protect their family that somehow used very attractive women in their TV commercials and I assume they were applying this concept of female pictures. At the end they had a “Call us NOW!”
Summary Section 12: Shopper Brainfluence.

This chapter starts with the idea that products that are perceived negatively can contaminate the perception of other products around them. Studies have shown that when you see disgust-inducing products like feminine hygiene items our brain associate a sense of contamination to other products around it. This is usually not a problem at big stores but for small stores the position of products can be challenging. It then talks about the great opportunity businesses have when facing a problem with consumers. It says that by solving a problem quickly can actually boost sales, retain customers and even create positive Buzz marketing. All firms once in a while commit mistakes with their customers and there is no way to completely get rid of that, the opportunity here is to quickly solve the problem to change consumer’s perception. Related to the previous topic about problems, the book also mentions how powerful “the apology effect” can be. This was for me the most interesting concept because it clearly relates to a company policy that we implemented in my father’s small business. In the past when we had bad cable service (perhaps bad signal) we used to apologize a little bit but our focus was on explaining to the customer why we were giving a bad service (like explaining them “It is happening because of the rain or storm”). We realized people did not care about our excuse for the bad service but instead they wanted us to truly be sorry and apologize in a very sincere way. It turned out that we change our company policy and when we faced people complaining we had our customer service representatives apologizing a lot and showing this attitude of empathy to the consumer. Because of this new policy, we saw a 40% decrease in consumers asking for a partial refund of their monthly bill which was for us an outstanding result. Giving customers the ability to touch a product can make them place a higher value on the product. It is a technique that positively changes attitudes on consumers. Positive emotions and this sense of ownership can arise from touching a product and will increase sales. The last part of this section concludes with the idea that easy process to buy is not always the best approach. It shows how “difficulty sells” and how consumers’ commitment to buy a product can increase if they perceived some difficulty in the process of buying it.
Comments and Questions: * I can think about Apple when the book describes “the power of touch” and how the whole store is structured in a way where consumer can fell and touch their products which ultimately triggers this sense of ownership and increases the probabilities of people buying the product. * When reading the last chapter “When difficulty Sells”, it made me think about a particular watch that my father wanted so much. It was a watch that could not be found on stores and it was rarely available online. It made the whole experience better and interesting for my dad; he finally found a way to buy it. * For the apologize and problem chapter it clearly reminded me of a recent experience I had with a food delivery service. They sent me chicken tacos when I ordered steak tacos so I call them and they apologize a lot plus they gave me my money back. I was never going to order from them again but they changed my perception and I am now a loyal customer.
Summary Section 13: Video, TV, and Film Brainfluence.

This section starts by talking about how body language is important as well as the verbal message that you communicate. Besides this, it is even more important the integration of both. Gestures and postures should reinforce the verbal message in order to have a successful marketing campaign in any medium. This made me think about the woman we have for our cable ads, we hired someone that studied communications and that has a high level of expertise of how to effectively communicate with her body language as well as verbally. I have learned a lot from her, for instance I remember her telling me that she always tried to be natural and have a happy face all the time during the commercial to evoke this sense of happiness among those people watching the ad. The next chapter is about priming in order. The book mentions that you have to build credibility first before you show a powerful claim. The idea here is that you should not start by saying “We are the best…” but instead start with supporting information and then say the actual claims. This is for me the most interesting concept because without being aware of this concept of “priming in order”, we have used this technique in Print ads for my father’s small business. The last print ad was about savings and the first thing people read in the flyer was information about how much (in numbers) you can be saving with us and how much they would be paying with the competition (supporting information), it is at the end where we stated “With us, you will save the most” (the actual claim). The last chapter of this section concludes with the idea that emotional ads are extremely successful and it shows studies with hard data that proves its effectiveness. It is proven that emotional ads work better than rational ones but that sometimes a combination of both could be more effective specially if the brand is not known that well by consumers.

Comments and Questions: * When reading about the effectiveness of emotional ads, I thought that emotional appeals in TV commercials can be very successful but they have to align with the show at the moment. For example, I remember an ad in the Final of the World Cup where there was an insurance company showing a kid death; this was completely out of context (the final of a world cup is a an event where families and happiness get together) and it was highly criticized by the press. * For priming in order, I understand that you first show the supporting information before you make the big claim but isn’t sometimes better to show the big claim first to catch people’s attention? * For body language when reading this chapter I kept thinking about Steve Jobs and the way he introduced apple’s products. It was fascinating to see how he combined the right words with a very expressive body language to convey a message. The way he walked throughout the stage, how he moved his hands and his facial expressions were key factors that made him one of the best spokespeople CEOs.