Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind the Stuff We Buy [Paperback]

Martin Lindstrom (Author), Philip Kotler (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: February 2, 2010

Did you know that the gratifying smell that accompanies the purchase of a new automobile actually comes from a factory-installed aerosol can containing "new car" aroma? Or that Kellogg's trademarked "crunch" is generated in sound laboratories? Or that the distinctive click of a just-opened jar of Nescafé freeze-dried coffee, as well as the aroma of the crystals, has been developed in factories over the past decades? Or that many adolescents recognize a pair of Abercrombie & Fitch jeans not by their look or cut but by their fragrance?

In perhaps the most creative and authoritative book on how our senses affect our everyday purchasing decisions, global branding guru Martin Lindstrom reveals how the world's most successful companies and products integrate touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound with startling and sometimes even shocking results. In conjunction with renowned research institution Millward Brown, Lindstrom's innovative worldwide study unveils how all of us are slaves to our senses -- and how, after reading this book, we'll never be able to see, hear, or touch anything from our running shoes to our own car doors the same way again.

An expert on consumer shopping behavior, Lindstrom has helped transform the face of global marketing with more than twenty years of hands-on experience. Firmly grounded in science, and disclosing the secrets of all our favorite brands, Brand Sense shows how we consumers are unwittingly seduced by touch, smell, sound, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"BRAND sense is a landmark work that explains what the world's most successful companies do differently, integrating all five of the senses -- touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound. The book will transform the way marketers approach the entire concept of branding."

-- Charlie Bell, CEO & Chairman, McDonald's Corporation

"Martin Lindstrom, one of branding's most original thinkers, reveals how to break out of the two-dimensional rut of sight and sound, and connect emotionally with all five senses. His book provides data and insights that will surprise even the most savvy brand watcher."

-- Robert A. Eckert, CEO & Chairman, Mattel, Inc.

"Martin Lindstrom has a talent for big ideas. In BRAND sense, he brings new ideas to life using real examples from leading companies around the world. BRAND sense introduces new dimensions to the art and science of brand management."

-- Alex Hungate, Chief Marketing Officer, Reuters Group

"Creative, insightful, compelling. It will help you cut through the mass of commercial clutter and develop a powerful brand."

-- Torben Ballegaard Sorensen, CEO, Bang & Olufsen Worldwide

"BRAND sense breaks new ground with an insightful view of how marketing to all five senses can transform the way you build your brands."

-- Andre Lacroix, CEO & Chairman, EuroDisney

"It contains a treasury of ideas for bringing new life to your brands."

-- Philip Kotler, from the Foreword

About the Author

Martin Lindstrom is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, the CEO and Chairman of the Lindstrom company and the Chairman of Buyology, Inc. (New York) and BRAND Sense agency (London). In 2009, he was recognised by Time magazine as one of the world's most influential people. Lindstrom is an advisor to Fortune 100 companies including the McDonald’s Corporation, Nestlé, American Express, Microsoft Corporation, The Walt Disney Company and GlaxoSmithKline.

Lindstrom speaks to a global audience of close to a million people every year. He has been featured in Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, The Economist, New York Times, BusinessWeek, and The Washington Post and featured on NBC's Today show, ABC News, CNN, CBS, Bloomberg, FOX, Discovery and BBC. His book, BRAND sense, was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the five best marketing books ever published.

His more recent book Buyology was voted "pick of the year" by USA Today and reached 10 out of the top 10 best-seller lists in the U.S. and worldwide during 2008 and 2009. His five books on branding have been translated into more than thirty languages and published in more than 60 countries worldwide. Visit MartinLindstrom.com to learn more.

Philip Kotler is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago. He is hailed by Management Centre Europe as "the world's foremost expert on the strategic practice of marketing." Dr. Kotler is currently one of Kotler Marketing Group's several consultants.

He is known to many as the author of what is widely recognized as the most authoritative textbook on marketing: Marketing Management, now in its 13th edition. He has also authored or co-authored dozens of leading books on marketing: Principles of Marketing; Marketing Models; Strategic Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations; The New Competition; High Visibility; Social Marketing; Marketing Places; Marketing for Congregations; Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism; and The Marketing of Nations.

Dr. Kotler presents continuing seminars on leading marketing concepts and developments to companies and organizations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He participates in KMG client projects and has consulted to many major U.S. and foreign companies--including IBM, Michelin, Bank of America, Merck, General Electric, Honeywell, and Motorola--in the areas of marketing strategy and planning, marketing organization, and international marketing.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439172013
• ISBN-13: 978-1439172018
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When he was a kid growing up in Denmark, Martin Lindstrom had but one thought in his life: Lego. He was, to put it simply, obsessed with Lego. He hand-built and slept on a Lego bed. He dressed in Lego's colors. He even turned the family garden into his very own Legoland creation, a miniature village complete with bonsai trees, scooped out canals, and dozens of houses and ships constructed entirely out of LEGO.

Then one bright summer's day in 1982, ambitious 11-year-old Martin Lindstrom opened Legoland's doors, optimistically anticipating hoards of visitors from near and far. Not a single person showed up.

Aware that something more than mere brilliant design was needed to attract visitors, young Martin suddenly had a flash of inspiration: he would advertise! He promptly persuaded the local newspaper to run an ad, and sure enough, the following week 131 people streamed through the garden gate. Including two lawyers from LEGO, who very politely informed Martin that if he persisted in using the name 'LEGOLAND' he would be guilty of trademark infringement. That's when he first realized the seductive power of marketing and advertising.

So Martin decided to open his own advertising agency, which he succeeded in doing a couple of months later, at the ripe age of 12. And thus, a lifelong relationship with marketing and brands was born.

After selling his agency in 1988, Lindstrom attended the Academy of Advertising before joining international giant, BBDO. In 1994 he went on to form the groups first interactive agency; BBDO Interactive, and three years later he founded BBDO Interactive Asia Pacific, both agencies growing to become the largest Internet solution companies in their respective regions. By the age of 30, Lindstrom had become one of the most respected names in the industry.

He has since spent 300 days on the road annually sharing his brand of wisdom and pioneering methodologies through speaking engagements and his role as trusted advisor to countless high profile companies, celebrities and royal families.

In 2009, amidst the rubble of the economic meltdown, Lindstrom opened a new chapter. Disheartened by much that he had seen on the front lines of the branding wars for the last two decades, he decided to turn the spotlight inward, and reveal all he'd learned along his journey from 11-year old Lego enthusiast to one of the globe's foremost marketing experts. His goal? By exposing the best kept tricks and secrets of the marketing world, and opening our eyes to all the ways in which we, as consumers, are being manipulated and deceived, he would help each one learn to resist the siren song of advertising and make smarter, more informed decisions about how we spend our money. The goal is to prepare brands for a more transperent and honest appraoch where secrets no longer will be possible and thus transperancy is needed. Brandwashed is the culmination of this ambitious undertaking.

Lindstrom has been featured and continues to be featured in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Economist, New York Times, BusinessWeek, The Washington Post, USAToday, Forbes and Harvard Business Review. He also frequently appears on NBC's TODAY show, ABC News, CNN Money, CBS, Bloomberg, FOX & Friends, Discovery Channel and the BBC. Lindstrom also pens a weekly column for Fast Company and TIME Magazine and appears regularly America's #1 ranking morning TV show, The TODAY Show, as an expert on consumer awareness and advocacy. In 2011 Lindstrom appeared in the Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me0 documentary: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

His latest book, Brandwashed (Crown) is based on a 3-month long, $3 million guerilla marketing experiment, exploring the most powerful hidden persuader of them all. Us!

Buyology (paperback released February 2010 by Crown Publishing), was voted "pick of the year" by USA Today, and, between 2008 and 2009, reached ten of the top 10 bestseller lists in the U.S. and worldwide. His 6 books have been translated into more than 40 languages and published in more than 60 countries globally.

In 2009, TIME Magazine, named Lindstrom one of the World's 100 Most Influential People for his groundbreaking work on neuroscience and branding.

Visit MartinLindstrom.com to learn more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Certainly makes you think! Can be hard to implement! May 7, 2005

By Stephen Northcutt

Format:Hardcover

I read this in one shot on a 6.5 hour flight to Kauai against monster headwinds. Since then I have picked it up and read sections and tried to make changes in my company based on what I learned. Thanks to Lindstrom's book, I can certainly tell you I am on a brand journey.

I am sure every reviewer will mention Singapore Airlines. We were holding a conference and I wanted to create that distinct SANS Institute smell. So I bought five aromatic dispensers and test scents with names like "Ocean Feeling". I had people stationed to observe the customers and make note of anything they said about smell. Zero results. Why? The biggest reason is probably the volume of air in a modern conference center is several orders of magnitude greater than a jet.

We are working on the tips the author gives for music, here I am convinced he is right, I cannot listen to Rhapsody in Blue without thinking about United Airlines.

Without this book, I would have thought brand was a logo and picking some colors and maybe a jingle. My eyes are opened, and at this point I know it will be a long journey, but I am sure I will refer to the book again and again. Highly recommended for any business owner or organizational executive.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An unusual treatise based on Millward Brown's study May 12, 2005

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Hardcover

Martin Lindstrom's Brand Sense: Build Powerful Brands Through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight And Sound provides an unusual treatise based on Millward Brown's study linking branding and sensory awareness. 'Sensory branding' is a relatively new concept: Brand Sense takes the next step from study results to outline a six-step program for bringing brand building into modern times. Examples cover products and retail marketing alike, demonstrating the basics of establishing an appealing marketing approach based on more than sight and sound alone.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Interdependence of Branding and Sensory Awareness March 6, 2007

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

As Philip Kotler explains in an especially perceptive Foreword, "distinctive brands...have to be powered up to deliver a full sensory experience. It is not enough to present a product or service visually in an ad...The combination of visual and audio stimuli delivers a 2 + 2 = 5 impact. It pays even more to trigger other sensory channels - taste, touch, smell - to enhance the total impact. This is Martin Lindstrom's basis message, and he illustrates it beautifully through numerous cases with compelling arguments." Bernd Schmitt is among others who make precisely the same point. In Experiential Marketing (1997), for example, he and Alex Simonson assert that "most of marketing is limited because of its focus on features and benefits." They then presented what they characterized as "a framework" for managing those experiences. In Experiential Marketing (1999), Schmitt provides a much more detailed exposition of the limitations of traditional features-and-benefits marketing. Moreover, he moves beyond the sensory "framework" into several new dimensions, introducing what he calls "a new model" which will enable marketers to manage "all types of experiences, integrating them into holistic experiences" while "addressing key structural, strategic, and organizational challenges."

In Brand Sense, Lindstrom provides a comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective methodology by which to plan, implement, and then sustain effective sensory marketing. As he correctly points out, approaches to marketing have changed significantly in recent years. In the 1950s, branding belonged to the unique selling proposition (USP); by the 1960s, a focus on the emotional selling proposition (ESP) emerged; then in the 1980s, many brand managers adopted the organizational selling proposition (OSP); by the 1990s, "brands had gained enormous strength bin their own right, and the Brand Selling Proposition (BSP) took over." Inevitably, it now seems, the me selling proposition (MSP) emerged. What's next? Again I quote Lindstrom:

"There's every indication that branding will move beyond the MSP, into an even more sophisticated realm - reflecting a brave new world where the customer desperately needs something to believe in - and where brands very well might provide the answer. I call this realm HSP - the Holistic Selling proposition."

With meticulous care, Lindstrom explains how and why the methodology he recommends will enable all organizations (regardless of size or nature) to drive sales and profits with a commitment to the HSP. To his credit, he devotes far more attention to the "how" and "why" than to the "what," although he duly acknowledges the importance of creating or increasing demand for a worthy product or service.

Readers will especially appreciate Lindstrom's provision of a set of "Action Points" at the conclusion of most chapters. These will suggest how to apply the material to which they refer, and, will facilitate and expedite a periodic review later to ensure that effective follow-through has been accomplished. Obviously, it would be foolish to attempt to implement all of Lindstrom's suggestions. It remains for each reader to determine what is most appropriate to her or his organization's immediate and imminent needs. However, whether committing to Lindstrom's methodology or to any other, it is important to understand and - yes--appreciate the barriers to change initiatives when introducing any methodology which challenges, as James O'Toole so aptly characterizes them, "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."