The Subconcious Consumer (almost there)

Title: The Subconscious Consumer
Target Audience: YouTube users

Aim

This report aims to explore and expose the subject of subliminal and emotional advertising that plays on the consumer’s subconscious (emotional) mind, to affect them to make snap and instinctive decisions without even being aware of them.


Overview
A recent three year, $ 7million neuromarketing study that measured the brain activity of over 2000 volunteers from around the world resulted in many startling findings concerning marketing tactics and to what extent did they work and also revealed that many conventional advertising strategies proved to be expensively ineffective. The many discoveries of this study include the findings that product placement on the TV and in movies are generally useless, sex does not really sell, warning labels on cigarette packs actually causes smokers to smoke more rather than deter them and most importantly, the topic which this report will discuss, subliminal advertising and that it is still being used today. The study done by New York Times and Wall Street Journal best selling author and marketing guru, Martin Lindstrom, is recorded and explored in his book Buy-ology.

The power of somatic markers
We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them. … companies plant instant shortcuts—or brand bookmarks—in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.

Summary of Chapter 7, Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom

As most books that are written about this topic are written for marketers and advertisers, this report intends to raise awareness amongst consumers. The report is not aimed at alarming, changing behaviour or raising any arguments, but instead, it will approach the subject in an informational, ‘Did you know?’ way.

The reason this report aims only at raising consumer awareness rather than creating an argument or trying to change consumer behaviour is because it is more likely not possible. Subliminal advertising plays specifically on the consumer’s subconscious mind and therefore, being conscious about advertising tactics will only affect the conscious and rational aspect of the consumer’s decision making process. On the other hand, according to a recent research, (Lindstrom, 2008) experts agree that 85% of everything we do takes place in our subconscious minds and roughly 90% of our consumer buying behaviour is unconscious and that we can’t actually rationally explain our preferences in our buying decisions.

Format
This report might take the form of a short animation or film that could be uploaded onto YouTube.com under the website’s ‘Film & Animation’ or ‘Education’ category and could also be entered into relevant short animation competitions.
The purpose of making the report in this format is so that it can be more attractive, engaging and accessible to its target audience than a magazine or newspaper article. On top of that, as a YouTube video, it will have the potential of virally spreading very quickly to an even larger audience.

Possible chapters
1) Introduction – This will be an overview of what the report will aim to address

2) Subliminal advertising, what is it? – This chapter will present the idea of subliminal advertising and will briefly mention the many opinions (publications) of how and whether it works and exists. There will also be a very concise accounts of subliminal advertising being employed and its effects on the viewers. This chapter will not make any conclusions about the matter yet, but instead, will serve to give credibility to the subject at hand in the hopes of sparking a curiosity and interest in the audience.

3) The subconscious mind – This next chapter will begin to explore in detail how subliminal advertising works by firstly looking at the human conscious and subconscious mind. This will be approached by studying the science and psychology behind the roles of the two minds in the decision making process (in the context of a consumer).

4) Marketing tactics – This chapter is a continuation from the previous chapter exploring how subliminal advertising works by examining and revealing certain strategies that advertisers and marketers employ to persuade consumers in their decisions, and how these tactics go unnoticed.

5) Recognize this? – This chapter will smoothly link from the last by looking at case studies of actual companies and the tactics they have employed.

6) Conclusion - The report may conclude by asking the viewer a cynical question of whether or not what they now know will affect their next shopping decision.


Action plan
- Find out how informed the target audience already is about this topic, so that the report will still be informative and interesting. I plan to do this by asking people from of the target audience simple questions such as, “What do you know about subliminal advertising?” “Do you think it exists?” and “Do you think it works?” This simple questionnaire would most likely be done online to reach a wider range of people and could take on the form of a survey on surveymonkey.com.

- I will begin by reading Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom, and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell to gain an understanding of the scientific and psychological aspect in the roles of the conscious and subconscious mind in the consumer’s decision-making process.

- I will be taking an in depth look at subliminal advertising, examining what it is, how and whether it works and instances of it being used in the past. I intend to do this by reading several books and magazine articles on the issue such as Subliminal Persuasion by Dave Lakhani and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

- I will look at various magazine and newspaper articles and TV and news programs where Martin Lindstrom explains the findings of his study.

- From the case studies made in Buy-ology, I plan to do research on them online to see if other sources have also made similar observations, or if companies and advertisers have admitted to employing subliminal advertising tactics in their work.

- I will also be looking at various short animations that have been produce to be informative, to look for different animation methods and styles that I can learn from. One particular animation I like is I Met The Walrus, that I found on YouTube by Jerry Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrator James Braithwaite. I plan to use the software Adobe After Effects to create my animation, and so I will be learning how to use it through the help of friends and online tutorials.

Bibliography

Books

Lindstrom, M. (2008) Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. New York, Doubleday.

Heath, R. (2001) Hidden Power of Advertising. Oxfordshire, Admap Publications.

Shrum, L. J. (2004) The Psychology of Entertainment Media. New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

Packard, V. () The Hidden Persuaders.

Gladwell, M. (2005) Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. London, Penguin Group.

Langton, R. L. ( ) Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing.

Norman, D. A. (2004) Emotional Design. New York, Basic Books.

Ariely, D. (2008) Predictable Irrational. New York, Harper Collins Publishers.

Brafman, O., Brafman, R. ( ) Sway: The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behaviour

Lakhani, D. (2008) Subliminal Persuasion. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons Inc


Magazine
Parade Magazine: How Subliminal Advertising Works, Martin Lindstrom, 4th Jan 2009

Parade Magazine: Buyer Beware, Martin Lindstrom, 30th Nov 2009

WIRED Magazine June 2009


Films
Czech Dream