encounter a brand experience. Walk into a Whole Foods Store and you’re bombarded with a cornucopia of beautiful food, fresh baked bread, brewed coffee, and desserts turned into art.  You’re flooded with emotions of mom, home, security, abundance, and happiness.  The experience is frequently joyful and you’re willing to pay premium prices for their products.

The power of association will engage our senses to recall positive experiences that we will tie to the brand. Called somatic markers, they represent a total compilation of emotions, negative associations, and positive associations. When a woman is given a light blue box with a white ribbon, the Tiffany brand and blue color evoke strong feminine emotions. When we think of a well branded produc t, such as, Coke, Coach, Chanel, Harley Davidson and Tiffany, many of us experience an emotional and somewhat sensual positive response.   A good brand tied to Neuro-marketing should offer:

·         A great experience that exceeds customer’s expectations

·         A clarification of the value of the product

·         A decision by the prospect to consider purchasing it

How we associate products with past experiences can determine our purchasing considerations. Mr Lindstrom in Buyology highlighted a few examples such as;

·         Light blue for a woman can be associated with engagement, marriage, babies, and fertility.  Pink is associated with luxury, sensuality, and being feminine. 

·         Color will increase brand recognition by 80% and represents up to 50% in the decision making process to choose a brand product.

·         People will buy more out of love (53%) versus sex (26%).

·         Be authentic, transparent, and real.  We buy from people we can relate to.

The sense of smell is one of the strongest and most motivating senses.  One whiff will immediately stimulate both the limbic and reptilian brains. How many times have we walked into a store smelling fresh baked bread making us hungry?  Like Pavlov’s dog we respond immediately without thinking.  Mr. Lindstrom explained that in Samsung stores, they discretely aerate the store with honey dew melon that invokes the sense of relaxation while lowering your purchasing tolerance. Clever!