Book Review | Brands and the Brain: What can neuroscience teach us about brand building

How do companies leverage insights from neuroscience to build brands? Why do brand managers need to know how the brain works? What role do neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin play in influencing the decision-making processes of consumers?

If these questions interest you, read Arvind Sahay’s book Brands and the Brain (2022) published by Penguin Random House India . He is a professor of marketing and international business at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. He has a pleasant and engaging writing style, which makes complex concepts appear less intimidating than they are.

What are some of the components of branding? Sahay writes, “When we think about a brand, it encapsulates the sum total of the entire consumer experience: everything from the logo, the website, the product or service use experience to the social media experiences, the way the firm answers the phone, the after-sales service, the word-of-mouth impressions and the way customers experience its employees – all of this as it exists in the mind of the consumer.”

The book is divided into 10 chapters, and is packed with real-life examples from brands such as Cadbury, Apple, Maggi, Colgate, Thums Up, Starbucks, Rolex, and Harley-Davidson. It will benefit people from the world of business who want to get better at branding, and consumers who want to understand how brands manipulate emotions and purchasing power.

He points out that companies aim to familiarize the consumer with a brand, establish a connection, and reinforce the relationship at frequent intervals, because they want the brand to become “an easier, safer and almost automatic choice.” This is where trust and credibility come into the picture. According to Sahay, human beings, on account of evolutionary history, tend to have strong survival instincts. The brain gravitates towards brands that evoke a sense of security, especially because it can conserve energy by responding to familiar patterns.

The book delves into the functioning of the forebrain, the midbrain and the hindbrain to explain how these parts are associated with reasoning, analysis, feelings, memory, language, habits, unconscious emotion, and decision-making. This information is valuable because it shows us that branding is not simply a trial-and-error game played by creative wizards.

Companies have woken up to the fact that traditional market research does not tell them enough about human behaviour. They want a more “granular and accurate” understanding of customer engagement, effectiveness of marketing interventions, and purchase probability, so they use neuromarketing tools such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), facial coding, electroencephalography (EEG), eye tracking, and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). If this seems like a lot of jargon to keep up with, Sahay’s book tries to break it down for you.

How does this data generate profits for companies? The author writes, “Teenagers rely more on ‘gut feeling’ and don’t fully think through consequences as the executive command centres of their brains are not fully developed. Their decreased ability to judge trustworthiness results in misjudgement in social situations, which implies that they are more prone to risky behaviour.” This is good news for brands associated with impulsiveness and excitement. They are able to use “emotional profiles” captured through “online presence”.

Sahay uses a conceptual framework called “the brand ladder” to explain how relationships between brands and customers are created along the lines of brand partner quality, love and passion, self-connection, interdependence, commitment and intimacy. Using this framework, we can reflect on our own brand preferences, and our eagerness to recommend them to family and friends. To what extent is our decision-making based on supposedly objective criteria? Do we know how much goes into ensuring that we pick the same brand over and over again?

The book has an intriguing section on the use of certain colours in brand logos to trigger specific brand associations in human minds. Sahay writes, “Blue stands for security, trust, productivity and calmness of mind. As a result, blue is the colour of choice for the UN flag. It is also the most popular colour in the corporate world…JP Morgan, IBM and others are well-known firms that use blue as a symbol of trustworthiness.” After reading this book, it might be difficult to look at a logo and not think more carefully about the image it wants to convey.

Sahay also examines how brands make themselves relevant and appealing by embedding themselves into rituals that hold significance for customers. New campaigns are often launched just before major festivals in order to get customers to spend their money. In order to ensure recognition and loyalty, brands have to make their presence felt on such occasions.

There is point in denying that we live in a consumerist society and participate actively in capitalism. This book can help us engage more mindfully with brands even though that may not be the author’s primary intention. Sahay’s aim is to teach managers how to “capitalize on the indispensable role of the human brain in creating, sustaining and rejuvenating brands”. Scientific knowledge is up for grabs. What we do with that pretty much depends on us.

Chintan Girish Modi is a Mumbai-based journalist and book reviewer.

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