Unconscious Branding

If you’re unfamiliar with neuroscience, Douglas Van Praet’s Unsconscious Branding might be the book you’ve been waiting for. It blends centuries of psychology and sociology with years of neuroscientific research into seven straightforward steps for changing people’s behaviours through marketing.

This book contains a “who’s who” of brilliant thinkers, covering Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Antonio Damasio, Richard Dawkins, Gerald Zaltman, Steven Pinker, Dan Pink, Martin Lindstrom, Emile Durkheim, Albert Ellis, Dan Ariely, Geoffrey Miller and Paul Ekman, to name just a few. There are dozens of descriptions of fun, insightful neuroscientific experiments and the book is packed with personal anecdotes from the author’s time as a Group Planning Director at Deutsch LA.

It takes an author with cojones to try to distil centuries of original thought into a set of simple, practical steps for brand-building. Van Praet believes that too few marketers are aware of the role of unconscious decision-making and even fewer have “adopted any pragmatic means to integrate this learning into business operations.” He’s frustrated. He’s curious. He’s on a mission to revolutionise marketing.

Unconscious Branding is a decent primer in neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and sociology. It’s not revolutionary, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It avoids blinding the reader with science. And the guidance it offers weaves complex strands of thought into a commonsense checklist that you might be able to apply to your day job. But a couple of things do grate: Van Praet was involved in the now famous VW “Darth Vader” Superbowl advert, which he doesn’t tire of reminding us; and the book doesn’t live up to its title. Van Praet’s background is in ad planning, not client-side marketing or brand consultancy. The overwhelming majority of his anecdotes, references and advice apply to the creation of consumer advertising and campaigns. There is no mention of the motivating power of brands for employees. And the subject of business-to-business marketing remains largely untouched.

This isn’t a revolutionary book about branding, but it is a potentially helpful guide to neuroscience from the perspective of a curious and passionate ad man.

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