FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Fortier 212-675-6460 mark@fortierpr.comPenny Simon 865-675-1705 psimon@randomhouse.com
NEW BOOK OFFERS SHOCKING INSIDER’S ACCOUNT OF THE STEALTHY WAYS COMPANIES ARE MANIPULATING OUR MINDS TO PERSUADE US TO BUY
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR MARTIN LINDSTROM ASSERTS ALMOST ALL OF US ARE
BRANDWASHED
From The New York Times bestselling author of Buyology, Martin Lindstrom, comes BRANDWASHED: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy (September 20, 2011; Crown Business), a shocking insider-account that exposes the very latest and most sophisticated techniques that even the most trusted companies are using to shape our buying behavior.
By examining the surprisingly early age at which companies begin marketing to children, why we buy when we’re afraid, how products get us addicted (not just chemically), the power of peers, and much more, Lindstrom exposes the lengths to which marketers will go to exploit guilt, desire, fear, insecurity, nostalgia and more to move us to buy. Chances are, you’ve fallen for it and you’ve been brandwashed.
For example, Lindstrom explores:
How marketers are targeting younger and younger children, exploiting findings that show babies recognize brands by 18 months, and can hear and remember ad jingles from the womb
How companies hijack information from our Facebook profiles, cell phones and computer history to secretly mine our digital footprints for the most intimate details of our private lives so they can target our vulnerabilities
Who Justin Bieber’s wildly successful marketing is actually targeting (hint: not teens)
How certain brands—like one popular lip gloss—purposely make their products chemically addictive
How retailers capitalize on our panicked responses to viruses, weather events and food contamination scares (guess where the $402 million market for hand sanitizers came from?)
The surprising results of an fMRI study uncovering what heterosexual men really think about when confronted with sexually provocative advertising (Hint: not their girlfriends)
How grocery brands create an illusion of freshness for products that have in reality been on the shelves for months and in some cases years
How mothers dictate 60% of the brands their children will gravitate toward for the rest of their lives
How Muzak gets programmed differently throughout the day to subconsciously persuade us to buy based on our mood
That we’re not just being brandwashed by companies—we’re also being brandwashed by one another.
In BRANDWASHED, readers will learn about two extreme experiments Lindstrom embarked on to test his findings—first, the surprising and ironic outcome of his attempt at a yearlong brand detox; and second, the fascinating results of a revolutionary multimillion-dollar guerilla marketing experiment he conducted specifically for the book. This real-life, unscripted reality TV show revealed the most powerful persuader of all: our friends and neighbors.
So where does it all end? Whether by engineering cravings, imbuing products with chemically addictive properties, or turning shopping and spending into a game we can’t stop playing, companies and their marketers will only get better at manipulating our psyches and our desires to hook us on their brands and products. By examining just how today’s newest marketing tools are being used to brandwash us, Lindstrom helps consumers fight back—or at least make smarter, sounder, and more informed decisions about what we’re buying and why.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Martin Lindstrom, chairman and founder of Buyology, Inc. was named one of the World’s 100 Most Influential people of 2009 by Time magazine. Among the world’s best known marketers, Lindstrom advises top executives at companies such as McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, and Microsoft. His previous book, Buyology, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, and a USA Today “Pick of the Year.”
ABOUT THE BOOK:
BRANDWASHED: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy by Martin Lindstrom
Crown Business • On sale September 20, 2011 • $25 • 288 pages • ISBN: 978-0-385-53173-3
