Unfortunately for advertisers there is no buy button that can be pushed in the brain to get consumers to latch on to a product. At least, not yet. But Facebook and Google are probably working on it.
In the meantime, Roger Dooley, author of Brainfluence, speaking today at ADMA's Creative Fuel conference, highlighted that there are subtle actions advertisers can work in to creative to trigger 'brain nudges' towards individual products.
One such nudge is called the liking effect - where brands show consumers that they have something in common.
"If you can show that you have something in common, you will create that liking effect and you will be more successful," Dooley said.
Another nudge is through telling stories. Humans have evolved to pay attention to stories, said Dooley. "In the early days stories meant we didn't have to learn everything ourselves, and we're still programmed that way."
Dooley said that also meant testimonials that tell a story are more effective than those that just promote a product.
Adding more "brain science" to advertising makes even more sense in an industry grappling with exponential change, Dooley said, pointing out that while all media will continue to evolve rapidly, the human brain has remained the same for 50,000 years.
"We're still functioning in the same way, trying to make sense of all this technology so if you can make your creative work [resonate] with your customers' brains it'll be far more effective."
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