When the Brains Assemble

Using Neuromarketing & Triune Brain Theory for Your Marketing Efforts

By: Kimberly Grant

When thinking about marketing a brand or product or service, it’s easy to think it’s just about preference.  Digging deeper, preferences can be researched through neuromarketing.

The Mind is A Terrible Thing to Ignore

Neuromarketing is basically the application of neuroscience to marketing.  A part of neuroscience is understanding human behavior.  Our minds have been designed from millions of years of genetic mirroring, which dates back to the caveman days and informs our preferences.  Our cavemen ancestors thought a certain way for survival and this survival instinct has evolved into three different brains; known as the triune brain theory.

Triune brain theory sees our brain as comprised of three distinct brains and consciousnesses that have evolved over time: reptilian, limbic, and neocortex.  I will explain these three brains with comparisons to Marvel’s Avengers characters to make it make sense.

Reptiles

The reptilian brain is the physical aspect of our brain.  It is also our oldest and smallest remnant of our prehistoric brain.  This part of our brain is all about self-preservation.  Survival instincts; if you will.  This fight or flight part of our brain would be like Thor.  He’s all about his Asgardian ways and thinks about survival first, then more basic things like love and relationships. 

Our reptilian brain also guides our automatic behavior, like breathing, sleeping, and walking.  In order to market to the reptilian side of the brain, we can appeal to a consumer’s instincts for safety.  Some safety brands include Ring, State Farm, and Progressive.

Emo

The limbic part of our brain is the emotional side.  This part of our brain allows us to establish relationships and regulates our nervous system at the subconscious level.  This emotional level controls what we pay attention to, because our purchasing decisions are more so governed by our emotions.  A Marvel character who is mostly about emotions is Captain America.  Steve Rogers has a sincere compassion for humanity and he is usually the humane voice of reason in the Avengers.

Our limbic brain also assigns emotional value to our experiences.  A way to market to the emo side of the brain is to appeal to their need to solve a negative situation.  Brands that appeal to emotional responses like these are Olive Garden, Chanel, and Bayer.

Making Sense

The last part of our brain is the largest: neocortex.  The neocortex is separated into the right and left hemispheres.  This theory says that right brained people are usually artistic and left brained people are more logical.  There are a select few that are ambi-brained and are as artistic as they are logical.  The neocortex makes rational meaning of feelings and emotions that are generated by our unconscious mind.  An example of the neocortex is Iron Man.  Tony Stark is more of a left-brained character, but he is highly creative in utilizing his right brain.

In order to market to the two sides of the neocortex, marketers should make the rational (reasons to believe) message secondary after appealing to the consumer’s emotions.  Brands that market to the neocortex are Fasenra, Chevy, and Hyundai.  Marketing to the neocortex also gives the consumer a rational reason for making an emotional decision.

If you’re thinking that marketing seems to be a Jedi mind-trick, don’t.  Marketing is about giving consumers what they want, when they want, and how they want.  Marketers just want to understand consumers to make them happy.  And, good marketing just satisfies all of our assembled brains.

Wanting more marketing posts to stimulate your brain?  You can see my last post here.