Tuesday, March 1, 2011

SEEING MYSELF… LIKE THAT! - THE MIRROR NEURON

It is a Tuesday morning, and you find yourself walking down the Fifth Avenue at New York city. Nothing out of the ordinary…
Suddenly, something catches your attention! A very hot, hot girl is just hanging on the opposite side of the street, wearing a pair of jeans that suit her with perfection. WOW!! You try not to stare, but it is rather difficult.
Now, something strange is going on. Right besides that hot girl, a guy is just talking to her. Why strange? The guy has no shirt on, and he looks like a model.
The talk and talk, laugh and hug each other, but don’t move from where they are standing. It’s the entrance to Abercrombie & Fitch, a widely known store for youngsters and young adults.
What is really interesting about this scene is not the fact that a clothing store just hired a couple of models to stand at the entrance and capture some attention. What is really happening is in your brain.
In his book “Buyology”, Martin Lindstrom perfectly explains the purpose of this idea: they are attacking your MIRROR NEURON!
What? Mirror what?
In our brain there is a system called mirror neuron that allows us visualize ourselves in other situations. Just like living the moment inside your mind. Nothing extraordinary until a store understands that by doing so (hiring a couple models and placing them at the entrance of every store), it will affect your perception and even model your decisions.
Abercrombie knows that men are not only staring at the model girl, and women at the model guy. Men are also looking at that same guy and in their minds, their brain is saying: “Hey look! If you buy yourself a pair of jeans right in that store, you might look like that guy!” and at the same time girls will say inside their minds “Those jeans will make me look like that! I found the right ones!”
Minutes later, you will find yourself inside the store, buying those jeans, and the moment you put them on, subconsciously fill extremely confident and with a higher level of sex-appeal.
Voilà, that´s what the brand Abercrombie is doing so, (and I consider simple and at the same time genius) but wait, is that really all?
The answer is NO. Mirror neuron is not the only weapon they are using to model your behavior! Other stuff is going on inside the store…
Wanna go in? Keep on the blog and find more on Abercrombie and other brands.

1 comment:

  1. An impressive post, I just gave this to a colleague who is doing a little analysis on experiential marketing and he is very happy and thanking me for finding it. But all thanks to you for writing in such simple words. Big thumb up for this blog post!

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