Branding Between the Ears: Using Cognitive Science to Build Lasting Customer Connections

Build a “cognitive brand” that connects with your customers in the deepest, most meaningful ways

Successful marketing is all about unlocking the door to peoples’ thoughts, feelings, memories, and fantasies. Tap into one or more of these, and your brand will stick forever.

In Branding Between the Ears, world-renowned marketing thought leader Sandeep Dayal explains how to leverage behavioral psychology, social anthropology, and neuroscience to decode what goes on in consumer minds―and create effective marketing strategies to build the kind of loyalty that fuels today’s iconic brands. Dayal reveals that most successful cognitive brands are architected around three questions consumers ask themselves:

• Does this brand give me good vibes?
• Does what this brand says make sense to me?
• Will I be happier if I buy this brand?

These three factors―good brand vibes, brand sense, and brand resolve―are the hidden mantra that push customers off the fence of indecision, and get them not just to admire, but actually buy the brands again and again.

Branding Between the Ears reveals paradigm shifts in building and executing brands that are informed by a burgeoning body of research in brain sciences, and offers a better way to make brands that not just stand out, but connect with consumers and embed deeply in their thoughts to drive choice.

Dayal is the marketing thought leader who predicted that “consumer collaboration” would be the key factor in winning people’s trust online and giving consumers control over their personal information would be central to gaining their trust―issues that are unfolding today.

Now, with Branding Between the Ears he provides equally prescient principles and new ideas for gaining the competitive edge in a largely uncertain future and winning with cognitive power brands.

Sandeep Dayal is the managing director of the consulting firm Cerenti. He advises senior executives at Fortune 500 companies across the world and previously worked at worked at McKinsey and Booz. Dayal correctly predicted in 2001 that “consumer collaboration” would be a key factor in winning people’s trust online, as also giving consumers control over their information―both issues that have come to a head today. Many strategies that he proposed, including viral advocacy and handholding, are mainstream today. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Management.