Days of the Logo Numbered
“Make it bigger,” the executive screamed from the corner of the room as I desperately sought a sign-off for an ad featuring a major fashion brand. This wasn’t the first time such a situation came up. In fact, every meeting I had always ended up in discussions about the placement and size of the logo – it was as if that one by one inch space, over time, had become the holy grail of branding – the rest was more or less an ad-on.
Let’s be frank – we live in a logo obsessed world. Pay a quick visit to Times Square and you’ll see what I mean. But is the magic still in the logo as we are exposed to some 2 million television commercials throughout life until we reach the age of 66 – or do we continue to be caught up in a format which once worked but, with the passage of time and the changed media picture, is now out of date?
I decided to find out. Over the years I’ve been stunned by the fact that we smoke more – not less. Admittedly the biggest increase of new smokers takes place in Asian and Eastern European countries. That said, even in the U.S. increases in smoking remain steady – not decreasing as we all want to convince each other it is, and all this despite the fact that we all know it is unhealthy. It is almost impossible to light up a cigarette indoors. Remember that advertising in most countries were banned decades ago, still brands like Marlboro rank in the very top, over the most expensive brands in the world – why?
The only way to find out was to understand what really goes on in our subconscious mind. Project Buyology – the largest NeuroMarketing project of its kind in the world – scanning some 2,000 consumers worldwide – wanted to answer exactly that question. What are the tricks the tobacco industry knows which the rest of the world somehow has missed? Estimates today claim that 85 percent of everything we do, every minute, takes place in our subconscious mind. Was this where the battle was taking place?
The answer was to be found in a small region in our brain called the neuclus accombens – also called the craving spot. It is a small area in our brain which controls our pleasures – and addictions too, such as smoking. It is a lie detector. It may be that you claim not to be affected by ads for tobacco smoking – the neuclus accombens however will tell you the truth.









