In a column called ?Science Watch? (Sun Sentinel Oct 31, 2004), Sandra Blackeslee (NY Times syndicate) reported that ?anything that is novel grabs the brain's attention system by tapping directly into reward pathways in the brain.? Marketing organizations are interested in this technology. ?Being able to see how the brain responds to novelty and makes decisions is potentially a huge step forward for marketers,? according to Tim McParlin, who works for Lieberman Research Worldwide in Los Angeles (quoted in the article).

Add the following information from a CBS 60 Minutes broadcast (June 17, 2007):

Our memories are similar to Jello, because they take time to become solid. While our brains are forming the memories, it's possible to make the memories stronger with the help of adrenaline (by adding stress). He placed a rat who had never been in a tank of water and watches it learns how to find a clear plastic platform hidden under the surface of the water.

The rat swims in random directions and can't see the platform, because a rat's eyes are on the top of its head. After swimming around the edge of the tank, the rat will cross the tank and discover the clear hidden flat resting space. If placed in the tank later in the week, the rat will find the platform more quickly the second time.

But if you give a rat an injection of adrenaline immediately after it finds the platform, the next day the rat will find the hidden platform immediately. Get the idea? The injection of adrenaline made a stronger memory in the rat.

The professor suggests that putting people under stress can have the same effect. He claims that people remember important events in their lives because they are more emotional and charged with adrenaline.

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Did you catch the most important sentence?
Let's repeat it.

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But if you give a rat an injection of adrenaline immediately after it finds the platform, the next day the rat will find the hidden platform immediately. The injection of adrenaline made a stronger memory in the rat.
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What do these two news stories bring to marketing professionals? We can force the brain awake more often with bright colors and change of pace (have you stood on the furniture lately? Does your advertising look new?) and then you can scare the client or shock the customer to help them remember the moment .

If you have other suggestions about how to use novelty and snakes (an adrenaline rush) in marketing, please send them to me at freeenglishlessons@gmail.com.

Steve McCrea
www.FreeEnglishLessons.com
www.RoadLovers.com