Getting inside one's mind sound like something from a Sci-Fi movie. Except it's not. Martin Lindstrom, international branding expert and author of three marketing bestselling books, is coming to Bucharest on October 2nd for the GET INSIDE THE CUSTOMER’S MIND with Martin Lindstrom conference, organised by Brand Emotion. We're really excited about the conference and we couldn't wait. Therefore, we asked Martin about his presentation at the conference and about the best way to do marketing these days.
IQads: What are the main discussion points of your Brand Emotion presentation?
Martin Lindstrom: To make everyone realize how irrational we are as individual, what it means for the way we’re communnicating with consumers and customers – and most importantly how to address this challenge when building brands in the future
IQads: Could you give us one small tip about how to get into the customer’s mind?
Martin Lindstrom: Sleep with them! I call this "sleeping with the consumer" and is really a way to observe consumers in their homes 24/7 over several days as my team and I observe consumers across 77 different countries in order to understand their true behavioral patterns.
IQads: How will you adapt your speech to the Romanian context?
Martin Lindstrom: As in any other country I’ve spent time in consumers homes in Romania – this insight has created the foundation for my speech
IQads: What should the public expect from your speech? Will it be life-changing?
Martin Lindstrom: Life-changing – from a business point of view – yes, I hope so. I most definitely will change the way people build their brands, the way one communicates and most importantly the way business people see and understand the consumer
IQads: On the contrary, they shouldn’t expect your presentation to be....
Martin Lindstrom: Boring. Long-winded. Conventional
IQads: In the era of the Internet and of the very fast moving information, do you think that marketing professionals still read books? Are marketing books still a “must” or are there some more important knowledge sources?
Martin Lindstrom: No, they don’t read books, marketing professionals skim them – at best. What they do is to be inspired, identify new ideas, approaches and obtain new techniques. Once they hear about these online, in magazines or at a cocktail party they grab the book – and go straight to the "point". Hopefully inspiring them to read a bit more than the highlight.
IQads: Supposedly there’s somebody who hasn’t read anything by you and who decides to start now exploring your ideas. What book of yours would you recommend him/her to read first?
Martin Lindstrom: Start with Buyology – the grab Brand sense – once you’re on top of that go for Brandwashed.
IQads: What would be one of the main trends in branding, a trend that we definitely have to observe and maybe follow?
Martin Lindstrom: Getting your hands dirty – meaning those days where marketing professionals can stay in the office and do the research work via their computer is long gone. Now it is time to move in with the consumer in order to understand what really goes on in their mind. How – I’ll tell you when we meet. Can’t wait ;)
