The Persuasion Code

CHAPTER 3NeuroMap: A Brain‐Based Persuasion Theory

In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.

–Albert Einstein

We have spent almost two decades researching how sales and advertising messages affect our brains. This work led to the creation of NeuroMap, the persuasion model you are about to discover. Persuading is not easy and until recently it was considered more an art than a science. By deconstructing the effect of messages on the brain, we have created a simple, yet scientific model to help you develop and deploy persuasive messages targeting anyone, anywhere and anytime. Using NeuroMap will make all your attempts to persuade more successful and less risky. So how widespread is the use of persuasion models in advertising to begin with? You would expect that companies that spend millions of dollars would always use scientifically based persuasion models to guide the creation of their campaigns. Well, most don't.

Recently, I decided to thoroughly research the effect of public health messages and propaganda campaigns on adolescents [49]. Each year, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent to warn us that smoking is dangerous, drugs can kill, or texting and driving is not just an imprudent behavior but dangerous. What I found (sadly) is that most of the public service announcements (PSA) campaigns do not use persuasion models to guide their creative development process and hardly any use brain‐based models. According to a meta‐analysis conducted ...