Sentient Insight: the business blog for consumer psychology and consumer marketing

At Sentient, we find great joy in thinking and talking about decision-making.  It’s our passion, and we have no shortage of opinions, theories, and vehement discussions around our lunch table. Last night added another voice to our ongoing discussions when I went to hear Jonah Lehrer, author of the Frontal Cortex blog speak at the Harvard Bookstore. It was standing room only as students, faculty, business people and passers-by turned up to hear Lehrer talk about his new book, How We Decide.  The book focuses on decision-making and Lehrer started off with an example from his own life, describing how his brain makes decisions in the supermarket, tending to try to rationalize something as seemingly insignificant as a cereal purchase.

The Michael Vick PETA testing reports are out, and the world is left to wonder – does the man really feel remorse? PETA released Vick’s responses to his final exam questions from his course on animal ethics. Clearly, Vick is working hard to write the “right” answer to these questions, and some of his answers are on target according to PETA. Okay, but we’re all wondering, “does he really feel it”? The question here runs deeper than explicit answers to questions that Michael knows will have an impact on his immediate living conditions. The broader question is what constitutes true attitude change in a case like this?

Businessweek reported on the “The Rewards of Research” in a down economy in their February 9th issue on newsstands this week. A study of companies during the 2001 and 2002 economic downturn (with at least $100M market capitalization) revealed that those who increased R&D expenditures by 10% or more during those years outperformed the S&P 500 index 2:1 in the subsequent 1 year, 3 year and 5 year marks following 2002. These data are consistent with what we have seen within our business. While individual project budgets are highly monitored to maximize the R&D investment return, the overall volume of research we’re conducting on product development and market intelligence is on the rise.

Our takeaways from the country’s top marketing execs, as heard at M-Planet 2009 in Orlando last week. We’d love to hear what you thought if you attended.  What was the most important takeaway for your business?   How did it change your outlook for marketing in 2009? Contribute to the conversation by commenting or sending us email. 1. Strike a left-brain / right brain balance in your marketing organization.