“This is an eye-opening, thoroughly researched and tightly argued book. It will alarm some, enrage others and state the obvious for many.”
Danny Flamberg, Manhattan Marketing Maven
“Consumer behavior consultant Graves maintains that the most important factor that influences the public’s opinion of a product is the subconscious or unconscious. He contends that asking individuals to describe why they like or don’t like a product can only represent the conscious aspects and not the overarching unconscious facets that pervade our decision-making processes… A good read for anyone interested in the psychology of group behavior or the validity of market research methods as well as for those in the business sector trying to introduce new products to the public.”
Poppy Johnson-Renvall in Library Journal (US)
“The author takes us on a fascinating romp through the psychological underpinnings of consumer behaviour… It’s well written, accessible and entertaining, yet thought provoking.
Consumer.ology is a rich digest of insights on consumer psychology. It should be essential reading for marketers and general managers, and carefully hidden away from anyone whose livelihood depends on market research.”
Alan Giles, The Marketing Society and Associate Fellow,
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
“Consumer.ology is a publishing phenomenon … Graves has transformed what was largely guesswork into something approaching a new branch of science -- the science of consumer behaviour. And because his writing style is light, it’s a happy read. It’s only later that you realise he’s managed to realign your radar and liberate your thinking.”
Cambridge Business Magazine
“There are lots of great anecdotes and examples in this excellent book.”
Faris Yakob, ‘Talent imitates, genius steals’ blog
“This is a well-researched, lucidly written book that will force the market research industry to address some fairly troubling questions about what it does and how it does it. By implication, the academic research ‘business’ is in the firing line too, given that empirical data is often collected using the same techniques.”
John Fahy, Professor of Marketing and author of the bestselling textbook Foundations of Marketing
“After a career in market research, Graves delivers a stinging rebuke to his profession. He does more than just show marketers the error of their ways. He shows them a path to better insight.”
Richard Cree in Director magazine
One of Director magazine’s “10 original thinkers, 10 big ideas to shape the UK’s recovery”
“[A] withering critique of market research ‘science’… Consumer.ology is primarily aimed at a business readership but there’s thought-provoking stuff in here for the rest of us.”
The Scotsman
“Fascinating stuff.”
Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2
“Consumer.ology is a refreshingly iconoclastic skewer through the heart of traditional market research methods and reason. Graves’ peppering of psychological theory with pithy anecdotes of misguided consumer successes and failures is bound to at once ruffle feathers and get heads nodding within marketing and innovation circles.”
Blake H. Glenn, Senior Inventor, ?What If! The Innovation Company