About Martin Lindstrom

MARTIN LINDSTROM is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-selling author of Buyology - Truth and Lies About Why We Buy (Doubleday New York). Lindstrom is the CEO and Chairman of the LINDSTROM company and the Chairman of BUYOLOGY INC (New York) and BRAND sense agency (London).

As one of the world’s 100 most influential people according to TIME magazine Lindstrom advises top executives at companies including the McDonald’s Corporation, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline. Martin Lindstrom speaks to a global audience of close to a million people every year. He has been featured in numerous publications, including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, USAToday, Forbes, Fortune, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, People Magazine, Wallpaper, Harvard Business Review, The Times, The Guardian, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, The Economist and TIME and featured on NBC's TODAY Show, ABC News, CNN, CBS, Discovery, FOX and the BBC, his previous book, BRAND sense (Simon & Schuster, New York), was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the five best marketing books ever published.

Buyology was voted business book of the year by USAToday and reached 10 out of the top 10 best-seller lists in the U.S. and worldwide during 2008 and 2009. His five books on branding have been translated into thirty-seven languages and published in more than 80 countries - his latest Buyology Symposium is running in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Lindstrom is a frequen contributer to the New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Parade, Contagious, CNN.com and Advertising Age and a regular contributer to Americas #1 ranking morning TV show; The TODAY Show on NBC with his TV series: "Marketing Mind Games". 

From Building Blocks to Brand Building

It all began one disastrous summer’s day in 1982 when eleven-year-old Martin opened the doors to his own Legoland. He’d carefully designed the miniature village, planted it with bonsai trees, scooped out inch-wide canals and constructed numerous houses and ships out of Lego. Martin’s Legoland was installed in his parents’ back garden and its creator anticipated a throng of fascinated visitors. Not a single one showed up.

Conscious that something more than brilliant design was needed to attract visitors, Martin decided to advertise. He persuaded the local newspaper to run an ad – a simple act that was to reveal the power of marketing. The next week, 131 people streamed through the garden gate. Among their number were two lawyers from Lego, who informed Martin with great kindness and politeness that if he persisted in using the name ‘Legoland’ he’d be guilty of trademark infringement. Martin was intrigued by the idea that someone had control and ownership of the name of his favorite toy – and that it wasn’t him. Fascinated by the concept of trademarking, and seduced by the evident power of advertising, Martin opened his own advertising agency a couple of months later, at the age of twelve.

After selling his agency in 1988, Lindstrom attended the Academy of Advertising before joining BBDO. In 1994, he went on to form BBDO Interactive Europe. Three years later he founded BBDO Interactive Asia, both of which grew to become the largest Internet solution companies in their regions. By the age of 30, Lindstrom had been appointed global COO of British Telecom/Looksmart. Working out of London and Sydney, his main role was to establish a global operation with offices across 18 countries.

According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the rapid rise of Lindstrom's career has made him one of today's most respected branding gurus in the world. With a global audience of over a million people, Lindstrom spends 300 days on the road every year, sharing his pioneering methodologies through speaking engagements and consultancies. Lindstrom’s creative agenda is followed enthusiastically by business executives, marketing professionals and leading academics around the world.

Over the course of twenty years of hands-on marketing experience, Lindstrom has conceived a revolutionary set of principles that transform marketing strategies into positive business results. He rejects the old rules of the industry that conceptualized branding as an art form composed of vague commercials and awareness messages. Instead, his unique vision is scientific, process-based, and supported by global research studies. Lindstrom publishes his observations on branding in regular columns and in his 'Advertising Age' video reports. 

Martin Lindstrom has written five books, including works with industry icons such as Don Peppers, Martha Rogers, Paco Underhill, Patricia Seybold and Dr. Philip Kotler.

Time 100: Lindstrom one of the most influential people

TIME magazine, arguably one of the world's most respected publications, announced May 1, 2009 that Martin Lindstrom was one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The TIME 100 list is an annual event which over the past decade has included personalities such as U.S. President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, the Dali Lama, Pope Benedict XVI, Steve Jobs, Hillary Clinton, Rupert Murdoch and Nelson Mandela. The honor is given to people recognized for changing the world within one of five categories: Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers, Scientists & Thinkers, and Heroes & Icons. Within each category, the 20 most influential people (sometimes pairs or small groups) are selected, for a grand total of 100 each year.

Managing editor of TIME magazine; Richard Strengelis says: "Influence is hard to measure, and what we look for is people whose ideas, whose example, whose talent, whose discoveries transform the world we live in. Influence is less about the hard power of force than the soft power of ideas and example."