J. Duncan Berry

J. Duncan Berry, Ph. D., is a Principal of BUYOLOGY INC, and responsible for the company's proprietary framework and database. Combining developments in neuroscience, consumer psychology, and marketing with a sophisticated brand of logic tools and visual semiotics, Duncan offers fresh insights into the emotional structure of persuasive visual communication.

Prior to joining BUYOLOGY, Duncan formed Applied Iconology, one of the first firms dedicated to the emerging discipline of neuromarketing research and analysis for corporate clients interested in improving their consumer insight, market research, product, packaging design, and innovation.

Before founding Applied Iconology, Duncan directed the semiotics practice and managed deep consumer insight research for brand image, one of the largest privately held brand and design agencies in the world. Through BrandImage, he developed rigorous analytical frameworks to orchestrate emotional resonance through design for several dozen national and global brands including Pepsi, Amp, Starbucks, Tropicana, Pfizer, Frito-Lay, Sensodyne, Aquafresh, Tums, New York Times, NBC, ConAgra, General Mills, P&G, as well as new brand work in non-profit, pharma and financial services.

Duncan has published and lectured widely on the application of semiotics to innovation, package design, brand development and marketing strategy. He has keynoted at BrandManage Camp, HBA New York, and The Marketing Event. In addition to speaking at the Stern School of Business at New York University, he routinely lectures at the MBA, executive MBA, and New Product Development divisions of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he is currently advising MBA students on neurosemiotics and intellectual property. Dr. Berry's work on semiotics, marketing, consumer motivation and emotion, branding, and innovation has been published in trade and academic journals. His work in semiotics was featured in The New York Times.

Duncan was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna, Austria, an IREX Scholar at the Technical University of Dresden (fmr. East Germany), a Fellow of the Institute of International Studies, and a University Fellow at Brown University where he received both his Ph. D. and A. M. degrees in the History of Art and Architecture. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from The College of Wooster in Ohio. He has held faculty positions in Architecture, Art History, and the Humanities at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Roger Williams University.

As a hobby, Duncan also maintains an international reputation as an art and architectural historian, reviewing, publishing and speaking on scholarly subjects at universities and academic symposia in the United States and Western Europe.