Neuromarketing: A New Marketing Technology to Make You Buy Products?

Very soon, the way in which products are advertised on TV and marketed in stores may change dramatically. Instead of obtaining customer data by hosting focus groups or paying consumers to fill out surveys, marketers may simply hook up some electrodes to the brains of human test subjects and download their neurological responses to products. Performing this instant "download" of human mental and emotional reactions to brand names and colors, as well as product ads and commercials, is advantageous for two reasons: first, it is faster to do than typical consumer research, and second, neuroimaging can provide more accurate customer information when compared with traditional marketing methods (1).

While this may sound like science fiction, neuromarketing technology is currently being studied and used as a valuable marketing tool. NeuroFocus, a nationally and internationally-based company, is developing a brain imaging technology called high-definition electroencephalography (EEG). This technology involves placing an array of 128 EEG sensors into a "hat", which is then placed on the head of a human test subject. A potential or real product, a commercial, or some other marketing collateral is shown to the test subject. Brain responses are recorded via the electrical activity that emanates from the test subject's head, and a separate tracking device records all eye movements (2).

Three critical parameters are generated from the collected brain and eye responses: attention, emotion, and memory. These parameters are based on programmed algorithms that are derived from previously published neurological research data. The attention, emotion, and memory parameters are then used to gauge purchase intent, awareness, and novelty. Based on these numbers, products are pushed forward to development, remarketed, or discarded altogether.

Dr. A.K. Pradeep, the CEO of NeuroFocus, helped develop and market EEG brainwave analysis technology for the study of customer purchasing behavior and patterns. He also discusses the phenomenon of neuromarketing in his book, "The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind".

However, NeuroFocus is not the only company that is cashing in on the ways in which people can be enticed to buy more. EmSense, a company based in California and in Chicago, also offers merchants the ability to perform marketing research on human test subjects through its patented EmBand™. The EmBand™ is a brainwave measurement device that the subject wears much like a headband. This technology device records eye movements as well as any electrical patterns in the brain.

There are other technologies available for studying brain activity besides EEG. SST (Steady State Topography), fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), Galvanic Skin Response, and traditional eye tracking are just some of the other methods that have been employed over the years. However, EEG is attractive because it is relatively inexpensive compared to other methods while still being quite effective.

If you think that neuromarketing is still just a technology in development, think again: here are just a few examples of how well-known companies have used neuromarketing to get consumers to buy (and then to buy more):

Microsoft has mined consumer EEG data to better understand how people interact with computers and when they experience feelings of "surprise, satisfaction and frustration (3)."

Frito-Lay has analyzed female brain activity in order to better market potato chips to women, since they often associate the product with an unhealthy lifestyle.

Google collaborated with MediaVest to find out which YouTube overlay formatting was preferred by consumers.

Daimler used data generated via fMRI to create an advertising campaign that featured human face-like car headlights. The fMRI research had deduced that human faces activate the reward center of the brain.

The Weather Channel has used EEG, eye movement, and skin response tests to gauge how consumers react to different promotional pitches.

References:

Neuromarketing: the hope and hype of neuroimaging in business Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11, 284-292 (April 2010) http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v11/n4/abs/nrn2795.html

Innovation: Market research wants to open your skull, by Graham Lawton http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18677-innovation-market-research-wants-to-open-your-skull.html

Neuromarketing Hope and Hype: 5 Brands Conducting Brain Research, by Kevin Randall http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kevin-randall/integrated-branding/neuromarketing-hope-and-hype-5-brands-conducting-brain-resear