Are you a Coke or Pepsi drinker? Do you pull into McDonald's golden arches or prefer to “have it your way” at Burger King? When it comes to toothpaste, which flavor gets you brushing, Colgate or Crest? If you think it's just your taste buds that guide these preferences, you may be surprised by what neuroscientists are discovering when they peer inside the brain as it makes everyday choices like these.
Don't worry— no one's scanning your head as you stand in front of the beverage aisle or sit in line at the drive-through. Instead, brain scientists are asking volunteers to ponder purchasing choices while lying inside high-tech brain scanners. The resulting real-time images indicate where and how the brain analyzes options, weighs risks and rewards, factors in experiences and emotions and ultimately sets a preference.
Neuromarketing is the practice of using technology to measure brain activity in consumer subjects in order to inform the development of products and communications. Researchers use technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in parts of the brain. The premise is that consumer buying decisions are made in split seconds in the subconscious, emotional part of the brain and that by understanding what we like, don't like, want, fear, are bored by, etc. as indicated by our brain's reactions to brand stimuli, marketers can design products and communications to better reach “unmet” market needs, connect and drive “the buy”.
It is commonly accepted that traditional market research is flawed because consumers don't know, can't articulate, or will even lie in a focus group about their purchase motivations. Neuromarketing research removes subjectivity and ambiguity by going right to measuring observable brain behavior. Respondent attention level, emotional engagement and memory storage are common metrics.
Neuromarketing claims to reveal how consumers assess, deliberate and choose in a variety of contexts. According to neuromarketers this growing industry has the potential to significantly increase the effectiveness of advertising and marketing campaigns. They claim that neuromarketing will provide detailed knowledge about customer preferences and what marketing activities will stimulate buying behavior, hence making promotional campaigns more effective. It will be valuable in providing cues for the best place and prices in advertisements, and should cut the risk of marketing products that are doomed to fail.
Companies are tailoring their pitches to reach the subconscious; but exactly how do they research and assure this is a viable and ethical strategy to employ on TV? Volunteers wear a fabric cap that houses an EEG (studies brain electrical frequencies) sensors and an eye-tracking device while they watch a commercial, use a web site, or view a movie trailer. These dual devices enable researchers to connect the volunteers’ brain patterns with exact video images or banner ads or logos. Armed with this information, they are able to measure attention, emotion, and memory; basically connecting stimuli with deep subconscious response.
Making money is important and helping others make money is a business – and business is booming!
Source: Science Daily
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Jorge Chávez is Social Marketer at Mijo! Brands in Mexico. Follow @jorgemijobrands
