Neuromarketing is the next generation of market
research, and the most accurate method of gaining customer intelligence. The
aim of Neuromarketing is to understand customer behavior and to be able to
predict, as much as possible, their future purchasing decisions.
The term was coined only in 2002, by Ale
Smidts, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economy. Neuromarketing originates in
Neuroscience, and uses brain-imaging technologies developed in the 1960’s (EEG)
and 1990’s (fMRI). The first few studies we conducted in the early 1990s in the
US, commissioned by major companies (Coca cola, Levi Strauss, Ford, etc). Since
then the demand grew year after year.
The Old Paradigm vs The New Paradigm
In the 1600’s, Descartes said “I think,
therefore I am.” That has been widely accepted as human beings are motivated by
logic and all decisions made are based on rationality. This is what we now call
“The Old Paradigm”: first people think, then feel and finally act. However, in
the early 1900’s, Freud argued that emotions can override behavior. Since then,
this idea sparked debates in Advertising boardrooms, on whether advertising
should be rational or emotional.
In his book titled ‘Descates’ Error’ (2000),
Antonio Damasio – a leading neuroscientist – outlined this new concept. At a
basic level, the brain triggers a body response (i.e. fight/flight). Following
the instinctual response is the feeling of emotion, or the conscious
recognition of the emotion. Only much later, does the process trigger
additional cognitive processes such as planning ahead, or exploring different
strategies for dealing with a situation.
We now know that emotions are a very important
input to rationality. In fact, 95% of all decisions are made at a subconscious
level (according to Gerald Zaltman). So the old paradigm of “Think-Feel-Act”
has been proven wrong by Cognitive Neuroscience, and replaced by the new
paradigm “Feel-Act-Think”
Why should you measure emotion?
Emotion is the driver of decision making,
because it guides what we pay attention to from our environment and whether
we’re motivated to approach or avoid it.
Emotions are very important in controlling mood,
like having a low or high level of arousal. You need a lower level to fall
asleep at night, and a high level of arousal to wake up in the morning. Think
about how many brands are positioned to enhance certain moods or feelings. This
powerful concept is attracting the attention of the business community towards
the importance of measuring and understanding emotions.
What You Can Use Neuromarketing For
Brands such as Campbell’s Soup, Gerber, and
Frito-Lay have used neuromarketing to restyle their packaging designs.
Consumers were exposed to a product’s packaging piece by piece, and their
response was recorded as positive, neutral, or negative. This information was
used in conjunction with an in-depth interview to analyze specific points that
eventually resulted in changes to elements such as color, text size, and
imagery.
For instance, Frito-Lay discovered matte bags
with pictures of potatoes did not trigger a negative response, whereas shiny
bags with pictures of chips on them did. Within months, new bags were designed
and the shiny ones were scrapped.
Hyundai utilized neuromarketing when they gave
thirty participants EEG caps and asked them to examine a car prototype for an
hour. Information recorded by the electrodes were stored in an individualized
hard drive and analyzed by experts.
In another case, PayPal discovered that
commercials focusing on speed and convenience triggered a significantly higher
response than those advertising safety and security and developed an entirely
new ad campaign based on the results.
Who employs neuromarketing?
Neuromarketing isn’t cheap. In fact, an MRI
machine can cost as much as $5 million (and twice that to set up).
Additionally, a single ad sample group of 20 people can cost in excess of
$10,000. By necessity then, true neuromarketing is primarily used by large (or
at least heavily subsidized) companies and organizations. Some recent examples:
Google and MediaVest partnered with biometrics
researcher NeuroFocus (minority-owned by the Nielsen Company) to gauge how
users responded to their InVideo advertisements (the semi-transparent overlay
ads on YouTube). Forty participants’ sensory responses were scored along such
criteria as attention, emotional engagement, and effectiveness.
Microsoft uses EEG data to better understand its
users' interactions with its personal and laptop computers, including feelings
of "surprise, satisfaction, and frustration."
Frito-Lay studied the female brain in order to
learn how to better position its advertising. The company discovered that it
needed to avoid talking about “guilt”—even “guilt-free”—and instead focus on
making "healthy" associations in its advertising.
The Weather Channel (TWC) was another company
that partnered with NeuroFocus, as it prepared to relaunch its When Weather
Changed History series. Using EEGs as well as eye-tracking technology and GSR
(galvanic skin response), TWC was able to refine its commercials, and programming,
for maximum impact.
Its considerable cost aside, neuromarketing
still has a range of skeptics and detractors. Concerns include accusations of
“brainwashing”, questions as to how much brain behavior actually affects
consumer behavior, and the inability (so far) to employ neuromarketing
techniques in the business-to-business arena.
Still, as its high-profile users attest,
neuromarketing has already captured the market’s imagination. As researchers
conduct more studies in the field, further refinements—and possibly legislation
in responses to the aforementioned “brainwashing” allegations—will no doubt
further enhance and define neuromarketing strategies in the future.
For what kinds of customers is
neuromarketing effective?
Neuromarketing is a flexible method to determine
customer preferences and brand loyalty, because it can apply to nearly anyone
who has developed an opinion about a product or company. No matter what form it
takes, marketing focuses on creating positive and memorable impact in the minds
of customers. Neuromarketing measures those impacts, but anyone can take the
basic discoveries and adjust their product or sevice to reflect subconscious
consumer needs.
Sensory devices that create or evoke memories,
for example, can be easily employed—the aroma of fresh bread, recollections of
past stories (either a published work or a shared experience), evocative
language, a song that gets stuck in your head and won’t come out -- ultimately,
these are all effective (if crude) examples of neuromarketing that can be used
by nearly any business of any size.
6 Neuromarketing Principles
(that you don’t need an MRI to know)
Don’t use “we,” or talk about your corporation. Focus
on your customers’ pain point, not yours.
Get to the point. Your message is competing
with about 10,000 other messages sent to the brain daily.
Be visual. Don’t just tell about a product;
show it. And if you can’t show an image, create a mental image for your
customers.
Keep it concrete. Ads with facial
expressions, which help decode people’s intentions, are one example.
Close strong. People pay the most attention
at the beginning and end of an ad. This will help ensure memory storage
Use emotion. Surprise, laughter, fear, and
anger all cause disruption— and thus, trigger memory.
How is a neuromarketing
campaign developed?
Although their work heavily affects the visible
part of advertising, neuromarketers focus primarily on the “back end” work.
They’re less concerned with developing the right message or branding than they
are with studying the emotions and memories triggered by that message.
A neuromarketing campaign is more
person-intensive. Whereas typical marketing draws broadly from a cross-section
of customers, through a variety of methods (focus groups, surveys, customer
records, etc.), neuromarketing focuses intently on individual marketing test
subjects— usually no more than a few dozen, and over an extended period of
time.
Toward this end, MRI and EEG machines are used
to monitor participants’ brain activity before, during, and after exposure to
neuromarketing techniques. Other physiological sensors that monitor heart rate,
breathing, and skin response may also be used.
Neuromarketing depends on a process known as
priming—an electrochemical reaction set off whenever a topic is first
introduced. Priming allows the brain to recall everything it knows about the
specific topic (as with our opening Coke example). Even before the conscious
mind becomes aware of a stimulus, the subconscious mind has already begun to
process it and respond—all in the course of a single second. Neuromarketing,
then, is most concerned with that second when the response is first formed.
Once a consumer's brain is primed, new
information/stimuli is introduced to allow the brain to compare this new
information with what it already knows, and to form and express conscious
opinions about the product itself. This information is compared to the
information already compiled in the priming stage.
Once all the data has been collected, the
marketing campaign itself becomes more like any “traditional” marketing
campaign. Based on the neural and sensory data collected, the broader marketing
team will further develop and adjust the campaign in order to create maximum
engagement, and memory retention, with consumers.
What career titles work with neuromarketing
strategies?
Client Managers
Client Managers are responsible for the
development and presentation of neurological studies commissioned by (often
high-profile) clients.
What do they do?
develop relationships with key stakeholders, as
well as a deep understanding of a client's business needs and objectives
maintain an active portfolio of client goals and deliverables distill
information and qualitative insights from quantitative data, and present the
results of neurological studies directly to clients, helping them to also
interpret understand the data presented develop actionable insights from
neurological studies, and work toward implementing them
Education and experience
What type of salary should I expect?
Client Manager
Median annual pay: $116,010
Top earners: $187,199+
Neuromarketing Consultant
Median annual pay: $78,160
Top earners: $138,790+
Market Research Analyst
Median annual pay: $60,570
Top earners: $111,440+
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Client managers involved with neuromarketing
will need a bachelor’s degree (or preferably higher) in business or
social/political science; classes in psychology, sociology, and systems
sciences will also prove helpful. In addition, client managers will need five
to ten years’ experience in direct management of clients, as well as
significant experience in market and brand research, advertising analytics,
demographic research, and product development.
Neuromarketing Consultants
Neuromarketing Consultants
(coaches/trainers/instructors) take the information acquired by neuromarketing
methods and train other companies on how to implement those findings—at a
fraction of the cost of formal neuromarketing.
What do they do?
take existing knowledge in the field of
neuromarketing, and equip companies to apply that knowledge to their existing
sales, marketing, and communications strategies train participants, either
individually or in workshops, to message and speak the language of
decision-makers, based on findings from neural and sensory data provide
consultations on how to make company websites, marketing material , and overall
branding and messaging more “brain-friendly”
Education and experience
Consultants in this field will ideally have an
educational background that features some combination of marketing, psychology,
and cognitive neuroscience. Prior experience in marketing and presentation will
be a must, no matter what. Excellent communication skills are also a must, and
are standard to any good marketing education program.
Market Research Analyst
What do they do?
conduct neuromarketing and other qualitative
research, in order to learn customers’ conscious and unconscious reactions to
the products and messaging being offered analyze and evaluate the neurological
data, as well as other data gathered from other research methods make
recommendations to clients about how to refine the product and/or messaging,
based on the information gathered
Education and experience
Market research analysts need at least a
bachelor’s degree in market research, or a related field such as statistics.
Those wishing to specialize in neuromarketing will also want to minor, or at
least be exposed to, classes in psychology and neuroscience. Because of the
advanced nature of the research, or for those seeking leadership positions, a
master’s degree may also be required. Research analysts often complete an
internship while in school, and should also consider seeking experience in jobs
which require data collection and analysis.
How can a marketing school help
you in this field?
Neuromarketing—true to its name and especially
at its highest levels—operates in two very different worlds: marketing and
neuroscience. Therefore, neuromarketing agencies will look for individuals who
are primarily business people who can communicate with neuroscientists; and
who, conversely, are comfortable translating technical jargon into information
that decision-makers will understand. A marketing education will help you to
communicate persuasively to those on both sides.
Because neuromarketing rests somewhere between a
psychology and a science, coursework in consumer behavior will prove extremely
helpful for future professionals. Understanding the technology behind the
practice is also a major aspect of neuromarketing programs, but that technology
is still changing regularly. Today, fMRIs and EEGs get the attention; however,
in the future, other brain measurement techniques may prove far more useful.
So get your brain in gear, and talk with schools
and counselors who can help you get on the path to a mentally and emotionally
stimulating career in marketing.
Final thoughts
Breaking through the clutter has proved to be an
increasingly difficult task in this day and age, and marketers are always
searching for an advantage. Enter neuromarketing. Understanding the most basic
roots of human emotion is vital in comprehending a consumers’ purchasing
behavior. The beauty of neuromarketing is its ability to integrate into both
your outbound and inbound marketing strategies. Inbound marketers have used
neurotechnology to study their website design as well as other
inbound marketing techniques. Here were some of their key findings:
Aesthetics and navigability were the two most
important aspects of a company’s website.
Blog postings were deemed as the most trusted
and effective form of written content.
YouTube videos showing executives, employee
comments, and information scored the highest in customer advocacy.
Adding a pinch of neuromarketing principles to
your existing inbound marketing methods could give your company a
recipe for marketing success.
PS:- IN MY ENGINEERING CAREER I DID MY PROJECT BASED ON NEURONS (AIS - ARTIFICIAL IMMUNE SYSTEM - SOFT COMPUTING) LINK - HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=NV-GXXAVX9S, AGAIN IN MBA TOO :P HA , BIO OR BIO RELATED WORDS NEVER LEFT ME ALONE FROM MY LIFE :)
REFERENCES
http://www.trueimpact.ca/applications/studies-examples/
http://www.slideshare.net/dianalucaci/neuromarketing-overview-neuromarketing-examples
http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/neuromarketing.html
http://neurostrata.com/neuromarketing-consumer-neuroscience-frequently-asked-questions/
