Emotional Marketing
Posted: 1/1/2011 | By: Deena Higgs Nenad
In the late 1970s, when some advertisers used subliminal messages to plant subconscious thoughts in television commercials or when teenagers played their Beatles record backward and heard a chilling satanic message, people were so shocked it prompted a United Nations study that declared the messages a “major threat to human rights.”
Today, tapping into the subconscious is much more sophisticated and not so much about manipulation as gathering information. Using electroencephalographs (EEGs), MRIs, bio-sensory measurements, and other complex technologies, researchers can now track where a person’s eyes move as they click through websites and watch television commercials, or measure how their brains, skin, and muscles react to products or advertisements.
Called neuromarketing, it could help newspaper publishers and their advertisers — at least those willing to plunk down an average of $30,000 per study — to see just what goes on in readers’ heads when they click on the company website and scroll through articles. Time Inc., which owns 22 magazines and 26 websites, recently teamed with EmSense, a San Francisco-based neuromarketing company, to measure consumer interaction and response to advertising in iPad magazine apps. The results released in late November were encouraging: Consumers are willing to be highly engaged in the ads.
Understanding of the brain’s emotional response has long been used in television commercials as well as packaging design in the food, beverage, and cosmetics industries. Publications and websites are just beginning to see it as a possible revenue enhancer. The lure: Researchers have been able to pinpoint responses so specifically, it’s like the advertiser is right there in the consumer’s head.
“We see what attracts readers’ attention and what keeps them engaged,” said Ron Wright, president and CEO of Sands Research, Inc. in El Paso, Texas, one of a handful of neuromarketing companies that have popped up in the past few years. Wright and partner Steve Sands have decades of neuroscience experience; the two formed Sands Research in 2008 as the field began growing.
Many of the neuromarketing companies use eye-tracking by using special equipment to measure where the eye goes first on a Web page, and how the brain responds to the images capturing the person’s attention. Within milliseconds, researchers can receive unfiltered information about how a reader focuses on text, advertisements, and layout, Wright said.
Google, Inc. has “a whole team devoted to designing effective sites” with the help of eye-tracking, said Jake Hubert, who works in global communications and public affairs. It regularly pays customers to give them feedback on how they respond to page tags and titles, he said.
Those in the neuromarketing field admit they get added publicity because what they are doing is so remarkable to many people, but argue it’s simply a way of finding out what people want.
“Neuromarketing isn’t the Holy Grail,” Wright said. “It’s an additional component in market research.”
He added that there is “no ability to eliminate people’s free will,” and because that is the perception among the media and others, Sands and other neuromarketing companies regularly work with clients in confidence. Although no newspapers have approached Sands, Wright said the company is working with an undisclosed U.S. magazine with nationwide circulation.
When New Scientist magazine in London used neuromarketing on its cover last August, newsstand sales shot up 12 percent over the previous year, said Graham Lawton, deputy editor.
“We regarded that as a success, because we’re in the business of selling magazines,” said Lawton, who set up the study with Berkeley, Calif.-based Neurofocus. “The cover story is directly related to the sales. (It has) design, artwork, colors … things that matter emotionally.”
Neurofocus presented three covers to 19 men, and measured their brainwaves as they responded to each of them. The study was done free of charge, Lawton said, adding that he would consider doing more with neuromarketing even though he’s not 100 percent sure of its success.
“We have no way of knowing for sure. This is not a controlled experiment,” he said. “We would be interested in pursuing more.”
Today, tapping into the subconscious is much more sophisticated and not so much about manipulation as gathering information. Using electroencephalographs (EEGs), MRIs, bio-sensory measurements, and other complex technologies, researchers can now track where a person’s eyes move as they click through websites and watch television commercials, or measure how their brains, skin, and muscles react to products or advertisements.
Called neuromarketing, it could help newspaper publishers and their advertisers — at least those willing to plunk down an average of $30,000 per study — to see just what goes on in readers’ heads when they click on the company website and scroll through articles. Time Inc., which owns 22 magazines and 26 websites, recently teamed with EmSense, a San Francisco-based neuromarketing company, to measure consumer interaction and response to advertising in iPad magazine apps. The results released in late November were encouraging: Consumers are willing to be highly engaged in the ads.
Understanding of the brain’s emotional response has long been used in television commercials as well as packaging design in the food, beverage, and cosmetics industries. Publications and websites are just beginning to see it as a possible revenue enhancer. The lure: Researchers have been able to pinpoint responses so specifically, it’s like the advertiser is right there in the consumer’s head.
“We see what attracts readers’ attention and what keeps them engaged,” said Ron Wright, president and CEO of Sands Research, Inc. in El Paso, Texas, one of a handful of neuromarketing companies that have popped up in the past few years. Wright and partner Steve Sands have decades of neuroscience experience; the two formed Sands Research in 2008 as the field began growing.
Many of the neuromarketing companies use eye-tracking by using special equipment to measure where the eye goes first on a Web page, and how the brain responds to the images capturing the person’s attention. Within milliseconds, researchers can receive unfiltered information about how a reader focuses on text, advertisements, and layout, Wright said.
Google, Inc. has “a whole team devoted to designing effective sites” with the help of eye-tracking, said Jake Hubert, who works in global communications and public affairs. It regularly pays customers to give them feedback on how they respond to page tags and titles, he said.
Those in the neuromarketing field admit they get added publicity because what they are doing is so remarkable to many people, but argue it’s simply a way of finding out what people want.
“Neuromarketing isn’t the Holy Grail,” Wright said. “It’s an additional component in market research.”
He added that there is “no ability to eliminate people’s free will,” and because that is the perception among the media and others, Sands and other neuromarketing companies regularly work with clients in confidence. Although no newspapers have approached Sands, Wright said the company is working with an undisclosed U.S. magazine with nationwide circulation.
When New Scientist magazine in London used neuromarketing on its cover last August, newsstand sales shot up 12 percent over the previous year, said Graham Lawton, deputy editor.
“We regarded that as a success, because we’re in the business of selling magazines,” said Lawton, who set up the study with Berkeley, Calif.-based Neurofocus. “The cover story is directly related to the sales. (It has) design, artwork, colors … things that matter emotionally.”
Neurofocus presented three covers to 19 men, and measured their brainwaves as they responded to each of them. The study was done free of charge, Lawton said, adding that he would consider doing more with neuromarketing even though he’s not 100 percent sure of its success.
“We have no way of knowing for sure. This is not a controlled experiment,” he said. “We would be interested in pursuing more.”