Download Neuroscience and advertising: Redefining the role of the unconscious

 Neuroscience and advertising: Redefining the role of the
unconscious
Cristina de Balanzó Bono and Nuria Serrano Abad
WPP Atticus Awards
Merit, 2011
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Neuroscience and advertising: Redefining the role of the unconscious
Cristina de Balanzó Bono and Nuria Serrano Abad
WPP Atticus Awards
Merit, 2011
Neuroscience and advertising: Redefining the role of the
unconscious1
Cristina de Balanzó Bono and Nuria Serrano Abad
TNS London and Sra Rushmore, Madrid
This paper revises and questions the usually negative perception of the relationship between the unconscious and
advertising. The objective is to acknowledge the relevance of the unconscious in the behavior of consumers, by providing a
new point of view based on the innovative findings of cognitive neuroscience and biometric techniques. Specifically, the
paper highlights recent studies on emotion, (implicit) memory, and creativity, focusing on their implication in the advertising
process. The intention of this paper is to reconsider past theories but, also, to open our eyes to new scientific findings that
may well mean a new way of understanding how advertising works, giving a new value to the unconscious.
Will it become possible to talk about advertising and its relationship with the unconscious (or subconscious) without
complexes? Might it be possible to redefine the relationship between them in a way that is provocative yet constructive?
Perhaps in a manner that re-evaluates the negative connotations that it has suffered from historically? It may appear difficult,
given the fact that it is only very rarely that we dare to talk about the role of the unconscious in advertising. Why might this be?
Perhaps because we feel insecure due to some famous examples such as those produced in the 50's; the frequently
mentioned, although falsified, experiment carried out by James Vicary in so-called "subliminal advertising."
The 21st century gives us the opportunity to look once more at the concept of the unconscious, but this time from the
perspective of incorporating validated scientific contributions, based on the new discoveries about brain functioning. In this
article we would like to build bridges between these scientific results and current advertising practise in a way that allows us to
introduce a new point of view which redefines the influence of the unconscious and its role in the processes of memory,
attention, reasoning and decision-making; a new perspective that forces us to re-examine old prejudices.
Traditional definition of the unconscious
The definition of "unconscious" in the Diccionario de la lengua española is: "Not conscious"; "describes the state or mental
process of which the subject is not aware".2 As such, this concept is defined with respect to its opposite state, which is
certainly within the bounds of the expected and acceptable. In this sense, the definition of "conscious" is formed from what is
closest to the state that can be considered the most correct: "What feels, thinks, desires and acts with knowledge of what they
are doing"; "Used to describe something done in these conditions"; "With full use of senses and faculties".3 It is also frequently
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2 used as a synonym for the word "subconscious",4 clearly demonstrating the inferiority of this term with respect to the
conscious, the deliberate and suitable. Unconscious and subconscious, both concepts bearing pejorative prefixes.5
However, this type of definition is not in line with recent acceptance of current psychological and neuroscientific trends which
would argue that: "lack of consciousness is not the same as the unconscious". 6 In fact, it is becoming increasingly evident that
unconscious processing is basic for the functioning of normal behaviour. And it is certainly true that if our brain were to provide
us with all the information about what is happening in our minds and bodies, we would be biologically overwhelmed.
From a historical perspective,7 the unconscious has been one of the most controversial aspects in various schools of
psychology.8 Perhaps Freud is most associated with this concept, although we should be aware that this matter was dealt with
from other perspectives before and after psychoanalysis. William James, for instance, had already explored the distinctions
between "the unconscious and the conscious being of the mental state".9 In his detailed analysis on the existence of
unconscious states of mind he reviews the ten principle affirmations and refutations on the subject according to the theories of
the time.10 His main contribution following this analysis is the acceptance that a mental activity can be two things at once:
conscious and unconscious.
It was Freud, subsequently, who awarded the unconscious the status of an absolute entity. In his definition he declared that
there is an unconscious mind independent of consciousness, but which exerts great influence and directly affects behaviour.
As such, the definition of the unconscious has two elements: as a lack of perception11, and as a layer for the psyche.12 What
is curious is that, in both cases, and analysing from the perspective that only time can give, the unconscious retains its
negative role as a generator of conflict, container for repressed experiences, deficiencies or uncontrolled energy.
We will return to Freud in this article but in this brief review we should mention that other theories of psychology, after Freud,
also contributed new visions regarding unconscious processes. For instance, Jung founded his ideas on the existence of a
collective unconscious, based on forms of concrete thought (preformed ideas) that are inherited and which interrelate with the
personal unconscious of each person. Also, the social-learning theorists define unconscious processes as non-control,
especially in the case of verbal control. In this sense they maintain that "converting what is unconscious to conscious is an
ideal".13
Most of the contributions with regard to the unconscious and/or subconscious from this simplified historical perspective
suggest to us that we find ourselves dealing with a process or system of high relevance, a fundamental piece of cognitive
thought, although with more negative than positive connotations. It is almost as though we were dealing with a problem to be
solved, something that throws us off track and leads us to make wrong decisions. This perspective is the one which has
mainly determined the theoretical structure of advertising strategy as it stands at present. From the frequent search for rational
benefits (functional and differential, as well as proven to the methodology of quantitative questionnaires, to give two examples,
it shows us how relevant and more highly-valued the conscious has been versus the unconscious.
Nevertheless, we should not confine ourselves to this perspective as other more recent discoveries demonstrate that the
existence of the unconscious is essential for our biological behaviour as human beings, as we will see later.
Unconscious processes and the unconscious mind from the viewpoint of the neurosciences
The neurosciences are the group of sciences which deal with the study of the nervous system: neurology, neurobiology,
neuropharmacology, and neuroanatomy.14 Cognitive neuroscience merges the advances in these sciences and the
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3 knowledge obtained from cognitive psychology. It is a discipline which was developed at the end of the 20th century; is
acquiring great importance in the 21st, and is a fundamental theoretical framework for understanding a new definition of the
unconscious. Cognitive neuroscience investigates the influence of neuronal processes (conscious and unconscious) in
cognitive processes such as perception, attention, reasoning, decision-making, object representation, emotion, and memory.
It is important to bear in mind that the progress in cognitive neuroscience would not have been possible without the new
technological advances which have allowed us to visualise the biological-neuronal behaviour of our cerebral activity during
cognitive processing. There are currently some 16 biometric techniques used in neurosciences. The most common are
magnetic resonance, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalograph (EEG), positron emission
tomography (PET), Eye-tracking, and measurement of the skin galvanic response (GSR).
These new technologies complement other traditional methods such as observation and in-depth interviews but it is the new
techniques which allow us, thanks to visualisation and experimental measurement, to understand and appreciate that the brain
is an extremely sophisticated and complex organ.
If we focus on its utility for marketing and advertising, we should consider that "cognitive neuroscience brings and will continue
to bring new pieces to the complex puzzle of human behaviour but will not necessarily be the definitive solution".15 What is
important is to merge everything which has been learned from the new findings in neuroscience to bring us closer and closer
to the reality of the functioning behind human behaviour.
Specifically, on the subject of the unconscious, there are new, important findings in cognitive neuroscience which, within the
area of marketing and advertising, provide evidence of its influence and leads us to consider a new point of view:
"unconscious processing is basic to much behaviour".16 According to Harvard Professor Gerald Zaltman: "Ninety-five percent
of thinking takes place in our unconscious minds –that wonderful, if messy, stew of memories, emotions, thoughts, and other
cognitive processes we're not aware of or that we can't articulate".17 This author defines the unconscious as cognitive
unconscious and considers that it "concerns the mental processes that operate outside the consciousness of consumers and
that, linked with conscious processes, create their experience of the world".18 This poses the question; how is it possible that
in marketing we claim to understand the attitudes and behaviours of consumers when not even they are fully conscious of
them?19
For his part, renowned global marketing consultant Martin Lindstrom bases his recent theories on the relevance of
neuroscience and highlights the importance of influential but hidden factors: "subconscious thoughts, feelings, and desires that
drive the purchasing decisions we make each and every day of our lives".20
What is certain is that there are countless examples which demonstrate that this is, in fact, the case. In diverse studies carried
out by TNS in supermarkets, the important differences that exist between what people say they do and what they do in reality
have been validated.21 For instance, when questioning men who have recently made purchases in the cosmetics area, the
majority say that they made their choices without much deliberation, and according to habit or price. However, through simple
observation the time they have spent in this aisle, even smelling and trying the cosmetics, can be checked (which proves to be
much longer than they think/say has passed). Furthermore, when these types of studies are complemented with Eyetracking22, it is easier to see the significantly lower influence of price in the purchasing decision made at the shopping shelf.
Relocating the unconscious
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4 Occasionally, the line between tradition and modernity is not as well-defined as it might appear. Cognitive neuroscience
represents a revolution in our way of understanding human behaviour but has, at the same time, points of connection with the
past which can be surprising.
Eric Kandel, neuroscientist and physiology-medicine Nobel Laureate in the year 2000, defends the fact that his innovative
research departs from Freud's postulates and his structure of the psyche: "Although Freud did not intend his diagram to be a
neuroanatomical map of the mind, it stimulated me to wonder where in the elaborate folds of the human brain these psychic
agencies might live".23 Kandel thus focused his research on understanding the mind through brain cells, one by one, because
he understands that every perception, every movement, every thought, is the result of "a vast multitude of basically similar
neural calculations".24 He began the search for knowledge that would unravel the sophisticated biology which controls the
millions of neurons in our brains but in a direction established many years earlier by Freud.
Freud spoke of the role of the unconscious in the psychic life and maintained that nothing in the mind happens by accident.
This dynamic of conscious and unconscious processes which precedes any cognitive situation is something that is today
being tested by the neurosciences. Other important ideas in the theories of Freud are being rediscovered and validated such
as the notion of subjectivity and the individuality of our thoughts which he suggested: "The unconscious is the true psychic
reality; in its inner nature it is just as imperfectly communicated to us by the data of consciousness as is the external world by
the reports of our sense organs".25 Few people are aware that Freud began his medical career as an anatomist and
neurobiologist, studying the individuality of nerve cells. In his work he anticipated what came to be known as the neuronal
doctrine, the perspective that the neurons formed the base biological elements in the construction of the brain.26
In modern times the neurosciences have validated that the neurons and the nervous system are the base of a complex
network of systems which define a plastic, flexible, subjective, personal, active, and to a certain extent, disordered and
involuntary brain.27 To quote the advertiser Paul Feldwick: "Within our minds we each keep an immensely complicated
network of memories, associations, and feelings that influence our decision-making. Many of these are unconscious, not in the
deep Freudian sense, but simply in the way that we do not know they are happening and normally never articulate or analyze
them".28 Clearly, conscious and unconscious interrelate in a sophisticated scheme, beyond negative considerations and
based on prejudices which had previously been linked with these particular brain areas.
Redefinition of the unconscious and its role in advertising strategy
Normally, it is not common to speak of the unconscious in advertising strategy. Not only because of the prejudices and
negative aspects mentioned previously but also because of ethical considerations. However, we should reconsider this
position as we cannot remain anchored in the past. Dr. Rafal Ohme, professor of psychology and founder of Lab & Co asserts:
"Recent biometric studies have shown that the effects of advertising depend not only on information and emotion, but also –to
an equally large extent – on signals that are processed outside of consumers' conscious attention, i.e. peripherically".29 It is
important to accept that the unconscious has an active, relevant and real role. It is important to eliminate prejudices and confer
on the unconscious the status it deserves. Only if we accept and analyse its influence can we develop effective advertising
strategies and stimuli that persuade the consumer.
We should start from the idea that the mind of the consumer is not a blank piece of paper. Zaltman warns us: "The managerial
tendency to focus on conscious consumer thought, while understandable and natural, also blocks managers' access to the
world of unconscious consumer thought and feeling that drives most consumer behaviour". 30 To a certain extent, the
projective techniques used in some consumer research solve this problem with a greater or lesser degree of effectiveness.
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5 They provide the consumer with a space where they can go beyond their words and the most conscious aspects of speech. It
is crucial to learn to use this information and, moreover, to incorporate the biometric techniques which make what happens in
the minds of consumers tangible.
What can the advances in cognitive neuroscience and biometric techniques offer in order to improve the efficacy of advertising
strategy? There are many ways to influence, some already demonstrated, but there are many others which depend on a
source of knowledge that we have barely begun to use and which, in the future, has the potential to offer much more. With
respect to the unconscious, we can state that the findings of cognitive neuroscience will demonstrate its relevance and it will
be essential to take them into account to improve our knowledge of human behaviour in aspects as important as decisionmaking.
For example, there is an important area of study and development in relation to the emotional process linked with the capacity
of memory and the purchasing decision, and the unconscious is a fundamental part of this.
With the neurosciences it has been possible to validate that neuronal systems which generate unconscious, implicit and
emotional memories are different to those neuronal systems involved with conscious, explicit memories and those which refer
to the sensation of an emotion (or feeling).31 To go into greater depth in this area we should refer to Antonio Damasio,
neuroscientist and winner of the Principe De Asturias award in 2005. One of his most relevant contributions is precisely this
differentiation between emotion and feeling of the emotion. When the individual receives an emotionally competent stimulus,
which could be seeing a bear, the most primitive part of our brain immediately prepares the body for action: the heart beats
faster, the arteries dilate and the adrenalin flows. These bodily changes are those which the cerebral cortex detects and
connects with the sensation of an emotion which had produced these changes.32 The resulting mental image merges the
combination of our unconscious emotions and conscious bodily changes
What is certain is that to speak of emotion is to speak of unconscious aspects, not only of this more primitive element. On
many occasions we are unaware of these bodily/emotional changes since, causing less arousal, they can pass relatively
unnoticed. Damasio has scientifically validated what for many people was already a fact: emotion and reason always go hand
in hand in decision-making, which obliges us to re-examine certain premises in advertising strategy. For instance, with respect
to market research: "Reason and emotion are a neurologically balanced continuum that we should take into consideration in
the new approach in marketing research".33 It also forces us to reconsider how we speak about emotional benefits and rational
benefits and how both aspects are divided in the analysis carried out in market studies. To date, advertisers have made
distinctions between what they consider to be emotional advertising and rational advertising. However, this distinction only
exists in the mind of marketing and research professionals, and not in the mind of the consumer. Advertisers select a strategy
in accordance with specific communication objectives following marketing objectives to generate demand and to increase
sales in the short- or long-term.
Another fundamental area of development would be the contributions from innovative studies on memory, especially those that
have scientifically confirmed the existence of implicit or unconscious memory.34 This milestone has been reached thanks to
studies carried out using amnesic patients who, despite having a non-working conscious memory, in the majority of cases
have completely unaffected implicit memory.35 For example, they are capable of learning to draw, play an instrument or play
cards without having a conscious memory (explicit memory) of it.
We should not forget that, as the neurosciences show, the brain does not work like a computer and, as such, memory is
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6 neither simple nor linear. The memory does not "store" memories. As the neurobiologist Dudai clearly explains: "memories,
being spatiotemporal activity states of the nervous system, are unlikely to be stored over time as such".36 It is thought that
memories are reactivated or reconstructed each time; revising their meaning each time we try to recover them.
This more sophisticated and flexible memory is, furthermore, subjective, as it has been neurologically demonstrated that each
person remembers the same event in a personal and distinct way. In this sense, even the explicit and declarative memory has
significant influence on the unconscious. This subjectivity affects past memory but also influences future memory. From the
moment we experience something, we interpret it, and on many occasions in an unconscious manner. To quote Schacter,
professor of psychology at Harvard: "We often edit or entirely rewrite our previous experiences-unknowingly and
unconsciously-in light of what we now know or believe".37
Why should we consider implicit memory in relation to advertising efficacy? According to researchers Heath and Nairn,38
because our memory systems gather what we perceive, but also add conceptual aspects that can be associated with
emotional values from the past and which, together, have an effect on current purchasing decisions. Moreover, they argue that
implicit memory has been shown to be more durable than the explicit, having greater capacity and being independent of
attention.
Studies on the power of the unconscious in relation to memory have only just begun and have a long way to go. One of the
most important contributions directly related to advertising efficacy is analysis of the unconscious association produced by
years of exposure to an advertisement or campaign. It is the so-called feeling of familiarity,39 which is why errors are
generated, with a certain frequency, when the advertising recall is measured. Another relevant contribution may come from
studies on the priming phenomenon which refers to the influence that a previous stimulus has over any subsequent stimuli.
One thing that can be said with certainty is that the latest advances in understanding memory functioning can cause a reexamination of the basis for some aspects of advertising strategy. For example, should tests that measure memories (in terms
of recall or awareness) and relate them to persuasion and efficacy, really be based solely on conscious/declarative memory?
Perhaps the influence is also due to unconscious memories that the individual does not mention but about which we need to
increase our knowledge to improve advertising efficacy?
The unconscious and its role in the creative process
Finally, we should not only evaluate the influence of the unconscious in those who receive the advertising message but also
the influence of mental functioning during the creative process, the construction of the message.
Cognitive neuroscience gives us new opportunities to understand the creative process, given that it deals with human beings
cerebral capacity. New studies on neurons and genetics show great potential to help us understand how creativity functions in
terms of genesis, functioning, measurement and limits. The central questions would involve how it might be possible to
evaluate and strengthen creativity, and how creativity can be translated into advertising effectiveness.
Professor Juan de los Ángeles defines advertising creativity as a: "product of the intelligence which combines, assimilates, connects and assesses the knowledge it possesses".40 Neuroscience demonstrates that this knowledge can be conscious or
unconscious. It may be especially interesting, therefore, to study the phenomenon of cryptomnesia and its possible
relationship with unintentional plagiarism. Cryptomnesia is the name given to the act of incorrectly identifying something as
novel when, in reality, it is something that we already know. This occurs when we forget the source of our ideas and are,
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7 mistakenly, convinced that they are ours; something that happens with some frequency in the field of advertising. When we
see a commercial, perhaps from another country or from many years ago, we may be facing the reality of unintentional
plagiarism, the product of unconscious neuronal activity. In an article published by the Periódico de la Publicidad in 2007, some examples stood out such as a the print ads created by Volkswagen and by Mitsubishi which both used a tortoise/hare,
the Ipod advertisement and that by the Lugz Footwear Company, and the Cog commercial for Honda and the short The way
things go.41
Towards the construction of a new strategic model that evaluates the role of the unconscious
In conclusion, we would like to state that the unconscious should be included as an additional piece to be considered in an
already complex advertising strategy. We believe that we cannot disregard the evidence from neuroscience that has identified
its importance and influence. To quote Pradeep, founder of the company NeuroFocus, "Neuroscience teaches us that the
subconscious level of the brain is where essential perceptions are registered and decisions are made. It is at this precognitive
level of the mind where initial product interest, purchase or viewing intent, and brand loyalty are formed".42 This new
knowledge should be used to validate, revise or complement existing knowledge and measurement methodology or tools. For
instance, with respect to post-test, the value of both the conscious and unconscious memory (implicit and explicit) should be
taken into consideration, as many of the elements we absorb when we see an advertisement are not memorised in a
conscious way but are, however, fundamental in the construction of brand equity. As Heath observed regarding advertising
and its effects on the mind of the consumer, "When we ask about what they recall about advertising for a brand, they
sometimes recall nothing. But it doesn't mean that advertising has had no influence on their attitudes towards a brand".43
The study of a complex brain, more like a sophisticated ecosystem than a computer, obliges us to look again at the simple,
linear strategies that we have so far designed. The capacity of the brain to receive and manage infinity of stimuli, internal and
external, conscious and unconscious, should redefine many points of departure in relation to both creative strategy and the
reception of the message by the target audience.
As we advance in understanding brain functioning, it is foreseeable that there will be advances in the development of possible
applications in the area of advertising. As Balanzó and Sabaté observe, "Neuromarketing has excited uncommon interest among many marketing and advertising experts […] as it is a valid tool for demonstrating, making tangible, the emotional
relationship that is established between brands and consumers".44 Consequently, it is crucial to consider everything that
unconscious associations may bring to the brand equity of a brand, to what shapes its value in the mind of the consumer.
We cannot turn our backs on these advances. In this article we have outlined some findings about the unconscious aspects of
emotion, memory and creativity which open doors to new ways of understanding advertising strategy. Market research is
another area where there will be enormous development as a result of discoveries in the neurosciences. In fact, there are
already large research institutions such as Millward Brown45 and TNS working in this direction.46 These studies support the
hypothesis that the unconscious should have a new role in advertising which is not secondary, negative or dispensable and as
bridges continue to be built between the advances in neurosciences and advertising practise its relevance and importance will
be demonstrated.
On the way, it is possible that voices of alarm will be raised and parallels will be drawn with the old concepts of
unconsciousness. It is true, some contributions may appear to be similar to, or have points of confluence, with previous
theories. However, what is really important is to look ahead and not back. To quote Ohme: "The unconscious dimension in
advertising –precisely monitored in biometrics studies- has nothing to do with so-called subliminal advertising, although many
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8 people may be tempted to lump the two together".47 The unconscious process, as the neurosciences have demonstrated,
exists and influences the process of creation, the evaluation of an advertising stimulus, and the selection and purchase of a
product. In this sense, the most important thing at present, regardless of whether its use is intentional or not, is to be aware of
it and accept its existence in order to develop better advertising strategies.
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9 GREGORY, Richard. [ed.] The Oxford Companion to the Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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Footnotes
1. January 2011,Published in Tripodos. Original title: " Neurociencias y estrategia publicitaria: redefiniendo el rol del
inconsciente."
2. Diccionario de la lengua española. Madrid: Real Academia Española, 1992. Tomo II, p. 1154. 3. Ibid. p. 545.
4. MOLINER, María. Diccionario de uso del español. Madrid: Gredos, S.A. 1994. Tomo II, p. 111.
5. The terms unconscious and subconscious are used commonly in both psychology and the neurosciences. In this article
we do not enter the debate on the similarities or differences between them and use the most common term; unconscious.
6. GREGORY, Richard. [ed.] The Oxford Companion to the Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 926.
7. See: GREGORY, Op. cit. y DICAPRIO, Nicholas. Teoría de la personalidad. México: Nueva Editorial Interamericana, 1976.
8. The unconscious has not only been dealt with by psychology but also by philosophy and theology. However, we only
consider the contributions from psychology to limit the analysis and because cognitive psychology is the precursor of the
neurosciences in its application to advertising.
9. JAMES, William. The Principles of Psychology. New York: Cosimo, 2007. Volume I. p.163.
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10
10. Ibid. p.163-176.
11. Still, therefore, considering perception as a passive cognitive process rather than a constructive one.
12. DICAPRIO, Op. cit., p. 225. Ver también FREUD, Sigmund. La interpretación de los sueños. Barcelona: Planeta de
Agostini, 1985, p. 636-637 where it is specified that these are dynamic processes, not independent spatial locations,
13. DICAPRIO, Op. cit., p. 143.
14. Based on the definition from the Diccionario de la lengua española (Real Academia Española, 1992. Tomo II, p.1437) y del Diccionario MOSBY (MOSBY, 2003. Vol 1, p. 1096).
15. DE BALANZO, Cristina; SERRANO, Nuria. "Fundamentos para construir un modelo de comunicación publicitaria desde la perspectiva de la neurociencia". En: Comunicación y desarrollo en la era digital. [En línea]. Málaga: II Congreso Internacional AE-IC, 2010. http://www.aeic2010malaga.org/upload/ok/87.pdf [Consulta: 27/8/2010]
16. GREGORY, Op. cit., p. 926.
17. ZALTMAN, Gerald. Cómo piensan los consumidores. Barcelona: Urano, 2004. p. 9.
18. Ibid. p. 86.
19. In fact, from a strictly biological point of view, we begin on the basis that all neural processing is, in itself, unconscious.
The neuronla signals are produced and choose their routes, circuits and processing without us having any awareness of
this activity.
20. LINDSTROM, Martin. Buy.ology, How everything we believe about why we buy is wrong. New York: Random House,
2009. p.3.
21. DE BALANZÓ, Cristina; SERRANO, Nuria; SCAMELL-KATZ, Siemon. "Damasio: a starting point for integrating
neuroscience findings into retail research." In: Odyssey, Esomar, 2010. Atenas: ESOMAR, 2010. p. 9.
22. Eye Tracking is a neurophysiological research technique which measures eye movements and provides information not
only on fixation points but also on the amount of time spent. It measures this activity in milliseconds, an aspect that allows
easy synchronisation with other neuroimaging techniques such as EEG. In this way, the relationship between visual
attention and various cerebral (brain activity) processes can be measured.
23. KANDEL, Eric. In search of memory. New York: Norton, 2007. p. 55.
24. Ibid. p. 72.
25. FREUD, Op. cit., p. 639.
26. This led to a manuscript, which was not published, called Project for a Scientific Psychology, where the findings of Cajal
were incorporated into his studies. See: KANDEL, Op. cit., p. 45-72.
27. Source: authors' work.
28. FELDWICK, Paul. "Is Advertising Science or Art?" En: What is Brand Equity Anyway? Oxon: World Advertising Research
Center WARC 2002. p. 4.
29. OHME, Rafal. "El inconsciente como tercera dimensión" Anuncios. Madrid: 1298 /5 al 11 de octubre 2009. p. 22.
30. ZALTMAN, Op.cit., p. 51.
31. In studies with animals and with humans. See: KANDEL, Op. cit., p. 342.
32. Description summarised by LEHRER, Jonah. Proust was a neuroscientist. New York: Mariner, 2008. p. 19.
33. DE BALANZÓ; SERRANO; SCAMELL-KATZ, Op. cit. p. 15.
34. Implicit memory is understood to be a system of unconscious memories that we all have and which functions in parallel to
the explicit memory. It includes automatic behaviour and all those memories of which we have no awareness in terms of
what they consist of, or how we acquired them.
35. See: KANDEL, Op. cit., p. 128-133 y JACOBY, Larry: TOTH, Jeffrey; YONELINAS, Andrew. "Separating Conscious and
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Unconscious Influences of Memory: Measuring Recollection" Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 1993. Vol.
122. No. 2. 139-154.
36. DUDAI, Yadin. Memory from A to Z; keywords, concepts and beyond. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 158.
37. SCHACTER, Daniel. The seven sins of memory. How the mind Forgets and Remembers. New York: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 2001. p. 5.
38. HEATH, Robert; NAIRN, Agnes "Measuring Affective Advertising: Implications of Low Attention processing on Recall".
Journal of Advertising Research Vol. 45 (2005), No. 2. p. 4.
39. See BRAUN-LATOUR, Kathryn; LATOUR, Michael "Assessing the long-term impact of a consistent advertising campaign
on consumer memory". Journal of Advertising, vol. 33 (2004) no.2, p.49-61.
40. DE LOS ANGELES, Juan. Creatividad Publicitaria. Navarra: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, 1996. p. 110-117.
41. BOILLOS, Eduardo. "Este anuncio me recuerda a algo" El Periódico de la Publicidad. Madrid: 25 de mayo al 1 de junio de 2007. p. 22.
42. PRADEEP, A.K. "The "Aha!" Moment. Why One Letter and Three Numbers Are Critical To Marketing Success"
http://www.mrweb.com/mrt/neu09sep.htm [En linea]. [S.1.]: MrWeb, 2010. [Consulta: 25/7/2010]
43. Heath, Robert. "Low involvement processing – a new model of brand communication", Journal of marketing
communication. Vol. 7 (2001) No. 1, p. 27-33.
44. DE BALANZÓ, Cristina; SABATÉ, Joan. "Las neurociencias y la publicidad: nuevas fronteras a la persuasión". En: Las
encrucijadas de la comunicación: límites y transgresiones. IV Congrés Internacional Comunicació i Realitat. Barcelona:
Facultat de Ciencies de la Comunicació Blanquerna. Trípodos, N° Extra (2007), p. 909. 45. Millward Brown has incorporated into their commercial products techniques such as the Implicit Association Task coming
from cognitive psychology which tries to determine the unconscious associations that the consumer possesses regarding
a particular stimulus (image, concept, sound or a smell). This technique measures the relationship between the stimulus
and the brand according to the consumer's speed of response.
46. See, for example, the analysis carried out on neurosciences and point of sale in: DE BALANZÓ; SERRANO; SCAMELLKATZ, Op. cit.
47. OHME, Op. cit., p. 23.
Authors
Cristina de Balanzó Bono
Cristina de Balanzó Bono has eleven years experience in advertising, including the position of account planner at Mc Cann
Erickson from 2004 to 2009. She is a graduate in Sociology and has recently completed her doctorate in communication. Her
doctoral thesis deals with consumer insight and cognitive neuroscience. Cristina has written and spoken on the subject of
biometric research and how it can help strategy and advertising effectiveness. She is currently Global Head of Neurosciences
at TNS based at its London Headquarters. Cristina is a member of the Strategy and Creativity research group at the
Universidad Ramon Llull de Barcelona. She combines her work with teaching at universities and schools of marketing and
communication. www.twitter.com@crisbalanzo
Nuria Serrano Abad
Nuria Serrano Abad graduated in psychology from the Universidad Central de Barcelona and is currently finalising her PhD
at the Blanquerna-Ramón Llull University in Barcelona, where she is also a member of the Strategy and Creativity research Downloaded from warc.com
12
group. Her doctoral thesis incorporates the latest advances in cognitive neuroscience into the study of the role of implicit
memory in the advertising process. Nuria has extensive experience in advertising, where she has more than 15 years
experience as account planner. She is currently director of Strategic Planning at Publicis, Madrid. She publishes her ideas and
impressions at www.twitter.com@neuroadvertising
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