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Copyright
by
Miranda L. Hilderbrand
2016
The Thesis Committee for Miranda L. Hilderbrand
Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis:
Neuromarketing:
An Essential Tool in the Future of Advertising and Brand Development
APPROVED BY
SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:
Supervisor:
Matthew S. Eastin
Vincent J. Cicchirillo
Neuromarketing:
An Essential Tool in the Future of Advertising and Brand Development
by
Miranda L. Hilderbrand, B.A.
Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Master of Arts
The University of Texas at Austin
May 2016
Dedication
This report is dedicated to my husband, Jared H. Hilderbrand. You have been my greatest
supporter and my number one fan throughout my time in Graduate School. You are, and
continue to be my greatest reason for always moving forward.
I love you more than words.
Acknowledgements
I would first like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. Matt Eastin of the Stan Richards School of Advertising
& Public Relations at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Eastin has been a great influence to my
throughout my time in the Master’s Program, and my course work with him was my greatest inspiration
to pursue my Thesis. He always offered assistance as questions arose during my research and helped
steer it in the proper direction, while still ensuring that my voice was never lost in my writing. Thank
you for all of your help!
I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Vincent Cicchirillo of the Stan Richards School of Advertising &
Public Relations at the University of Texas at Austin as the reader of this thesis, and I am gratefully
indebted to him for his very valuable comments and recommendations on this thesis. Thank you!
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, Everard and Jann Droemer, and my husband
Jared Hilderbrand for their endless support and encouragement throughout my life.
This
accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you for your love and support.
-
Miranda Hilderbrand
v
Abstract
Neuromarketing:
An Essential Tool in the Future of Advertising and Brand Development
Miranda L. Hilderbrand, M.A
The University of Texas at Austin, 2016
Supervisor: Matthew S. Eastin
This research is designed to explore the future role of neuromarketing in advertising
and brand development. To understand its necessity, the research will begin with an indepth review on what is meant by advertising and branding. Once there is an understanding
of these industries, the research will look at the field of neuromarketing – a history of the
industry, an explanation of the common research methods that it employs, and an
understanding of how neuromarketing can assist in advertising research and brand
development. To gain knowledge on the potential future of neuromarketing, a qualitative
study was done through a series of in-depth interviews with professionals who have
practical uses for neuromarketing in their respective fields. This research is concluded with
a summary the current state of neuromarketing, and a discussion on what needs to be done
as the industry moves forward.
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Table of Contents
Chapter I - Introduction ...........................................................................................1
Chapter II - Liturature Review .................................................................................3
What is Advertising?.......................................................................................3
What is Branding?.........................................................................................12
The Current State of Advertising ..................................................................17
Neuromarketing ............................................................................................24
Methodology of Neuromarketing .................................................................27
Current View towards Neuromarketing ........................................................40
Why Neuromarketing is an Essential Research Tool ...................................44
Chapter III - Qualitative Study ..............................................................................59
Selection of Method ......................................................................................59
Interview Protocol .........................................................................................59
Interview Questions ......................................................................................60
Research Procedure .......................................................................................60
Chapter IV - Research Findings .............................................................................62
Chapter V - Conclusions ........................................................................................69
Appendix A - Tim Steeno Transcript....................................................................71
Appendix B - Selene Crosby Transcript ...............................................................76
Appendix C - C.P. Transcript ...............................................................................80
Bibliography ..........................................................................................................82
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Chapter I - Introduction
Throughout the history of advertising, there has been one question that is constantly
debated: Does it actually work? In 2015, companies spent $189.38 billion dollars on
advertising in the United States alone, and that number is projected to increase to $220
billion by 2018.1
Advertising is the primary outlet in which companies promote
themselves, their services, and new products, but it is not always a clear path to ensure that
a company’s advertising methods will be effective.
There is, however, an ever growing number of companies and industries who are
turning their attention to the science behind why people buy. This field of research
scientifically analyzes consumer behavior within the context of neuromarketing. Through
a variety of psychological, physiological, and neurological testing, companies are now able
to look into the minds of their consumers. In doing so, they are able to gain a better
understanding on how to approach consumers, the efficacy of the message once received,
and a more definitive answer to the return on investment.
In short, it is a way in which science can more definitively determine if advertising works.
In 2004, world-renowned branding expert, Martin Lindstrom, began his three year
study looking at whether or not anti-smoking advertisements and, in particular, warning
labels on cigarette packages actually work in deterring smokers from smoking. Lindstrom
wanted to know why, despite worldwide tobacco advertising bans, frequent fear-appealed
1
http://www.statista.com/statistics/272314/advertising-spending-in-the-us/
1
health warnings, and massive government investment in anti-smoking campaigns did
consumers continue to smoke 5,763 billion cigarettes (not including duty-free or black
market trade) in 2006 alone. Despite the printed labels warning the life-threatening risks
of smoking (i.e. smoking causes lung cancer, smoking causes severe birth defects in
pregnant women, or even some stating smoking will kill you), 15 billion cigarettes are sold
daily, or roughly 10 million per minute. Despite all of the warnings, over 1/3 of the
population smokes, and smoking remains the number 3 killer in the United States through
lung disease and emphysema.2
Looking for a more definitive outcome, Lindstrom conducted a study looking at
brain activity when exposed to anti-smoking messages at the Centre for NeuroImaging
Sciences in London, England. The study analyzed 2,081 smokers from the USA, England,
Germany, China and Japan through interviews and SST scanning, and targeted 32 members
for additional fMRI scanning.
To be considered for this research, the subjects could be social smokers who smoke
a few cigarettes a week, moderate smokers who smoke a pack or 2 a week, or heavy
smokers who smoke two or more packs a day. All 2,081 subjects answered questionnaires
and interview questions, in particular how they felt when they viewed the warning labels
and anti-smoking advertisements, yet continued to smoke. In all cases, the subjects
indicated that it did make them feel guilty to a certain degree. The 32 subjects who were
selected to fMRI scanning were made to watch an hour’s worth of anti-smoking ads in a
2
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/index.htm
2
variety of different mediums (still ads, images of the warning labels on cigarette packages,
anti-smoking campaign commercials, etc.) to gauge how these advertisements and
warnings stimulated the brains of smokers. Data indicated that the warning labels on the
sides, fronts, backs have no effect on suppressing a smokers cravings. In fact, the negative
cigarette warnings that showed the risk of emphysema, heart disease, and even warned of
death did, in fact, stimulate an area the smokers’ brains. All participants in the fMRI
portion of this study shows substantial activity in the nucleus accumbens area of the brain,
otherwise regarded as “the craving spot” – a region that is basically a chain-link of
specialized neurons that light up when the body desires something – and, when frequently
stimulated, this area requires higher and higher doses for the subject to get “their fix”.
Moreover, none of the subject had any areas of their brain light up that indicated guilt when
viewing these ads, yet all of them expressed guilt vocally and in writing. To this end, the
billions of dollars spent around the world to warn people on the dangers of smoking over
the past decades have not only failed to deter smoking, they actually encouraged smokers
to continue smoking. (Lindstrom, 2008)
The current study will outline what most people think and know about advertising
and branding, as well as their current state (in particular, is it or is it not effective). Then,
neuromarketing will be defined and historically and methodologically explicated. Finally,
future challenges for neuromarketing will be proposed.
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Chapter II – Literature Review
WHAT IS ADVERTISING?
To be able to comprehend how neuromarketing can help shape the research strategies in
the future of advertising, it is important to recognize what advertising actually is, its history,
and an understanding as to why companies advertise.
Webster’s Dictionary defines advertising as “the business of creating
advertisements – the action of calling something to the attention of the public, especially
by means of paid announcements”.
3
The Business Dictionary extends this definition
defining it as “the activity or profession of producing information for promoting the sales
of commercial products and services”. 4
The IPA5 council in the United Kingdom has a slightly different definition where
the process of advertising, stating that it can be defined as a three-step process – (1.)
advertising identifies either a problem or an opportunity for a product, service, or corporate
brand, (2.) the consumers can either solve that problem or create opportunity, and (3.)
create the most relevant, yet distinctive way of creatively communicating this message.
Finally, Jeremy Bullmore, Director at WPP, states that “advertising is any paid-for
communication overtly intended to inform and/or influence one or more people.” (What is
Advertising?, 2015, para. 3) And David Ogilvy, who is widely hailed as “The Father of
Advertising” discussed his views on advertising as “I do not regard advertising as
3
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertising
4 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/advertising.html
5
http://www.ipa.co.uk/Page/What-is-advertising#.VyK2ojArLid
4
entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information” (What is Advertising?, 2015,
para. 3).
The History of Advertising
Many credit the beginnings of advertising to the 1600s. At this point, the concept
of globalization was on the minds of many as a result of the exploratory Elizabethan
age. Ships set sail in unprecedented numbers from London to ports all over the world,
namely to the growing American colonies. In fact, advertising played a large role in fueling
the want for settlers to move over to America - to promote these ventures, sponsors would
place ads in British newspapers promising solutions to problems and offering “the
fulfillment of dreams and the realization of hope” (O’Barr, 2010, para. 7).
One early example of advertising from this era is a handbill from the 17th century
that was used to promote and sell coffee that was imported from Arabia. The writer was
able to build perceived value in the product by playing to the notion that it is a drink of the
aristocratic Upper Classes by stating that it is “drunk generally throughout all the Grand
Seigniors Dominions.” (O’Barr, 2010, para. 10) This helped position coffee as an
affordable luxury that flourished throughout Europe and the American colonies.
In the American colonies, advertisements were mostly put in the newspapers. The
earliest forms were far less detailed and would typically be a short message such as “Just
Imported - A Variety of Goods”... That’s it! The ads were very simple, gave little
description, no illustrations, and seldom mentioned price.
A key figure in American advertising was none other than Benjamin Franklin. He
saw the opportunity to appeal to and engage the emerging American market, and began the
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concept of providing illustrations to products and of using more colorful and descriptive
language. An example of his writing style can be seen in this text that he used to promote
the stove that he had created:
“Fireplaces with small openings cause drafts or cold air to rush in at every
crevice, and 'tis very uncomfortable as well as dangerous to sit against any such
crevice.... Women, particularly, from this cause (as they sit much in the house) get
colds in the head, rheums, and defluxions which fall into their jaws and gums, and
have destroyed early, many a fine set of teeth in these northern colonies. Great and
bright fires do also very much contribute to damaging the eyes, dry and shrivel the
skin, bring on early the appearance of old age.” (O’Barr, 2010, para. 18)
The advertisements he created for his own newspaper - The Philadelphia Gazette - painted
a picture of life in pre-Revolutionary America.
The rise of the American newspaper opened a new door to how advertising was
being utilized. James Gordon Bennett, the publisher of the New York Herald from 1835 to
1867, is seen as a key figure in the history of American mass media, and in the history of
advertising. It was his concept to raise the cost of advertisements to lower the cost of
newspapers, which is a practice that is still in use today. Bennett also limited the run-time
of newspaper ads to two weeks, which put an end to readers seeing the same ad from issue
to issue. This practice in turn made the readers actually want to read the ads. The
advertisements became so successful that they even began being run on the front page,
treating them more like a news story. It is said his greatest success in growing the
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advertising industry was that the understood the human interest appeal that advertisements
had, thus shaping the future for many methods still used today (O’Barr, 2010).
In the 1860s and 1870s, the first example of modern advertising agents came into
the scene. Their initial job was to physically take ads from the shops of busy tradesmen
directly to the newspaper offices. These agents also wrote copy for the product. Two of
the earliest agencies were N.W. Ayer in Philadelphia and J. Walter Thompson in New York
City. By the turn of the 20th Century, more and more advertising agencies were being set
up in cities across America. This marked the beginning of the shift away from direct sales
into more mass-communicated messaging (O’Barr, 2010).
The next shift in advertising technique came in the 1890s with the birth of using a
central catchy phrase or slogan. An early example of this was an ad by Kodak cameras
with the phrase “You Press the Button - We Do the Rest” that was printed in 1891. This
use of slogans as the focal point on promotional posters and in newspaper advertising was
the first break from using long, wordy copy to explain what a product was and why it was
needed by the consumer. Slogans focused on a single “Big Idea” expressed in a memorable
phrase that was designed to be more relatable to the targeted consumer (O’Barr, 2010).
It was not until the late 19th Century that brand began to develop a partnership with
advertising. Up to this point, consumers would take their own containers to stores where
they would buy generic products. It was not until the 1870s that the notion of branded
packaged goods came to the scene, which changed the marketing world forever. One of
the world’s first and best known maker of packaged goods was (and still is) Proctor &
Gamble, and they made one of their first branded packaged product in 1879 with the mass
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packaging and selling of Ivory Soap. Through promotional advertising, Ivory Soap was
not just ‘that generic white soap’, but was instead lifted to be a product on its own standing.
It was during this time that the main focus of advertising was shifted largely to the
promotion of brands, which is still the practice today (O’Barr, 2010).
The next big shift in advertising came in the 1950s when businesses and advertisers
began to shift their focus towards targeting their ads to women. It was known at this time
that 80% or more of all consumer purchases (with the exception of larger items such as
appliances, automobiles and homes) were being made by women. It was through this
insight that advertisers began to see the necessity of targeted ads to reach the needed
consumers for products (O’Barr, 2010).
Also in the 1950s came the growth of the Television Industry with NBC, CBS, and
ABC supplying a majority of the programming across the nation. During this time,
televisions were increasingly being purchased by consumers for use in their
home. America became engrossed with this new medium and advertisers took advantage
of this. National commercials were being produced, often with greater production value
than the regularly aired shows and programs, and advertisers were able to reach much
larger markets for their clients (O’Barr, 2010).
The next big boom for advertising took place with the creation of internet
communication in the 1990s. With more and more consumers purchasing computers
utilizing the internet for both business and pleasure, advertisers had a new and much larger
audience to reach. While the nature of advertising is always evolving with the technology
of the times and with the needs of consumers, the key idea of promoting a product to new
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customers has been and will continue to be the central factor of what we know as
advertising (O’Barr, 2010).
Why Companies Advertise
While there are a number of reasons why a company decides to put out
advertisements, the commonality all companies shares is they are using advertising to draw
attention to their business, products, and/or services. Advertising has become a direct line
of communication between businesses and their customers, and it is how companies solicit
themselves to the public through promoting what they have to offer.
Advertising helps companies in a number of ways. It makes consumers aware of a
businesses’ products and services with the goal of convincing them, through creating
desire, that their product or service is right for their individual needs. Advertising can be
used to enhance the professional and personal image of a company, to announce new
products and services, and to reinforce sales and informational messages. The greatest
desired success is to make consumers take the next step – be it looking for more
information, requesting a sample of goods, placing an order, and so on – and to draw them
in as new customers to their business. When done well, advertising can be the key element
to gaining a new and lasting customer base (McQuerry, n.d.).
How do you create a Successful Advertising Campaign?
In 2014 article, by Greenwald stated for advertising to be “effective” there are five key
components that must be present:
1. The advertisement must be memorable.
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2. The advertisement must resonate with the consumer by giving them a meaningful
message.
3. The advertisement must communicated how the product or service will fit into the
consumer's life.
4. The advertisement must show that the company stands for values above and beyond
the product or service itself.
5. The advertisement must be inextricably linked to the brand so the ad won’t be
attributed to a competitor.
Brands who have utilized these methods successfully were able to combine
“powerful, meaningful, and inspirational messages” that were delivered in a way that gets
into the minds of the audience and shows them great products that are credible and
trustworthy (Greenwald, 2014, para. 2). The basis of these components are grounded on
deep psychological insights on how to appeal to the consumer in a thought-provoking
manner that leads to greater brand awareness. If done correctly, great campaigns will
increase brand and product loyalty which will in turn encourage an increase in purchase
behavior (Greenwald, 2014).
There are several campaigns that have these five components in their campaign and
have seen great success. The article lists seven campaigns, but this research will focus on
Red Bull, and Beats by Dr. Dre.
The Red Bull Gives You Wings campaign saw great success. It was and is a
memorable slogan, but the concept in which the character in each commercial begins to fly
is resonating in that it gives a sense of inspiration. The product gives consumer value in
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that it helps uses concentrate, stay awake and more alert, and overall help them perform
better and longer. It also shows that Red Bull values their customers by wanting to give
them that boost so they can soar and feel more capable. Finally, slogan is highly memorable
and is easily attributed to Red Bull once you see their campaign and consume their product.
The Beats by Dr. Dre Hear What You Want campaign was also highly effective for
the same reason. The play on words of hearing what you want fits in perfectly with the
product of headphones. The campaign shows athlete Kevin Garnett tuning out negative
remarks from his rival fans that were meant to bring him down and break his spirit. Beats
help Kevin focus on his own positive thoughts through the medium of music. This
campaign resonates with the viewer as it appeals to everyone’s own inner-strength and the
conviction to believe in yourself and to not let others bring you down. It also shows the
consumer that they can have their own personal escape when they purchase Beats for
themselves. The Hear What You Want campaign positions itself with great value in that it
appeals to every consumer’s need for individuality and the power we all have to overcome
critique and self-doubt in order to succeed - and what better way to do this than by tuning
out distractions with the highly-recognizable Beats.
Greenwald (2014) concludes that “the message for all brands is to try and find
values to become uniquely associated with that transcend mere product attributes and
features. Ideally the values should be broadly and relate to users’ personal and/or
professional goals. The brands should, by association, help users achieve them.”
(Greenwald, 2014, para. 10) While there is never a 100% guarantee that a campaign will
reach the highest level of success, advertisers can work to achieve this success by utilizing
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these five key components through research and through looking at the campaigns who
have done this and have done it well.
WHAT IS BRANDING?
When people hear the term “brand”, their mind usually goes to products they buy, services
they utilize, familiar retailers and corporations, organizations, and so on. In today’s world,
the possibility of what can become a brand is really limitless. So limitless, in fact, that
even people are becoming brands, which is especially true with sports stars, celebrities,
and political figures.
What is a Brand?
Business Dictionary defines the term “brand” can be described as a “unique design, sign,
symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a
products and differentiates it from its competitors. Over time, this image becomes
associated with a level of credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumer’s mind”. 6
A brand can be thought of as a promise to your consumer. How a company chooses
to brand themselves tells consumers what they can expect from your business, and how
you are different from your competitors. It is an expression of who a company is, what
they want to be, and how they want to be perceived by the public.
6
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand.html
12
How do you create a Successful Brand?
In a blog from MindLab titled Effective Branding, industry professionals believe
companies must fully understand their current positioning in their current market to be
successful. They have identified there to be three key areas companies should focus on to
encourage success in their branding strategies: brand identity, brand space, and brand
behavior. Brand identity is the overall personality of your brand and the values you want
people to associate with your brand. Creating visual imagery that can create a connection
to your brand that will “pop” into people’s mind when they think of a certain product,
service, etc. is incredibly important in building brand equity. While you can simply ask
people how they feel about and what they associate with a brand, it is important to see how
they subconsciously feel about your brand as well as what imagery and messages are
essential for positive association. Brand space is the position in which a brand lies within
its category and within its marketplace. It also includes which factors set a brand apart
from its competitors. People need to be able to identify a brand with a category, but it also
has to stand out in a way that makes it different enough from competitors to make people
want to buy yours. Brand behavior can be described as the flexibility of a brand - it does
not need to be stagnate, but it also has to keep a consistent level of personality. Companies
need to be aware of their brand’s possibilities and limitations in order to be successful and
need to be able to react to change, create new categories and products, and change focus
on different internal departments (MindLab, 2015).
Flemming Hansen and Lars Bech Christensen (2003) discuss how companies can
attain brand equity and how they can be sure that a brand is able to stand out in its
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market. Branding is all about how companies wish to be seen by their consumers and how
they wish to be distinguished from their competitors. To be successful, a brand not only
needs to provide information about who they are and what they can offer, it needs to be
able to see what other thoughts and emotions come to mind when consumers think of the
brand. This would be the brand attitude, which is a summary of an individual's personal
experiences, feelings, and knowledge of a particular brand. This personal evaluation of a
product, service, company, etc. is then immediately constructed into a memory. To achieve
a positive attitude, a brand must also have a positive brand equity, or an embodiment of
the consumer’s attitude. This equity is dynamic and will often change along with the
individual's knowledge, experiences, and feelings. Maintaining a positive attitude will
ensure positive equity, which is the key to strategic brand management. To measure this,
companies need to look into the attitudes towards their brand in their current
markets. Companies need to be able to shift along with attitude changes to ensure proper
positioning. Analysts also use the Expectancy-Value Model which states an individual's
attitude about a brand is the sum of everything they know about it, where “everything” is
what is critical for positioning, weighted by how important those beliefs are to
them. Building strong positioning and awareness will lead to brand salience, making it the
most noticeable and import brand in their market (Christensen & Hansen 2003).
Brand Development and the Unconscious Mind
With millions of different brands and registered trademarks in the world, and thousands
of advertisements flooding the human brain each day, it is not surprising that many
purchasing decisions are done subconsciously. German based neuromarketing company,
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Neurobrand, discusses this state as our brain being in “autopilot”, and suggests the human
brain is “striving for simplification” and, whenever possible, the brain uses its autopilot
mode located the unconscious part of our thinking. (Neurobrand.de, n.d., para. 2) Our brain
recognizes patterns, and, many times, one’s purchasing behaviors are done in this
unconscious state where we buy what is familiar, often without thinking. In contrast, our
conscious brain processes only 40 bits of information per second, while the unconscious
are able to work at 10 million bits per second. Simply, almost 95% of information is
processed and stored at an unconscious level. Furthermore, it takes on average a single
second for the brain to go into autopilot when processing new information. If advertisers
cannot grab and hold the mind within that first second to make their brand stand out, that
impression goes into the unconscious (Neurobrand.de, n.d.).
For advertisers to tap into the unconscious mind of consumers, conventional market
research is adequate as they do not allow researchers a direct look into the unconscious
minds of their consumers. It is through neuromarketing that companies and researchers
are working to do just that.
Relationship between Advertising and Branding
When discussing brand development, it seems as though many people have trouble
distinguishing the difference between advertising, marketing, and branding. To break it
down in the simplest of terms, marketing is a tactic in which a company promotes
themselves, advertising is a tactic used to market a company’s images, products, or
services, and branding is how a company communicates its characteristics, values, and
attributes.
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Branding has everything to do with a company’s identity, be it from its logo,
community outreach, atmosphere, or work environment. An article on BrandTwist.com
suggests that a “customer’s relationship with a company begins and ends with the brand.
What keeps your business profitable is, of course, sales, but the ideal customer comes to
buy from your business or use your service specifically because they want to support your
brand, not just because they want a product”. 7 (brandtwist.com, 2014, para. 9) This is why
brand development is so important to every business if it wants to succeed.
The purpose of advertising is to show the public what your brand has to offer. This
can be done through a variety of tactics, but some of the most common advertising ads are
in magazines, television and radio spots, and promotional posters and billboards in
populated areas. Advertisements typically solicit the meeting between consumers and
companies, with the hopes of making them lasting, brand-loyal customers – if done well,
they can be utilized to showcase the personality of the brand in a way that makes it appeal
to new or existing customers in a way that makes them want to support a company by
purchasing and using their products and services.
To distinguish between advertising and brand development, it is helpful to consider
that advertising is like the first date that introduces you a company/product/service, and
branding is the personality traits that keep you interested and makes you want to continue
a relationship with that company/product/service.
7
While marketing and advertising
http://brandtwist.com/advertising/branding-vs-advertising-know-the-difference-to-grow/
16
unearths and activates new buyers, it is the brand that makes loyal customers and advocates
out of those who choose to buy.
THE CURRENT STATE OF ADVERTISING
It goes without saying that what was once meant by advertising has changed - in
fact, it is an industry that seems to be caught in the whirlwind of change and has yet to land
on its feet. 50 years ago there seemed to be a formula that could be followed, but with the
rise of new technology and the ever-evolving communication industry, this quite simply is
not the case anymore. The current day is especially different in the sheer amount of
products and services that are available to the average consumer - the competitive
landscape has grown such that advertisers are working harder than ever to stand out.
AdWeek suggests that today’s media landscape is getting more and more diverse it involves more online streaming, more consumption through tablets and smartphones, a
rise in social media, and more interactive technology products with a greater number in
pop-up banners, in-app advertising, and rich, branded media. This diversity has become
so varied that targeted advertising tends to become more and more challenging. This isn’t
the era of the 1950s where advertisers knew that 85% of purchasing decision were made
by women, in particular housewives, and could easily market to them. The landscape has
grown so vastly that it is becoming increasingly difficult to advertise in a way that targets
all needed demographics.
Even the ideology behind the best methods for advertising has become so varied
that is very contradictory. There are those who feel that the future of advertising solely lies
17
within the social realm and that messages outside of that realm will no longer be
heard. Then there are those who believe that the future of advertising lies solely in mobile,
and that connection to a physical place is irrelevant to the sales process. There are also
those who feel advertising is and must continue to be a utility with the sole purpose of
serving a consumer’s needs and not to just inform. Then there are those who believe
advertising is and must remain “liquid” and create unique experiences that travel across
all platforms so that it has a higher chance to cross into the awareness threshold of
consumers.
While all of these ideas have grounding and are not fully incorrect, I believe that
the future of advertising has to become a mesh of these ideas and, even still, would need to
grow and evolve. To separate these ideas is to put advertising into a single realm of thinking
and this can simply not be done - not enough is fully understood about the full purpose of
advertising and marketing, how to relate to consumers, and the best practices (if this can
even be stated) to influence a consumer’s attitude and behavior. There is no clear way to
look at the current state of advertising and say, without a doubt, “this is THE way to view
and utilize advertising”. In all honesty, the only thing that can be said with certainty about
advertising is, with the constant evolution of technology, the old ways of thinking are
obsolete and advertisers are going to have to leave their comfort zones and start exploring
new methods.
AdWeek concludes this study with a message to advertisers - “There’s no place to
go but toward the new. Deciphering the truth from the chaos will be hard. But it’s a
18
necessary task. Advertising needs to be redefined; let’s get at it.” (Rothenberg, 2013, para.
10)
The Effectiveness (or Ineffectiveness) of Advertising
Advertising is perceived to have a lot of power - it is believed to have great powers
of persuasion and the power to influence the mind and shape the habits of the consumer. It
is believed to have the power to influence the markets and to improve profit margins. If
done well, it has the almost immediate power to convey new information and build brand
awareness. It also has the power to build a lasting brand image in the mind of the consumer
through attaching emotional value to a brand. Advertising has the potential for real
influential power - but with all of this potential, many still question if it actually works.
Advertising to a mass audience has been popular for the last few centuries and for
as long as it has been around, researchers have been studying whether or not advertising is
actually effective. To date, the two largest criteria that researchers have to go by is tracking
sales and traditional market research by speaking to consumers, but they really have little
insight into how effective advertising efforts truly are. Tellis (2011) worked to summarize
the findings of hundreds of prior studies to determine advertising effectiveness. In the
study, they came up with several conclusions:

The effect of advertising is really small. On average a 1% increase in advertising
expenditures leads to a 0.1% increase in sales.

The effect of advertising has declined over the past three decades.

Approximately half of all advertisements are seen as ineffective. There are three
main reasons for that identified in the study: it could be due to companies running
19
campaigns past their period of effectiveness, companies continuing to use
ineffective ads, or a failure to do ample testing and research to see if their campaign
has a high chance for success.

Print ads tend to have stronger long-term effectiveness while TV ads have stronger
short-term effectiveness. Tellis states “This finding calls for a careful consideration
of cost and effectiveness when allocating budgets between the two media”.

Marketing context can play a large role in advertising effectiveness, which in turn
makes advertising more effective for durable goods over non-durable goods, and
for newer products rather than more mature products.
The main conclusion from this study is, again, advertising is not what is used to be, and
advertisers must align their techniques with these findings (Tellis, 2011).
Thomas (2008) suggests that “the advertising industry, as a whole, has the poorest
quality-assurance systems and turns out the most inconsistent product (their ads and
commercials) of any industry in the world. This might seem like an overly harsh
assessment, but it is based on testing thousands of ads over several decades. In our
experience, only about half of all commercials actually work; that is, have any positive
effects on consumers’ purchasing behavior or brand choice. Moreover, a small share of ads
actually appear to have negative effects on sales.” (Thomas, 2008, para. 1).
He goes on to say this is likely in part due to the lack of objective and reliable
feedback on advertising campaigns before they hit this market - in other words, there is a
great lack of research being done. It is estimated that less than 1% of campaigns are tested
among consumers before their debut, which could be a large reason for
20
ineffectiveness. Thomas suggests that further advertising testing before release could
provide reliable feedback and lead to much better advertising.
Another suggested hindrance to the determination of advertising effectiveness
could stem from the belief that sales performance is the key indicator of advertising
success. Unless the sales response is immediate and large, it is almost impossible to judge
effectiveness from this data alone. Thomas also suggests that each campaign faces so many
variables that are beyond the control of the advertiser that it is impossible to isolate the
effects of media advertising alone. With this being said, some campaigns could show
positive success within weeks while some it may take months. Advertising often has
“short-term effects that sales data might reflect, and long-term (years later) effects that
most of us might easily overlook in subsequent sales data” (Thomas, 2008, para. 5). Due
to these limitations, sales data is often unreliable in gauging the effectiveness of
advertising.
Ineffectiveness can be attributed to a lack of research, in particular with testing the
copy of a campaign. If the copy is not right, or does not convey the proper message, the
overall campaign will suffer. This could in part be due to limited testing systems in given
marketplaces, or to the fact that testing can be quite expensive. While the expenses of
research are likely well worth it, many companies do not factor this into their advertising
budgets and choose to go without testing. Another cause for ineffectiveness can be due to
a lack of strategy, or simply having a poor advertising strategy. If a campaign is not
grounded in a strong, well-researched strategy, it is unlikely the campaign will be
successful and effective.
21
In summary, most advertising campaigns tend to be ineffective. But if these points
are considered during the planning stages of a campaign, there is a higher chance of
success. It seems like most cases of ineffectiveness can be caused by a lack of planning
and a lack of research. The good news is, if this is considered across the board, and if more
research becomes the standard part of the advertising process, the effectiveness of
advertising can experience positive change in the future (Thomas, 2008).
Data posted by Saleh (2014) indicates that:

95% of Google’s revenue comes from online advertising.

The average person is searched over 1,700 banner ads per month, but only
about half are actually viewed by the consumer.

Only 8% of internet users account for 85% of clicks on all online
advertisements.

Click rates for display advertisements average only 0.1%, or one in every
1,000 views.

Only 44% of only advertisements hit their targeted demographic, with
variance among product categories.

The response to online advertisement vary:
o
31% of users respond by clicking on the ad.
o
27% of users respond by searching for the product, company, or
brand.
o
21% of users respond by typing the web address into the search bar.
22
o
9% of users respond by researching more information on the
product.

Business have managed to improve brand lift (or brand interaction) by 31%.
In short, with the proper data, companies can work to improve the effectiveness of their
brand (Sahel, 2014).
……………………………………………………………..
In today’s world, there is definitely not a lack of advertising, which is a leading
factor to why so many advertising efforts are ineffective. With so many choices being
constantly thrown at us, our brains tend to go into defense mode and block out the excess.
While some of what we see makes a lasting impression in our memories, the vast majority
of new information we are fed tends to become clutter to our brains and is forgotten.
Looking back into advertising research methods, it has proven again that advertisers do not
have a sure-fire way to get their message noticed – traditional research and advertising
methods are simply not working. And with the media landscape so rapidly changing, there
has to be a change in how to reach consumers. The standardly used research methodology
that marketers is still a mix of quantitative research (mostly survey analysis) followed by
more targeted qualitative research (i.e. interviews, focus groups, etc.) – but we have no
proof of the effectiveness of these research methods.
Branding strategist, Martin Lindstrom, points out that in 2005, corporations spend
more than $7.3 billion on market research in the United States alone, and that number rose
to $12 billion in 2007. And these figures do not even include the marketing costs for the
actual products – once packaging, displays, commercials, online advertising, billboards,
23
celebrity endorsements and the like are factored in, this industry spends an average of $117
billion dollars annually. Call me crazy, but this appears to be an incredibly large sum of
money being spent with little to no proof it is actually working. And, with the statistic that
eight out of every ten newly launched products in the United States are going to fail within
their first year, it is very clear that our current methods are not working. (Lindstrom, 2008)
As of now, there is no clear answer as to why a consumer chooses one product,
brand, or service over another. There is, however, a growing field of market research that
has the capability of letting researchers uncover what is going on in a consumers brain that
makes them choose one brand over the other. It is a way to see what information does and
doesn’t pass through our cognitive filter. This research tool is known as neuromarketing.
Lindstrom (2008) describes neuromarketing as “an intriguing marriage of marketing and
science (that) was the window into the human mind that we’ve long been waiting for”
(pg. 3). He goes on to suggest that it will assist in uncovering “the subconscious thoughts,
feelings, and desires that drive the purchasing decisions we make each and every day of
our lives” (pg. 3). Through this research, we may finally be able to get the answer to not
only “is advertising effective”, but rather “HOW to make your advertising efforts
effective”.
NEUROMARKETING
Neuromarketing is defined as “the obtaining of information useful for marketers by
subjecting individuals to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other similar
methods of studying automatic responses in the brain to certain stimuli, generally involving
24
products and brands that are part of consumer culture” (Berger, 2011 pg. 1040). It is a
means of studying consumer preferences and buying patterns by observing automatic
neurological responses when shown images or other mediated content in relation to
products and advertisements.
Simply, neuromarketing utilizes advanced neurological research methods to better
understand the thought patterns of consumers with the potential of making marketing and
advertising more effective.
Further, it allows practitioners and academics to better
understand consumers at the most basic and primal level, and, by understanding this,
companies will be able to better target and present their brand with the hopes of long-term
success.
The Roots of Neuromarketing
In 2002, Ale Smidts, a professor of Marketing Research at the Rotterdam School
of Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam and expert in Neuroeconomics, first
introduced the term neuromarketing. While termed for the first time in 2002, the concept
was developed by Harvard University psychologists who based their research on the notion
that over 90% of human activity, including emotion, takes place at subconscious level that
is below conceived controlled awareness. This idea led to learning techniques to
effectively manipulate subconscious brain activity and perceptions.
Others suggest the key ideas behind neuromarketing began with Harvard Professor
Gerald Zaltman, who patented the idea of using neuroimaging as a marketing tool, though
25
he did not used the term neuromarketing. He first submitted this idea on February 24, 1998
and it was patented on August 8, 2000. 8
There is also the theory that the concept of neuromarketing has roots in the 1950s.
Nobel (2013) discusses the idea that two scientists at McGill University discovered an area
of the brain called the “pleasure center”, or the reward center of the brain, that was located
deep in the nucleus accumbens. This discovery was inadvertently made while observing
lab rats - when given the opportunity to stimulate their own pleasure centers via a leveractivated electrical current, they would choose to press the lever repeatedly, sometimes
hundreds of times per hour. In doing so, they would choose pleasure and allowed it to
surpass their basic needs of food, drink, and sleep. As a result this self-stimulation, many
of the lab rats died from exhaustion. This observation led to the discovery that similar
pleasure centers exist in the human brain. While the human brain is far more complex, we
are largely motivated by what makes us feel good, especially in relation to our purchasing
decisions. It was through this study that many major corporations began to take special
interest in how understanding the functions of the human brain aid in the understanding of
consumer behaviors (Nobel 2013).
Neuromarketing v. Neurometrics
While neuromarketing is a field of marketing research that focuses on the study of
consumers’ cognitive, sensorimotor, and affective responses to marketing stimuli, the goal
of neurometrics is to provide quantitative information about brain activity related to
8
http://www.google.com/patents/US6099319
26
sensory, perceptual, and cognitive processes. Neurometrics is the practice of gathering
accurate data in relation to a variety of brain functions and to quantify this data (John,
1977).
The United Kingdom based company MindLab has formulated its model to become a
leader in neurometrics. Where neuromarketing seeks responses, MindLab research uses
neurometrics to measure responses. They believe focusing on this quantitative information
gives them an infinite advantage in measuring respondents’ real feelings, thus giving their
clients greater insights into their communication target. MindLab also states their method
increases the understanding of how marketing communications are being heard which will
improve the level of certainty that the message heard was intended (Smith, 2011).
METHODOLOGY OF NEUROMARKETING
To observe changes in brain activity in the presence of packaging, advertising, and
other communications, neuromarketing utilizes state-of-the-art technology to observe
which areas of the brain ‘light up’ when test subjects are processing a stimulus (Davis,
2012). Three popular methods utilized in neuromarketing are: electroencephalography
(EEG), a direct measure of brain activity functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI),
an indirect measure of brain activity, and eye-tracking, the analysis of visual focus.
While there are a variety of other methods of data collection being utilized in
neuromarketing, this research will focus more on the above mentioned and the three
following methods: Steady State Topography (SST), Ectodermal Activity (EDA)/Galvanic
Skin Response (GSR), and Facial Recognition.
27
Electroencephalography (EEG)
1. What is it?
EEG is the measurement and recording of fluctuations of electrical activity
that happens directly below the scalp, which occurs as a result of neural activity. It
is used to tell how much of the brain is engaged at a given point in time. (Davis
2012) In its raw form, EEG data looks little more than a series of wavy lines that
would be that would be illegible to non-specialists. Each wavy line represents a
specific frequency of brain waves: alpha waves, beta waves, delta waves, and theta
waves. EEG assists researchers in measuring short-term and long-term excitement,
levels of engagement, and levels of frustration.9
2. How does it work?
EEG works by attaching electrodes (special sensors) to a subject’s head
which are synced to a computer that reads brain activity. Sensors are attached to
three specific parts of the scalp: the amygdala (stores emotionally charged
memories and helps trigger physical reactions), the hippocampus (memories), and
the lateral prefrontal cortex (high-level cognitive powers and attention). (Penenberg
2011) Researchers then evaluate the electrical patterns of the recorded brain
waves. Through these patterns, researchers can track the intensity of visceral
responses such as anger, lust, disgust, and excitement. (Nobel 2013)
EEG
machines can be programmed and trained to distinguish between patterns in
9
http://www.simpleusability.com/why-were-different/technology/emotion-response-analysis/
28
electrical activity between high and low readings between opposing states of
attention, emotion and memory. (Smith 2011)
3. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
The greatest advantage of EEG is that it gives instantaneous, real time
readings in relation to emotion, memory, and attention from specific areas of the
brain. These readings begin at the very creation of the unconscious idea in the
immediate space of time in which your brain receives a stimulus and
subconsciously reacts. Data received is unfiltered and uncorrupted by the
conscious mind as there has not been a chance to formulate opinions or thoughts.
(Penenberg 2011) EEG machines are also smaller and typically less expensive than
other technologies, such as fMRI.
A major weakness that EEG has is that the electrodes sit on the surface of
your head, so there is no way it can view as deep into the brain as fMRI (covered
later). This is a considerable disadvantage as, while we know when the brain
sparks, one cannot see where in the brain that spark is coming from and which part
of the brain in stimulated.
4. What is the average cost?
EEG testing requires a minimum of 36 participants to receive useable
data. Conducting a full study utilizing this method, companies can expect to spend
an average of $25,000 if they use 36 participants. The cost will go up with the
number of participants. (Smith 2015)
Steady State Topography (SST)
29
1. What is it?
Steady State Topography (SST) is a particular usage of EEG technology
that uses a sinusoidal, flickering stimulus delivered at the visual periphery in
relation to the study at hand. Once the stimulus response is recorded, this data is
computed to measure short latencies. SST was first described by Richard
Silberstein in 1990 and has been used as a cognitive neuroscience research method
in areas including brand communication, media research, and the analysis of
entertainment. Its primary use has been to examine normal brain function in
association to visual vigilance, working memory, long-term memory, and
emotional processes. (Tagliazucchi, 2014)
2. How does it work?
SST studies viewer response by recording brain activity while participants
view visual materials or perform psychological tasks. While this is being recorded,
a dime sinusoidal visual flicker is presented into the peripheral vision. This flicker
elicits an oscillatory brain electrical response known as the Steady State Visually
Evoked Potential (SSVEP), and task-related changes in brain activity are evaluated.
An important feature of SST is the ability it has to measure variations in
delay between the provided stimulus and the SSVEP response. This allows
researchers to view brain function on neural processing speed as opposed to the
standard EEG amplitude indicators of brain activity.
3. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
30
There are three large advantages to SST research. The first is it offers high
temporal resolution as it is able to continuously track rapid changes in brain
activity, which is important as most changes in brain waves associated with a
cognitive task tend to occur within a fraction of a second. The next benefit is it
offers a high signal-to-noise ratio and resistance to interference and noise. SST is
able to tolerate user-interference such as head movements, muscle tension, eye
movements and blinking, and the like without affecting the results. The third great
advantage to SST is it makes it possible to work with data on a single trial per
individual.
Similar to EEG, the largest disadvantage to SST is it does not give
researchers access to look into the brain in the way that fMRI allows. While we
can see brain activity, we cannot see where that activity is coming from and which
part of the brain is being stimulated. (Smith, 2015)
4. How much does it cost?
Comparable to EEG, a standard SST study requires a minimum of 36
subjects for accurate results. Companies can expect to spend an average of $25,000
for this size of study. The cost will increase with the number of participants. (Smith,
2015)
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
1. What is it?
fMRI is a functional neuroimaging process that uses MRI technology to
measure brain activity associated with changes in blood flow. When certain
31
areas of the brain are used, blood flow to that area increases. The reason this
technique works so well is due to the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal
activation are coupled. This linkage is possible as active nerve cells carry a
great deal more oxygen than inactive brain cells. The brain’s response to the
need for more oxygen in specific areas of the brain is measurable by blood flow
to these areas. (Davis 2012) By tracking this information, researchers can
determine which areas in the brain are working at any given time.
2. How does it work?
fMRI uses magnetic resonance scanners to produce sets of cross-sections in
the brain called tomograms which allows fMRI scanners to accurately identify
which specific areas of the brain are activated at a given time. It gets its data
by observing and measuring changes in blood flow and oxygenation in the brain
and then relates the measured levels to brain activity. (Davis 2012)
3. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
There are several disadvantages to fMRI scanning. There is a 5 second
delay in readings, so it is not able to easily give real-time results. fMRI
scanning machines are rather bulky and are in a fixed location, meaning subjects
would have to travel for testing, and the option for field testing in a natural
setting is not available. These tests are also far more expensive than EEG and
eye-tracking. (Davis 2012)
While it has some strong disadvantages, fMRI scanning has several
advantages the other methods cannot offer. Its data is able to be shown in clear,
32
high-resolution pictures that give great insight into the brain. Unlike EEG, it
allows the researcher to see exactly what part of the brain is being stimulated
and to what intensity. Finally, fMRI is the only technology that gives
researchers insight into the pleasure center of the brain. (Nobel 2013)
4. How much does it cost?
As mentioned, fMRI scanning is a rather expensive process. Running the
scanner costs researchers an average of $1000 per hour and often 20-30 test
subjects are being scanned. These subjects are typically in the machine for 30
minutes to an hour. (Nobel 2013)
Eye-Tracking
1. What is it?
Eye tracking technology allows researchers to record and study the
movement of an individual’s eye as they view stimuli. It is typically used as a
subjects watches TV commercials, reads and views advertisements, observes
product packaging, and interacts with a web page. (Davis 2012)
2. How does it work?
Eye tracking techniques are non-obtrusive and allow the respondent to act
in a natural manner. Typically seated in a chair, a stimulus is presented and, as the
subject views it, the eye tracking device transmits an undetected beam of filtered
light that is reflected back to the tracking device. This identifies the focal point that
indicates where the subject is looking (Davis 2012).
33
Researchers use this information to examine time spent looking at specific
objects as well as the number of fixations for each object viewed. Researchers can
also create heat maps that will show areas of interest to see where the subject
focuses their attention first and for the longest amount of time. (Smith 2011) For
advertising related eye tracking, researchers focus on six key measures: first
fixation, time to first fixation, most fixation, individual gaze time, total gaze time,
and movement between elements. (Davis 2012)
3. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
Eye tracking has several strong advantages - the first being that eye
movement is faster than other current input media. It can also determine where a
subject’s interest is focused in real time, and is helpful in studies to understand how
product users interact with their environments. (Eye Tracking 2007)
The disadvantages of this technology are in regards to cost and
usability. This equipment is fairly expensive, yet much cheaper than EEG and
fMRI. In terms of usability, there may be misreadings based on personal
characteristics of the subject, including wearing contact lenses and having long
eyelashes (Eye Tracking 2007).
4. How much does it cost?
The cost of eye tracking solutions varies by the degree of monitoring. For
instance, some machines focus on different movement in the eyes, and some focus
on head movement. Fees can range from $5,000 for basic readings up to $65,000
for more in-depth research (Arrington Research n.d.).
34
Ectodermal Activity (EDA)
1. What is it?
Electrodermal activity (EDA) is the variation of the electrical properties of
the skin in response to sweat secretion. It is characterized by the superposition of
single distinct skin conductance responses (SCRs). The idea behind EDA is that
skin resistance varies with the state of sweat glands in the skin and, because
sweating is controlled by the central nervous system, researchers are able to get an
indication of psychological and physiological arousal. (Benedek & Kaernbach,
2010)
2. How does it work?
EDA works by applying a constant low voltage stimulus through a reader
placed on the subject’s finger, and measuring the changes in skin
conductance. This gives researchers a look into the response of the sympathetic
nervous system measuring the activity of the sweat glands. If the nervous system is
aroused, sweat gland activity increases which in turn increases skin
conductance. EDA also gives researchers continuous measurements of phasic
activity in real time, which is a very straightforward indicator of event-related
sympathetic activity.
The skin conductance response (SCR), also known as electrodermal or
galvanic skin response (GSR), is the phenomenon in which the skin becomes a
momentary conductor of electricity when stimuli that is physiologically arousing
occurs. This stimuli can be either external or internal. By measuring arousal,
35
researchers are given an insight into the emotional response of the consumer.
(Benedek & Kaernbach, 2010)
3. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
The greatest advantages of EDA is it’s relatively inexpensiveness and it is
quite simple for researchers to obtain needed information. It is also far less invasive
than other methods and, because they are attached to the subjects’ fingers, it puts
the subject more at ease than having instruments placed over their heads and eyes,
which leads to more reliable results.
There are several disadvantages to EDA. First, while it can be used as a
component to understand emotional responses through the arousal of the consumer,
EDA does not solely give full dimension into emotional understanding. It allows
researchers to predict attention and memory, but it has no way of ensuring
emotional engagement. Secondly, external factors such as temperature and
humidity can affect EDA measurements which can lead to inconsistent results.
Finally, there is a 1-3 second delay in results, and this time varies with the
participant, which can lead to more inconsistencies in the results (Benedek &
Kaernbach, 2010).
4. How much does it cost?
The cost of research varies, but EDA testing is relatively inexpensive. The
average galvanic skin response tester can be purchase for around $500.10
10
http://www.shimmersensing.com/shop/shimmer3-wireless-gsr-sensor
36
Facial Recognition
1. What is it?
Facial recognition, or facial coding, software is becoming an increasing
trend in neuromarketing.
It has the ability to capture and interpret facial
expressions with simple cameras to get better understanding of emotional response
in real time. Big companies such as Coca-Cola and Unilever have begun adopting
this methodology into their market research (Dooley, 2013).
2. How does it work?
While there are many emerging companies who work in facial recognition,
most utilize similar tactics in their execution. Data is collected through embedding
cameras with optimum sensor software which reads facial emotional responses in
real time. The software has an algorithmic understanding that is capable of reading
and tracking facial movements that can be conveyed into emotional responses.
(Farber, 2014)
Cognitec11, a company that specializes in facial recognition analytics, offers
powerful face localization and tracking while the subject views images and video streams.

The software is equipped with leading matching algorithms for facial
verification and identification.

It provides accurate portrait characteristics that check for gender, age, pose
deviation, exposure, glasses, eyes closed or open, uniform lighting
detection, unnatural colors, image and face geometry, and so on.
11
http://www.cognitec.com
37
While this list is more particular to what they as a company have to offer, it is an
inclusive basis of the benefits of facial recognition.
Emotient12, a facial recognition company that specializes in emotion
detection and sentiment analysis, discusses their methodology in terms of the
insight it gives to determining the emotional state of the consumer. Their research
offers marketers a clear understanding of their consumers through three key
performance indicators:
1. Attention: Is your advertisement or product getting noticed?
2. Engagement: Are people responding emotionally?
3. Sentiment: Is the consumer showing positive emotion, negative emotion,
or no emotion?
This understanding of emotional response is why facial recognition is so
crucial to advertising and consumer research. The basic human emotions that are
represented in facial expressions are not conscious and can give great insight into
subconscious processes. A positive emotion towards a brand or product can help
in predicting positive purchase decisions (Verkerk, 2012).
3. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
This methodology offers a great advantage to advertisers as it allows the
marketer to monitor facial recognition in real time as the consumer is viewing the
ad, giving them a better grasp at real emotional responses. A better understanding
12
http://www.emotient.com/
38
of consumer emotion will allow marketers to understand the purchase intent, and a
better understanding and use of emotion has great potential to lead to revenue
growth as emotions are known to drive spending decisions.
Facial recognition does have several weaknesses to be considered. There
are certain conditions in which the software has difficulty performing. For instance,
“face recognition has been getting pretty good at full frontal faces and 20 degrees
off, but as soon as you go towards profile, there've been problems." (Pontin, 2007,
para. 4) It also has difficulty with poor lighting, skin tone, long hair or objects that
may cover the face, and low resolution.
The final point about facial recognition software can be seen as both an
advantage and a disadvantage - the utilization of this technology in the field of
advertising and consumer research is still in its beginning stages. This poses as a
disadvantage as it is so new that not enough testing has been done to fully
understand its full potential, but it is also an advantage as there is so much potential
for growth in this field.
THE CURRENT VIEW TOWARDS NEUROMARKETING
Throughout the duration of this research into the field of neuromarketing, the one
commonality that has been encountered is it is a very misunderstood industry. There is a
need to help explain neuromarketing in a way that will be easily comprehended among all
people, be it the high-powered branding guru to the neuroscientist to the average Joe with
no previous exposure to these fields.
39
The perceptions gathered as to how neuromarketing is being currently viewed is so
varied that it is difficult to reach a consensus of what needs to be researched and explained
other than stating “all of it!”. The neuroscientists see the practical applications of this field
of research, but most of them lack the business background in order to discuss its benefits
in the branding and advertising fields. Advertisers and marketing professionals can
identify the need for research, but seem to have little understanding as to how fully this
science can be beneficial to their needs. The business professionals have interest, but only
if there is substantial proof that there will be a substantial return on investment. Lastly, the
“common people” seem to have the most varied response. There have been perceptions
ranging from general interest to people believing this is THE new thing for the future, and
every emotion from sheer amazement to utter terror. The most bizarre was a conversation
with a 60-year-old small business owner with a small retail shop - she described
neuromarketing as evil research that is meant to brainwash and control the masses, and
heeded the warning to be careful in this research because the government will find out and
will apprehend all those involved to help them create weapons.... for real. This was a real
conversation.
This variety in misconceptions is a large reason why it has been hard to see
advancement in neuromarketing and plays a major role in the lack of understanding the
potential it has to marketing strategy, brand development, and advertising methodology.
Dooley (2015) suggests this lack of understanding and limited view of the field is linked
to a lack of research. He makes the statement “In the ten-plus years I’ve been writing about
neuromarketing, I’ve bemoaned the lack of serious academic research into the various
40
neuroscience-based techniques used to evaluate ads, products, brand attitudes, and so on.
While neuromarketing service providers forged ahead selling their wares, they primarily
offered isolated case studies, if anything, as proof of effectiveness.” (Dooley, 2015, para
1) If more data is collected to show the practical applications of neuromarketing with this
“proof of effectiveness”, many of these misconceptions will begin to fade.
To answer those who have a level of hesitation and fear of the type of analytical
research that neuromarketing can provide, Lindstrom (2008) discusses how he understands
that this particular science can make a lot of people feel uncomfortable. He makes the
association “When most of us hear “brain scan”, our imaginations slither into paranoia. It
feels like the ultimate intrusion, a giant and sinister Peeping Tom, a pair of X-ray glasses
peering into our innermost thoughts and feelings”. (pg. 3) An example of this can be seen
in the 60-year-old small business owner mentioned earlier. To these perceptions, Lindstrom
makes a valid argument - “I believe it (neuromarketing) is simply a tool, like a hammer.
Yes - in the wrong hands a hammer can be used to bludgeon someone over the head, but
that is not its purpose, and it doesn’t mean that hammers should be banned, or seized, or
embargoed. The same is true for neuromarketing. It is simply an instrument used to help
us decode what we as consumers are already thinking about when we’re confronted with a
product or a brand…” (pg. 4) He also goes on to suggest that, while neuromarketing is a
tool for advertising and brand researchers, it is also a tool that will help consumers better
understand their own buying behaviors that will in turn make us more informed consumers
and give us more control in our purchasing decisions.
41
Neuromarketing is not the “be all, end all” in advertising research and it is most
definitely not the answer to everything. It is, however, a tool that will assist in giving us a
better understanding of the advertising consumer, and is a tool that, through this
understanding, will help businesses and advertisers have greater potential in creating
successful campaigns. This idea is further discussed by Knight (2010) in his assessment of
how neuromarketing research can realistically be used. He discusses, in particular, the
practical uses for EEG technology in that “It is not a mind reader - we can only measure
whether or not you are paying attention”. (Singer, 2010, para. 24) The article goes on to
further argue that neuromarketing is not “brain control” through a quote by Paul Root
Wolpe, a bioethicist and director of the Emory Center of Ethics. He states “the enthusiasm
for neuromarketing is based on a mistaken belief that triggering certain brain activity can
be a more real and powerful influence than people’s behavioral responses. The idea is that
somehow neuromarketing is going to be so much more powerful that, like zombies, we are
all going to go out any buy soap. That is just not realistic in terms of the way the brain
works.” (Root Wolpe, 2009, para. 7)
A 2011 quantitative study collected data from 111 marketing academics, 52
neurologists, and 56 marketing professionals with the intent of determining whether or not
neuromarketing was a manipulative way of selling unnecessary goods and services. The
answer to this was a resounding “no” from all participants with the following in-depth
conclusions on their perceptions as a whole:

Neuroscience is a new and more scientific way to research in consumer related
studies
42

There is a need to pay more attention to the role of neuromarketing in the future

Neuromarketing plays a unifying role between marketing research and scientific
analysis

Neuromarketing techniques are ethical

The greatest risks neuromarketing faces is the high cost of the research and the
starting difficulties in finding participants

Neuromarketing is both exciting and interested for all participants in the research
The study concludes with results that neurologists and marketing professionals tend to
favor neuromarketing over the marketing academics, but this could be a result of a lack of
research done on the field. (Eser, Isin, & Tolon, 2011)
In summation, the current view of neuromarketing is so varied that the only true
conclusions that can be made are there is a strong misunderstanding and misconception of
the industry, and there is an astounding lack of research into seeing its full potential in the
fields of advertising, marketing, and brand development. With this being said, the answer
to this dilemma is in the previous sentence - More research will provide a better
understanding, and a better understanding will heed the true potential that neuromarketing
has to offer.
WHY NEUROMARKETING IS AN ESSENTIAL RESEARCH TOOL
In today’s world, consumers are inundated with hundreds, if not thousands, of
brands daily. This is a world of entrepreneurs and innovators who are constantly creating
new companies, products, and services with hopes of success and profit. However, an
43
ongoing, important question remains - How can a company ensure their brand will be
successful? With millions of existing brands, many of which are already profitable and
already have an established position in their market, new brands are having to work even
harder to be noticed by consumers to gain profitability and to avoid going under.
It is the belief of this research that there are five factors that can ensure advertising
and other branding efforts are effective.
1. Companies must be sure their message is being perceived in the way that they have
intended the consumer to understand it.
2. Consumers must be able to simply and easily process the information they are being
given.
3. Consumers must be able to recall not only the product, but the company behind the
product after they have viewed the advertisement.
4. Companies must appeal to the senses through a method called “sensory branding”
to fully engage the consumer.
5. Advertisements must have an emotional appeal – be it positive or negative – to fully
engage the consumer.
If these factors are observed, there is a much higher likelihood of success in their
advertising and branding efforts, and neuromarketing is the key to being able to ensure
these criteria are being met.
Perception
Before anything else, a campaign message must be perceived in the way that it was
intended to by the consumer. If this does not happen, the average consumer will either not
44
understand the message you are working to sell, or it could create the exact opposite effect
from what the campaign was originally striving for. In the field of communication, we
want audiences to pay attention to messages and to learn from its content, and we want
consumers make desired changes in their attitudes or beliefs in a way that makes them want
to buy a certain product or service, and support a given brand.
Message processing is complex, so in theory, the message must be as clear and to
the point in order for the perceived meaning to clearly come across to the consumer.
Perception has been defined as:
“the process by which we interpret sensory data. Sensory data comes to us through
our five senses. Research has identified two types of influences on our perception:
structural and functional. Structural influences on perception come from the
physical aspects of the stimuli to which we are being exposed—for instance, the
closer together a series of dots, the more they are seen as forming a line. Functional
influences are the psychological factors that influence perception, and therefore,
introduce some subjectivity to the processes.” (Severin and Tankard, 2000, pg. 73)
Message perception paves the way to several psychological factors including assumptions
based on past experiences, cultural expectations, motivation, needs, moods, and attitudes.
To create your ideal message and to ensure that it garners the desired perception,
an article on entrepreneur.com13 gives some advice on how advertisers can do this. Below
are a basic list of factors that need to be considered.
13
http://www.entrepreneur.com/3771/check-your-messages-to-improve-perception/
45

Be sure there is a clear goal to your message.

Evaluate perception from recipients of the message and adjust the message to these
findings.

Correct any messages that have an unfavorable perception based on feedback from
the message recipients. Keep in mind, if more than one recipient has an unfavorable
perception, there are likely many more.

Do not launch a new message without listening to feedback and learning more of
what your target market wants to hear.
The biggest takeaway – conduct ample research BEFORE launching the message. It is
often due to a lack of research at this early phase that many campaigns fail.
Information Processing
To reiterate earlier arguments, the average consumer is being inundated with and
overstimulated by a massive amount of information, with most of this information not
being absolutely necessary to them. The average consumer does not have the time, and
frankly does not want to make the time to read every fine detail, especially on a product
that is new to them or they are uncertain they want to buy. The presented information
needs to be clear, concise, and to the point. If a consumer cannot look at your product or
company and get an immediate sense of what they have to gain, they likely will not
purchase your product. It has been found that if an advertisement does not catch a
consumer’s attention within 2 seconds, it is highly likely that this advertisement has failed
46
and the consumer will not go with this product. Again, information needs to be clear,
simple, and easy to understand in a split second.14
Placing information processing at the heart of cognitive research, McLeod (2000)
suggests the individual is seen as the processor of information in a way that is comparable
to how a computer takes in information, and suggests that it is possible to study internal
mental processes that lie between the stimuli and the responses we make. Information
processing is based on the assumptions that information is made available by a series of
processing systems (attention, perception, short-term memory, and so on), that processing
systems can alter information, and that the aim of research is to specify the processes that
underlie cognitive performance. (McLeod, 2000)
Message Recall
Recall, in relation to advertising and branding, is how well a campaign or message
is connected with a given product after it is presented to consumers. With so many products
on the market, it is imperative that all marketing efforts, advertising campaigns, and
branding are accurately recalled. Lindstrom (2008) indicates that by age 66, the average
consumer has seen approximately two million television commercials. This is equivalent
of watching eight straight hours of commercials, seven days a week for a six year period.
In other words, that is a lot of commercials and it is highly unlikely the average consumer
will remember even a single percent of the specific brands and products they were shown.
Looking back at the past few decades, in 1965, the average consumer could recall about
14
http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2011/10/03/how-to-write-an-ad/
47
34% of the products seen in advertisements. This number dropped to only 8% in 1990. In
a 2007 Nielsen phone survey study of one thousand consumers, the average person could
only recall 2.21 commercials they had ever seen. (pg. 37-38)
Why is recall so low? Firstly, in today’s world, we are all suffering from “media
assault” as Lindstrom likes to call it. Consumers are being flooded with pop-up ads, banner
ads, television and radio commercials, catalogs, 24 hours news stations, newspapers,
magazines, emails, podcasts, text-messaging, instant messaging and on and on and on. And
each one of these are all working to claim stake at consumer attention. Another reason for
low-recall is simply a lack of originality. This is a media landscape full of “been there,
done that” and very few things strike the average consumer as new and exciting. Lindstrom
puts it best when he states “uncreative companies are simply imitating other uncreative
companies. In the end, everyone’s a loser because we…can’t tell one brand from the next”
(pg. 39).
Neuromarketing can assist researchers in determining whether or not a campaign
has likelihood of being recalled by the average consumer. Through research that has
already be conducted, neuromarketers have already determined that memory of a product
is often the most reliable measure of an advertisements effectiveness and it is directly
linked to future buying behavior. As a result, a large part of neuromarketing research is
done with the goal of message recall in mind. Through EEG and SST, we can now measure
a subject’s level of engagement by monitoring their brain activity. SST in particular can
measure emotional engagement through seeing how interested they were when viewing the
ad, and they can also measure approach and withdrawal by seeing which parts of the
48
campaign did and did not stimulate brain activity. SST can also assess which parts of a
commercial are more likely to be remembered based on this level of activity.
Lindstrom (2008) sites an example of through a research study he had done on the
sponsoring companies of American Idol. At the series beginning, the three main sponsors
were Ford Motors, Coca-Cola, and Cingular Wireless (now AT&T). Both Ford and Coke
spent an estimate of $26 million annually to have their brand prominently featured on the
show. The three companies all had numerous 30-second commercials spots, but Coke was
constantly featured during the show itself – such as all judges sipping from Coke labeled
glasses each time they were shown at their judging table, even though it was highly unlikely
they were actually drinking Coke products. In fact, researchers found that Coke is present
approximately 60% of the time during each episode of American Idol. Cingular, through
far less than Coke, was prominently featured as well with their logo popping up throughout
the show, Ryan Seacrest holding a Cingular phone when telling you to vote for your
favorite contestants, and through the offering of exclusive performance ringtones through
their service. Ford was the only product not featured on set, instead nearly all of that $26
million expenditure was spent on traditional 30-second spots, promotional music videos
for the show, and eventually gifting winning contestants with their very own Ford.
With this much of an expenditure, researchers were curious about how effective
each companies brand placement was and if there was ample return on investment. Thus,
a study was conducted that involved taking SST readings of brain activity and by testing
memory recall from the subjects. In the study, subjects were presented with a sequence of
20 product logos, each appearing for a single second. The logos shown included Ford,
49
Coke and Cingular, and the rest were logos of products that were not featured in American
Idol. Subjects then watched a twenty minute video of American Idol and an episode of a
different show that served as a control. The goal if the research was to find if viewers
remembered which logos were actually seen during which program. The study presented
several results:

In the pre-testing phases of the study (before viewing the videos), subjects showed
no more memory for Ford, Cingular or Coke products than for any of the other
randomly chosen products they viewed before the study began.

Once the videos were viewed, subjects showed greater recall for these three brands.
They also showed that the sheer saturation of these three brands had actually
inhibited memory recall of the other shown logos. This is basically like saying
Coke and Cingular would not have been confused with Pepsi and Verizon when
watching this program.

SST results showed that Coke was, by far, the most memorable brand in the trio,
which was indicated through more significant brain spikes.

Ford was far less likely to be remembered in this trio. Post-program testing showed
that subjects remembered less about Ford after viewing the program then they did
in the pre-study testing. In other words, it can be said that Coke was actually able
to suppress memories of other ads, even Ford who has spent an equal amount on
advertising costs.
With these results, researchers had to look at why Coke was so much more successful. This
could be a result of Coke products and branding being featured in over 60% of the show
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through product placement, special furniture evoking the shape of Coke bottles and even
Coca-Cola red walls, while Ford only relied on traditional methods. Simply stated, this
was sheer proof that we have to move away from traditional advertising to accomplish
greater brand recall. Coke was able to fully integrate itself into the program which lead to
greater recall AND was able to lessen the recall of other branded products.
In conclusion, neuromarketing methodology was able to give the insight that
consumers have little to no memory of brands that do not play an integral part in the
storyline of a program. To increase recall of a specific brand or product, a break away
from traditional advertising must be incorporated into its campaign. (Lindstrom, 2008)
Sensory Branding
In today’s world, the average consumer is so visually stimulated that it is almost
impossible to capture their attention. Testing this, Lindstrom, (2008) had subjects virtually
stroll through Paris and view ads on billboards, bus stops, and on the sides of buses in an
attempt to gauge which methods best captured their attention. The results – none of them.
The only thing the researchers found with certainty is that this high level of visual
saturation only resulted in glazed eyes and oversaturation. To be effective, advertisers are
going to have to appeal beyond the visual sense. The two greatest senses that have shown
the most promise are sound and smell, and the used of these two senses has become known
as sensory branding.
While it can be risky, appealing to a consumer’s sense of smell can evoke a strong,
positive emotional connection if done correctly. Comparatively, smell is the most primal
and the most deeply rooted sense. Here, Calvert, the Chair of Applied Neuroimaging at the
51
University of Warwick in England, conducted a study in which a group of twenty subjects
were exposed to brand images (products, logos, etc.), and the fragrances of four wellknown brands – Johnson & Johnson No More Tears Baby Shampoo, Dove Shampoo, CocaCola, and the aromas of a fast food restaurant. The subjects were given a control and were
to press a button to rate the appeal on a nine-point scale ranging from pleasant to
unpleasant. Calvert found that, when an image and smell were presented individually,
there was an equal level of appeal, or that they were as equally pleasant to smell as they
were to look at. But when there were correlating image-fragrance combinations that were
equally pleasant, the combination was more appealing than just the image or fragrance
alone. Her research also found that odor activates the exact same brain regions as the sight
of a product. (Lindstrom, 2008)
Sound also plays a very important role in branding. This can be found in the
trademarked “snap – crackle – pop” of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal, the break of the Kit
Kat Bar, or the rumble of a Harley Davidson engine. If done well, a memorable jingle can
do wonders for a brand, which can be seen in Dr. Pepper’s “I’m a pepper” song or the
“meow meow meow meow” of the Meow Mix jingle. However, if sound is not done well,
it can have the opposite effect. Lindstrom (2008) conducted a brain-scan study on Nokia
after realizing that the constant ringing of his Nokia ring tone tended to give him an
uncomfortable feeling, and he wanted to identify why that was. Testing found through
fMRI that ringtones actually conjured a negative emotive response. So much so that by
just hearing the sound of this ringtone, any positive thoughts they had about Nokia were
suppressed. Basically, their signature ringtone was hurting their brand.
52
While appealing to sight is “overused” in branding, it still holds a key place in
branding in terms of the appeal of color. Lindstrom sites an example where he was once
in Saudi Arabia with one of the world’s largest egg farms as his client – his objective, to
better brand eggs. Through his research, he found that consumers tend to believe that the
more yellow a yolk appears, the higher the quality. Lindstrom was tasked with “to help
this company create the perfect yellow” (pg. 153). Working with scientists, he found that
if certain vitamins are added to a chickens feed, their yolk will take on a richer yellow tint.
He ends this example by stating “so the next time you sit down for breakfast in your local
diner, and the waiter sets two fried eggs with gorgeously yellow yolks in front of you, well,
I plead guilty” (pg. 154). Another example of the power of color was found in another
study by Lindstrom (2008). Here, he invited 600 women into a room that had a table of
600 boxes on it. The kicker – each of these boxes were the trademarked Tiffany blue. Each
woman was given a box and her blood pressure and heart rate were measured as she
received it – the result, all of the women’s heart rates increased by an average of 20%.
There was no logo on the box, no standard Tiffany bow, and there was not even anything
actually in the boxes, but the perceived luxury value of the little blue box was enough to
get the juices flowing.
Most of the research that can be done on sensory branding needs to be handled
through fMRI, but with the research that has already be conducted, we now know that our
senses are undoubtedly intertwined. Fragrance can make us see, sounds can make us feel,
and sight help can help us imagine all other senses. Through neuromarketing, researchers
53
will be able to understand exactly which sensory pairings will have the greatest effect to
capture the attention of the consumer. (Lindstrom, pg. 141-165)
Emotional Connections
It is the belief of this research that emotional connection is the greatest key to a
successful campaign. The things that mean the most to us often have an emotional tie that
we may not always be able explain. Many researchers have already recognized the
significant role that emotions play in our day-to-day lives. Emotions can be defined as
psychological constructs generated as a reaction to external stimuli such as events, agents,
or objects; which are focused predominantly on affect (evaluative reactions to situations as
good or bad) and which vary in intensity (Ortony, Clore, & Collins, 1988). Emotions are
thought to have five main components: cognitive appraisal or evaluation of stimuli and
situations; the physiological component of activation or arousal; motor expression; a
motivational component, including behavioral intentions or readiness; and a subjective
feeling state (Scherer, 2009). The implications of the appeal to emotions is that emotions
are likely to influence persuasive outcomes and information recall, as they enhance the
ability to engage on message processing.
Firstly, it might be needed to make a distinction between emotions and moods.
Emotions have been frequently confused with moods, as they are related. Moods are not
so much a reaction that is triggered by an event, but more a summary of our affective state
(Gray & Watson, 2001). In general, good moods are associated with more simplified
processing, characterized by little attention to detail; whereas bad moods are believed to
induce more systematic processing (Nabi, 1999).
54
The first dimension of emotions, valence or appraisal, has been defined by Smith
& Lazarus (1993) as an evaluation of what one's relationship to the environment implies
for personal well-being. Negative emotions arise from perception that the environment is
in contradiction with the individual’s goals; and positive emotions emerge when an
individual judges that the environment is likely to facilitate one’s goals (Dillard & Peck,
2001). The emotional response to these environmental stimuli is aimed to activate the
person to cope with the particular evaluated harm or benefit; that is, to avoid or ease an
appraised harm, or to seek or maintain an appraised benefit (Smith & Lazarus, 1993).
Appraisal links emotional responses to environmental circumstances with personal goals
and beliefs. In accordance with this paradigm, several emotions - including fear, anger,
sadness, disgust, guilt, happiness/joy, pride, relief, hope and compassion - are commonly
agreed to be discrete; that is, they have unique appraisal patterns, motivational functions,
and behavioral associations (Nabi, 2002).
The discrete emotions mentioned above can be classified as positive
(happiness/joy, pride, relief, hope and compassion) and negative emotions (fear, anger,
sadness, disgust, guilt). Positive and negative affect are seen as reflections of the approach
and avoidance instincts that guide our behavior. The approach system eases an individual
to move toward a desired goal and generates certain types of positive affect. The avoidance
system facilitates to distance an individual from adverse stimuli and generates certain
forms of negative affect (Davidson, 1998). Following this distinction, emotions are often
classified in terms of avoidance or approach response.
55
As previously stated, many researchers have turned their attention to the role that
emotions play in creating consumer appeal to a brand. It is believed that if you can create
an emotional connection to a brand, product, or service, you can ensure consumers will be
more likely to choose you over a competitor. But how can you tell if you have created an
unconscious emotional connection? With the advancement of neuromarketing, companies
are able to work with researchers to look into the minds of their consumers to see what
exactly is being triggered in the brain, which will give companies a better idea if their
branding goals are being met.
In terms of the realistic applications of neuromarketing, the most ideal means of
research to gauge emotional connections would be fMRI. This technology vies insight into
how emotions such as generosity, greed, fear, and well-being impact economic decision
making.
Using fMRI to answer the age-old question of Coke vs. Pepsi, Montague (2003)
asked participants to take a sip of each drink, not being told what they were drinking, with
the results matching what was found in the original 1970s study. More than half of the
participants preferred the taste of Pepsi and showed activity in the ventral putamen (a
region of the brain that, when stimulated, shows if we find taste appealing). However,
when participants entered the second phase of testing, they were told which sample was
which before they took a sip – the result, 75% of participants preferred the taste of Coke.
This was an astonishing jump from the results of the blind taste test. Montague also
observed a change in brain activity – while the ventral putamen was stimulated, the
prefrontal cortex (responsible for higher thinking and discernment) was also stimulated.
56
This is thought to indicate a struggle between rational and emotional thinking. This finding
suggests the emotional connection that participants had with the Coca-Cola brand – its
history, logo, color, brand presence and the like – was able to beat out the rational liking
of the taste of Pepsi. In short, emotions are the way in which our brains determine value
and if a brand is able to engage us emotionally, it will win us over every time.
57
Chapter III – Qualitative Study
SELECTION OF METHOD
The goal of this segment of the research is to gain a forward perspective through
qualitative analysis into what needs to be thought of and considered in neuromarketing as
the industry moves forward. A qualitative approach was used to provide details about
human behavior, emotion, and personality characteristics that quantitative studies cannot
match. Qualitative data includes information about user behaviors, needs, desires, routines,
use cases, and a variety of other information to gain information on a topic (Madrigal &
McClain, 2012). Other advantages15 of qualitative analysis are the ability for in-depth
examination of a given phenomenon, no limitations based on definable variables, the
ability to examine with value-laden questions, and a great assistance in building new
theories.
The method of qualitative research for this study was completed through in-depth
interviews with qualified industry practitioners on their opinions and beliefs in terms of
advertising effectiveness, their current views on neuromarketing and its application to their
professions, and what growth they believe there needs to be in the industry for
neuromarketing to become more widely practiced.
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
Interviews were conducted with three industry professionals who have a
background in marketing, and either have used or are likely to use neuromarketing as a
form of research in their respective fields. Tim Steeno is a Data Analyst and Director of
Digital Marketing for web.com with almost a decade of experience of the field of statistical
analysis. Selene Crosby is a Mechanical Engineer with three decades of professional
15
http://www.okstate.edu/ag/agedcm4h/academic/aged5980a/5980/qualrsch/QUALRSCH/sld009.htm
58
experience. She spent nearly 16 years at Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio working
with the branding and marketing departments for both internal and external customers. The
final informant chose to remain anonymous due to the company in which he is employed.
He has 14 years of experience in video game marketing, and currently works for a large
gaming company in that department.
The goal of these interviews was to gain their individual insights, perceptions, and
beliefs into how they field of neuromarketing will develop in the future, particularly in a
way that is beneficial to them.
The interview protocol was developed so that clear answers without biased results
can be offered. The question format was open-ended so that informants can state their own
beliefs and opinions.
The purpose of the research was made clear when setting the interviews, and all
informants were assured confidentiality. Each informant received a consent form before
the interview was conducted, and each was given the opportunity to remain anonymous if
they chose to do so.
Interviews were conducted via telephone and were audio recorded so that
transcripts could be accessed for analysis. The duration of the interviews ranged from 15
to 20 minutes each.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Each informant was asked the following set of questions. The interviews were not
guided, and each informant could take as long as they like to answer a given question. All
informants were given opportunity to add further information at the conclusion of the
interview.
59
1. Describe your current job title, or any other relevant qualifications you may have
in regards to advertising, branding, and marketing research.
2. Do you feel current advertising methods/advertising research methods are
effective?
3. Do you feel advertising strategies will change in the future?
4. How do you define neuromarketing?
5. What methodology do you mostly use, or have you heard of being utilized the
most?
6. Do you feel neuromarketing will reshape advertising strategies and advertising
research?
7. Do you foresee the neuromarketing field having any hindrances as it moves
forward?
8. What, if any, ethical considerations do you see with neuromarketing?
9. What research needs to be done in neuromarketing for it to become a more
standard research practice?
10. Is there something I should have asked you that I haven’t?
RESEARCH PROCEDURE
Upon completion of each interview, the audio recordings were transcribed and
assessed by the researcher. Key themes and responses were identified by the researcher.
60
Chapter VI – Research Findings
The transcriptions for the following interviews can be found in Appendix A, B, and C.
Research Question 1 - Do you feel current advertising methods/ advertising research
methods are effective?
All informants had a split response to this question, each felt that, to an extent,
current methods are effective, but each also had the belief that there will be change in the
future and there was at least some areas in which current methods are lacking. In terms of
ineffectiveness, ideas were brought up that a company with greater funds will likely have
a better chance at creating a successful campaign, and it was thought that current research
methods are not going deep enough to fully understand the consumer.

“I think some of them are effective but it's getting harder….it used to be you could
air a television commercial and you’d get everybody but now the channels have
splintered, how can I reach people? It's all over the place….I think there are some
things that are working, but I think it’s increasingly more complex”.
– Selene Crosby

“I think companies with enough money have effective methods and more resources
to fund the necessary research to back it up.” – C.P.

“There's certainly a lot of noise out there when you think about online world. You
have people actively trying to tune out that noise and skip ads and block ads and
do things intentionally as there's so much of it but I’d say for the most part if
61
advertising didn't work there wouldn't be a multi-billion dollar industry around that
online both from the paid side and the unpaid side.” – Tim Steeno
Research Question 2 - Do you feel advertising strategies will change in the future?
The common consensus among participants is there is going to be a change in
advertising strategies and advertising research in a way that helps researchers better
understand their consumers.

“I think we're getting sophisticated at understanding how to reach our target
customer we are getting sophisticated at storytelling and evoking emotions and
those kinds of things but so is the consumer. The target customer is getting more
sophisticated about what they want and what they are going to listen to and what
they are going to tune out.” – Selene Crosby

“Everything changes, there's no avoiding that and advertising will have to keep up
especially now that everybody is being desensitized at a rapid rate with every media
outlet trying to throw one shock after another in a mad attempt for ratings. It will
be more difficult to make that emotional connection with consumers not to mention
with their dwindling attention spans.” – C.P.

“Places that people search are trying to find a way to really get to exactly what
you’re looking for and that involves really understanding more about you than just
what the keyword phrase you plugged into a browser….That isn't really the way it's
working anymore…..I think that there's going to be a change in the targeting
strategies …. There's a lot more opportunity to start to figure out the time and the
62
place, the right price and all of the aspects to convert somebody. There's so much
unknowns about that - I thinks that’s going to need to change a lot.” – Tim Steeno
Research Question 3 - Do you feel neuromarketing will reshape advertising strategies
and advertising research?
Responses here varied, in that one informant felt there was potential in
neuromarketing, but they feel it is not understood enough to fully grasp what it has to offer
advertising and branding research. Another informant did not feel that neuromarketing
alone will reshape the advertising industry, while a final informant held high regard for the
level of consumer understanding and tracking that neuromarketing can bring.

“I think that it holds promise but I think that if we can get past bias that people
don’t know how to articulate…. If we can get past their unarticulated biases and
reach a true promise of a solution I think that's exciting but I don't know if we’re
there yet. I think we’re still in the stage of increasing complexity but I think we’re
past the hype period and are to the point where we’re actually proving some of the
uses so I don’t think it’s that far away.” – Selene Crosby

“Well to me it just seems like a tool to help check your work, I don't really see it
totally reshaping anything except maybe some companies marketing budgets. But
that is not to say that we will see more companies utilizing it in the future. That is
something I can definitely foresee happening.” – C.P.
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
“I can see certain things for sure that will get a lot better. Especially tracking. I’m
interested in the worlds of eye and pulse tracking…I actually just saw that the other
day that they’re looking for when you’re looking at your phone, (they are) using
your front facing camera to evaluate your facial feature and things that are going
on and maybe evaluating pulse and things like that they can use to market and
change advertising strategies… I think that's a really interesting concept as an
example of what we could do if we just had some better simple markers. I'm not
even talking about knowing what somebody is thinking about in their brain or
having a really deep connection to something like that but just some lower level
biomarkers would be amazing. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if we
had more data like that.” – Tim Steeno
Research Question 4 - Do you foresee the neuromarketing field having any hindrances
as it moves forward?
Each informant felt there will be hindrances to the field of neuromarketing, but each
had a different belief to the origin of the hindrance. One informant felt the overall field of
neuromarketing is far too complex in its current state, and this could cause distrust and
skepticism from the consumer. Another indicated the greatest hindrance is there is no clear
way to accurately quantify the results of neuromarketing in a way that will be widely
accepted. Finally, one informant alluded to potential privacy concerns. Here, they believed
the average consumer will feel a level of discomfort when research methods and tracking
become this complex, which will hinder the growth of the field of neuromarketing.
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
“I think there's the complexity problem…. I think the other thing is in general, this
is my opinion in general advertising and marketing methods there's sort of a related
distrust if some people think you’re trying to communicate with them and others
think you’re trying to fool them. So I think as the ways we communicate with people
become more technical and more mysterious, if you will, there's going to be some
reaction to that, like some distrust some skepticism and I think that's something the
field is going to have to work on to move forward.” - Selene Crosby

“In my opinion marketing is more of an art, not a rigid science, so the term
neuromarketing is just like combining science and religion. I mean, how do you
measure and quantify the emotional responses anyway? One smiley face for he likes
it, two smiley faces for he really likes it? We don’t have an exact science for this
yet, and until we have that, it is going to be difficult for this industry to be accepted
as an accurate standard and norm.” – C.P.

“….Targeting brings all of its own concerns, and we have that problem in the big
data science world all the time about targeting, and then being able to find out all
these details about somebody almost to the creepy level. Some people don't like
being tracked at that level. People don't like thinking about all the information that
Google has over them…that they use to make some sort of decision that it starts to
be almost like ‘I know how you feel’ and how you’re breathing right now…That is
some stuff that I could see people being very concerned about.” – Tim Steeno
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Research Question 5 - What research needs to be done in neuromarketing for it to
become a more standard research practice?
Each informant had their own unique response towards the growth of the field of
neuromarketing. One informant feels that once their industry is more organized and
structured, it will be easier to standardize, which will make it more understood among
practitioners and consumers. Another stated it is too early to definitively state what
research needs done to grow the field to a level of standardized practice. A final thought
suggested that neuromarketing needs to be thought of on a smaller scale in terms of
research methodology, and by doing this, it will be easier for neuromarketing be become a
more normalized form of research.

“I think… that would be to promote the field…If I go out and look for...somebody
to help apply this method to some problem that I have, there's not really any
structure to the way they advertise themselves, not really any qualifications that
they can say ‘yes, I’m qualified to do this’. So the field itself is still pretty undefined
as far as practitioners are concerned and I think that's challenging because
people.” – Selene Crosby

“It is still too new, and with any new technology, you never what grand potential
might await. Without knowing that, it is hard to promote the full benefits.” – C.P.

“I'm going to go back to those lower level markers of some sort. Like, I don’t think
it’s going to be very practical for somebody in my world, like a data analyst to use,
to get access to a lab and do some sort of heavy experimentation or something like
that…More of the lower level biomarkers are things people need to…collect more
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of that data to understand how people behave, and choose to do things, and choose
to interact with each other. There is so much cell phone data and other things these
days, and mobile has become our number one thing. I think that’s going to be one
element that’s has to take it somewhat forward, and I think through that we can
normalize some of that, then it will take away some of the fears that this is going to
be the worst thing ever. Instead, people will start to see that possibly things that
are much more targeted to ‘what I actually need soon’ is a better thing than being
blindly targeted for things that I do not necessarily need.” – Tim Steeno
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Chapter V – Conclusions
The interview portion of this research gave a great forward look as to what needs
to be thought about neuromarketing as the industry advances. These informants are a
sample of those who will be utilizing the data that neuromarketing can provide, and likely
will have influence in the determination of which method of research will be most
sufficient for the needs of their company/product.
It is a large advantage to the
neuromarketing industry that all interviewed professionals feel that, while certain
advertising strategies and research methods are effective, there is definitely going to be a
need for change in the future. Each informant can also see the potential impact that
neuromarketing can have in advertising and branding research. To move the industry
forward, all subjects interviewed suggested that more needs to be understood about
neuromarketing, and, in particular, there needs to be an explanation that will serve as a
minimization of risk to the consumer.
An interesting trend noticed in the interviews was the preference to the used
methodology in neuromarketing – the informants all showed most interested in eyetracking and galvanic readings, and did not tend to mention the more invasive research
(fMRI, EEG). This leads to the assumption that to move the neuromarketing industry
forward, researchers should put more focus on these “smaller” methods of research to show
the benefits of neuromarketing and how it can be more standardly utilized. As stated earlier
in this research, there is still great fear felt by many that neuromarketing is a negative tool
meant to brainwash, and a contributing factor to this belief is that many hear the term
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“neuromarketing” and their minds tend to go to the notion of brain scans. But as shown in
the interviews, the industry professionals are showing more interest in eye tracking and
electrodermal activity. Arguably, if there is a greater understanding into all possible facets
that neuromarketing has to offer and it is realized by more professionals and consumers
that, while they are important tools for research, brain scanning (fMRI, EEG, and SST) is
only a portion of what this research has to offer. If more studies are conducted that was
more focused on the benefits of the less-invasive forms of research, there will likely be a
shift in the opinion of neuromarketing being solely connected to brain activity. Once more
is understood about the industry as a whole, there will likely be more studies done with
neuromarketing methodology, which will in turn move neuromarketing into being a more
standard form of research.
There must be a final forward look into the potential that neuromarketing has in
changing the way we view advertising strategies and research. As stated in the “What is
Advertising?” section of this research, very little has changed in how research is conducted
over the past few centuries. The standard practice has been a combination of quantitative
(surveys) and qualitative (focus groups and interviews) in conducting marketing and
advertising research. This has not changed, and as a result, we are no closer to finding an
answer to “does advertising actually work?”. Neuromarketing, however, may be the key,
or at the very least a missing puzzle piece, in answering this question. In the Coke v. Pepsi
study that Lindstrom (2008) conducted, research was able to show what was actually
happening in the brain of the consumer, which lead them to the discovery of just how deep
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the emotional connection Coca-Cola has on its consumers. This is something that would
not be able to be found through just asking subjects a series of questions and analyzing
their answers.
Another example of the necessity of neuromarketing research is found in the
beginnings of this research with Lindstrom’s (2008) study on anti-smoking ads. Not only
did the results of this study contradict the perceived purpose of all anti-smoking efforts, it
also gave definitive proof that, despite what the consumer says when being interviewed,
their brains activity may contradict all of a subjects spoken beliefs. This neuromarketing
study was able to give unquestionable proof that despite all 2,081 participants stating that
they feel some degree of guilt when smoking, not a single one of them could support this
through an observation of brain activity. This, again, is data that would not be able to be
determine through merely asking subjects a series of questions as is the standard practice
in qualitative and quantitative research.
To conclude this research, there must be a reiteration that neuromarketing is, in its
simplest definition, is a tool of research to better understand consumer behavior and
purchasing decisions. Van Langendonck (2015) states it best in the belief that
“neuromarketing is not a new kind of advertising that plans to replace traditional or native
ads. It’s simply a methodology that can be implemented with existing marketing strategies
to improve the effectiveness and to double, or maybe triple, the lead generation and ROI.
However, with neuromarketing opening doors to the minds of consumers and allowing us
to understand their behavior, marketers now have a chance to use current findings to create
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much more successful advertising campaigns that persuades people to take action. Also,
and more importantly, to make an emotional connection with the consumer and build better
customer relationships. The science behind Neuromarketing is still new, but researchers
are already making new advancements in this field to build better marketing based on
persuasion, emotion and influence. By understanding how the human mind works, even
you will be able to develop a strong enough marketing strategy to bring in more sales with
your next ad campaign” (Van Langendonck, 2015, para. 9-11).
While neuromarketing is making tremendous strides, there is still quite a bit that
needs to be understood about the industry to truly move forward. Neuromarketing needs
to be viewed in a way that is easily comprehendible by not only the neuroscientists,
marketing researchers, and advertising executives, but by the business owners who may
seek to use this means of research in their next campaign or rebrand, and by the consumer
who will be a potential test subject in this research. Once this happens, the industry as a
whole will have a greater likelihood for growth.
The goal of this research has been to not only show what neuromarketing is, but
also to understand what it is not. Neuromarketing is a research tool that holds the great
potential to help us to more fully understand purchasing decisions. It is a tool that can save
companies from putting out campaigns that could be potentially damaging to their brand
image and reputation. It is a tool that, with proper research, can help us truly understand
the mind of the consumer.
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Appendix A – Tim Steeno Transcript
If you can start by just stating your name and talking about your job.
Sure, my name is Tim Steno and I am the director of a digital marketing team at web.com
whose responsibility is over a product that is mainly around organic marketing – that’s
unpaid advertisements on the web. Mainly trying to get people's websites by leading to
them online. So whatever business locally…we're generally talking about trying to get
plumbers and you know, air conditioner repair men and people like that online and get
them new inbound business. My team's responsibilities have generally consisted of
research and development around testing what works for products. So sometimes that
involves AB testing and things like that. Sometimes that involves like statistics model
building, machine learning data science type things to get uh an idea of what kind of
treatments are working online and what uh what's going to lead to a higher volume of
inbound calls for our local clients
Do you feel that current advertising methods/research methods are effective?
I would say mostly. I mean yea there's certainly a lot of noise out there when you think
about online world. You have people actively trying to tune out that noise and skip ads and
block ads and do things intentionally as there's so much of it but I’d say for the most part
if advertising didn't work there wouldn't be a multi-billion dollar industry around that
online both from the paid side and the unpaid side. So, I mean, my company has whole
5000 people so I would say for sure like the amount of that related to people just setting up
websites and personal domain things that they want to be able to advertise themselves, you
know. I think there's a lot to say that there's a lot of money driving it and there's a lot of
need for that. Research methods, I mean I work in that world, there's a lot of growth
certainly happening in the data analysis space. Were able to track customers behaviors in
much more interesting ways and watching as they move around the net, not around the net
but across devices and using different types of places that they’re starting to thinking about
making a purchases and combining those pieces of information and starting to decide that
yea I have a high probability that this person is looking for some service or some need.
That's really interesting but even in my job we still use some pretty traditional research
tools like you know many, many years ago and so, including AB testing which is a very
old procedure that's well documented and has well documented concerns. But yea, I would
say that ultimately there's a lot of room for growth in any sort of advertising monitoring of
effectiveness and what we’re going to do to see how it works, that's always going to be
changing. Places that people search are trying to find a way to really get to exactly what
you’re looking for and that involves really understanding more about you than just what
the keyword phrase you plugged into a browser. You know, that isn't really the way it's
working anymore and that includes like if you’re logged in on google, all the info they may
have collected about you over time and the things that you like and view and all of things
you like to do. I think that there's going to be a change in the targeting strategies and what
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actually how we focus on what a high likelihood of this lead being the link to commit and
going ahead and purchase we do a lot of retargeting and things like that today that we’re
just showing someone the same thing that they’ve looked for the hopes they will click on
it soon. And I think there's a lot more opportunity to start to figure out the time and the
place and then, you know, the right price and all of the aspects to convert somebody, there's
so much unknowns about that I thinks that’s going to need to change a lot, so.
How would you define neuromarketing to someone?
Well I would say it's not really a term we use at work or anything like that or anything that
gets talked about that much. As I understand it I would think about it as like how you would
measure like in my world, like how people see a page, like what they are thinking about
and how they are behaving like as they react I mean there's certain behaviors that that we
can understand about like clicking eye tracking and things like that we can do you know
but understanding what somebody is thinking about when they uh see some sort of
advertisement when you choose to display them advertisement A vs B does it trigger some
sort of like change in their thought process or emotional state, retriggering of old
advertisement things and you know whatever makes that person more willing to commit to
ad A or ad B
So for your company, have you ever used neuromarketing for anything that you’ve
worked on?
I can't say that we have but I can say that what we work on a lot is trying to optimize for
say Google. And google is a company that you would think of as doing those types of
things for sure like understanding how people click on ads and how people are thinking
about videos and what's the right amount of time you need to see a video and you get an
impression in your brain, you know, like there's a reason why you can skip this ad in 5
seconds, why is it 5 seconds, could it have been 3 seconds and why it's not 10 seconds?
Those types of analyses I get the feeling they're doing those types of things as we get more
sophisticated at this stuff I would think that we would love to do that kind of stuff but I
would imagine it's a ways off for a company like mine to embrace something like that when
we are still trying to explore a lot of data that we collect currently not yet knowing all of
the facts of it yet and there's a lot of change going on in our industry so it's hard to lock
down that's something worked may not work again in 6 months you have to always be
reevaluating and testing, so.
How do you see neuromarketing reshaping advertising/research?
I can see certain things for sure that will get a lot better. Especially tracking, I’m interested
in the worlds of like eye and pulse tracking when we…google is starting to look at those
biometric features. I actually just saw that the other day that they’re looking for when
you’re looking at your phone using your front facing camera to evaluate your facial feature
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and things that are going on and maybe evaluating pulse and things like that they can use
to market and change advertising strategies, and see you know like if they can see you get
surprised when you see some sort of add how do you react afterwards people who saw the
surprising ad did they convert at a higher rate than those who didn't, that's intriguing stuff
you know in our world a lot of business want to bring people comfort in some way. You
know, how does my ad bring them that satisfaction. Imagine a landscaper that can see how
people would react to the landscaping photos of past jobs that they put on their site, I think
that's a really interesting concept as an example of what we could do if we just had some
better simple markers, I'm not even talking about knowing what somebody is thinking
about in their brain or having a really deep connection to something like that but just some
lower level biomarkers would be amazing. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if
we had more data like that, so.
What hindrances do you foresee the neuromarketing field having as it moves
forward?
You know, one things that's a problem in our world often is like trying to get a good
definition of the metrics you should use to agree on what worked and what didn't. And
google is still trying to track, you know it's not like a purchase is a black and white thing,
it’s very rare that you’re just like, I’m going to buy this thing, I’m going to buy it. It's often
a process of thinking through and so some of the evaluation of how you agree on where
somebody thought first about this and how they did they do this and I could see in the neuro
world agreeing on what metrics you actually know to tell somebody was surprised or tell
somebody was feeling fear like how do you actually quantify that enough to and like make
it actionable in a way that you can tell like oh that percentage went up by N percent and
therefor it means we saw a significant relationship there or something like that, something
statistically significant. So yeah, I’m interested in that and of course there's the we talked
about earlier targeting is really important but targeting brings all of its own concerns and
we have that problem in the big data science world all the time about targeting and then
being able to find out all these details about somebody almost to the creepy level, some
people don't like being tracked at that level, people don't like thinking about all the
information that google has over them you know that they use to make some sort of
decision that it starts to be almost like I know how you feel and how you’re breathing right
now you know, that is some stuff that I could see people being very concerned about
What, if any, ethical considerations do you see with neuromarketing?
Yea, that's definitely a real worry like for one in statistics we’re trying to like gather a
sample of the people then make an application of that and assumes that the way the
population works like we’re really going to agree to that when we’re talking about their
brains, I mean people's brains are very unique things that's molded through their own
experiences and I think it's difficult to think that people are going to be willing to say that
a statistical sample of 250 people did this so therefore all the people are going to do this
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and have a high degree of confidence that that's true and like really understanding that is
going to be an ethical issue for sure. There’s ethics where just the stuff we've seen in data
you know like Target had a campaign that's the story of classic data science problem where
Target had this thing where they were tracking all these elements about women's purchases
and they were able to use that to determine if they were pregnant or not and they were
sending them advertisements on coupons for that and they sent that to a family who did not
know that their daughter was pregnant and as a result of that it caused this whole entire
thing and it's like Target exposed my pregnancy to my parents, that's you know through
data analyses, that’s a pretty crazy concept of ethics right there. Take that to the next level
of like understanding you know from as soon as that girl got her cell phone at age, what
these days, 8? How she’s feeling and what she's thinking and google is tracking all of that
information and using it against...not against, but using that to target her for some sort of
like beauty product campaign that's like the ethics of that sort of concept to people It's just
like ‘oooh’ I could see the scariness of that, so.
What research needs to be done/What needs to be thought about in neuromarketing?
You know what I think, I’m going to go back to those lower level markers of some sort,
like I don’t think it’s going to be very practical for somebody in my world like a data
analyst to use, to get access to a lab and do some sort of heavy experimentation or
something like that as often as it is going to be to get a read on how they reacted when I
showed them something or did something. I mean like more of the lower level biomarkers
are things people need to like understand and collect more of that data to understand how
people behave and choose to do things and choose to interact with each other you know
there's so much cell phone data and other things these days and mobile has become our
number one thing I think that’s going to be one element that’s has to take it somewhat
forward and I think through that then if we sort of normalize some of that then it will take
away some of the fears that this is going to be the worst thing ever instead people will start
to see that possibly things that are much more targeted to what i actually need soon is a
better thing than being blindly targeted for things that i do not necessarily the target
audience for at all and they’re not likely to buy because different they were able to
determine that through different signals a lot faster and I think that anytime you are building
towards that there's going to be some scariness and we just need to work through that, so.
Is there something I should have asked you that I haven’t?
You know what I’m interested in if you’re talking anything neuromarketing related is we’re
talking about trying to figure out how to get good uh websites that do well on google.
Google is also a company that for example has very deep artificial intelligent systems that
they are building right now, that interaction is something that I’m really interested in is
like, There's neuromarketing and understanding what the human brain is doing and how it
reacts to something right there's also this creation that's going to happen over the next, I
don’t know how many decades of really, really deep neuro networks and incredible
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artificial intelligence that’s some of the things we embrace at work and I am interested in
how those things work together where you know the signals you are able to take from these
put into an quote unquote brain and processed and used in some way you know an
augmented system where that's actually how you’re going to end up using these signals
plus your more traditional signals just information you’ve collected about a person you
know and make some sort of decision off that more modern way like a business like mine
you know what i mean they're increasingly running these smart systems in the back end to
do stuff at the business, so how does neuromarketing plug in that data into that smart net
and make it one of its inputs and use it in the future. How does IBMs Watson program or
its deep mind at google like take in that type of data about people's brains or their brain
chemistry or how it fires when some stimulus happens that's fascinating stuff to me, so not
really a question but an area that really interesting, so.
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Appendix B – Selene Crosby Transcript
Tell me about your job qualifications
My name is Selene Crosby and I’m a mechanical engineer, I spent nearly 16 years at
Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati and there learned quite a bit about branding, marketing
for both internal customers and external customers, everything from user experience testing
to coming up with your brand equity and building your communication tools, etc. I also
worked at (???) Research?? As a manufacturing consultant and that's where i got an
innovation engineering black belt which is a qualification that helps reduce the risk and
increase the speed of innovation. One of the big scales there is about communicating so
can you really correspond your customer problem, the promise you're making and
communicating that meaningfully uniqueness I guess of your innovation, etc. And now I
actually work at (????) and I'm not directly involved with external marketing but internally
helping to brand I guess.
Do you feel current advertising methods/research methods are effective?
My take is kind of mixed, I think some of them are, Procter and Gamble are pretty good at
that. I think some of them are effective but it's getting harder because the channels are
not...you know, it used to be you could air a television commercial and you’d get everybody
but now the channels have splintered, how can I reach people? It's all over the place. And
this concept about the zero moment of truth, you know. When I was at P&G we were all
about the first moment and second moments of truth, now there's this Zero moment of truth
which is they came looking for you. So you’re advertising even when you hadn’t planned
to because they are coming and looking for your products and I think those are things that
make it harder to be effective. I think there are some things that are working but I think it's
increasingly more complex.
Do you feel advertising strategies will change in the future?
They definitely do have to change, it's always changing though right? I mean the rate of
change is probably increasing. I think we're getting sophisticated at understanding how to
reach our target customer we are getting sophisticated at storytelling and evoking emotions
and those kinds of things but so is the consumer. The target customer is getting more
sophisticated about what they want and what they are going to listen to and what they are
going to tune out. So I think advertising strategies have to get more...they have to
understand I guess where to reach people and how to reach people and the essence of this
is really how to communicate clearly the customer problem you’re trying to solve and the
solution you’re offering.
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How do you define neuromarketing?
Have you ever watched the show Brain Games? That's usually where I start, it's really how
we respond to stimulus without, and I guess the go between of language. Right. So
language can obscure as much as it can clarify and so to me it's kind of about looking
directly at the brain's response to stimuli and whether that's design or some other kind of
communication.
What methodology do you mostly use, or have you heard of being utilized the most?
So at P&G we were doing user experience testing we did use eye tracking and facial
observation so that's the one I used directly and then the outcomes of a lot of the studies of
the others we’ve used innovation engineering really to design how we stimulate create?
Sessions, what are effective tools for communicating like if you’re going to pitch a new
idea or innovation, how do you personally communicate the problem, the promise and the
proof with a design or with the right message, so those are more like second hand we’ve
read the studies and have understood what people are doing and kind reapplied that
methodology, so all of the above but only Eye tracking and facial observation directly.
How do you see neuromarketing reshaping advertising/advertising research?
I think that it holds promise but I think that if we can get past bias that people don’t know
how to articulate or that they don't even have. You know we’re not just talking about
products and services but even for GMOs or that kind of things. If we can get past their
unarticulated biases and reach a true promise of a solution I think that's exciting but I don't
know if we’re there yet.
How long do you think it will take to get there?
I think that anything you do in the Six Sigma world, the innovation world or any of these
sort of these white space worlds they start and get increasingly complex and then there's
this kind of point where they start to distill and their essence becomes really clear like
what's the real value here and yea there's always complexity but the real application kind
of becomes distilled so I think we’re still in the stage of increasing complexity but I think
we’re past the hype period and are to the point where we’re actually proving some of the
uses so I don’t think it’s that far away but I don't know how to put a timeline on it...it's got
a lot of attention
What hindrances do you foresee the neuromarketing field having as it moves
forward?
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I think there's the complexity problem right, the competition for people's attention in
general is pretty fierce and the channels in which you can get their attention are fragmented
so everybody's isn't everywhere. Like everybody’s not on Facebook, everybody's not
watching TV, everybody's not on Twitter Everybody is not in one particular place and so I
think that’s going to make it harder. I think the other thing is in general, this is my opinion
in general advertising and marketing methods there's sort of a related distrust you know, if
some people think you’re trying to communicate with them and others think you’re trying
to fool them. So I think as the ways we communicate with people become more technical
and more mysterious, if you will. There's going to be some reaction to that, like some
distrust some skepticism and I think that's something the fields going to have to work on
to move forward.
What, if any, ethical considerations do you see with neuromarketing?
You know currently I don't think it's different from any kind of advertising. I think we’re
trying to understand how people think and persuade them to think differently about
something. Some advertisers tell the truth and some lie, that's just the way it is. I don’t
think there’s anything unethical about trying to communicate the truth to someone
effectively. So I think, I could see if like there's some like to cross where you could actually
like addict people to certain dopamine responses or something like that would be unethical.
Like taking away their choice is unethical but trying to persuade them to make a choice, I
don’t think that’s an ethical problem. I don't think we can do what I’m describing right now
but it wouldn't be right to force people to buy your stuff
What research needs to be done/What needs to be thought about in neuromarketing?
I think there's lots of interesting things that you could do but I think the one that would be
to promote the field the most is to really, somehow, you know, if I go out and look for...and
I haven't….but go out and look for somebody to help apply this method to some problem
that I have or something I want to communicate, there's not really any structure to the way
they advertise themselves, not really any qualifications that they can say yes, I’m qualified
to do this. So the field itself is still pretty undefined as far as practitioners are concerned
and I think that's challenging because people don't know if….you could hire somebody
who doesn't know what they’re doing, you could have a bad experience and you would be
done with the technique itself and not necessarily with the vendor which happens all the
time. You know if I wanted to hire a consultant to do anything, implement an IT system or
whatever and you get a bad one, then you're kind of done with the software and not
necessarily the person. So I think the field has a little bit less structure right now then it
could. But I think as far as research is concerned there's lots of ties between this
neurological research in general and how we make decisions. You’ve maybe read Thinking
Fast and Slow...that’s kind of the popular book to read but taking how we make decisions
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and applying that to how we make decisions about products and services or political
candidates or whatever it is still seems pretty wide open
Is there something I should have asked you that I haven’t?
No, I'm hardly an expert at this. I’m more a practitioner with a little bit of exposure.
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Appendix C – C.P. Transcript
Tell me about your job/qualifications.
I currently work as a strategist for a large gaming company, but the conditions of my
position make it to where I cannot discuss where I work or the full extent of what I do. Such
is life, right?
Do you feel current advertising methods/research methods are effective?
I think some of them certainly are, especially the way companies are able to build brand
loyalty, for example, Apple users will swear by and defend their products with extreme
passion. Even commercials for mundane products are starting to aim at customer’s
emotional side like all the mother day's references in commercials right now. I think
companies with enough money have effective methods and more resources to fund the
necessary research to back it up.
Do you feel advertising strategies will change in the future?
Everything changes, there's no avoiding that and advertising will have to keep up especially
now that everybody is being desensitized at a rapid rate with every media outlet trying to
throw one shock after another in a mad attempt for ratings. It will be more difficult to make
that emotional connection with consumers not to mention with their dwindling attention
spans...but I think they'll manage
How do you define neuromarketing?
Well my rough definition would just be using neuroscience technology to understand
consumer’s subconscious responses.
What methodology do you mostly use, or have you heard of being utilized the most?
I have not been directly involved with any of these methods but I've heard of different types
of brain scans and eye tracking and pulse and I'm sure there will be more as technology
and funding improve. Most common in my opinion would be eye tracking since it seems
to be so easy to incorporate with all the advanced optics in our cameras nowadays
Have you used neuromarketing at your job?
Sadly the funding was never approved for this during my tenure with the company
How do you see neuromarketing reshaping advertising/advertising research?
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Well to me it just seems like a tool to help check your work, I don't really see it totally
reshaping anything except maybe some companies marketing budgets. But that is not to
say that we will see more companies utilizing it in the future. That is something I can
definitely foresee happening.
What hindrances do you foresee the neuromarketing field having as it moves
forward?
In my opinion marketing is more of an art, not a rigid science, so the term Neuromarketing
is just like combining science and religion. I mean, how do you measure and quantify the
emotional responses anyway? One smiley face for he likes it, two smiley faces for he really
likes it? We don’t have an exact science for this yet, and until we have that, it is going to
be difficult for this industry to be accepted as an accurate standard and norm.
What, if any, ethical considerations do you see with neuromarketing?
Well I'm not a doctor in the field so it's hard to fathom all the variables there are to mess
with in the human brain but as far as ethics go, I don't think this field has any new or
different ethical decisions to make than current marketing companies and I don't want to
sound like a conspiracy theory nut but I'm sure once we get better at manipulating brain
responses to certain stimuli what's to stop us from just spamming the like button in your
brain.
What research needs to be done/What needs to be thought about in neuromarketing?
It’s not easy to say. It is still too new, and with any new technology, you never what grand
potential might await. Without knowing that, it is hard to promote the full benefits. I mean,
microwaves were first discovered as a form of radiation and its most widespread use wasn't
discovered until some random dude stood in front of it long enough for it to melt the candy
bar in his pocket.
Is there something I should have asked you that I haven’t?
No, I think you pretty much covered everything. But now I am more interested in watching
the future of neuromarketing unfold.
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