Neuroscience in Industry
Professor Gemma Calvert
What is “Neuromarketing”
• Term broadly used to describe the application
of tools tasks/tests derived from the fields of
cognitive psychology and neuroscience to
measure biological (as opposed to
psychological) reactions to (marketing)
stimuli
Roughly speaking – basic consumer research
using modern tools
What is “Neuromarketing”
• Measure brain/neural responses
• Implicit or direct responses (vs explicit/spoken)
• Where those “stimuli” are:
•
•
•
•
•
Marketing strategies
Communications
Advertising
New products
Existing products
Why does industry need
neuroscience?
“In 2002, an estimated US$ 6.8 billion was spent on conventional
marketing
research
in the
US alone. This is an enormous amount of
“The
trouble
with tools
market
research
money considering
that there is little scientific evidence to support the
is that consumers
widespread use of focus groups.” (Mast & Zaltmann, Brain Research
don’t
think how they feel,
Bulletin,
2005)
they don’t say what they think,
“There
is don’t
evidence
that as
much
as 80% of all market research is
and
they
do what
they
say”
confirmatory” (Barabba et al, 1991)
Estimated 80%+ new products fail in Year 1….
Traditional Market Research
Confounding Effects
Focus Groups
Observation
Surveys
• Group dynamics
• Moderator bias
• Behavioural change
• Little control
• Subjective interpretation
of behaviour
• Leading questions
• Sensitivity
• Inaccurate answers
• Selective responses
What can Neuroscience offer?
Objective
Taps Implicit
Processes
(as opposed to explicit)
Rigorously
Controlled
Environment
What type of companies are using
these tools?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Global packaged goods
Flavour and fragrance houses
Media owners and planners
Advertising agencies
Pharmaceuticals
Digital gaming and services
What’s the interest in
neuroscience?
• Brains are more direct predictors of behaviour
• Brains absorb much more than what we are
“conscious” of (spotlight of attention)
• Emotions are key drivers of behaviour – easy to image
in the brain, hard to articulate
• Brains are less noisy than human speech (behave
more similarly)
• Better business decisions from better understanding
Current Applications
• Measuring effectiveness of communications (public messages)
• Neuroergonomics (human-machine interface)
• De-risking marketing decisions
• Evaluation of traditional market research tools
• Validation of focus group output
• Patents (back-up product claims)
• PR opportunities (profile, talking point entry)
Case study: evaluation of planned brand extensions
BRIEF
• Use fMRI to predict the likely success of two possible
brand extensions
• Existing brand: successful personal care product
• Planned extension categories: homecare & babycare
• Subjects: Mothers 18-45 with children under 3 yrs
• Compare with post-scanning questionnaire
• Client: Unilever
Mock-ups of the planned brand extensions were
generated by an illustrator prior to scanning
Planned extension
A Babycare sector
Existing Brand
Competitor Brands in the
Planned Extension Markets
Planned extension
B Babycare sector
Mock-up versions of the
existing Brand into the
planned new markets
AMYGDALA (SALIENCY)
INSULA CORTEX
(TASTE CORTEX - DISGUST)
0.5
0.1
0
-0.1
1
2
3
-0.2
-0.3
3. Brand Ext 2
% SIGNAL CHANGE
2: Brand Ext 1
0.6
0.2
-0.4
(failed in USA)
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1
% SIGNAL CHANGE
0.2
0.1
0
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
3
1.5
0.3
-0.2
2
VISUAL CORTEX
(VISUAL PERCEPTION ATTENTION)
ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX
(PLEASANTNESS OF STIMULI)
-0.1
1
-0.2
-0.3
1
2
3
% SIGNAL CHANGE
1: Existing brand
% SIGNAL CHANGE
0.3
KEY:
1
0.5
0
1
2
3
FMRI indicates response to planned brand extension 1 is very similar to
successful brand. Brand extension 2 shows the opposite pattern.
There are no differences in visual attention areas to all 3 conditions so the
differences seen in preference areas not due to superficial differences in mockup design. Post-scan explicit questionnaires revealed no sig diffs between all 3
conditions.
Neuroscience & Public Campaigns
•
Are Government Health Warnings on cigarette packets effective,
or do they in fact do more harm than good?
•
Following the ban on cigarette advertising on TV etc, tobacco
companies are using more insidious methods of advertising
•
Have they tapped into a more effective but insidious method of
advertising?
Materials
Packs
Packs with
warnings
Promotional
items
Billboard
ads for Marlboro Cigarettes
Sponsorship
The same conditions were
included
© Neurosense Limited, UK 2008
ADVISING GOVERNMENT PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGNS
desire
**
Ad format
In contrast to the government’s aim to reduce cigarette smoking, warning
labels FAIL to reduce the response of the brain’s nicotine craving area. Our
data show that warning labels actually induce further craving, particularly in
those people who say they are most affected by warning labels…
activity in craving areas of the brain for packs with warnings
compared to packs without warnings
brain activity change in craving area
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
-0.20
-0.40
-0.60
-0.80
-1.00
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
self rating of warning label effect
The correlation between rating and activity in the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens in this graph
is .44, and significant at p < .05. In other words, in those people who are most aware of warning
labels (ratings 4-7), these labels induce craving to a greater degree than those who ignore them.
% Change in Lateral Ventricular
Volume
Public health advice from
industry sources
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Dehydration
Control
Kempton et al, 2010
Evaluation of marketing activity
• Evaluation of the relative effectiveness of different
media formats (TV, print, radio)
• Measurement of advertisement effectiveness in:
– different dayparts (GMTV)
– different sectors in ad break (Viacom)
– different programming contexts (Viacom)
• Pre-testing of concept boards
Simultaneous eyetracking and FMRI
Simultaneous Eye Tracking and FMRI
How is neuroscience adding
value?
• De-risk marketing decisions
• Bolster/validate/improve traditional research tools
• Pre-testing of animatics/storyboards/prototypes
• Evidence to back product claims (patents)
• PR opportunities, profile raising
• Contribution to knowledge (brand equity, loyalty, value)
Are there ethical issues to answer?
• Technique is descriptive – still interrogating consumers as traditional
methods
• All FMRI studies subject to scrutiny by public research ethics
committees
• Group data maintains anonymity
• Brain imaging may help uncover existing drives or needs, but
difficult to conceive that it would be able to invent ones
• The economic advantages are clear – refine and define new
products with lower risk of failure
• Boost UK economy by harnessing the best science available
Thanks for listening and to the new digital era
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