Neuromarketing is gaining momentum

Modern marketers in their work apply the latest achievements of science, writes BusinessWeek . One of the new techniques in their practice is called neuromarketing . It provides for the brain scan of consumers in the process of viewing advertising and consumption of products.

To study the activity of the brain, the technique of functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRI), magnetic encephalography and traditional electrical encephalography (EEG) is used. With the help of devices, marketers are trying to determine which parts of the brain are activated by the consumer in certain conditions. Among others, the areas that are responsible for attention, concentration, short-term and long-term memory, positive emotions are tracked.

In Europe, the first firms that specialize in neuromarketing have already begun work and help advertising agencies conduct research on target groups. One such company, Neurosense, is based at Oxford University.

Recently, Neurosense contracted to carry out a large project for the advertising agency Viacom Brand Solutions, which serves the interests of the owners of TV channels MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and others. The latest project was related to the brain scan of adolescents, viewers of the “South Park” series, to determine how they react to various commercials in this popular animated series. It turned out that the brain is activated most of all during the advertising of alcoholic beverages (for example, a carbonated cocktail with vodka), whereas the teenager’s brain practically does not react to social advertising of the Red Cross.
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The success of the first experiments gave rise to a whole galaxy of companies that specialize in neuromarketing. Such firms are opening across Europe. In addition to the Neurosense, this is the Neuroconsult in Vienna, as well as the Neuroco in London. Some other companies, such as the Belgian Neuromarketing , French Impact Mémoires and London PhD Media , do not use brain scans, and instead use other methods to study the brain's response, for example, special questionnaires (by the way, in France the law prohibits advertisers from using medical equipment). Among the clients of neuromarketing specialists are such large corporations as Unilever, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, DaimlerChrysler, L'Oréal, and also the studio of 20th Century Fox.

The first experiments have already given a number of unexpected results. For example, it turned out that morning advertising on TV is absorbed by the consumer’s brain much better than evening prime time, although the latter is several times more expensive.