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Ever wish for a foolproof
way to know what consumers were thinking before spending millions
on a new product launch or ad campaign? Although you still
can't see what consumers are thinking, now you can see where
they're thinking. Which, as it turns out, is almost as good.
And it's all thanks to a newly-emerging science called neuroeconomics.
Neuroeconomics deploys brain scans such as functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) or positron emission topography (PET)
to literally view neurological reaction to stimuli such as
product photos or advertising messages. Unlike focus groups
or other research methods, consumers can't fake it or tell
you what you want to hear, because brain activity doesn't
lie.
Location, Location, Location
The marketing implications associated with "where"
in the brain consumers respond brings a whole new meaning
to top-of-mind awareness. Activate the right side of the brain,
and while you may have a positive reaction to the product,
the intuitive link that triggers a sale is missing.
But activate the top of the brain, and the consumer has already
left rational deliberation behind, associated the product
with their self-image and is primed to buy. Further, that
product preference becomes embedded in memory (think repeat
sales).
The Name's The Thing
Remember the flurry of taste tests and challenges that characterized
advertising in the early 1980s? While duplicating some classic
tests in the lab, researchers discovered that blind tastings
yielded one set of results and stimulated the right side of
the brain, while brand-revealed tastings generated an entirely
different set of results and stimulated the top of the brain.
Conclusion? Brand attributes and associations demonstrated
a marked ability to override taste-based preferences.
The Search Goes On
While still in its infancy, neuroeconomics has gained a foothold
in academia as well as the commercial realms. Scientists have
deployed neuroeconomics to take readings of products as diverse
as cars, bicycles, beverages, sports games and fashionistas.
Among the leading
investigators:
- Dr. Paul Zak of Claremont Graduate University in California
and founder of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies
- Nobel Prize-winning economist Vernon Smith, Ph.D., of
George Mason University in Virginia
- Ernst Fehr, Ph.D., at the University of Zurich in Switzerland
- Dr. Jonathan Cohen with the Center for the Study of the
Brain, Mind and Behavior, Department of Psychology at Princeton
University in New Jersey
- Dr. Read Montague, director of the Human NeuroImaging
Lab, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas
- Clint Kilts, Ph.D., founder and scientific director of
the BrightHouse Institute for Thought Sciences in Atlanta,
Georgia
In Us We Trust
Far from being the hyper-rational process touted by game theories
such as the Nash Equilibrium, decision-making involves emotional
responses and a small amount of trust. Zak et al even discovered
the existence of a so-called "trust chemical," the
hormone oxytocin.
Princeton's Jonathan
Cohen and colleagues put the Ultimatum Game to the test and
concluded "models of decision-making cannot afford to
ignore emotion as a vital and dynamic component of our decisions
and choices in the real world."
Marketing Implications
Purchase likelihood is directly linked with higher memory
encoding, and neuroeconomics provides a mechanism for measuring
that result. This represents a marketing breakthrough. Finally—demonstrable
proof of the consumer impact of brands.
Professor James
Bailey of George Washington University sees a day when "firms
will be able to tell precisely if an advertising campaign
or product redesign triggers the brain activity and neurochemical
release associated with memory and action."
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