Share what you know with millions of people
Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content
0
Neuroeconomics: what is it?
Economists are using imaging technology to look at brain activity and neural processes while people are making financial decisions. How will this impact the field of economics?
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
Related Activity
7 Answers
Neuroeconomics is a branch of neuroscience that investigates the neural basis of human decision-making. The two big areas of research seek to understand how risk and uncertainty affect our ability to make decisions.
This research has given rise to a field still in its infancy- Neuromarketing. This describes the process of using brain scanning techniques typically paired with eye tracking to test the “neurological effectiveness” of commercials, print campaigns, or logos. Although this research is novel I believe it’ll be the standard for testing everything (commercials, print ads, websites, iPhone apps) within 5 years.
In college I interned with a neuromarketing firm. This is one example that illustrates the significance and potential of neuromarketing:
Frito Lay wanted to know which Cheetos commercial to air during the Super bowl. We discovered that the most “neurologically compelling” part of the whole Cheetos eating experience is actually having that disgusting orange dust stick to your fingers.
Our recommendation was to air a truly disturbing commercial that featured two male colleagues at work. While the first man was enjoying eating his Cheetos the second man approached him and without saying a word licked the dust off his co-workers fingers.
When viewing this commercial you have a visceral reaction to this scene. This is neuromarketing at it’s best. Without EEG and eye tracking we would have no idea how people really feel about engaging with a product.
The question of course, is "having responded to the neuroscientfifically tailored stimulus, were consumers more likely to choose Cheetos over similar products than they would have otherwise?" That, by the way, is a very difficult question to answer in a statistically valid way because it requires that the study include and follow a large sample (and a control group) over an extended period of time and in very non-experimentally controlled environments.
That question would tend to take us to a second question; "was the purpose of the ad to inform potential consumers of the existence of Cheetos or, assuming that the vast majority already knew about the product, was the goal to increase potential buyers' likelihood to choose Cheetos when they wanted a cheese based snack?"
...and a third question; "is there a segment of the market that would be so offended by the commercial that they would never buy Cheetos again (that would have included me.)
I don't claim to know the answers to these questions, but hope that neuromarketing doesn't stop with the glitzy stimulus/response part of the equation (which David Ogilvie described in non-scientfific terms in "Confessions of an Ad-man" in the early 60s.)
Barry and Gabriel- this is a very interesting dialogue! Having worked in neuromakerting I understand your concern regarding manipulating consumers. However, neuromarketing isn't about influencing people as much as figuring out how evolution has influenced our brains to make decisions.
For examples, a neuromarketing best practice says place text on the right hand side of the page and images on the left. This is because we process text in the left hemisphere of our brain and images in the right hemisphere.
This is how the brain likes to see it. Neuromarketing is about making your content as neurological appealing as possible.
Barry brings up some good points. What if other companies use the same "techniques" to influence consumers?
I wonder if his is regulated by the government, otherwise this can probably used to manipulate people.
Gabriel hits the nail on the head about manipulating people. In the early part of the 20th century, Edward Bernays developed techniques to modify people's behavior without their knowing it. From convincing the nation to adopt bacon and eggs breakfasts, he moved on to the manipulation of peoples attitudes in politics and society, culminating in his book "Propoganda."
When the allied soldiers entered Joseph Goebbels (Propganda Minister for the Third Reich) office in 1945, they found a copy of this book on his desk... scary.
Hi Catherine,
I understand, but the example with Cheetos shows that you can actually influence people, not only make the product more attractive. If positive influence is possible, someone will surely use it for less positive purposes.
The good news is that, despite amazing scientific discoveries, we're far from understanding the subtleties of the human brain, so these techniques cannot be extremely harmful.
PS: sales and marketing is very much about influencing people, which base their buying decision on feelings like fear, greed, envy, etc. rather than logical reasons
Check out our upcoming Neuromarketing roundtable next week. Submit your questions now and listen in to hear our experts respond.
http://www.focus.com/roundtables/demystifying-neuromarketing/
Answer This Question