NEUROSCIENCE &

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Sessions 4 & 5

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 NEUROMARKETING
Beyond top of mind
The quest to enter the mind
of the consumer;

What’s going on
in there?

The brain’s “buy button”. 2

 Basic • What is neuromarketing?

Practice • Traditional methods.

• Psycho-physiological methods.

• Cases
Round up • Supporters & opponents.
• Conclusion & discussion.

Points of interest.
3
• Why some brands have a devoted cult-
like following while others have zero Basic
loyalty?
Why and what?
• Why and how prospects buy the
products or services they do, even if Did you ever wonder?
What is?
their choices seem irrational or Traditional methods
impractical? Psycho-physiological
Cases
Supporters & Opponents
• Why even the highest priced or lowest Conclusion
Discussion
quality products sometimes outsell
their competitors?

4
 Did you ever wonder?
What is?
Traditional methods
Psycho-physiological
Cases
Supporters & Opponents
Conclusion
Discussion

“Neuromarketing is a field of study using

neuroscience technology, such as
functional magnetic resonance imaging
how people's
(fMRI), to see
brains respond to advertising
and other brand-related messages”.

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What is?
How neuromarketing works.

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 Did you ever wonder?
What is?
Traditional methods
Psycho-physiological
Cases
Supporters & Opponents
Conclusion
Focus Group Discussion

Laddering

Choice modeling
Survey

Observation

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How neuromarketing works?
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 Did you ever wonder?
What is?
Traditional methods
Psycho-physiological

fMRI
Cases
Supporters & Opponents

Facial coding Conclusion

Discussion

Eye tracking
EEG Voice Analysis

Response
Latency Zmet

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How neuromarketing works?
 fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional
MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes
associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the
fact that when an area of the brain is in use, blood flow
to that region also increases.

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS 10

Electro Encephalogram
EEG is an electrophysiological monitoring method to
record electrical activity on the scalp that has been
shown to represent the macroscopic activity of the
surface layer of the brain underneath.

EEG records of the brain's spontaneous electrical activity

over a period of time, as recorded from multiple
electrodes placed on the scalp.

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Facial coding
Facial coding is the process of measuring human
emotions through facial expressions. Emotions can be
detected by computer algorithms for automatic emotion
recognition that record facial expressions via webcam.
This can be applied to better understanding of people’s
reactions to visual stimuli.

Johnny English with Kate Sumner scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
D9nVUkH37E0

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What makes Cristiano Ronaldo better than most
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsCokWHGLXc
Eye tracking
Eye tracking is the process of
measuring either the point of
gaze (where one is looking)
or the motion of an eye
relative to the head. An eye
tracker measures eye
positions and eye movement.
Eye trackers are used in
research on the visual system,
in psychology, in
psycholinguistics, marketing,
as an input device for
human-computer interaction,
and in product design.
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 Voice analysis
Voice analysis is the study
of speech sounds for purposes
that include mostly medical
analysis and also speaker
identification. More
controversially, some believe
that the truthfulness or
emotional state of speakers can
be determined using voice
stress analysis or layered voice
analysis.

Application in forensic science

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugcmjOjdIU

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 Response latency
Response Latency is the time
span between a stimulus and a
response or reaction. It is often
used in psychology, especially in
experiments in cognitive or
social psychology. In cognitive
psychology, for example, shorter
response latencies can mean
quicker brain processing or
better memory..

Questionnaire response times have been used in psychological research for decades.
Adding response timing to survey questions can increase both their reliability and their
ability to predict behaviour. They can also be indicative of attitudes that are more resistant
to change. Faster response times are thought to indicate attitudes that are highly
accessible from memory, but they are only measurable under certain conditions. Non-
attitudinal variables that can also affect response speed must also be considered. 15
 ZMet
The Zaltman metaphor
elicitation technique (ZMET) is a
technique that elicits both
conscious and especially
unconscious thoughts by
exploring people's non-literal or
metaphoric expressions.

Oticon, a manufacturer of hearing aids, applied ZMET to understand the

negative connotations that people associated with hearing aids. They felt,
although many people used cost as a reason to postpone the purchase of a
hearing aid, there were deeper factors at work. Hearing aids were
described as a symbol of being seen as old and flawed. Oticon responded
by creating a hearing aid with a new, fashionable styling in an attempt to
counter this stereotype.
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 Premise: human beings think in images, rather than words.
 Research study participants are usually asked to collect a set of pictures that represent their
thoughts and feelings about the topic of interest.
 The pictures that participants collect are important non-literal devices for uncovering deeply
held, often unconscious, thoughts and feelings.
 The goal of the ZMET interviews and analysis is to uncover the relevant fundamental structures
that guide people’s thinking about a topic.
 These deep structures are unconscious, basic orienting frames of human thought that affect
how people process and react to information or a stimulus. They manifest themselves in
surface metaphors used in everyday language and conversation; when grouped they point
to the deeper frames or structures a person is using to understand a topic.
 Framing comprises a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals, groups,
and societies organize, perceive, and communicate
 These frames can be used in a marketing context to help marketers communicate more
effectively to consumers about a brand, product, or topic.

METHODOLOGY
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 Round up
Cases and ethical issues

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 Did you ever wonder?
What is?
• Why some brands have a devoted cult- Traditional methods
like following while others have zero Psycho-physiological
Cases
loyalty? Supporters & Opponents
Conclusion
Discussion
• Why and how prospects buy the
products or services they do, even if
their choices seem irrational or
impractical?

• Why even the highest priced or lowest

quality products sometimes outsell
their competitors?

Coke vs. Pepsi

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 Did you ever wonder?
In a study from the group of Read Montague published in 2004; What is?
Traditional methods
67 people had their brains scanned while being given the “Pepsi Challenge”, a Psycho-physiological
blind taste test of Coca Cola and Pepsi; Cases
Supporters & Opponents
50% choose Pepsi and Pepsi tended to produce a stronger response than Coke Conclusion
in the brain's prefrontal cortex (region thought to process feelings of reward); Discussion

When the subjects were told they were drinking Coke, ¾ said that Coke tasted
better; their brain activity had also changed.

The “lateral prefrontal cortex”, an area of the brain that scientists say governs
high-level cognitive powers, and the hippocampus, an area related to memory,
were now being used, indicating that the consumers were thinking about Coke
and relating it to memories and other impressions.

Results showed that Pepsi should have half the market share, but in reality
consumers are buying Coke for reasons related less to their taste preferences
and more to their experience with the Coke brand.

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Coke vs. Pepsi
 Did you ever wonder?
What is?
A DaimlerChrysler study in Germany showed pictures of Traditional methods
Psycho-physiological
66 different cars: Cases
Supporters & Opponents
• 22 sports cars, 22 sedans and 22 small cars to 12 men, Conclusion
with an average age of 31, as they lay in a scanner. Discussion

• Far more than the other models, sports cars excited

areas of the brain associated with reward and
reinforcement.

• Among the sports cars that generated the strongest

brain responses: the Ferrari 360 Modena, the BMW Z8
and the upcoming Mercedes SLR.

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DaimlerChrysler
 Did you ever wonder?
What is?
• Ever wondered why the search results and ads are Traditional methods
Psycho-physiological
displayed in blue and not just in any other colour? Cases
• There is a reason: Google wanted to maximise its Supporters & Opponents
revenue as every time a user clicks the ads links, they Conclusion
get money. Discussion
• So, to ensure more users clicked these ads, Google
carried out an extensive study with different shades of
blue to see if any particular shade could bring out
more clicks and it did.
• The result is the blue shade that we are used to seeing
in Google Searches.
• Such a subtle change led to an increase of about
$200M in revenue from these ads.

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Google
 Did you ever wonder?
Supporters say: What is?
• ads will be more effective by helping Traditional methods
consumers either buy or become more Psycho-physiological
loyal to a brand Cases
Supporters & Opponents
• It identifies audience interest and Conclusion
enables advertisers to be more specific Discussion
in providing products that consumers
want

Opponents say:
• form of “brainwashing”
• Tools only for huge corporations
• - increased incidence of marketing-related diseases
• - more effective political propaganda
• - more effective promotion of degraded values

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Supporters and opponents
 Did you ever wonder?
What is?
Traditional methods
Psycho-physiological
It still is in it's infancy Cases
Supporters & Opponents
Conclusion
The more senses you trigger and associate with
products/services, the more people will appeal
to customers' emotions and influence their
buying behavior.

Enables advertisers to be more specific in

providing products that consumers want.

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Conclusion
 How people perceive, learn, remember and think about
information.
 Many times, what we see is determined by the context in which it
occurs as by what is actually there; hence, it is a matter of
pattern recognition.
 Multi-tasking is very difficult – can you take notes and pay full
attention in a class at the same time?

SUMMARY OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY – 1

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 Cognitive neuroscience
 Seeking for neurological explanations for findings on human
behavior research
 And provide explanations for lab observations
 Based on progressively better and understanding of the basic
electrochemical processes that take place in the brain and the
nervous system

SUMMARY OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY – 2

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 Repeated exposure to the same information helps to reinforce
learning and retention.
 Most marcom learnings tend to stay in the STM (short-term memory)
of the brain – i.e. immediate use
 Habits and brand loyalty learnings tend to stay in the LTM (long-term
memory) of the brain – i.e. relatively permanent storage
 The longer a memory stays in the STM, the higher the chance of it
moving to the LTM; but it needs to be encoded and consolidated
first
 Much of learning is the process of ‘encoding’ & ‘consolidation’
 Techniques like PET, fMRI, etc. allow us to study ‘encoding’ &
‘consolidation’

SUMMARY – 3
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 The 6 principles of persuasion
 Reciprocity – gift and return gift
 Commitment & consistency – promise & zubaan
 Social proof – conformance with behavior of others
 Authority – brand ambassadors, ‘influencers’
 Liking – mother makes a request; casting of appropriate actors in ads
 Scarcity – goods in short supply are more desirable; end of season sale

SUMMARY – 4
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 The importance of brand refresh, and campaign evolution

SUMMARY – 5
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