Neuromarketing

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Neuromarketing is a commercial

affective responses to marketing stimuli.[1][2][3] The potential benefits to marketers include more efficient and effective marketing campaigns and strategies, fewer product and campaign failures, and ultimately the manipulation of the real needs and wants of people to suit the needs and wants of marketing interests.[4]

Certain companies, particularly those with large-scale ambitions to predict consumer behavior, have invested in their own laboratories, science personnel, or partnerships with academia. Neuromarketing is still an expensive approach; it requires advanced equipment and technology such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), motion capture for eye-tracking, and the electroencephalogram.[5] Given the amount of new learnings from neuroscience and marketing research, marketers have begun applying neuromarketing best practices without needing to engage in expensive testing.

History

Neuromarketing is an emerging disciplinary field in marketing. It borrows tools and methodologies from fields such as neuroscience and psychology. The term "neuromarketing" was introduced by different authors in 2002 (cf. infra) but research in the field can be found from the 1990s.[6][7]

Nestle, and Procter & Gamble. Zaltman and his associates were employed by those organizations to investigate brain scans and observe the neural activity of consumers.[8] In 1999, he began to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show correlations between consumer brain activity and marketing stimuli.[2] Zaltman's marketing research methods enhanced psychological research used in marketing tools.[8]

The term "neuromarketing" was first published in 2002 in the Master Thesis

Dr. Carl Marci (US) founded Innerscope Research that focused on Neuromarketing research. Innerscope research was later acquired by the Nielsen Corporation in May 2015 and renamed Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience.[14] Unilever's Consumer Research Exploratory Fund (CREF) had also published white papers on the potential applications of neuromarketing.[15]

Concept

Collecting information on how the target market would respond to a product is the first step involved for organisations

cardiac electrical activity (ECG) and electrical activity of the dermis (EDA) of subjects.[17] However, it results in an incompatibility between market research findings and the actual behavior exhibited by the target market at the point of purchase.[18] Human decision-making is both a conscious and non-conscious process in the brain,[19] and while this method of research succeeded in gathering explicit (or conscious) emotions, it failed to gain the consumer's implicit (or unconscious) emotions.[20] Non-conscious information has a large influence in the decision-making process.[18]

The concept of neuromarketing

behavioral patterns associated with products, ads and decision-making.[23] Neuromarketing provides models of consumer behavior and can also be used to re-interpret extant research. It provides theorization of emotional aspects of consumer behavior.[24]

Consumer behavior investigates both an individual's conscious choices and underlying brain activity levels.[20] For example, neural processes observed provide a more accurate prediction of population-level data in comparison to self-reported data.[18] Neuromarketing can measure the impacts of branding and market strategies before applying them to target consumers.[3][16][18] Marketers can then advertise the product so that it communicates and meets the needs of potential consumers with different predictions of choice.[16]

Neuromarketing is also used with

social networking, search behavior, and website engagement patterns.[25] Agencies like Darling[26] help organizations use this kind of neuroscience in their marketing to better communicate with consumers at the subconscious level.[citation needed
]

Neuroscience tools

There are various neuroscience tools that are used to study consumer decision-making and behaviour. Usually, they include devices that can measure vital physiological functions (e.g., heartbeat,

Self reports and behavioural, (2) Physiological and (3) Neurophysiological. The tools currently used in consumer neuroscience research are EEG, fMRI, fNIRS, ECG, ET, GSR, and fERS. EEG is the most commonly used tool in consumer neuroscience research.[29]

Segmentation and positioning

Based on the proposed neuromarketing concept of decision processing, consumer buying decisions rely on either System 1 or System 2 processing or

intuitive, unconscious, effortless, fast and emotional. In contrast, decisions driven by System 2 are deliberate, conscious reasoning, slow and effortful. Zurawicki says that buying decisions are driven by one's mood and emotions; concluding that compulsive and or spontaneous purchases were driven by System 1.[31]

Young people represent a high share of buyers in many industries including the

gut feeling" and don't fully think through consequences, so are mainly consumers of products based on excitement and impulse. Due to this behavioral quality, segmenting the market to target adolescents can be beneficial to marketers that advertise with an emotional, quick-response approach.[31]

Marketers use segmentation and positioning to divide the market into smaller target markets, or segmentations, to strategically position their brand, product, or service with relevant attributes. Neuromarketing methodology takes into consideration multiple facets of each segmentation, such as their behavioral, demographic, and psychographic interests to create a one-to-one dialog and connection to the brand. This creates sociographic cohorts for the brand to directly message.[32]

For example, neurological differences between genders can influence target markets and segmentations. Research has shown that structural differences between the male and female brain have a strong influence on their respective decisions as consumers.[31][21]

Criticism

Pseudoscience

Many of the claims of companies that sell neuromarketing services are not based on actual neuroscience and have been debunked as hype, and have been described as part of a fad of pseudoscientific "neuroscientism" in popular culture.[33][34][35] Joseph Turow, a communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, dismisses neuromarketing as another reincarnation of gimmicky attempts for advertisers to find non-traditional approaches toward gathering consumer opinion. He is quoted as saying, "There has always been a holy grail in advertising to try to reach people in a hypodermic way. Major corporations and research firms are jumping on the neuromarketing bandwagon, because they are desperate for any novel technique to help them break through all the marketing clutter. It's as much about the nature of the industry and the anxiety roiling through the system as it is about anything else."[36]

Privacy invasion

Some consumer advocate organizations, such as the

issue in privacy comes from consumers being unaware of the purpose of the research, how the results will be used, or haven't even given consent in the first place. Some are even afraid that neuromarketers will have the ability to read a consumer's mind and put them at "risk of discrimination, stigmatization, and coercion."[37]

However, industry associations across the world have taken measures to address the issue around privacy. For example, The Neuromarketing Science & Business Association has established general principles and ethical guidelines surrounding best practices for researchers to adhere to such as:[7]

  1. Do not bring any kind of prejudice in research methodology, results and participants
  2. Do not take advantage of participants lack of awareness in the field
  3. Communicate what participants should expect during research (methodologies)
  4. Be honest with results
  5. Participant data should remain confidential
  6. Reveal data collection techniques to participants
  7. Do not coerce participants to join a research and allow them to leave when they want

The above is not a full list of what researchers should abide by, but it mitigates the risk of researchers breaching a participant's privacy if they want their research to be academically recognized.

Manipulation

Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, claims that neuromarketing is "having an effect on individuals that individuals are not informed about." Further, he claims that though there has not historically been regulation on adult advertising due to adults having defense mechanisms to discern what is true and untrue, regulations should now be placed: "if the advertising is now purposely designed to bypass those rational defenses ... protecting advertising speech in the marketplace has to be questioned."

self-confidence, self-aggressive awareness of consumption prevention, and naturally amplify the benefits of consumption.[38]

Advocates nonetheless argue that society benefits from neuromarketing innovations. German neurobiologist

brain scans to help companies identify the highest prices consumers will pay. Müller says "everyone wins with this method", because brain-tested prices enable firms to increase profits, thus increasing prospects for survival during economic recession.[39]

Limitations

Neuromarketing is not a replacement for traditional marketing methods but, rather, a field to be used alongside traditional methods to gain a clearer picture of a consumer's profile.[40][41] Neuromarketing provides insights into the implicit decisions of a consumer, but it is still important to know the explicit decisions and attractions of consumers.

To carry out a complete marketing research, the usage of both neuromarketing and traditional marketing experiments is necessary. As researchers know that customers say what they think they should say, not what they feel, an accurate study will happen in two steps: 1. understand what drives customers' attention, emotions, and memories towards the brand or the product, using neuromarketing methodologies. 2. conduct conventional marketing researches such as focus groups to establish the marketing mix.

Neuromarketing is also limited by the high costs of conducting research. Research requires a variety of technologies such as fMRI, EEG, biometrics, facial coding, and eye-tracking to learn how consumers respond and feel to stimuli.[42] However, the cost to rent or own these technologies and even then a lab may be needed to operate the aforementioned technologies.[40]

In popular culture

An Off-Broadway play by Edward Einhorn, The Neurology of the Soul, was set at a fictional neuromarketing firm.[43][44]

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b Vlăsceanu, Sebastian (2014). "New directions in understanding the decision-making process: neuroeconomics and neuromarketing". 17: 758–762 – via Elsevier. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Georges, Patrick M (2014). Neuromarketing in Action : How to Talk and Sell to the Brain. London: Kogan Page Ltd. pp. 9–16.
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  5. ^ Karmarkar, Uma R. (2011). "Note on Neuromarketing". Harvard Business School (9-512-031).
  6. ^ a b "Neuromarketing – friend or foe? - TEDxAmsterdam". TEDxAmsterdam. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
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  8. ^ a b c Kelly, M. (2002). "The Science of Shopping" Commercial Alert. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  9. ^ Carbone, Lou. "Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again". Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Prentice Hall (2004): 140-141, 254.
  10. ^ Public defense on 12 December 2002, under the direction of Pr. Jean Attali, Pr. Bruno Fortier, Pr. Ahmet Gulgonen, Pr. Christian Girard, Pr. Ass. Jean-Paul Rayon.
  11. ^ Philippe Morel is an Architect and Associate Professor at the Ecole nationale supérieure d'Architecture Paris-Malaquais (Paris) and a Visiting Professor at UCL Bartlett (London).
  12. ^ a b c Ait Hammou, Galib & Melloul, 2013
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  14. ^ Dooley, Roger. "Nielsen Doubles Down on Neuro". Forbes. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  15. ^ David Lewis & Darren Brigder (July–August 2005). "Market Researchers make Increasing use of Brain Imaging" (PDF). Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation. 5 (3): 35+. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2012.
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  23. ^ Neuromarketing Science and Business Association, n.d.
  24. ^ Genco, S.J., Pohlmann, A.P. and Steidl, P., Neuromarketing For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, 2013
  25. ^ "Tapping into how consumers react with Neuromarketing". Artifact's Blog. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  26. ^ Darling
  27. ^ Global Harmonization Task Force (2012). Principles of Medical Devices Classification.
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  34. ^ Etchells, Pete (5 December 2013). "Does neuromarketing live up to the hype?". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  35. ^ Poole, Steven (6 September 2012). "Your brain on pseudoscience: the rise of popular neurobollocks". New Statesman. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
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  38. ^ Brierley, Geraldene Louise (2017). Subconscious Marketing Techniques: The implications for consumer regulations and the marketing profession (Thesis thesis). Cardiff Metropolitan University.
  39. ^ "Neuromarketing: Scan your brain, set your price". 60second Recap. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  40. ^ a b Dragolea, L. (2011). "Neuromarketing – Between Influence and Manipulation". Polish Journal of Management Studies. 3
  41. ^ Bell, Vaughan (28 June 2015). "Marketing has discovered neuroscience, but the results are more glitter than gold". The Guardian.
  42. ^ "What Are Neuromarketing Research Tools?". 7 December 2018.
  43. ^ Scientific American review, The Neurology of the Soul, 13 February 2019
  44. ^ Broadway World review, The Neurology of the Soul, 16 February 2019

Further reading

External links