Electro-caps on ... let's go neuromarketing

Electro-caps on ... let's go neuromarketing

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Edition: 1 - All-round Country
Section: Features, pg. 035

VICTORIAN academics have added to the arsenal of product spruikers
in the battle for consumers by detailing how the brain reacts to
advertisements. Early findings from research on which television
commercials most appealed to people were presented this week at
Swinburne University. The research revealed that people who focused
on emotions looked at who was doing the selling rather than what
was being sold.

``The take-home message for our advertisers is, you've got to know
not just the demographics of who you're trying to sell to but you
need to know the personality types they are,'' neuroscientist Joseph
Ciorciari said.

By studying people's brain processes and personality types, Dr Ciorciari
found people with high emotional intelligence were interested
in advertisements with celebrity names and faces, but those with
low EI tended to go for products.

A mix of 50 marketers, advertisers and psychologists attended the
symposium on Friday, eager to hear anything that would boost their
chances of moving products off shelves. Dr Ciorciari, who lectures
at Swinburne University's Brain Sciences Institute, said he hoped
his work would add to one of the latest trends in pushing products:
neuromarketing.

``A marketer could probably use this information to better and more
efficiently put together an ad based on some demographics,'' Dr
Ciorciari said. ``You hear of instances whereby a product has been
shown to a test group and they agree it's a great product and
it goes out to the marketplace and it flops.

``Now what information there has been missed?''

Joining forces with marketing specialist John Gountas from La Trobe
University's business school, Dr Ciorciari examined the brain activity
of 43 people as they watched 24 TV commercials about food,
home products, alcohol and community announcements.

Linking the brain activity with personality types, Dr Ciorciari found
EI was a key factor in people's preferences.

EI is used to describe people who understand and intelligently reflect
on the emotions of others, as well as their own feelings. Dr
Ciorciari monitored EI readings with the help of neuroscience tools
-- including an electro-cap that subjects had to wear while viewing
the commercials -- to map brain function.

``The two groups used different parts of the brain at different speeds
and with different types of interaction,'' he said. ``Those
who have low EI tend to use probably more resources less efficiently
to process rich visual and auditory information.''

His findings were developed from earlier research into multiple personalities,
schizophrenia and emotional intelligence.

``We found that there were different [neuro] networks for those who
were very highly emotionally intelligent compared [with] those
who were low,'' he said.