Eye-tracking and brain measuring:
using neuromarketing to sell
newspapers
BY DEENA HIGGS NENAD In the late 1970s, when some
advertisers used subliminal
messages to plant subconscious
thoughts in television commercials
or when teenagers played their
Beatles record backward and heard
a chilling satanic message, people
were so shocked it prompted a
United Nations study that declared
the messages a “major threat to
human rights.”
Today, tapping into the subconscious
is much more sophisticated
and not so much about manipulation
as gathering information.
Using electroencephalographs
(EEGs), MRIs, bio-sensory
measurements, and other complex
technologies, researchers can now
track where a person’s eyes move as
they click through websites and
watch television commercials, or
measure how their brains, skin,
and muscles react to products or
advertisements.
Called neuromarketing, it could
help newspaper publishers and
their advertisers — at least those
willing to plunk down an average
of $30,000 per study — to see just
what goes on in readers’ heads
when they click on the company
website and scroll through articles.
Time Inc., which owns 22 magazines
and 26 websites, recently
teamed with EmSense, a San
Francisco-based neuromarketing
company, to measure consumer
interaction and response to
advertising in iPad magazine
apps. The results released in late
November were encouraging:
Consumers are willing to be
highly engaged in the ads.
Understanding of the brain’s
emotional response has long been
used in television commercials as
well as packaging design in the
Emotional Marketing
Sands Research, Inc.
7_page one_pageone 12/15/10 11:59 AM Page 7
T H E ‘ A ’ S E C T I O N
continued from page 7
food, beverage, and cosmetics
industries. Publications and websites
are just beginning to see it as
a possible revenue enhancer. The
lure: Researchers have been able to
pinpoint responses so specifically,
it’s like the advertiser is right there
in the consumer’s head.
“We see what attracts readers’
attention and what keeps them
engaged,” said Ron Wright,
president and CEO of Sands
Research, Inc. in El Paso, Texas,
one of a handful of neuromarketing
companies that have popped up in
the past few years. Wright and
partner Steve Sands have decades
of neuroscience experience; the
two formed Sands Research in
2008 as the field began growing.
Many of the neuromarketing
companies use eye-tracking by
using special equipment to measure
where the eye goes first on a Web
page, and how the brain responds
to the images capturing the person’s
attention. Within milliseconds,
researchers can receive unfiltered
information about how a reader
focuses on text, advertisements,
and layout, Wright said.
Google, Inc. has “a whole team
devoted to designing effective sites”
with the help of eye-tracking, said
Jake Hubert, who works in global
communications and public affairs.
It regularly pays customers to
give them feedback on how they
respond to page tags and titles,
he said.
Those in the neuromarketing
field admit they get added publicity
because what they are doing is so
remarkable to many people, but
argue it’s simply a way of finding
out what people want.
“Neuromarketing isn’t the Holy
Grail,” Wright said. “It’s an additional
component in market
research.”
He added that there is “no ability
to eliminate people’s free will,”
and because that is the perception
among the media and others,
Sands and other neuromarketing
companies regularly work with
clients in confidence. Although no
newspapers have approached
Sands, Wright said the company
is working with an undisclosed
U.S. magazine with nationwide
circulation.
When New Scientist magazine
in London used neuromarketing
on its cover last August, newsstand
sales shot up 12 percent over the
previous year, said Graham Lawton,
deputy editor.
“We regarded that as a success,
because we’re in the business of
selling magazines,” said Lawton,
who set up the study with Berkeley,
Calif.-based Neurofocus. “The cover
story is directly related to the sales.
(It has) design, artwork, colors …
things that matter emotionally.”
Neurofocus presented three
covers to 19 men, and measured
their brainwaves as they responded
to each of them. The study was
done free of charge, Lawton said,
adding that he would consider
doing more with neuromarketing
even though he’s not 100 percent
sure of its success.
“We have no way of knowing for
sure. This is not a controlled
experiment,” he said. “We would be
interested in pursuing more.”
using neuromarketing to sell
newspapers
BY DEENA HIGGS NENAD In the late 1970s, when some
advertisers used subliminal
messages to plant subconscious
thoughts in television commercials
or when teenagers played their
Beatles record backward and heard
a chilling satanic message, people
were so shocked it prompted a
United Nations study that declared
the messages a “major threat to
human rights.”
Today, tapping into the subconscious
is much more sophisticated
and not so much about manipulation
as gathering information.
Using electroencephalographs
(EEGs), MRIs, bio-sensory
measurements, and other complex
technologies, researchers can now
track where a person’s eyes move as
they click through websites and
watch television commercials, or
measure how their brains, skin,
and muscles react to products or
advertisements.
Called neuromarketing, it could
help newspaper publishers and
their advertisers — at least those
willing to plunk down an average
of $30,000 per study — to see just
what goes on in readers’ heads
when they click on the company
website and scroll through articles.
Time Inc., which owns 22 magazines
and 26 websites, recently
teamed with EmSense, a San
Francisco-based neuromarketing
company, to measure consumer
interaction and response to
advertising in iPad magazine
apps. The results released in late
November were encouraging:
Consumers are willing to be
highly engaged in the ads.
Understanding of the brain’s
emotional response has long been
used in television commercials as
well as packaging design in the
Emotional Marketing
Sands Research, Inc.
7_page one_pageone 12/15/10 11:59 AM Page 7
T H E ‘ A ’ S E C T I O N
continued from page 7
food, beverage, and cosmetics
industries. Publications and websites
are just beginning to see it as
a possible revenue enhancer. The
lure: Researchers have been able to
pinpoint responses so specifically,
it’s like the advertiser is right there
in the consumer’s head.
“We see what attracts readers’
attention and what keeps them
engaged,” said Ron Wright,
president and CEO of Sands
Research, Inc. in El Paso, Texas,
one of a handful of neuromarketing
companies that have popped up in
the past few years. Wright and
partner Steve Sands have decades
of neuroscience experience; the
two formed Sands Research in
2008 as the field began growing.
Many of the neuromarketing
companies use eye-tracking by
using special equipment to measure
where the eye goes first on a Web
page, and how the brain responds
to the images capturing the person’s
attention. Within milliseconds,
researchers can receive unfiltered
information about how a reader
focuses on text, advertisements,
and layout, Wright said.
Google, Inc. has “a whole team
devoted to designing effective sites”
with the help of eye-tracking, said
Jake Hubert, who works in global
communications and public affairs.
It regularly pays customers to
give them feedback on how they
respond to page tags and titles,
he said.
Those in the neuromarketing
field admit they get added publicity
because what they are doing is so
remarkable to many people, but
argue it’s simply a way of finding
out what people want.
“Neuromarketing isn’t the Holy
Grail,” Wright said. “It’s an additional
component in market
research.”
He added that there is “no ability
to eliminate people’s free will,”
and because that is the perception
among the media and others,
Sands and other neuromarketing
companies regularly work with
clients in confidence. Although no
newspapers have approached
Sands, Wright said the company
is working with an undisclosed
U.S. magazine with nationwide
circulation.
When New Scientist magazine
in London used neuromarketing
on its cover last August, newsstand
sales shot up 12 percent over the
previous year, said Graham Lawton,
deputy editor.
“We regarded that as a success,
because we’re in the business of
selling magazines,” said Lawton,
who set up the study with Berkeley,
Calif.-based Neurofocus. “The cover
story is directly related to the sales.
(It has) design, artwork, colors …
things that matter emotionally.”
Neurofocus presented three
covers to 19 men, and measured
their brainwaves as they responded
to each of them. The study was
done free of charge, Lawton said,
adding that he would consider
doing more with neuromarketing
even though he’s not 100 percent
sure of its success.
“We have no way of knowing for
sure. This is not a controlled
experiment,” he said. “We would be
interested in pursuing more.”
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