Inside the mind
Neuromarketers use brainwave science to see how emotional,
sensory and neurological cues are affecting consumers in-store
By Alison Embrey Medina, Senior Editor
April 1, 2008
This second and final installment of a two-part series, "Eye on the Customer," explores the
growing field of neuromarketing and the science of measuring brainwaves to detect a customer's
response to brands, in-store stimuli and environments. For a downloadable PDF of the entire twopart
series, please visit www.ddimagazine.com/specialreports.
Companies wanting to know more about what's going through consumers' minds as they shop
their stores needn't rely solely on video cameras, satisfaction surveys and focus groups any
longer. Now they can actually open up that consumer's brain and see what's going on inside
(figuratively speaking, that is). Neuromarketing, the science of studying consumers' brainwaves to
see how they respond to advertising and brand messages in the commercial field, is for the first
time providing concrete evidence of what works and doesn't work in the retail environment.
Learning more about the mental processes behind purchasing decisions has grown exponentially
over the last several years, due largely to the advances in brain-imaging technology. This
technology is being used to track the way consumers respond to everything from brands and
products, to movie trailers, Web advertising and even political campaigns. The two most
commonly used brain-imaging technologies—functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and
electroencephalography (EEG) mapping—have made headway in recent years in finally allowing
research in the commercial market to deliver hard data on what is happening when consumers
receive messages in the store setting.
The more costly of the two technologies, fMRI scanners enable researchers to determine how
much oxygen is being used in the various parts of the brain while the test subject lies completely
still with his or her head inside the scanner. The most active areas of the brain display the most
oxygen flow, and "light up" on the scanner. While more accurate—fMRI scanners enable
researchers to look deep into the subject's cortex accurately, up to 1 mm—the technology has
downsides as well. The subject must lie horizontally and remain completely still during the
scanning—a sudden cough or laugh could cause the entire test to be thrown out. Secondly, the
technology is expensive—one scan typically costs between $3, 000 and $4,000 per person—
which limits most companies' ability to test large numbers of subjects.
EEG, on the other hand, measures electrical signals produced by the brain through sensors in a
baseball-cap-like apparatus that sits on the subject's head. "The EEG sensors pick up your
brainwaves the same way a microphone picks up soundwaves," says Caroline Winnett, chief
marketing officer, NeuroFocus Inc., Berkeley, Calif. "EEG gets the information you need. It
gets deep inside the brain; it gets the innate, inherent neurological response that we're looking
for." Winnett adds that EEG does not emit any power or signals, so it's very safe and has been
used in clinics for many years. While the test subject sits in a comfortable environment, the
baseball cap filled with sensors is tracking heightened periods of brainwave activity, letting
researchers know which parts of ads and messages are getting through. EEG is more practical,
affordable and portable than fMRI—in fact, NeuroFocus' researchers travel the country with their
equipment in tow, seeking new test subjects. In addition to EEG, NeuroFocus uses
supplementary tests, such as eye tracking and a skin conductance test called galvanic skin
response (GSR) to add more depth to its research.
EEG and fMRI, through their development over the years, both have changed and will continue to
change how messages are delivered to the consumer. "In principle, the fMRI is by far much more
accurate than EEG, but EEG enables you to test many more respondents," says Martin
Lindstrom, author of "BrandSense" and the soon-to-be-released "BUYology: The Truth and Lies
About Why We Buy and the Signs of Desire," which focuses on a neuromarketing study of more
than 2,000 consumers across five countries.
The subconscious mind
"It actually turns out our unconscious processes are a lot more powerful than we thought," Steven
Quartz, a neuroscientist at the California Institute of Technology, said recently in an interview with
Fast Company. "In fact, they're probably better at making decisions than our conscious access.
Our conscious awareness and attention is really limited in the amount it can process."
According to Lindstrom, about 80 percent of all the decisions we make every day are
subconscious—decisions we're not even aware we're making. "The problem we have right now is
that brands are not really clocking into that—they're not really aware of how to do it," Lindstrom
explains. "Most retailers are not really aware of it, but the fact is that basically eight out of 10 of all
the products you put out onto the shelf, the decision to purchase is made by the subconscious
mind and not by the rational mind. The majority of the focus in our study has been to look into the
subconscious mind—what's going on when we're not really aware of it."
Lindstrom goes on to explain that retailers are not necessarily narrow-minded, but they are close
to it. "They have the world's best opportunity to make a sensory heaven—to appeal to our
unconscious mind, to create a place or space that really is clocking into the emotional side of our
mind," he says. "That's the stage retailers should compete on. Retailers should not compete on
rational dimensions, because they'll never ever survive."
What are they looking for?
When conducting brain-imaging tests, there are three basic measurements that researchers are
looking for—attention, emotional engagement and memory retention, Winnett explains. "In all of
these, we can measure just as we measure temperature in a thermometer—very precise; we can
even assign a number to the measurement," she explains. "Those three measurements are
based on well-established neuroscience," Winnett says. "The trick is to take them out of the clinic
and bring them into stores, brands, advertising and the commercial market. That's where the
magic comes in."
NeuroFocus works with a wide spectrum of clientele, and has worked with retailers to test aisle
design and in-store advertising, as well as with consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers
to work on product displays. For example, NeuroFocus recently did a test for a large CPG
company, which had created a whole new aisle design for a number of their flagship products.
The company was hoping to get across some new, more environmentally friendly messages that
they had not promoted quite so heavily before, and they wanted to know if that message was
coming across successfully in their new aisle design. "We tested all of those things, monitoring
the brain as our consumers were walking down the aisle," Winnett says. "We can measure
whether the brain is harmonious, or if it is hung up or confused at any point as the consumer
walks down the aisle. We also can specifically test which of those messages are coming through
from that aisle design, so that our clients can determine if certain messages they want to get
across are actually getting across." The company determines if messages are getting across
through a well-established neuroscience technique called an ERP test (evoked response
potential, or sometimes called event related potential). "From there, they can refine the design to
see if it's working, or determine if they need to scrap the design and start over," Winnett says.
Sensory perceptions
According to previous studies by Lindstrom, "83 percent of all commercial communication
appeals to only one sense—sight." This is a huge factor for brands and retailers to consider, as
Lindstrom's new data suggests that several other senses are just as, if not more, powerful to
consumers when it comes to brand impact. "Up until now, I could base my writing on existing data
and data gathering from conventional research methods," Lindstrom suggests. "But if you ask
everyone around you what they are smelling in the room right now, it's really tricky because most
of them would not be able to describe it—they cannot define their sensory emotions. We really
needed to find another method."
Through his new neuromarketing data, Lindstrom is discovering that the senses of touch, taste,
smell and sound are much more important than he first thought. "The stronger senses are smell
and sound," Lindstrom says. "These senses are much stronger than we ever thought, more than
anyone in the world thinks they are today. This is most likely going to change the entire way we
are going to build brands in the future, and the way retail is going to build their in-store
experience."
About 15 percent of Lindstrom's study focuses on retail specifically, as he feels one of the biggest
strengths retail has today is that it can be a true sensory experience. "When you buy clothes, the
first thing you do is touch it," Lindstrom explains. "When you buy coffee, you smell it. You use
your senses to log together information in order to evaluate your decision. This is the No. 1
strength retail stores have, and the reason retail stores can justify still being around. It's going to
be even more the reason why they will stay around in the future if they really understand the
sensory dimension to it."
Lindstrom adds the example of Howard Schultz of Starbucks recently closing down all of the
company's stores for three hours to re-establish a sense of smell and re-train the Starbucks
employees. Lindstrom's firm did a research study relating to the senses with Starbucks a few
years back, and the results were staggering. "The No. 1 smell that people associated with
Starbucks was not coffee, but the smell of sour milk," Lindstrom reveals. "The No. 2 sense that
people associated with Starbucks is sound—the sound of noisy coffee-brewing machines. Then
No. 3 was the tactile sensation of the cup. It's not until No. 4 that we get to the smell of coffee—
which is not good news for a coffee chain. That is very much strong evidence that retailers who
really want to justify their existence really need to go back to their roots and examine their
sensory dimensions." Many people have noticed that certain smells sometimes bring up very
strong, clear memories, as if the whole feeling and sense of the original event were coming back
to them. "There is a good reason for that: smell and memory are processed in the same area of
the brain," says Daniel G. Amen, M.D., a clinical neuroscientist and author of "Change Your
Brain, Change Your Life." "Because smells activate neurocircuits in the deep limbic system, they
bring about a more complete recall of events, which gives one access to details of the past with
great clarity."
Neuromarketing, unfortunately, still comes with a stigma in the commercial marketplace—both
from consumers and marketers. Marketers, most of whom went to business school and have had
no exposure to neuroscience, are leery to whole-heartedly accepting new findings. Consumers,
similarly, are not always willing or comfortable with the idea of allowing someone to read what's
happening inside their heads. However, as the technology continues to evolve and the results
continue to dumbfound, it becomes clearly evident that brain mapping will be the means of
unlocking the secrets to consumers' inner emotions that have stupefied retailers and brands for
centuries.
Neuromarketers use brainwave science to see how emotional,
sensory and neurological cues are affecting consumers in-store
By Alison Embrey Medina, Senior Editor
April 1, 2008
This second and final installment of a two-part series, "Eye on the Customer," explores the
growing field of neuromarketing and the science of measuring brainwaves to detect a customer's
response to brands, in-store stimuli and environments. For a downloadable PDF of the entire twopart
series, please visit www.ddimagazine.com/specialreports.
Companies wanting to know more about what's going through consumers' minds as they shop
their stores needn't rely solely on video cameras, satisfaction surveys and focus groups any
longer. Now they can actually open up that consumer's brain and see what's going on inside
(figuratively speaking, that is). Neuromarketing, the science of studying consumers' brainwaves to
see how they respond to advertising and brand messages in the commercial field, is for the first
time providing concrete evidence of what works and doesn't work in the retail environment.
Learning more about the mental processes behind purchasing decisions has grown exponentially
over the last several years, due largely to the advances in brain-imaging technology. This
technology is being used to track the way consumers respond to everything from brands and
products, to movie trailers, Web advertising and even political campaigns. The two most
commonly used brain-imaging technologies—functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and
electroencephalography (EEG) mapping—have made headway in recent years in finally allowing
research in the commercial market to deliver hard data on what is happening when consumers
receive messages in the store setting.
The more costly of the two technologies, fMRI scanners enable researchers to determine how
much oxygen is being used in the various parts of the brain while the test subject lies completely
still with his or her head inside the scanner. The most active areas of the brain display the most
oxygen flow, and "light up" on the scanner. While more accurate—fMRI scanners enable
researchers to look deep into the subject's cortex accurately, up to 1 mm—the technology has
downsides as well. The subject must lie horizontally and remain completely still during the
scanning—a sudden cough or laugh could cause the entire test to be thrown out. Secondly, the
technology is expensive—one scan typically costs between $3, 000 and $4,000 per person—
which limits most companies' ability to test large numbers of subjects.
EEG, on the other hand, measures electrical signals produced by the brain through sensors in a
baseball-cap-like apparatus that sits on the subject's head. "The EEG sensors pick up your
brainwaves the same way a microphone picks up soundwaves," says Caroline Winnett, chief
marketing officer, NeuroFocus Inc., Berkeley, Calif. "EEG gets the information you need. It
gets deep inside the brain; it gets the innate, inherent neurological response that we're looking
for." Winnett adds that EEG does not emit any power or signals, so it's very safe and has been
used in clinics for many years. While the test subject sits in a comfortable environment, the
baseball cap filled with sensors is tracking heightened periods of brainwave activity, letting
researchers know which parts of ads and messages are getting through. EEG is more practical,
affordable and portable than fMRI—in fact, NeuroFocus' researchers travel the country with their
equipment in tow, seeking new test subjects. In addition to EEG, NeuroFocus uses
supplementary tests, such as eye tracking and a skin conductance test called galvanic skin
response (GSR) to add more depth to its research.
EEG and fMRI, through their development over the years, both have changed and will continue to
change how messages are delivered to the consumer. "In principle, the fMRI is by far much more
accurate than EEG, but EEG enables you to test many more respondents," says Martin
Lindstrom, author of "BrandSense" and the soon-to-be-released "BUYology: The Truth and Lies
About Why We Buy and the Signs of Desire," which focuses on a neuromarketing study of more
than 2,000 consumers across five countries.
The subconscious mind
"It actually turns out our unconscious processes are a lot more powerful than we thought," Steven
Quartz, a neuroscientist at the California Institute of Technology, said recently in an interview with
Fast Company. "In fact, they're probably better at making decisions than our conscious access.
Our conscious awareness and attention is really limited in the amount it can process."
According to Lindstrom, about 80 percent of all the decisions we make every day are
subconscious—decisions we're not even aware we're making. "The problem we have right now is
that brands are not really clocking into that—they're not really aware of how to do it," Lindstrom
explains. "Most retailers are not really aware of it, but the fact is that basically eight out of 10 of all
the products you put out onto the shelf, the decision to purchase is made by the subconscious
mind and not by the rational mind. The majority of the focus in our study has been to look into the
subconscious mind—what's going on when we're not really aware of it."
Lindstrom goes on to explain that retailers are not necessarily narrow-minded, but they are close
to it. "They have the world's best opportunity to make a sensory heaven—to appeal to our
unconscious mind, to create a place or space that really is clocking into the emotional side of our
mind," he says. "That's the stage retailers should compete on. Retailers should not compete on
rational dimensions, because they'll never ever survive."
What are they looking for?
When conducting brain-imaging tests, there are three basic measurements that researchers are
looking for—attention, emotional engagement and memory retention, Winnett explains. "In all of
these, we can measure just as we measure temperature in a thermometer—very precise; we can
even assign a number to the measurement," she explains. "Those three measurements are
based on well-established neuroscience," Winnett says. "The trick is to take them out of the clinic
and bring them into stores, brands, advertising and the commercial market. That's where the
magic comes in."
NeuroFocus works with a wide spectrum of clientele, and has worked with retailers to test aisle
design and in-store advertising, as well as with consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers
to work on product displays. For example, NeuroFocus recently did a test for a large CPG
company, which had created a whole new aisle design for a number of their flagship products.
The company was hoping to get across some new, more environmentally friendly messages that
they had not promoted quite so heavily before, and they wanted to know if that message was
coming across successfully in their new aisle design. "We tested all of those things, monitoring
the brain as our consumers were walking down the aisle," Winnett says. "We can measure
whether the brain is harmonious, or if it is hung up or confused at any point as the consumer
walks down the aisle. We also can specifically test which of those messages are coming through
from that aisle design, so that our clients can determine if certain messages they want to get
across are actually getting across." The company determines if messages are getting across
through a well-established neuroscience technique called an ERP test (evoked response
potential, or sometimes called event related potential). "From there, they can refine the design to
see if it's working, or determine if they need to scrap the design and start over," Winnett says.
Sensory perceptions
According to previous studies by Lindstrom, "83 percent of all commercial communication
appeals to only one sense—sight." This is a huge factor for brands and retailers to consider, as
Lindstrom's new data suggests that several other senses are just as, if not more, powerful to
consumers when it comes to brand impact. "Up until now, I could base my writing on existing data
and data gathering from conventional research methods," Lindstrom suggests. "But if you ask
everyone around you what they are smelling in the room right now, it's really tricky because most
of them would not be able to describe it—they cannot define their sensory emotions. We really
needed to find another method."
Through his new neuromarketing data, Lindstrom is discovering that the senses of touch, taste,
smell and sound are much more important than he first thought. "The stronger senses are smell
and sound," Lindstrom says. "These senses are much stronger than we ever thought, more than
anyone in the world thinks they are today. This is most likely going to change the entire way we
are going to build brands in the future, and the way retail is going to build their in-store
experience."
About 15 percent of Lindstrom's study focuses on retail specifically, as he feels one of the biggest
strengths retail has today is that it can be a true sensory experience. "When you buy clothes, the
first thing you do is touch it," Lindstrom explains. "When you buy coffee, you smell it. You use
your senses to log together information in order to evaluate your decision. This is the No. 1
strength retail stores have, and the reason retail stores can justify still being around. It's going to
be even more the reason why they will stay around in the future if they really understand the
sensory dimension to it."
Lindstrom adds the example of Howard Schultz of Starbucks recently closing down all of the
company's stores for three hours to re-establish a sense of smell and re-train the Starbucks
employees. Lindstrom's firm did a research study relating to the senses with Starbucks a few
years back, and the results were staggering. "The No. 1 smell that people associated with
Starbucks was not coffee, but the smell of sour milk," Lindstrom reveals. "The No. 2 sense that
people associated with Starbucks is sound—the sound of noisy coffee-brewing machines. Then
No. 3 was the tactile sensation of the cup. It's not until No. 4 that we get to the smell of coffee—
which is not good news for a coffee chain. That is very much strong evidence that retailers who
really want to justify their existence really need to go back to their roots and examine their
sensory dimensions." Many people have noticed that certain smells sometimes bring up very
strong, clear memories, as if the whole feeling and sense of the original event were coming back
to them. "There is a good reason for that: smell and memory are processed in the same area of
the brain," says Daniel G. Amen, M.D., a clinical neuroscientist and author of "Change Your
Brain, Change Your Life." "Because smells activate neurocircuits in the deep limbic system, they
bring about a more complete recall of events, which gives one access to details of the past with
great clarity."
Neuromarketing, unfortunately, still comes with a stigma in the commercial marketplace—both
from consumers and marketers. Marketers, most of whom went to business school and have had
no exposure to neuroscience, are leery to whole-heartedly accepting new findings. Consumers,
similarly, are not always willing or comfortable with the idea of allowing someone to read what's
happening inside their heads. However, as the technology continues to evolve and the results
continue to dumbfound, it becomes clearly evident that brain mapping will be the means of
unlocking the secrets to consumers' inner emotions that have stupefied retailers and brands for
centuries.
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