Research Neiimmarketing
Neurosdence and the Asian market
Consumer demand is escalating as new
Asian markets, such as China, India and
Japan open up to the West. Companies
based in Europe and the US are plotting
billions into research so that they can better
understand customer demands in this
region. Brands are beginning to look more
closely at the effectiveness of how they
obtain their information and the techniques
they are using in these territories.
But can clients actually be sure that
what they are receiving is 'fit for purpose'?
It's possible that Western-forged,
traditional research techniques aren't
worth the paper they are written on in
these rapid growth markets. It is time to
re-evaluate how consumers respond to
brands and also bow companies can better
communicate to their customers.
Before we can understand whether
there are fundamental consumer characteristics
which differentiate these markets
and undermine the value of traditional
Western methodologies, we need to look
in-depth at traditional research techniques.
Can they really be applied across different
maritets and cultures?
Almost without exception, traditional
research is limited to probing the conscious
mind, yet we know from neuroscience
that it is the sub-conscious which
drives our actions. The trouble is that it
hasn't been possible for marketers to measure
the sut>conscious in any meaningful
way. As a result, researchers have continued
fishing in the only commercially chartered
pond available - the cognitive.
The cognitive approach
One of the major drawbacks of the cognitive
approach is, of course, its reliance
on the respondent providing honest feedback.
Inherent in the equation is the everpresent
problem of interviewee and
interviewer bias. Companies never quite
know whether the response is what was
really meant.
You can attempt to overcome bias
through the use of skilled moderators
armed with a variety of psychological projective
techniques, designed to look beyond
the stated response and get us closer to
what the consumer actually means. But
this means paying lai^e premiums.
The reality is that even the most intuitive
moderator cannot effectively probe
the subconscious and get close enough
to the core emotional response. Many
researchers are criticised by marketing
and advertising practitioners alike for
being the purveyors of reportage: they
summarise what was said, rather than
what was meant.
The anthropological approach to qualitative
research, from which it was born,
has been consigned to the sidelines
because the custodians of such techniques
are now few and far between. Bill
Schlackman - believed to be one of the
foimding fathers of qualitative research
- and his cohort of born-again 'quallies'
are either in their dotage, retired or an
extreme minority
Moreover, research quality increasingly
suffers for another reason: client
desire for immediacy of project turnaround,
which means the most crucial element
of qualitative research, the analysis
and interpretation, is too often compromised.
Caveat emptor - "let the buyer
beware" - is some companies' response to
qualitative research these days.
But apart from these general drawbacks,
why might traditional research
find extra challenges out East? Consumers
in Eastern markets obviously
have a tendency to respond differently
because of social, cultural mores and
customs. There is often a degree, particularly
in countries such as Japan, to
express the most rational answer, rather
than the truly 'felt' one.
This can be true to some extent in
Western markets too. There are varying
degrees of rationality that you find
expressed in some European countries,
such as Switzerland, Sweden and Germany
This reluctance to display an attitude
going beyond rational characteristics
poses dilficulty in researching for meaningful,
emotionally based responses and
insights.
Additionally, in many Eastern markets,
there is an innate willingness to
please and to avoid confrontation, making
interpretation of responses much
more difficult to decode. Indeed, many
of these markets are extremely complex,
with consumers who have a singular and
confusing mindset when viewed from a
Western marketer's standpoint.
In many areas, responses are also
coloured and compounded by the willingness
in Eastern markets to readily adopt
Western iconography and brands. In many
instances, this has led to local companies
imitating or faking them, a phenomenon
which is particularly relevant in markets
such as alcoholic beverages.
So clients are facing all the general
shortcomings of traditional, cognitive
research but with the extra challenge of
the less familiar and complex articulated
responses in Asian markets. The quest
for truth and obtaining a meaningful
measure of emotional engagement,
involvement and empathy with a brand
or mode of communication is made all
the more difficult.
This is where It is very interesting to
An EEG of brain activity in the left and right hemispheres
brand strategy may 3007
Neummarketing Research
look at how effective a technique such as
neuromarketing can be in Eastern markets.
The technique has some special
characteristics, which may make it particularly
relevant for Asian countries.
First, however, it's important to look
at neuromarketing itself and straighten
out some common misunderstandings
about its application in the commercial
marketplace. The vast number of column
inches devoted to the practice have looked
at how companies could use functional
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scanning)
to understand the consumer mind.
While it may be invaluable in helping
us better understand the inner workings
of tbe brain. MRI is hugely
impractical and inappropriate for actually
assessing consumer responses to
marketing stimulus material. Apart
from excessive cost, the major flaw is the
daunting and disturbing nature of the
respondent experience.
Electroencephalography
Anotlii'inLHiromarkiM ing technique that
brands can apply - although it is not as
glamorous or glitzy as an MRI - is called
electroencephalography (EEG). This
type of practice relies on cause-effect
correlations established tbrough
decades of accumulated academic and
medical studies. It can be used to evaluate
the consumer sub-conscious and
their emotional response.
It is the only non-evasive means of
evaluating real-time attention shifts (see
box for explanation). Its continuous tracking
capability and integrated links with
eye-tracking give EEG the means to measure
emotional responses to a whole array
of vastly different types of stimulus material.
In the context of Asian markets,
when it comes to the specific challenge
of overcoming consumer bias, EEG plays
its trump card.
This is simply that it is not invasive.
Because consumer responses are measured
passively, there is no quizzing or
requirement for an articulated or implied
response. In this wa>; the obstacle of cognitive
bias is effectively sidestepped; companies
get straight to tbe root of
subconscious response - direct, raw and
unfiltered, delivering feedback which is
altogether more meaningful and valuable.
The passive nature of EEG response
measurement means it is especially useful
for conducting certain types of marketing
studies in Eastern markets that
would otherwise be especially difficult
to research successfully, for example,
opinions about creative advertising campaigns.
EEG also opens up the ability to
research not just audio or visual stimulus
but all forms of sensory arousal, such
as aroma, taste and touch.
Interestingly, while neuroscience
studies indicate that the basic processes
by which the brain manages information
are universal and do not vary significantly
across different countries, race
and sex. the nature of the responses will
likely show characteristic patterns
across different cultures.
Although not yet researched exhaustively,
neuroscientists speculate that
there could be a relatively greater
amount of activity in the right hemisphere
of the brain among the Japanese
than among Westerners or a greater
amount of left hemisphere activity
among Westerners than Japanese. This
is linked to findings which suggest that
the Japanese are on average more likely
to show introverted tendencies and Westerners,
extroverted.
Other example areas which will be of
interest to brands include the indications
that Westerners are more likely to apply
formal 'either/or' logic to everyday
events while Easterners are more likely
to entertain two apparently contradictory
ideas in mind at once, Studies also
show that Easterners tend to pay more
attention to the overall context of the
stimulus whereas the Westerner focuses
more on the primary subject.
As the number of studies increases In
Asia on both academic and commercial
levels, more tight will be shed on these
culturally related subconscious response
patterns, helping to provide major
Improvements in interpreting research
outputs. The fact that EEG provides quantified
output measures means that it creates
the capability to database, correlate
and benchmark response patterns against
the relevant normative scores.
The role and use of neuroscience
through EEG in Eastern markets could
help to overcome the special regional cultural
complexities experienced in decoding
conscious responses, allowing a
clearer understanding of how respondents
really think, feel and behave.
Electroencephalography
explained
Electraencephalography (EEG) is the
measurement of the brain's electrlcat
•ctivlty. It involves placing electrodes
on the scalp (although in special
cases, they could also he placed
subdurally or in the cerehal cortex).
The hrain sends electrical signals and
the voltage differences between
different parts of the brain are
measured and recorded. It can do this
on a millisecond by millisecond leveL
Because the study uses electrodes
pbced on the scalp, it is non-invasive,
file person hooked up to the electrodti
doesn't need to make an obvious
'decision* for the machine to log its datai
any responses to stimuli are picked up,
even if they are secretive.
Advantiig«s of EEG:
KG is • relatively quick procedure, it is
•iso non-invasive, so does not cause
major discomfort or alarm to subjects.
It is very quick with its millisecond
measurement system. As It is believed
that the brain functions through
electrical activity, EEG is the only way
to measure this directly.
Disadvantages of EEG:
The scalp electrodes are not sensitive
enough to highlight individual 'action
potentials* or the electric unit of brain
signals. It Is also impossible to tell If
the electrical activity is releasing
Inhibitory, excitatory or modulatory
neurotransmitters - all of which could
indicate quite different intentions, it
also has limited anatomical specificity,
so it Is hard to tell exactly where the
source of the electrical activity comes
from within the brain.
It is worth considering whether applying
neuroscience techniques in Asian
markets could be an interesting step forward
for your brand. Already, the consumer
goods, luxury products, car
manufacturing and entertainment sectors
seem to be out in front in tbe early
stages of adoption. It's time for more
brands to get those grey cells woriiing. •
Thorn Noble is managing director at
agency Neuroco. www.neuroco.com
brand itntagy may 3007
Neurosdence and the Asian market
Consumer demand is escalating as new
Asian markets, such as China, India and
Japan open up to the West. Companies
based in Europe and the US are plotting
billions into research so that they can better
understand customer demands in this
region. Brands are beginning to look more
closely at the effectiveness of how they
obtain their information and the techniques
they are using in these territories.
But can clients actually be sure that
what they are receiving is 'fit for purpose'?
It's possible that Western-forged,
traditional research techniques aren't
worth the paper they are written on in
these rapid growth markets. It is time to
re-evaluate how consumers respond to
brands and also bow companies can better
communicate to their customers.
Before we can understand whether
there are fundamental consumer characteristics
which differentiate these markets
and undermine the value of traditional
Western methodologies, we need to look
in-depth at traditional research techniques.
Can they really be applied across different
maritets and cultures?
Almost without exception, traditional
research is limited to probing the conscious
mind, yet we know from neuroscience
that it is the sub-conscious which
drives our actions. The trouble is that it
hasn't been possible for marketers to measure
the sut>conscious in any meaningful
way. As a result, researchers have continued
fishing in the only commercially chartered
pond available - the cognitive.
The cognitive approach
One of the major drawbacks of the cognitive
approach is, of course, its reliance
on the respondent providing honest feedback.
Inherent in the equation is the everpresent
problem of interviewee and
interviewer bias. Companies never quite
know whether the response is what was
really meant.
You can attempt to overcome bias
through the use of skilled moderators
armed with a variety of psychological projective
techniques, designed to look beyond
the stated response and get us closer to
what the consumer actually means. But
this means paying lai^e premiums.
The reality is that even the most intuitive
moderator cannot effectively probe
the subconscious and get close enough
to the core emotional response. Many
researchers are criticised by marketing
and advertising practitioners alike for
being the purveyors of reportage: they
summarise what was said, rather than
what was meant.
The anthropological approach to qualitative
research, from which it was born,
has been consigned to the sidelines
because the custodians of such techniques
are now few and far between. Bill
Schlackman - believed to be one of the
foimding fathers of qualitative research
- and his cohort of born-again 'quallies'
are either in their dotage, retired or an
extreme minority
Moreover, research quality increasingly
suffers for another reason: client
desire for immediacy of project turnaround,
which means the most crucial element
of qualitative research, the analysis
and interpretation, is too often compromised.
Caveat emptor - "let the buyer
beware" - is some companies' response to
qualitative research these days.
But apart from these general drawbacks,
why might traditional research
find extra challenges out East? Consumers
in Eastern markets obviously
have a tendency to respond differently
because of social, cultural mores and
customs. There is often a degree, particularly
in countries such as Japan, to
express the most rational answer, rather
than the truly 'felt' one.
This can be true to some extent in
Western markets too. There are varying
degrees of rationality that you find
expressed in some European countries,
such as Switzerland, Sweden and Germany
This reluctance to display an attitude
going beyond rational characteristics
poses dilficulty in researching for meaningful,
emotionally based responses and
insights.
Additionally, in many Eastern markets,
there is an innate willingness to
please and to avoid confrontation, making
interpretation of responses much
more difficult to decode. Indeed, many
of these markets are extremely complex,
with consumers who have a singular and
confusing mindset when viewed from a
Western marketer's standpoint.
In many areas, responses are also
coloured and compounded by the willingness
in Eastern markets to readily adopt
Western iconography and brands. In many
instances, this has led to local companies
imitating or faking them, a phenomenon
which is particularly relevant in markets
such as alcoholic beverages.
So clients are facing all the general
shortcomings of traditional, cognitive
research but with the extra challenge of
the less familiar and complex articulated
responses in Asian markets. The quest
for truth and obtaining a meaningful
measure of emotional engagement,
involvement and empathy with a brand
or mode of communication is made all
the more difficult.
This is where It is very interesting to
An EEG of brain activity in the left and right hemispheres
brand strategy may 3007
Neummarketing Research
look at how effective a technique such as
neuromarketing can be in Eastern markets.
The technique has some special
characteristics, which may make it particularly
relevant for Asian countries.
First, however, it's important to look
at neuromarketing itself and straighten
out some common misunderstandings
about its application in the commercial
marketplace. The vast number of column
inches devoted to the practice have looked
at how companies could use functional
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scanning)
to understand the consumer mind.
While it may be invaluable in helping
us better understand the inner workings
of tbe brain. MRI is hugely
impractical and inappropriate for actually
assessing consumer responses to
marketing stimulus material. Apart
from excessive cost, the major flaw is the
daunting and disturbing nature of the
respondent experience.
Electroencephalography
Anotlii'inLHiromarkiM ing technique that
brands can apply - although it is not as
glamorous or glitzy as an MRI - is called
electroencephalography (EEG). This
type of practice relies on cause-effect
correlations established tbrough
decades of accumulated academic and
medical studies. It can be used to evaluate
the consumer sub-conscious and
their emotional response.
It is the only non-evasive means of
evaluating real-time attention shifts (see
box for explanation). Its continuous tracking
capability and integrated links with
eye-tracking give EEG the means to measure
emotional responses to a whole array
of vastly different types of stimulus material.
In the context of Asian markets,
when it comes to the specific challenge
of overcoming consumer bias, EEG plays
its trump card.
This is simply that it is not invasive.
Because consumer responses are measured
passively, there is no quizzing or
requirement for an articulated or implied
response. In this wa>; the obstacle of cognitive
bias is effectively sidestepped; companies
get straight to tbe root of
subconscious response - direct, raw and
unfiltered, delivering feedback which is
altogether more meaningful and valuable.
The passive nature of EEG response
measurement means it is especially useful
for conducting certain types of marketing
studies in Eastern markets that
would otherwise be especially difficult
to research successfully, for example,
opinions about creative advertising campaigns.
EEG also opens up the ability to
research not just audio or visual stimulus
but all forms of sensory arousal, such
as aroma, taste and touch.
Interestingly, while neuroscience
studies indicate that the basic processes
by which the brain manages information
are universal and do not vary significantly
across different countries, race
and sex. the nature of the responses will
likely show characteristic patterns
across different cultures.
Although not yet researched exhaustively,
neuroscientists speculate that
there could be a relatively greater
amount of activity in the right hemisphere
of the brain among the Japanese
than among Westerners or a greater
amount of left hemisphere activity
among Westerners than Japanese. This
is linked to findings which suggest that
the Japanese are on average more likely
to show introverted tendencies and Westerners,
extroverted.
Other example areas which will be of
interest to brands include the indications
that Westerners are more likely to apply
formal 'either/or' logic to everyday
events while Easterners are more likely
to entertain two apparently contradictory
ideas in mind at once, Studies also
show that Easterners tend to pay more
attention to the overall context of the
stimulus whereas the Westerner focuses
more on the primary subject.
As the number of studies increases In
Asia on both academic and commercial
levels, more tight will be shed on these
culturally related subconscious response
patterns, helping to provide major
Improvements in interpreting research
outputs. The fact that EEG provides quantified
output measures means that it creates
the capability to database, correlate
and benchmark response patterns against
the relevant normative scores.
The role and use of neuroscience
through EEG in Eastern markets could
help to overcome the special regional cultural
complexities experienced in decoding
conscious responses, allowing a
clearer understanding of how respondents
really think, feel and behave.
Electroencephalography
explained
Electraencephalography (EEG) is the
measurement of the brain's electrlcat
•ctivlty. It involves placing electrodes
on the scalp (although in special
cases, they could also he placed
subdurally or in the cerehal cortex).
The hrain sends electrical signals and
the voltage differences between
different parts of the brain are
measured and recorded. It can do this
on a millisecond by millisecond leveL
Because the study uses electrodes
pbced on the scalp, it is non-invasive,
file person hooked up to the electrodti
doesn't need to make an obvious
'decision* for the machine to log its datai
any responses to stimuli are picked up,
even if they are secretive.
Advantiig«s of EEG:
KG is • relatively quick procedure, it is
•iso non-invasive, so does not cause
major discomfort or alarm to subjects.
It is very quick with its millisecond
measurement system. As It is believed
that the brain functions through
electrical activity, EEG is the only way
to measure this directly.
Disadvantages of EEG:
The scalp electrodes are not sensitive
enough to highlight individual 'action
potentials* or the electric unit of brain
signals. It Is also impossible to tell If
the electrical activity is releasing
Inhibitory, excitatory or modulatory
neurotransmitters - all of which could
indicate quite different intentions, it
also has limited anatomical specificity,
so it Is hard to tell exactly where the
source of the electrical activity comes
from within the brain.
It is worth considering whether applying
neuroscience techniques in Asian
markets could be an interesting step forward
for your brand. Already, the consumer
goods, luxury products, car
manufacturing and entertainment sectors
seem to be out in front in tbe early
stages of adoption. It's time for more
brands to get those grey cells woriiing. •
Thorn Noble is managing director at
agency Neuroco. www.neuroco.com
brand itntagy may 3007
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