STORES Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 55)

WORTH WATCHING / MARKETING Marketing’s Next (Brain) Wave Founder says neuromarketing is the Holy Grail BY SUSAN REDA, EXECUTIVE EDITOR elying only on visual appeal is so 20th century. If you really want to get into the minds of consumers, it might be time to consider neuromarketing. R At Sands Research, an El Paso, Texasbased company, scientists-turned-marketers are monitoring the brain activity of individuals in a lab setting to determine which television and print advertisements spark interest — and which fall flat. “There’s a whole lot of science behind the process, but basically we can quickly give marketers feedback on whether an ad will click with consumers, at what point a commercial begins to generate a response and how long that engagement is sustained,” says company founder Stephen Sands. “We measure engagement.” And, that’s just the beginning. The technology provides a plethora of objective measurements which, when applied to target demographic groups, provide unique insight into audience perception and the decision-making process. One of the first retailers to put the company’s methods to the test was Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club division. Executives preparing to launch a green initiative contracted with Sands Research to determine which of a series of potential logos would yield the strongest response. “We were able to present them with a series of data points, including physiological response and recall, that helped in the selection of a logo,” Sands says. Conducting real-time brain imaging requires some fairly high-tech hardware and software. Subjects wear caps with electrodes that are linked to WWW.STORES.ORG electroencephalagraphy (EEG) equipment, which measures and records brain activity in millisecond increments. The accompanying software provides the user with numerous forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain views; activity is displayed using flashes of red and yellow color that correspond to the area engaged by the stimuli. Since different parts of the brain are associated with different functions, there’s much to be learned from these responses. The company recently put its approach to the test by conducting research on commercials aired during the Super Bowl. Pepsi’s “Bob’s House,” Coke’s “Balloons” and Bud Light’s “Fly” resViewer Response and Recall: Most Influential Factors Duration of the commercial Sequence schedule of the commercial onated most strongly in terms of physiological response and brand recall. The Pepsi ad earned the top spot due to the viewer participation that its subtitles required, “as well as the novelty of a commercial conducted in sign language,” Sands says. Overall, Sands Research found that the most influential factors in determining viewer response and recall were the duration of the commercial (15, 30 or 60 seconds) and the sequence with which the commercial aired (viewers demonstrated greater response and recall to those commercials that aired closer to the beginning of the game). “Furthermore, we found that brand recall improved significantly if a company had two or more commercial spots during the game,” Sands says. In-store and online applications Along with providing insight for retail marketers, Sands feels there are other opportunities to engage this research. For starters, it’s possible to conduct neuromarketing analysis in a store setting and thus determine where people are looking, what they’re paying attention to and what sparks a response. It’s also possible to apply research to online shopping, determining how the brain responds based on interaction with the data on the screen. Sands insists it could go a long way to reducing shopping cart abandonment rates. “Measuring a neurological response cuts away the social aspects of testing,” he says. “With real-time brain imaging we can help marketers determine if they want to allocate more resources to a particular ad or approach or try something different.” “We’re tracking brain activity in real time, as well as eye movement,” Sands says. “That’s the Holy Grail for marStORES keters.” STORES / APRIL 2008 55 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - April 2008

STORES Magazine - April 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page More Retailers Bagging Monthly Comp-Store Reports Time-Warner Center's Economy-Defying Results What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Eating Locally Grocery Concept2Watch Restaurants Online Services Marketing Human Resources Product Lifecycle Management E-Commerce: Peer Reviews Drive Online Buyers Kiosks Recycling Operations Payment Systems POS Logistics E-Commerce: Getting Personal Website Management LOEB Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.