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June 13, 2004

Targeting goes deep - Neuromarketing

Behavioral targeting - trying to predict behavior based on your target's past behavior - is one thing. But now, how about trying to predict behavior based on how your target thinks? That's what Neuromarketing is aiming to do. The current Economist Technology Quarterly has a great review of this new "trend." Bascially, marketing mad scientists are trying to use the tools of neuroscientists, such as electroencephalogram (EEG) mapping and functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI), to learn more about the mental processes behind purchasing decisions. Wild. Talk about Market Research. One company, BrightHouse Neurostrategies Group, claims to "integrate marketing expertise with the most advanced neuroscientific research capabilities and understanding of how the brain thinks, feels and motivates behavior... To offer clients: • More confidence and accuracy in marketing decisions through a better understanding of how the brain mediates consumer preference and purchase behavior • A new, powerful analytical approach & tool for learning what drives consumer behavior at a conscious and subconscious level • Strategic insights and implications that will help establish the foundation for loyal, long-lasting consumer relationships not easily superseded by the competition. Pretty tempting. Lieberman Research is using the technique to test film trailers (which, by the way now show up on T-Shirts). And of course both parties are using it to work to figure out how different voters brains work (better not comment on this or I will get in trouble). This technique is not without controversy. Zack Lynch of Corante is generally positive. "As neurotechnology becomes more precise, all aspects of business, including the art of marketing, will be reinvented. Marketing firms will use brain imaging to understand how and why people buy different products... "neuromarketing" has a long way to go... but with billions of dollars at stake, the search for the brain's "buy button" will definitely be an area of heavy investment." Sean at Patternhunting is a bit spooked by the whole thing, like something out of a novel. Joshua Allen remains skeptical but intrigued. But according to Broken Engine, Neuroscientist Daniel Glaser, of University College, London wonders if Neuromarketing may not be terribly effective: "Lots of companies are seduced by the thought that if you can see into the heads of your consumers you can design products to target them. I think it's premature." I happen to agree with Tim Ambler, a neuromarketing researcher at the London Business School who says: “A tool is a tool, and if the owner of the tool gets a decent rent for hiring it out, then that subsidises the cost of the equipment, and everybody wins.” Marketing tools, no matter how wierd, are only as effective or as scarey as the people who use them.

Posted by johnza at June 13, 2004 09:59 PM

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