Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing-
an introduction

Submitted by:
Suresh Tolani
Varun Choudhary
 In search for understanding
consumer behaviour
“Marketing and environmental stimuli enter the consumer’s
consciousness [and/or subconsciousness]. A set of
psychological processes combine with certain consumer
characteristics to result in decision processes and purchase
decisions.

The marketer’s task is to understand what happens in the

customer’s consciousness… [and/or subconsciousness]
between the arrival of the outside marketing stimuli and the
ultimate purchase decision.”
Kotler and Keller (2006, p.:184)

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 The emergence
of neuromarketing

 Neuromarketing

 Neuroscience

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 Defining neuromarketing

“By studying activity in the brain, neuromarketing combines the

techniques of neuroscience and clinical psychology to develop
insights into how we respond to products, brands, and
advertisement. From this, marketers hope to understand the subtle
nuances that distinguish a dud pitch from a successful campaign.”
Mucha (2005, p.: 36)

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 The scientific background (1)
 fMRI - functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
 developed in the early 90s

 apparatus allows the precise

tracing of areas activated in the
brain responding to stimuli

 3D-Encode: activated regions appear

in multiple colour

 originally applied to detect the location

of illnesses, e.g. headaches, paralysis
and seizures in the human brain 5
 The scientific background (2)
 QEEG – quantified electroencephalography
(an alternative to fMRI)

„…established that aspects

cognition and emotional
responses to
commercial messages
[below the level of
conscious awareness], can be successfully monitored in real
time and analysed with sufficient depth and accuracy to
provide an invaluable window on their [consumers‘] inner
decision making process.“
Lewis (2005/2006, p.:5)

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 Neuromarketing-
researching consumer behaviour (1)
 neuromarketing is based on neuro-scientific consumer
research and the assumption that the majority of consumer
behaviour is made subconsciously

 what motivates consumers to purchase a certain product?

 self-esteem
 emotions
 consumption experience
 goal-directed behaviour
 external influences

 it starts, where traditional consumer research techniques end–

in the consumer‘s brain
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 Neuromarketing-
its potential impact on promotion campaigns
Sponsoring
Posters/billboards
-location
-celebrities
-duration -events

TV/ radio adverts

-channels/stations
-time slots Web adverts
-duration Freebies/
-contents
promotion extras
-location
-product choice

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 Neuromarketing-
its potential impact on advertisement designs

Poster/billboards
Radio promotion
size sports person

balance music
information/entertainment

slogan/message colour length voice

arrangement
TV advertisement

balance information/entertainment colour arrangement

length image

product focus voice/music

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 Neuromarketing-
its potential impact on product development
 flavour

 smell

 colour

 health/fashion
trends

 identifiying new
target groups

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 Neuromarketing-
its potential impact on product packaging/design

 logo

 colour scheme

 packaging materials

 packaging size

 limited editions

 smell

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 Neuromarketing-
its potential impact on distribution
 shelving

 product grouping

 special offers

 smell

 music

 general atmosphere

 availability

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 Neuromarketing-
between hype and reality (1)
 Technological limitations:
 7% of patients/test subjects worldwide are not suitable for brain scans
 noise and density of apparatus might prevent some test subjects from taking part in
experiments
 falsified results due to apprehensiveness
 apparatus is large and inflexible (artificial environment)
 tests require medical supervision
 due to time and money constraints, only a small number of test subjects can be scanned

 General limitations:
 accurate measurements of brain activities are limited Michel (2004/2005)
 certain emotions cannot be clearly differentiated Kurfer (2006)
 analysis of collected data still remains an enigma Reynolds (2006), Ahlert (2005)
 neuromarketing without future: Walter, Adler, Ciaramidaro and Erk (2005)

1. Consumer behaviour cannot be recreated in laboratory

2. Time & costs prevent the testing of a great number of individuals
3. Brain activities cannot be measured against the will of test subjects
4. Ethical issues should not be solely reduced to neuromarketing

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 Neuromarketing-
between hype and reality (2)

“…marketing executives are hoping to

use neuroscience to design
better selling techniques.
[…]neuroscience techniques are being exploited by savvy
consulting companies intent on finding ‘the buy button in
the brain’, and is on the verge of creating advertising
campaigns that we will be unable to resist.”
Editorial of nature neuroscience (2004, p.: 683)
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 Neuromarketing-
between hype and reality (3)
 it appears to be less transforming the existing fundamentals
of the marketing discipline, as it is rather a neuro-scientific
consumer research technique, with the potential to add
significantly to marketers‘ current understanding of consumer
behaviour

 it introduces the subconscious perspective with the potential

to reform and extend quantitative research

 it might be the first technique, which allows the inclusion of

the environment into quantitative research

 a response error of test subject is non-existent

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