Partners Add Neuroscience to Purchasing Measures

US consumer specialist MSW Research (previously McCollum Spielman Worldwide) has announced a partnership with biometric communications measurement firm LABoratory & Co. The two will develop a set of tools to gauge the full spectrum of consumer response to advertising.

LABoratory & Co's patented NEURO TRACE™ methodology combines EEG (electroencephalography) which registers brain waves to reflect consumers' emotional engagement; GSR (galvanic skin response) which identifies whether consumers were energized by an ad; and EMG (electromyography) which tests voluntary and involuntary facial muscles to determine whether an ad is entertaining.

The firm's 'Full Circle Procedure' measures consumers' opinions, along with their neurophysiological reactions (EEG, EMG, GSR), automatic and impulsive responses (reaction times test) and their actual purchase behaviour (shelf test).

MSW offers a full range of brand building research from strategy identification and communications research, through to advertising and brand health tracking, market and media modelling and ROI accountability.

The pair says that merging MSW's cognitive response metrics with LAB's unconscious emotional response biometrics will provide advertisers with insight into the long-term equity of their brands, and the short-term reaction to advertising.

MSW CEO Peter Klein comments: 'With LAB biometrics, our analysts now have a window on the unconscious, revealing those immediate sales triggers, giving our clients competitive insights and a direct connection to the sales drivers for their brands.'

Rafal Ohme, President and founder of LABoratory & Co says the partnership will provide clients with the ability to understand and predict consumers' actions 'far beyond anything that is being done today'.

Web sites: www.mswresearch.com and www.testdifferent.com .