Dr. Carl Marci Dr. Marci is co-founder and CEO of Innerscope Research. He is on faculty at Harvard Medical School and is a former Visiting Lecturer at the MIT Media Lab. Read the full biography here.

Applying Science to Business
Using Neuromarketing for Educated Decision-Making

By Dr. Carl Marci, - 23 November, 2009

First and foremost, emotions matter.  This may sound anecdotal, but for neuromarketing, it is the core science.  Emotions drive our behavior at many levels.

We, as human beings, are bombarded with information at an incredible rate, even when we are just going through a daily routine. 

To put the sheer quantity of messaging in perspective, consider the average television commercial.

Our emotions help us interpret and navigate this onslaught of messaging; tagging stimuli as relevant and highly engaging or irrelevant and forgettable (ie, not worthy of additional brain resources). 

Secondly, it is a simple fact of neuroscience that we are not aware of the billions of neurons processing information around us. However, our minds and bodies are unconsciously responding to this neuronal activity continuously. These responses can be seen by monitoring our heart rate, respiration, perspiration, and movement.

Our emotions help us interpret this onslaught of messaging…

When the unconscious measures are collected in response to media and marketing stimuli, they tell a story about the consumer experience. That story is incredibly valuable to marketing professionals and to anyone making business decisions that drive consumer behavior.

Given the cluttered world in which we live, businesses want to do everything possible to make their advertising fall into that category of relevant and highly engaging.

Looking at emotional engagement through the measurement of unconscious biometric response can help answer questions that keep marketers up at night:

		Which creative concept will resonate best with my target audience?
		Does my message and the creative in which it is delivered have ‘stopping power’?
		Will the audience be activated to seek out more information about my product?
		Where should I make my media buy (TV, print, online) in order to have the most impact?

The questions can also be very specific to an individual company.  For example, MTV Networks had a problem and needed help.

MTV Networks needed a case for how the gaming space is an effective advertising option.

The company owns and operates some of today’s most visited and well-known casual gaming web sites, such as AddictingGames and Shockwave. However, traditional ad sales and integrated marketing models were not generating the desired level of revenue. Advertisers were unable to see the value of placing ads in online games.

MTV Networks needed a stronger case for how the casual gaming space is an effective advertising option. The firm brought in Innerscope Research to study the effectiveness of messaging methods by combining biometric and eye tracking research with traditional self-report techniques.

The goal? Guidelines for advertising in the online gaming environment. Where should banner ads be placed? What is the appropriate duration of a pre-roll video? Is integrated messaging in games actually engaging?

The study was designed as a natural gaming experience – a test group of target online gamers playing four casual games with three versions of the advertising/branding approach. Throughout the experience, biometric and eye tracking data were collected to gauge emotional impact and visual attention.

What did MTV Networks learn?

		Game type affects emotional engagement levels and focused attention levels. The company can now customize recommendations for advertisers, based on the different advertising environments of ‘cognitive’ games and ‘action-oriented’ games.
		Eye tracking data showed that casual gaming generates 95% - 99% focused attention from the player. This means the company can offer advertisers an audience of 20-million unique viewers, playing games of their choice and actually primed for relevant messaging through ads.
		Players are also emotionally engaged during the intermediary screens and pre-roll video, particularly when a game loads or the player achieves a new level or a high score. This reward moment is an optimal time for brands or targeted messages to become the hero in that emotional rush of ‘Congratulations!’

Applying neuromarketing helps firms make educated decisions about customer communications.

MTV Networks and Innerscope recently published these study findings, as well as others, in a paper presented at the ESOMAR 2009 Online Research Conference. The company was enthusiastic about applying the principles of neuroscience through biometrics, citing the fact that the study itself has ‘fundamentally changed the way that (they) are now doing business in the casual gaming space at MTV Networks’.

Neuromarketing that includes biometrics and eye tracking leverages techniques that have been used in the medical and scientific communities for more than 50 years. The key is in thoughtfully applying this knowledge and technology to the marketing world – helping businesses make educated decisions about communicating with their customers.

Dr. Carl Marci

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