Neuromarketing: What the Human Brain Means to Your Campaign
Neuromarketing companies fall into three broad categories based on technique:
fMRI scanning: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanners, weighing in at about 32 tons and costing about $3 million each, measure the level of blood flow to various regions of the brain, showing researchers where the action is.
The ability to provide location-based brain mapping is the primary advantage of fMRI scanning. When researchers expose test subjects to stimuli, they can see exactly which areas of the brain respond.
However, fMRI scanning is expensive—individual sessions can run $15,000 for a test group of 20 subjects. Test subjects are constricted inside the narrow fMRI tube, and since even minute head movements can pollute the results, their movements are restricted, and those restrictions may bias the results. Most importantly, fMRI techniques suffer from time lag due to the delayed response in blood flow to the brain and the time it takes to capture the image.
EEG and biometrics: Electroencephalography (EEG) measures the electrical activity of the brain as recorded by electrodes placed on the scalp. Test subjects wear caps wired with up to 128 sensors designed to capture electrical signals from the brain—2,000 measurements per second, with upwards of 1 billion data points collected for one 30-second television spot. The technology is less intrusive than fMRI and about a third less costly. Companies can perform EEG monitoring on a group of test subjects for about the same cost as a typical focus group.
Among the drawbacks is the poor spatial resolution of EEG brain scans. Electrical activity in the brain is measured almost instantaneously but the poor spatial resolution leaves researchers guessing as to which deeper regions of the brain are active.
Applied neuroscience: Applied neuroscience involves no brain scanning at all. Rather, these firms use the foundations of neuroscience to train marketers and sales teams to design pitches, offers and marketing messages that appeal to the brain on a subconscious level.
via Neuromarketing: What the Human Brain Means to Your Campaign.
