The Science Behind Neuromarketing
Transcript of The Science Behind Neuromarketing
The Science Behind Neuromarketing and Sands Research’s Neuro-Engagement Factor™
October 2009
The Science Behind Sands Research
Founders of Sands Research Inc. previously built the largest research EEG software and equipment manufacturer in the world with over 2,500 medical and research facilities using their products.
Sands Research has designed and developed proprietary EEG recording equipment and Neuromedia software for use in neuromarketing research studies.
Our methodologies, processes and analyses are completely transparent and validated by the scientific community worldwide. No Black Box Methods.
Capturing and Measuring Neurological Activity
We record full spectrum EEG utilizing 68 channel electrode array caps
Brain activity is time-locked with marketing stimulus
Eye-tracking is synchronized with EEG to identify targets creating engagement
Neurophysiological data is integrated with standardized behavioral testing
Sands Research designs, manufactures and utilizes it’s own proprietary neuroscience equipment and software for the collection of the brain electrical activity
Participants sit in a comfortable chair and living room type atmosphere during testing or can be outfitted with a portable EEG recorder and Eye-tracking equipment
The Cap can be concealed for use in mobile, real-world recording situations
In the Lab or Mobile
Science Behind Neuromarketing….
Brainwave signal response to a 30 second television commercial
EEG Data is Collected and Displayed
Brainwave activity is collected in real-time from each of the electrode sites and then localization of the response to the media being presented is performed. In order to determine the location of the activity within the brain, advanced signal processing techniques are used to determine the location of that activity's source.
What is Neurological Engagement?Neurons firing (electrophysiological measurements through EEG) in response to a specific stimuli (media) . Bottom line is if neurons are not firing, the brain is not engaged and neurological functions, such as memory, attention, language processing and emotion are not taking place.
VERY ENGAGED SLIGHTLY ENGAGED
Just A Few Seconds To Engage
The first seconds are critical to engagement. The Viewer’s frontal lobe (red) which performs
executive functions related to memory and planning communicates to the parietal lobe (yellow) that integrates sensory information
which in response determines the level of brain activity to be deployed.
How Engaged Was the Viewer?
Within 800 milliseconds this inter lobe communication takes place.
Within 4 seconds the viewer’s decision is made on how much engagement to devote to the material presented.
After the 800 millisecond spike and follow up 4 second decision window, the brainwave signal activity will stay on a high plateau (sustained power function) if the viewer is engaged or decline or fluctuate, sometimes rapidly, if viewer is inattentive.
Increased activity directly correlates to increased unaided recall.
Neuro-Engagement Factor TM (NEF)
Sands Research has developed a Neuro- Engagement Factor scoring system based on this level of engaged response to the presentation material.
The NEF score is then compared against our growing proprietary database of hundreds of commercials with thousands of participants.
Party Starter: 3.73Lime: 3.78
Flying: 2.46
Opera: 3.11
Fire: 2.97
What is NEF? Elegant in its Simplicity
As discussed previously, engagement is the level of increased brain activity, regardless of its location, activated by the stimulus versus the at rest “noise” level. As you can see below, there is a very high correlation between EEG measured brain activity and advertising recall.
And the NEF score is……
The Sands’ Neuro-Engagement Factor (NEF)™ is simply a television commercial’s average number of standard deviations from that “noise” level .
In our experience after collecting data for 600+ commercials those that:
Scored at a 2 or below are nearly invisible;
A majority of the commercials achieve a score of about 3;
And those achieving levels of 4 or above are extremely engaging and thus powerful in unaided recall and very memorable.
Concept Copy testing – Animatics and Storyboards to Final Product
(Scene by Scene – Second by Second)
During animatic testing we learn: Does the storyline engage? Is the ad confusing or busy? Does the music engage? Does the product integration work? Do the branding moments engage? Will they remember the ad or brand?
During storyboard testing we learn: Does the concept engage? Is the concept confusing or busy? Do the branding moments engage? Will they remember the ad or brand ? Is the concept worth developing further
Memory Related Metrics Through a combination of EEG events and unaided recall we can determine what
brands and marketing elements encode into the long term memory of participants. Optimization of brand position and connection between the brand and it’s strategy:
Did they remember the brand? Did they remember the package or marketing of the product?
Emotion Related Metrics With the Eye-tracking and EEG events that correspond to the emotional regions, we can
determine exactly when an emotional event occurred and what they were looking at. By using those neurophysiological events we can question participants (on-screen)
further about which emotions were created and how they made them feel about the brand/product.
Purchase Intent Related Metrics By questioning participants (on-screen) about the brand and products post EEG, we
can balance and unify a cohesive data set that allows us to determine purchase intent and the actual likelihood of long term brand loyalty:
Target Product vs. Competitors? Short Term vs. Long Term Intention?
Integration of Neurophysiology and Behavioral Data
What can ruin a good ad from the neurological perspective?
Ad Burnout General declines in both Engagement and Sustained Responses More work is being done in this arena to
determine long-term burnout rates
Confusing Graphics & Scene Changes
Engagement declines when too much is happening
Detouring from the storyline Keeping it simple visually Separating product from the person (Example on right of eye-tracking with EEG)
Example A
•• Female scientist interrupting enhances initial responseFemale scientist interrupting enhances initial response
•• Performed well in EUR and USA Performed well in EUR and USA
Comments:Comments:
•• Largest responses are to the character interactionsLargest responses are to the character interactions
CountryCountry RankRank NEFNEF RecallRecall PreferencePreference IntentIntent
USAUSA 33 3.53.5 N/AN/A 2.52.5 2.72.7
EUREUR 11 4.34.3 78.178.1 2.32.3 2.62.6
Click above to play (USA)
Click above to play (IRE)
•• Strong response to cleaning animation Strong response to cleaning animation
A Comprehensive Report
Working closely with your team, Sands’ analysts provide an in-depth review of the results and will work with you from start to finish in achieving the best possible outcome.
Other Capabilities Print ads, Packaging & Logos
Randomized presentation of logo candidates to participants, via computer
Multidimensional scaling to determine how participants categorize logos
Analysis of brain response for each logo, relative to multidimensional scaling and paired trials
Final candidates selected based on a combination of behavioral and physiological data
Mobile EEG and Eye-Tracking Simultaneous EEG and Eye Tracking (Wireless Technology)
Most equipment is concealed and very lightweight
Used in Theme Parks, Retail stores, Restaurants, Car clinics, Hospitality & Resort
Our Philosophy in Practice
Sands Research believes in a conservative, results-driven interpretation of neurological data when performing analysis in a marketing environment
Our analysis provides neurological objective results that add a rich and informative measure of neurological engagement to create a complete picture of your target market
We save our customers (be they corporate advertisers, advertising agencies or market research firms) both time and money
We build a case with empirical results that can be both replicated and validated
Our Philosophy: Get it Right, Before it Goes to Market
For further information on our Neuromarketing services
of Sands Research, Inc.
888-267-6087 ext. 812
www.sandsresearch.com
Contact Us