The study of the effects a variety of stimuli can have on the brain and how to utilise this information to better optimise a company’s marketing scheme: Neuromarketing.
In other words, neuromarketing uses neuroscience to enhance marketing campaigns.
But is neuromarketing really new?
Officially, the first published study on neuromarketing was in 2003/2004 by Read Montague, testing Pepsi and Coke (spoiler: people prefer Pepsi’s flavour but Coke’s brand).
By 2005, the term neuromarketing was added to the Collins dictionary and continued to fascinate the world despite some voices bringing into question the ethics of neuromarketing (decrying invasion of privacy).
Some are of the opinion that neuromarketing is no different from propaganda. Conditioning, manipulation and constant bombarding on the subconscious, and now also on our conscious. Wanting to persuade a large number of people and being willing to pull every little string to succeed is as old as civilisation. Could it get you fired from a marketing agency? Definitely not!
Does neuromarketing really work? Or is it science fiction?
First of all, neuroscience plays a major role in this new application of creative marketing. Using very simple terminology/diction right now, brain-based tools such as eye-tracking, EEG (electroencephalogram), or fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) are used to conduct studies about the consumers’ brain waves, reactions, emotions, etc. when in contact with a variety of stimuli, or in your company’s case, the product you’re looking to launch. You can then translate this data into detailed info about your target group.
Not only will you know how to modify certain things about your product to achieve better results, but you will also know what concepts, emotions and even colours to use in creative neuromarketing to create a more appealing product.
What does the future have in store for the application of neuromarketing?
How many of you think the future is now? I’m willing to bet a lot of people would agree with me that ever since technology has switched gears into a new speed of advancement, we are in an age of constant transition and increasing speed. What does that mean for creative marketers? With so many new developments and breakthroughs, why not incorporate neuroscience into creative marketing? A quote about neuromarketing for you:
“Most critical to the success of the field of neuromarketing is the necessary generation of empiricist-driven links between bio-measures and behaviours. As these links become clearer, our understanding of unconscious emotional arousal and valence will be able to predict behavioural outcomes more precisely and reliably than ever before. The advancements in information processing, data capture and scientific theory have created the perfect storm to advance the fields of neuromarketing and consumer neuroscience beyond what was once thought possible.” – Kimberly Clark, Merchant Mechanics
