Branding Strategy Insider

Brain Scan Strategy vs. Tobacco Marketers

Ever wondered people still keep puffing away despite the fact that we’re better informed about the dangers of smoking than ever before? And despite the fact that there are no ads around? And despite the fact that you can’t consider smoking inside but instead have to relegate yourself to a corner with nothing but a seedy over-filled ashtray for company?

I wondered why smoking remained so prevalent, given all these discouraging factors. My intrigue helped inspire part of the world’s largest neuromarketing study ever undertaken. Project Buyology scanned the brains of smokers as they were exposed to all the stuff we thought should be encouraging them to quit smoking. Like dire health warnings on the cigarette packs and those nastily graphic anti-smoking commercials.

The shocking revelation from this part of the study was that, as you will have noticed yourself, the health warnings and anti-smoking messages have no effect at all in helping people give up the habit. Even more astounding is the finding that these health warnings and other ostensibly discouraging messages have the opposite effect entirely. Instead of helping people to quit smoking, they in fact encourage them to smoke even more. At least, this is what the most sophisticated brain scanning now tells us.

Neuro-Marketing's Limits and Advertising Creativity

 
As a cognitive anthropologist, who some 20 years ago traded backpack and quinine for Dramamine and a Hartmann three-suitor, I consult with marketers to assess the base beliefs and longings of various publics. 

My method is to talk to people as people, not consumers. In that way, I learn about how they transform the world into their world. The twists of paradox, compartmentalization and irony are always exquisitely on display. 

By-passing Langauage- Straight to the Brain  

Recently, a client asked me to work with a company that is using brain wave activity, or measures of blood flow in the brain, to assess central nervous system response to certain advertisements and products. The idea being to bypass consumers' language and rational thought in the name of metrics, and its lookalike, objectivity. 

What I discovered was that no matter how good the scientists were at designing stimuli and reading fMRI results, the very best they could do for our client was to warn them what to eliminate from their ads. The advice garnered from peering under the consumer's skull could only suggest what NOT to do. Unfortunately, the data from their procedure could not help us to determine what TO DO to enhance an advertisement's effectiveness. 

Brands And The Brain: The 4 Second Factor

Suddenly, you see it everywhere – in airports, hotels, restaurants, and of course, in most public bathrooms. It’s on sale in corner kiosks, wedged conspicuously between the gum and People magazine. And in a blink, it’s been seamlessly integrated into life as an essential everyday item. Just five years ago, the product never existed anywhere, and yet if you were to conduct a straw poll, most would confide that they simply couldn’t live without it.

I’m not talking about the iPod or the Blackberry, or even your favourite pair of Crocs – I’m talking about antibacterial hand gel – the kind you can squirt whenever you feel the need to cleanse.  From what I see around me, a lot of people seem to be feeling pretty dirty these days.

It’s a phenomenon prompted by bird flu and swine flu. Ironically, neither virus can be prevented by sanitary wipes or cleansing gels, since both are spread through minute droplets sneezed or coughed out by someone who’s infected. But the thought of contagious diseases that have the capacity to kill has driven us into a sanitation spin.

A while back I conducted an experiment on NBC’s ‘Today’ show.  It involved scanning a woman named Kelly’s brain as she walked down the supermarket aisle.  The objective was to study her thought patterns as she made a selection from the thousands of products on offer.  Supermarket executives closely monitored the large screens displaying Kelly’s brain activity as she engaged in her choices. They were thrilled with her selection of brands, and applauded her decision-making processes.

Neuroscience and Brand Connections

As neuroscience opens the brain to marketers' scrutiny, the electrical flashes that arise in response to stimuli make it increasingly apparent that what drives purchase decision making is actually a primal mechanism of the mind -attachment. This signal of a potent emotional attachment is the foundation for brand success. It's a form of primal brand magic, built on a near-mythical brand story that unconsciously transports one from the mundane to the imaginational, transforming our inner world and inspiring us to buy.

A brand experience has the potential to actually transform our brain chemistry. The experience of a product/service and its messaging, can be transformational in a sensory way and emotionally. More importantly, at the end of a satisfying product experience, our feelings have been transformed into a strong emotional attachment (magical/mystical bond) that endures until proven otherwise.

Fostering magical brand connections is particularly important in this "new normal" era of consumer frugality because an emotional connection creates consumers loyalty. But how can CMOs begin the quest for the
magic brand grail. These three keys will unlock the doors to begin the journey.

1. Understand the "right brain" of your category.

Did You Know? - December 29

Well-known brands activate positive emotional responses in our brains. -- Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study areas of the brain affected by visual stimuli associated with strong and weak brands. -- "Brain branding" is an interdisciplinary approach to improve understanding of how the mind perceives and processes brands.

Source: Radiological Society of North America

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

Shopping Centers in the Brain

As reported in the January 4, 2007 Issue of Neuron, Brian Knutson and his team performed functional MRI on individuals while they were deciding whether or not to purchase various items. Their results support the theory that the decision to purchase involves the integration of emotional signals related to the anticipation of both obtaining the desired product and suffering the financial loss of paying for it.

Sponsored By: Brand Aid