'Neuro' Caution

The shopper searches the shelf, lifts the package, and her frontal lobe “lights up.” Is that good or bad? Does capturing this data prove anything? Or is it only open to interpretation?So begins the debate on the merits of neuroscience as applied to shopper marketing. Opinions vary, ranging from one marketer saying the practice provides “greater precision” to others bringing phrases such as “mental engineering” into the discussion. And while major brands use it to get to insights they couldn’t have reached any other way, some aren’t willing to talk about it, perhaps for fear of consumer backlash.Much-Needed TransparencyNeuromarketing is not new, but recent advances in technology have made it possible to measure emotional, cognitive and physiological reactions to marketing stimuli in stores and on real shopping excursions, rather than in laboratory and virtual settings. As the practice advances, both its research methods – facial coding; biometrics; electroencephalography, or EEG; facial electromyography; functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI; eye tracking – and analysis techniques have multiplied. That led the Advertising Research Foundation to launch a NeuroStandards Collaboration Project in September 2010 to provide “much-needed transparency” about biometric and neurological research methods used to analyze consumer response to products and promotions.According to ARF’s initial findings, “Even though neuromarketing research has made remarkable progress during the last decade, both the underlying science and the application of the science to marketing are still developing, and there are a number of questions and concerns that surround the field.” Among the concerns: neuro-suppliers might be presenting interpretations as scientific fact.ARF invited neuro-suppliers to take part in the project and have independent neuroscientists assess their methods, interpretations and conclusions. Eight suppliers signed up. The scientists’ evaluations, and the suppliers’ responses, are the subject of an ARF report that was due out this summer. But in a presentation at ARF’s NeuroStandards Retreat in January, a participant from Colgate-Palmolive told suppliers in no uncertain terms that they needed to make clearer distinctions between hypotheses, interpretations and solid findings.Open for InterpretationGiven the complexity of the science underlying the research methods, marketers have difficulty assessing what is actually a valid scientific conclusion and what is merely interpretation, some experts say. The research produces outputs, such as brain images with the frontal lobe all lit up. “It’s easy to look at this data and think it’s hard science, but it’s actually data that has to be interpreted by somebody,” says project participant Janet Rose, strategic planning director of the Springdale, Ark.-based shopper marketing agency Saatchi & Saatchi X.Despite this uncertainty, the growing number of neuro-suppliers and clients suggests there’s a huge demand for neuromarketing. While “not at liberty” to discuss specifics, Rose says, “We work with some of the biggest brands, and I would say all the brands and clients we have are always interested in getting great insights and data” to gain a competitive edge, and neuro has been used often at clients’ request.Indeed, in researching this report on the science, techniques and applications of neuromarketing, Shopper Marketing learned that there are big brands investing in it. Elissa Moses, chief insights and analytics officer for the San Francisco-based neuromarketing firm EmSense Corp., says the reason that some brands aren’t willing to discuss their use of neuroscience is perhaps that they regard the practice as a “secret weapon” and want to keep their methods and findings confidential to maintain a competitive advantage.Another possible reason for their reticence is the fear of negative publicity and consumer backlash. “Some manufacturers are, frankly, concerned about PR implications, that consumers may be afraid there’s some sort of mind game going on, some sort of subliminal manipulation,” says Mark Mallardi, EmSense’s San Francisco-based senior vice president of sales and marketing. “A few key manufacturers are not on board because of this idea of mental engineering. It’s not possible, but that’s the concern.”A third reason could be the issue of “interpretation,” and that brands might not want to be seen as putting too much stock in it. “It’s trying to build on existing research of the brain,” says bioethics professor Paul Root Wolpe, a neuromarketing skeptic who serves as director, Emory Center of Ethics, Atlanta. “We know that certain areas tend to get excited when we see things we desire, but we don’t know if that translates into consumer behavior. All we can tell with neuro imaging is which part of the brain is being used. We can say ad A excites the brain more than ad B, but why? And what does ‘excited’ mean? It could be you love it, you hate it, or it reminds you of your boyfriend and the excitation comes from him.”EmSense uses its “EmBand” – a headband with EEG and biometric sensors – in conjunction with eye-tracking devices to measure emotional and cognitive engagement with marketing stimuli. Somewhat contrary to what Wolpe says, EmSense’s Mallardi says the technology can gauge the intensity of an emotional response and whether it’s positive or negative, but “we can’t delineate further than that and tell you the precise flavor of the emotion.”“My basic line on it is that it’s another tool that may eventually provide some insights into consumer behavior, but I think it’s being dramatically overhyped right now,” says Wolpe.Unearthing Nonverbal CuesHowever, some brand marketers say they have been using neuromarketing to good effect. “Post has been leveraging neurometrics since 2006 … and has embedded neuro into its insight protocols,” says Kelley Peters, senior director of integrated insights and strategies for Post Foods, a division of Ralcorp Holdings. “Neurometrics provide greater precision in uncovering the why’s that traditional tools alone struggle to reveal. Neuromarketing unearths the nonverbal cues that help trigger familiar associations to cultivate an emotional relationship.“This depth of insight along the path to purchase helps to create a more engaging and meaningful brand experience with our consumers and shoppers. Insights gleaned from neurometrics have been instrumental in shaping several initiatives including brand positioning, advertising campaigns, packaging design, and shopper marketing programs.”EmSense used neuroscience combined with traditional research methods to evaluate packaging for an unnamed but well-known cereal brand that depicted a bowl of cereal with milk splashing around a spoonful of flakes. “People did not tell us this, and perhaps didn’t realize it consciously, but we saw [using eye tracking along with EEG sensors] they were having a negative reaction to the milk splashes,” Mallardi says. This prompted researchers to ask consumers in a follow-up survey specifically about their feelings regarding the milk splashes, and it was discovered that many were turned off by its artificial appearance.The negative emotional response to the milk “is an example of an issue that uniquely surfaced from neuro research – it would not have been revealed otherwise,” Mallardi asserts.The survey also was crucial for gaining further critical insights, he adds: “Neuro research goes hand-in-hand with traditional methods.”Most suppliers who participated in the NeuroStandards project stressed that their methods should be used as part of a broader research program and that neuroscience should complement, not replace, established methods, says Horst Stipp, who joined ARF in January as executive vice president of global business strategy. Previously, he was senior vice president of strategic insights and innovation in the research department at NBCUniversal, one of the ARF project’s media sponsors. Like Post Foods, Campbell Soup Co. turned to neuromarketing when traditional research methods proved “to not necessarily be suitable for getting us the answers we were trying to get,” says Phil McGee, director of shopper insights.Five years after rolling out its gravity-fed shelving system – which completely transformed the soup aisle – Campbell conducted in-aisle intercepts in which 94% of shoppers reported they were satisfied with the original version. “That would tell you ‘mission accomplished,’ but we were observing that half the people who walked down the aisle didn’t engage with the category, and of those who did, half did not buy anything,” McGee says.Neuro studies helped reveal a “huge disconnect” between the emotions people experience when eating soup as opposed to when they shop for it: “Outside the store, soup brings back memories of coming in from the cold or of moms nursing sick children back to health,” McGee says. But in the store, people weren’t making the emotional connection. “They were either emotionally neutral or stressed.”Therefore, changes were made to product labels and shelf signage, such as adding steam to suggest warmth, to tap into fond memories and “get people to taste the soup with their eyes,” McGee says. Follow-up research confirmed that the changes “did generate a more positive emotional response, including arousal and engagement,” though the number of shoppers who claimed to be satisfied stayed about the same.The Clorox Co., in partnership with EyeTrackshop, New York, did a package redesign study for Clorox 2 using eye-tracking technology to test different package designs. The research and follow-up survey identified rather quickly which text should be used and where it should be placed to better communicate what the product is and does. (Often mistaken for bleach or detergent, it is actually an “in-wash stain remover,” says Jeff Bander, EyeTrackshop’s senior vice president of client services.)Campbell Soup and Clorox were two of the ARF project’s corporate sponsors, along with Hershey Co., MillerCoors, Colgate-Palmolive and others.More Neuromarketing ExamplesThe following brands also have parlayed neuromarketing insights into successful real-life applications:PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay used mobile electroencephalography (EEG) and realistic video methodologies provided by NeuroFocus Inc., Berkeley, Calif., to determine why the center store does not appeal to women. During a presentation at the 2010 In-Store Marketing Summit, PepsiCo’s Michelle Adams, VP, shopper and consumer insights, said that women perceived the sharp edges of metal fixtures as unwelcoming, so Frito-Lay worked with retailers to round the edges of the endcaps to entice women into the chip aisle, where other merchandising solutions had been implemented as well.Foot Locker, working with EmSense, studied every aspect of the in-store experience, including shoppers’ receptivity to salespeople, and learned that the timing of approaches could make or break a sale. According to EmSense, the insights led to a redo of the training video for sales people about when and how to approach and communicate with customers.NBCUniversal, working with Innerscope, Boston, used learnings from neuroscience to present a case to its advertisers that TV viewers who fast-forward through commercials still process and retain visual information from them. Eye tracking and other measures revealed that “without being conscious or aware of it, people kind of followed what was going on in the commercials” and could later recall key brand messaging, Stipp says. The research went further to reveal the elements in a commercial that helped those who fast-forward process and recall the information. “In fast-forward, people are more likely to look at the middle of the screen,” Stipp says, so a brand logo should be placed there vs. off to the side or in a corner.Neuroscience InsightsAs far as shopper insights with broader applicability, “I wish I had really juicy, specific things to give you,” Saatchi’s Rose says. “For example, if we’re all standing in front of dog food we’d want to buy the red bag not the blue one,” but findings aren’t that cut-and-dried. Among some of the findings that have been put forward:Different images elicit reactions with different lag times. The brain reacts to dangerous imagery, such as a snake, more quickly than non-threatening imagery, according to the ARF project, in which corporate and media sponsors’ TV commercials were evaluated by participating neuro-suppliers.Viewer reaction at any given point may reflect anticipation of upcoming images rather than a reaction to the image in front of their faces. Likewise, reactions to one scene within a commercial are likely to be influenced by the preceding content.There are gender differences in reaction to print ads, with women responding more positively to words and men preferring geometric patterns, according to NeuroFocus.A neurological best practice is to put images on the left and semantics on the right. Non-human animated characters resonate more with men, according to NeuroFocus.While the frontal lobe of the brain “lights up” when people interact with a product, the center of the brain (the seat of emotional responses and the fight-or-flight reaction) “comes alive” when it comes time for the purchasing decision, says John Ross, chief executive officer of Shopper Sciences, with offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles. “The actual process of making a decision defaults to the more primitive emotional center of the brain,” laying to rest the idea that purchase decisions are rational, he says.Another key finding is that the brain registers the in-store shopping experience as a stressful series of events and seeks to avoid further stress by making decisions for expediency’s sake regardless of the shopper’s initial intent. Instant “object recognition” registers as positive, but if there’s an inability to find or recognize the desired product (for example, if an item’s location or packaging has changed), confusion and negativity set in, and consumers “move on to another product real fast” rather than engage in “effortful processing” to locate the preferred item, says Stephen F. Sands, chief science officer, Sands Research, El Paso, Texas.Campbell’s research found that shoppers spend about one minute in the soup aisle, and generally speaking, have a “budgeted amount of time for the categories they shop,” McGee says. “They’re not aware of it, but there’s an internal clock that says when it’s time to move on, and it’s 60 seconds in the ready-to-serve soup section.” However, if manufacturers and retailers make it easy for shoppers to have object recognition or some other experience of positivity and ease in, say, the first 15 seconds, “they will still give you the remaining 45 seconds,” McGee says.Largely due to this type of actionable insight, neuromarketing “is a fascinating field that eventually will impact much of what we do in marketing and advertising,” Rose predicts. “Having said that, there are clearly a lot of elements no one’s figured out yet.”As the ARF concludes, “Today, the nascent discipline of neuromarketing is a balance of art and science, and users should be cautious of interpretation presented as scientific fact.”

'Neuro' Caution

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