While neuromarketing, the practice of measuring neurological responses to particular commercials, print ads or campaigns, has been used in different capacities for years, it's gaining interest amongst a growing number of advertisers. Witness the news in February that Nielsen had bought a stake in NeuroFocus, a Berkeley, California-based company that conducts brainwave research for advertising and marketing clients. This year's Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) conference in New York in late March featured presentations from assorted neuromarketing companies. And at the upcoming Clio Awards, El Paso-based Sands Research will bring its technology, including electrode-studded caps used in electroencephalography (EEG) tests, to measure the neurological effect of shortlisted work on subjects in real-time.

Neuromarketers trumpet in unison what they see as the advantages of their studies compared to more traditional testing techniques such as the time-honored focus group. "When you're in a testing situation in college, you wonder, 'What does the professor want?'" says Stephen Sands, founder of Sands Research. "When you're asked to verbalize something that's pretty much non-verbal, it really muddies the waters."

Still, there's contention in the ranks regarding the effectiveness of different methods in the brain study game. Psychiatrist Joshua Freedman and his team at LA-based FKF Applied Research utilize functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, in their analyses, which involves placing subjects in an fMRI machine, playing them the materials and then studying which areas of the brain "light up", and how. Freedman says the tests are then scrutinized in reference to four distinct stages of brain behavior: active filtering, engagement, counterforce and realignment. If your spot makes it to the engagement stage, where the viewer is remotely interested, the counterforce stage instantly questions that interest and pushes against it.

While proponents of fMRI technology tout the benefits of knowing where the brain activity is happening - such as the areas concerned with reward or anxiety - companies such as Sands Research, which use EEG studies in combination with other methods like eye-tracking, are promoting the real-time measurement aspect of their technology as an edge. Sands says his company localizes the EEG results, using sensors to see where and when electrical activity is occurring in the brain as it responds to the ad's stimuli. "Electrical activity occurs instantly - when there's a scene change, we can see the response to it," he says. Both Sands and Freedman say their companies, upon completing their analyses, can then help their clients craft messages with stronger engagement and recall.

But what does brain activity tell the analysts, and in turn the clients, about what works in spots and what doesn't? On the fMRI front, Freedman says that as the emotional and cognitive parts of the brain are inexorably linked, the trick is to get past the filtering stage that keeps noise out. "The louder, brighter and more dynamic an ad is the more people will tune it out," he says. Meanwhile, Sands says busy, overly complex messages also fall flat. "You really only have one attention channel [in your brain]," he says. "You can't pay attention to two things equally at the same time."

There are other less tech-reliant methods used to probe the consumer thought process. Susan Spiegel Solovay and Barbara Newman, two former agency CDs, started BrandVisioning in order to help their clients understand the power of the subconscious in consumer behavior. Part of that process involves the use of hypnosis focus groups, in which people are arranged in small groups and then each brought to the alpha, or relaxed, brain state through hypnosis, where they're, according to Solovay, "more in touch with their emotions and memories. Then you can have them walk into the past to remember their experiences with a brand or product." Pointing to the well-known study by Harvard's Gerald Zaltzman proclaiming that a whopping 95% of our cognition is subconscious, Solovay says there are strong links between the work of neuromarketers and companies such as hers. "There's always a dialogue between the conscious and subconscious mind," she says. "Neuromarketers are mapping it by showing what lights up in the brain, but we're tapping it."

The companies say their customer lists include ad agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and even the odd prodco. Kate Sirkin, global director of research for Starcom MediaVest Group, first experimented with brainwave research a decade ago, to test hypotheses regarding which sorts of ads work best in certain program placements. The tests used what she calls, "NASA-developed brainwave technology... rather unsophisticated compared to today." While Starcom in Australia is looking into using neuromarketing in studies, for her clients, Sirkin says, "There are other things we can use to get us what we need to know quicker and more cost-effectively."

Consumer watchdogs have voiced other concerns about the practices over the years, wary of potential abuse of the information gleaned by marketers. But neuromarketers maintain it's good science in the public interest. "[Neuromarketing research] shows that advertising shouldn't try to manipulate, but should try to convey truthful information about something that could be beneficial to the viewer," offers Freedman. "That's what succeeds."

BrandVisioning http://www.brandvisioning.com
FKF Applied Research http://www.fkfappliedresearch.com
Sands Research http://www.sandsresearch.com
Starcom MediaVest Group http://www.smvgroup.com