Eric Kogelschatz

Ideas strike at the unlikeliest moments. In the case of former Modernista! digital account executive Eric Kogelschatz, the seeds for his panel at SXSW Interactive, "Big Brother in Your Brain: Neuroscience and Marketing", were born at band practice.

Featuring heavyweights including Modernista! co-founder Gary Koepke, Dr. A.K. Pradeep, president and CEO of neuromarketing firm Neurofocus, Dr. Danielle Stolzenberg, post doctoral fellow of Neuroscience at University of Virginia and Roger Dooley, creator of The Neuromarketing Blog the panel will be held on Saturday March 13th at 11am. Boards spoke with Kogelschatz, now a senior account executive at Marcus Thomas, about the practical marketing applications and ethical issues that have arisen from this burgeoning field.

How did this session come about?

After an advertising program at Michigan State University, I went to Ogilvy, Detroit. Around that same time I graduated from my masters program in advertising, focusing on qualitative and quantitative research, and was offered a job at Modernista! in Boston. I joined a band, and all the band members except me were neuroscientists. We often would hang out at bars and talk about neuroscience, pretty different to the other bands in Boston.

I was the only one in marketing, so I reflected on what they were saying from that perspective. Dr. Danielle Stolzenberg [guitarist] studies motivation, and that's key in advertising. Understanding subconscious thoughts in consumers so we can really understand their perspectives on products.

What are the tools for neuromarketing?

With fMRIs (functional magnetic resonance imaging), SST (steady state topography) you can essentially see areas of the brain that are activated. How your voice changes, stresses, eye tracking. Pupils, do they get larger or smaller. Sweating, your palms sweat when you're nervous. Things like that. These are natural things which we do and tools from neuroscience allow us to find that information.

For years in marketing we've been using research to enlighten the creative team to create great work. That's not too different to neuromarketing, the difference is you're actually able to see how people react to different stimuli. Subconscious vs conscious. It's interesting, a lot of neuromarketing is focusing on this so-called buy button. Essentially they're saying there's only one place in the brain you need to hit. . It starts with the old brain which covers decision making, then the middle brain which covers emotion and then the new brain which is rational thought. My issue with neuromarketing is that everything actually works together, the brain is interconnected with neural circuits. We know this in marketing: a campaign is most effective when everything is integrated. I believe the same thing is true in neuromarketing.

How is this data interpreted?

I can't speak to that but it's something we'll get to on the panel.

When you break down the brain, instead of just saying new brain and old, there are very specific spots like the prefrontal cortex. You know that those specific parts of the brain focus on attention and memory or things like that. Based on that specific area you have an idea of what is happening, but is it positive or negative? That's the area I'm interested in.

Who's used it?

One of the most well-known examples was the Coke vs Pepsi challenge from the '80s. Everyone said Pepsi is better, we know today that's because there's more sugar in Pepsi. But when they used fMRIs and paired it with the brand, when people saw Coke and tasted it, they immediately preferred it. It showed that certain areas of the prefrontal cortex lit up, then they knew there were feelings of retention and emotion associated with that brand.

Campbell's Soup used neuromarketing recently. They tracked people's eye movement when they looked at the current label. That allowed them to create the new design that will hopefully influence sales.

Has Modernista! used neuromarketing?

No, they don't. Modernista! is an amazing agency, their design is beautiful and I've always appreciated their work, that's why I went there to work with them. The interesting thing is that they came up with campaigns with no research at all. That shows true creativity and how it can yield great results. While I appreciate research, I understand that there's a level of creativity that can produce wonderful results as well. People have to recognize that and that's the discussion that Gary is going to be really focus on art vs science. Do you need both? Is it a balance? How do you develop great campaigns?

What else will you be covering?

Is it ethical? Some people would clearly argue that it's not. Some people are worried about the idea of somebody getting into their brain, the Big Brother if you will, and using that in a negative way. Currently in marketing and advertising we go to great lengths to ensure that we follow ethical practices.

SXSW Interactive