Is the ad a success? Brain waves tell all

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Twitter, Facebook 'costing British economy £1.38 b...New PC game to allow players view CCTVs, report cr...Coming soon to the small screen: TV in 3D

: Never mind brainstorms. These days, Madison Avenue is all about brain waves. That may be overstated, but it is no exaggeration that agencies and advertisers are growing more interested in neuroscience in their efforts to improve effectiveness.

The ardour of the ad business to adopt the technical tools of biometrics—measuring brain waves, galvanic skin response, eye movements, pulse rates and the like—is increasing as consumer spending, the engine of the American economy, slows.

In other words, in hard times ads must work harder to move the merchandise.

“Instead of hypotheses about what people think and feel, you actually see what they think and feel,” said Joel Kades, vice-president for strategic planning and consumer insight at Virgin Mobile USA in Warren, New Jersey. “I’m not such a huge fan of ad-testing,” he added, but measuring biological responses is “absolutely useful.”

The curiosity about neuroscientific ways to determine how ads work—or fail to work—will be on display this week at the 54th annual convention and exposition of the Advertising Research Foundation. The agenda for the conference is filled with presentations on better methods to determine how consumers engage with ads (and vice versa).

“In many ways, we’re testing advertising the way we were testing advertising when I was at Procter & Gamble 22 years ago,” said Frank Stagliano, executive vice-president for the Nielsen Entertainment Television Group in New York, part of the Nielsen Co.

Neuroscience can provide “a more accurate way to understand what consumers really like,” Stagliano said, which helps to produce ads and programmes that “break through the clutter” rather than contribute to it.