The idea of using the latest techniques in the field of neuroscience to study consumer behavior has become a hot topic. The presentation delves into the debate over borrowing knowledge and techniques from neurosciences to bypass consumers’ rationalizations and get to the truth about their behavior. My point of view is that the answer is not in consumers’ brains but in ours: Strategists and Creatives, who are the endless students of human behavior. This presentation was given at the 2007 AHAA Conference in NYC.

1. the quest for the truth
with neurosciences
is looking at consumers’ brain
the ultimate solution?
Esteban Ribero
Strategy Director

2. how can we really understand consumer behavior…?
…we need to influence it
we usually have inaccurate or
partial understanding of it

3. client bias
…they only see what
they want to see
“the consumer said...”

4. consumer bias
they tell you what you want to hear…
“consumers tell you one thing
but they do other”

5. consumer bias
consumer’s inability to know
the true causes of their
behavior
…they don’t need to know them
in order to behave!

6. we’ve tried…
…borrowed techniques and theories
from behavioral sciences

7. …from psychology and anthropology
traditional consumer research…
projective techniques
ethnographies
word association
collages
psycho drawing
metaphor elicitation
personification
personal diaries
photo sort
perceptual mapping
sentence completion
apperception test
storytelling
laddering visualization

8. …from psychology and anthropology
the pros
• no need to fully articulate an answer
• consumers give cues, the planner interprets
them
• “bypassing” the rational filters
• a way to get to the “unconscious”
• usually affordable

9. …from psychology and anthropology
however…
• too open to personal interpretation
• little power to generalize
• still depends on consumer’s input
• too biased by the consumer
…and the researcher

10. …from physiology
getting consumer’s body reactions…
…an attempt to infer their
emotional and
motivational states

11. …from physiology
heart rate measures

12. …from physiology
galvanic skin response (GSR)
…gives an overall measure of arousal by tracking
changes in the autonomic nervous system

13. …from physiology
eye tracking
…what catches consumer’s attention?

14. …from physiology
pupil dilatation
…assessing the level of interest
pupil dilates in response to:
light
but also,
• emotional state
• interest and novelty
• cognitive workload

15. …from physiology
pupil dilatation
…windows to the soul
Eckhard H. Hess 1960

16. …from physiology
pupil dilatation
Eckhard H. Hess 1960

17. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…what are they looking at

18. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…usability studies

19. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…online searching behavior

20. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…product design

21. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…individual differences
regular people artists

22. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…individual differences
? ?

23. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…individual differences
men women

24. …from physiology
gaze tracking
…individual differences
are they comparing
themselves?
do they feel
threatened?
men

25. …from physiology
face recognition
…emotional states are reflected in the face
Paul Ekman

26. …from physiology
face recognition
…the six basic emotions
anger fear disgust
surprise joy sadness

27. …from physiology
face recognition
…a methodology to assess the emotions

28. …from physiology
face recognition
…emotion recognition software
university of amsterdam

30. …from physiology
the pros
• no need to “ask” the consumer
• get “true” reactions to different stimuli
• assess different degrees of arousal in an
“objective” way
• “avoid” the subjectivity of the researcher

31. …from physiology
however…
• too vague
• hard to interpret
• can’t really know what it means (too many
variables working at the same time)
not specific enough to get to “the truth”

32. opening the black box…
“asking the brain,
not the person”

33. the mind and the brain…
…putting cognitive psychology
under context
“if we can see the brain,
we can see the mind”

34. the mind and the brain…
…the mind is a set of modules
that process different types of information
those modules have identifiable
neurological structures…

35. the field of neuromarketing…
…a discipline that incorporates the knowledge
about the brain processes in order to improve
the effectiveness of the marketing activities

36. …from neurosciences
electroencephalography (EEG)
…measures electrical activity on the outside
of the brain using electrodes

37. …from neurosciences
electroencephalography (EEG)
• records timing of activity very precisely
(~1 millisecond) but spatial resolution is poor
(ERP)

38. …from neurosciences
electroencephalography (EEG)
• it’s “cheap” and portable
• can be combined with eye tracking
Dr. A.K. Pradeep, President and Chief Executive Officer

39. …from neurosciences
it looks something like…
VW - The Force

40. …from neurosciences
PET scans
(positron emission tomography)
…measures blood flow in the brain after an
injection of a radioactive substance

41. …from neurosciences
PET scans
(positron emission tomography)
+ spatial
resolution
- temporal
resolution
> limited to
short tasks

42. …from neurosciences
fMRI
(functional magnetic resonance imaging)
…measures changes in blood oxygenation

43. …from neurosciences
fMRI
(functional magnetic resonance imaging)
Princeton’s fMRI equipment

44. …from neurosciences
“we can tell generally what parts
of the brain are active when
you're doing different things, but
no, I can't tell you what you're
thinking"
Dr. Reich

45. some examples…
the Pepsi/Coke challenge
vs.
Dr. Read Montague
Neuron, October 14, 2004

46. some examples…
the Pepsi/Coke challenge
preference fMRI
= =

47. some examples…
the Pepsi/Coke challenge
preference fMRI
> >

48. some examples…
the Pepsi/Coke challenge
confirmed what
we already knew…
…brand associations
strongly bias
our preferences!

49. some examples…
strong vs. weaker brands
>
positive emotions working memory
self-identification > greater information
and rewards processing
<
Dr. Chistine Born’s study

50. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
Dr. Marco Iacoboni
UCLA Brain
Mapping Center

51. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
“the winners” “the big flops”
I’m going to Disney caveman
Disney FedEx
airport security wopperettes
Sierra Mist Burger King
approved
GoDaddy.com

52. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
“the winners” “the big flops”
live the flavor Robert Goulet
Doritos Emerald Nuts
grand theft auto crave
CocaCola Honda CR-V
hitchhiker connectile dysfunction
Bud Light Sprint

53. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
successful ads stimulated many more areas
than less powerful ones…
…engaging stories that stimulated
the brain throughout the entire spot

54. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
I’m going to Disney
Disney
mirror neurons
- indicating
identification
and empathy

55. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
I’m going to Disney
Disney
ventral striatum
- indicating reward
processing

56. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
caveman Snickers
FedEx
amygdala
-emotional processing.
responding to threat and
fearful stimuli.
>clear feelings of anxiety

57. some examples…
who won the super bowl?
caveman
FedEx
amygdala activity
“the scene looks funny and
has been described as
funny by lots of people, but
your amygdala still
perceives it as threatening”
Dr. Iacoboni

58. some examples…
phd’s neuroplanning
strategic planning process
neuroplanning allows the user to identify
the most appropriate model of behavior
within the communication channels

59. some examples…
phd’s neuroplanning
…a channel evaluation tool
influence vs. reach
different areas of the brain are
“stimulated” by different media…

60. some examples…
phd’s neuroplanning

61. some examples…
phd’s neuroplanning

62. some examples…
phd’s neuroplanning

63. some examples…
phd’s neuroplanning

64. the promises of neurosciences…
…for planners
• better understanding of consumers and their
relationships with brands
• better understanding of their decision making
processes
• better understanding of their reactions to
commercial stimuli
• bypassing the consumer

65. …it has created a lot of controversy

66. but…
…is it the ultimate
solution?

67. proximate causes…
….ultimate causes
neuromarketing is concerned mostly in
understanding how? what? where?
…but to get to the truth we
need to understand why?!

68. and the answer is
not in their brains…

69. …hopefully in ours!

70. so…
...don’t ask consumers
for the causes of
their behavior,
infer them!

71. so…
…consumers aren’t
usually right
they don’t know the true reasons for
their behavior
observe their behavior!

72. so…
…use cues to inform
the strategy
don’t give up
your responsibility
to research
use your intuition and expertise!

73. so…
…refer to theories
of human
behavior
read!

74. so…

75. Esteban Ribero
esteban.ribero@lapizusa.com