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Neuromarketing: a layman's look at neuroscience and its potential application to marketing practice
Douglas L. Fugate,
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To cite this document:
Douglas L. Fugate, (2007) "Neuromarketing: a layman's look at neuroscience and its potential application to marketing
practice", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 24 Issue: 7, pp.385-394, https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760710834807
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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to briefly cover the origins of neuromarketing, explain the process in laymans terms, enumerate some of the
findings in anecdotal form, and suggest future consumer behavior research directions based on these findings.
Design/methodology/approach The discussion of neuromarketing in this paper is based on reports of both a theoretical and applied nature. Their
contents have been synthesized and placed into context by showing how they relate to traditional marketing research approaches and assumptions.
Findings While there are no concrete findings, preliminary assessments suggest that traditional, inferential assumptions about consumer behavior
might be less powerful and explanatory than once believed. Combining neural activity images with conventional tools may produce more effective
marketing practices.
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Research limitations/implications Because this is an emerging field and still controversial, some of the key information is proprietary and/or fairly
presumptive at this time. Cautions and criticisms have been included to counterbalance that point.
Practical implications Understanding what is happening in this emerging field of inquiry is essential for anyone who believes that marketers can
change the probability of a favorable response from consumers. The use of neuromarketing, if proven through use, has the capability of fundamentally
changing how we design, promote, price, and package our products.
Originality/value The marriage of cognitive neuroscience and marketing practice is a new field of inquiry. This paper provides a useful, non-technical
introduction.
An executive summary for managers and executive the brain of the typical consumer to actually watch physical
readers can be found at the end of this article. surrogates of the consumer decision making process would
seem to remove a great deal of uncertainty from the marketing
Introduction mix; albeit amid accusations of mindreading, misuse of
medical knowledge, flirting with advertisings twilight zone,
About two decades ago, I wrote an article that chronicled the and creepy science. Like before, there are not many
nascent and somewhat controversial activity of overt academic articles to reference, little hard data and lots of
marketing to the homosexual and lesbian community. At opinions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to briefly
that time, there were not many academic articles to reference, cover the origins of neuromarketing, explain the process in
little hard data; just plenty of opinions. Today, we in laymans terms, enumerate some of the findings in anecdotal
marketing mostly view homosexuals and lesbians as an form, and suggest future consumer behavior research
attractive target market for some products, not for others. Any directions based on these findings.
reasonable marketing firm would consider the GLBT
community objectively in terms of how they, like other
groups of consumers, would help the firm reach its objectives. Background
The reason I mention this history lesson is to draw a parallel Neuromarketing and its precursor, neuroeconomics, uses
with another activity that is slowly and somewhat clinical information about brain functions and mechanisms to
surreptitiously attracting attention in marketing circles the help explain what is happening inside of the black box so
activity of neuromarketing (also neural marketing). Like prevalent in many explanations of consumer behavior. Up to
before, many firms are reluctant to enthusiastically and this point, most explanations of market behavior are based on
publicly embrace this marketing tool but at the same time, are inference. If neuromarketers can use science to locate
privately intrigued by the possibilities. After all, peering into consumers buy buttons, then we have gotten closer to
opening the black box of the consumers mind (Moore,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at 2005). See the list below for some representative peeks
www.emeraldinsight.com/0736-3761.htm inside this box.
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Neuromarketing: a laymans look at neuroscience Journal of Consumer Marketing
Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
limbic system of the animal brain, often leading go rash unintentional conspiracy to promote a focus on rational rather
choices. than emotional thinking and decision making.
.
Why people change behavior abruptly. The anterior cingulate In some ways, the relevance of the black box began with
takes advice from the rational prefrontal cortex and the the philosopher Plato who compared the human soul to a
limbic system, then picks which to follow. A small change chariot pulled by the two horses of reason and emotion. In his
in conditions can cause it to tip from one choice to the mind, human behavior clearly had an emotional element.
other (Coy, 2005). However, it is the horse of reason that has prevailed through
the centuries and has been predominantly used to explain
This type of biological voyeurism is made possible when
human behavior (see the Economist, 2005). For example,
subjects perform an experimental task (E) and a control task
anthropologists typically attribute the invention and use of
(C) while wired up to a variety of high tech devices that
various artifacts to enlightened (if not serendipitous) reason.
produce colorful, real-time electronic images of a working
Early economic philosophers emphasized the importance of
brain. By comparing differences between the images taken the economic man who made reasoned decisions; Adam
during the performance of the (E) task and the (C) task, the Smith adopted the thesis that the rational allocation of
researcher can see what part of the brain is differentially resources would best serve a societys interest; and the essence
activated by the (E) task. Keep in mind that until recently, of Rene Descartes seventeenth-century thesis of mentality
brain studies were performed by freezing the brain, slicing it assumed two kinds of mental activity: simple determinant
into thin sections, and then looking at them under a reactions controlled by the nervous systems and complex
microscope; not exactly a prescription for ethical marketing indeterminate thoughts produced by the soul (discussed by
research. The current biomedical applications of neurology
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Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
subject, with results open to subjective interpretation; these and the Brainwave Science group tested one of their TV
devices are far from ideal when performing marketing advertisements with using an EEG. The product
research. However, they offer the best physical evidence to demonstration and brand message portion of the Unilever
date of how the brain processes the information behind ad evoked much weaker responses than expected. The
purchase decisions. Advances in imaging technology will no elements that were supposed to evoke negative emotions did
doubt also provide cheaper, smaller, and less obtrusive much better but overall the spot did not generate the
devices in the coming years such as sensor-equipped shirts respondent responses that were anticipated. Such a diagnosis
(Mucha, 2005a; McConnon and Stead, 2007). prescribed for new ad executions should help the promotion
team find something new; something meaningful to add to
Practical implications of brain imaging based on their creative efforts (Harris, 2006).
Neureco, a British market research firm, monitors television
preliminary findings
spots for clients. Individual frames are correlated with
If knowledge of brain function during consumer decision measurements of brain activity allowing Neureco to
making simply affirmed what we have already drawn from precisely indicate which ad elements are neurologically
thousands of inferential studies, neural marketing would engaging. Images, tag lines, and music are just some of the
certainly be less controversial. Its power and contribution elements they will evaluate (Mucha, 2005a). Related research
would be confirmatory rather than exploratory. However, areas include neurological reactions to smell, touch, sound or
preliminary results complicate our standard assumptions even store layout. Studying neural responses to the sense of
about consumer choice mechanism by suggesting complex smell is particularly intriguing since odor-generated impulses
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brain interactions; a much broader role for emotions; and a travel to the limbic (emotive) region of the brain and have
disconnect between conscious reasoning and internal profound effects on memories and feelings (Herman, 2007).
preference. In Australia, commercials were inserted into a televised
Detailed information on these and other results is mostly documentary program. Brain wave analysis indicated
from proprietary studies, which understandably are not in the commercials that triggered an unusually fast surge in the
public domain (Mucha, 2005a). Clients of the 90 or so electrical activity of the left frontal lobe were remembered best
neuromarketing consultancies in the USA are somewhat after one week. In other words, neural scanning might be able
reluctant to publicly confirm that they are peeking into to predict the strength of advertising recall for specific
consumers gray matter (Reid, 2005). However, it is possible advertisements (Schafer, 2005). It does not necessarily mean
to construct a number of intriguing research possibilities liking or behavior will follow as recall is a necessary but not
based on the results that have sifted out into print media; sufficient condition for postponed purchase influence.
mostly in anecdotal form. Several fundamental marketing Arnold Worldwide, a USA ad agency with a Human Nature
decision areas overlaid with neurological findings are Department, used fMRI images to test the emotional impact
explored below; not necessarily because they are key variables of advertising images. Their Brown-Foreman client wanted to
in some overarching theoretical model, but simply because know how audiences would respond to visual stimuli such as
these research data are what currently exist. It may be possible college students drinking on Spring Break,
to hypothesize a brain function based model of consumer twentysomethings drinking around a campfire, or older
behavior in the future; but only after much more research and guys at an upscale bar. Similar research has found that images
study. which are most favored in traditional research preference tests
are not the same ones that fire up the emotional centers of
Testing advertising effectiveness the brain (McConnon and Stead, 2007). Popeil (quoted in
Conventional testing of new advertising campaigns often uses Harris, 2006) reminds us that one of the keys to all
focus groups, interviews, recall and other traditional forms of marketing is emotion. By monitoring the brain. . .you have
market research. According to the promoters of brain- really strong evidence that some emotional response has been
scanning, subjects could be wired to imaging devices while made.
viewing images or video clips a new promotional campaign. Unfortunately, these results can only indicate activation
Depending on which areas of the brain light up, correlated with different images but cannot tell us anything
assumptions can be made about the subjects unconscious about why such discrepancies exist. There is no direct link
thought patterns. Presumably the agencys intent for the between arousal and behavior; no measure of purchase intent.
advertisement, e.g. excitement, passion, hostility, humor, As James (2004) says, The only time a human being cannot
attention, etc.; can be matched to the approximate area of help acting on arousal is as a toddler.
brain where these concepts are processed. If that brain area is
unaffected after exposure to the advertising stimulus, it is Testing product appeal
obvious that the advertisement has failed this crucial test. Product designers typically use consciously generated
Conversely, stimuli that produce a measurable organic change consumer preferences to determine which product designs
in a specified area of the brain infer a successful match are most appealing to their target markets. In such settings,
although actual purchase behavior is still an unanswered consumers are likely to be influenced by normative
question. Overall, it is viewed as a way to help advertisers expectations and social influences. In addition, consumers
tweak their messages; to know if an ad will even get out of the form many unconscious attitudes that are beyond traditional
starting gate (McConnon and Stead, 2007) methods that utilize introspection (Quartz quoted in the
Ford Motor Company and Pre-Diction; a UK based Economist, 2004). However, with brain imaging devices,
research firm, have performed promotional tests on authentic (unbiased and internal) responses should be more
automobile commercials. Likewise, British giant Unilever achievable (Friedman, 2006). For example, survey research
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Neuromarketing: a laymans look at neuroscience Journal of Consumer Marketing
Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
typically reports that women find wrestler-turned-action hero the notable collapse of some formerly high paid celebrity
The Rock unattractive but records of brain activity endorsers.
indicates otherwise (Singer, 2004).
Britt (2004) reported that a researcher working for Daimler Logo/brand selection
Chrysler showed male volunteers 66 pictures of sports cars, fMRI provides real time images of the brain activity. When a
sedans, and small cars and asked them to rate the cars on subject is exposed to a brand logo, there is an increase of
attractiveness. It was no surprise that sports cars were hyper oxygenated blood in the area of the medial prefrontal
significantly more attractive than the others but what made cortex. Hyper oxygenated blood has different magnetic
these results more interesting was where increased brain properties than deoxygenated blood. Variations in MRI
activity occurred. Brain images showed that the tiny nucleus images between control and test exposures allow the image
accumben, an area containing the self-reward center (and also interpreter to make assumptions about the relationship
activated by natural stimulants such as sex, chocolate, and between exposure to the brand logo and the functions
cocaine) showed high levels of action when the sports cars associated with the affected region of the brain. In this case,
were viewed. It was aroused by the release of the molecule the medial prefrontal cortex was activated during exposure to
dopamine and releases endogenous opiates substances a brand; suggesting self-involvement. Apparently, the brain is
linked to lust and pleasure. Sports cars would seem to have assessing the brand/logo icon to determine if it is of personal
symbolic value as a highly desirable object (Schafer, 2005) relevance or importance to the person. Higher levels of
like food or sex. Is this enough to trigger purchase? Probably activation would suggest higher levels of involvement.
not, but all things being equal, product designs that are Preliminary evidence of this relationship is found in a recent
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thought to produce pleasure are probably more likely to be neural replication of the classic Coke-Pepsi taste challenge
purchased than those that do not. Sports car images also (McClure et al., 2004a; Singer, 2004; Herman, 2005). When
triggered increased responses in the right fusiform gyrus, an tasting these two colas with no brand identification, the
area which deals with face recognition. Perhaps, sports cars majority of respondents preferred Pepsi, the minority
have more of an anthropomorphic identity than other types of preferred Coke. During this unmarked test condition, the
vehicles. Could other products have faces? ventral-medial putamen within the striatum region showed
strong activity. This region is known to be associated with
seeking reward; i.e. good taste; and was consistent with a
Celebrity endorsements positive sensory preference for Pepsi consistently found in the
Marketers have long believed that celebrity endorsements Pepsi Challenge.
help sell products. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Katherine When tasting colas where one was clearly identified as
Zeta-Jones, and a long list of other notables have been Coke, and the other was identified as contained either Pepsi
handsomely compensated because their celebrity status or Coke, the majority preferred the cup marked Coke; even
allegedly boosts sales and profits. However, until now, no though both contained Coke. This was not true for the
one could pinpoint how the auditory and visual stimuli version of this test using Pepsi instead of Coke. In the marked
associated with celebrities contributed to this phenomenon. brand condition, the most activity was in the medial
Neuroscientists have determined that dopamine and prefrontal cortex; a spot associated with higher cognitive
phenylethylamine flood our brains when we see a familiar processes. In addition, brain imaging showed activity in other
face, i.e. a celebrity. These hormones trigger positive areas of the brain including the hippocampus, dorsal-lateral
emotional states thus encouraging trust in the promotional prefrontal cortex and the midbrain. These regions are related
message brought to us by those faces (Mucha, 2005b). This to emotion and affect; cognitive control, and working
also would seem to partially explain why favorable word of memory. The researchers concluded that more exposure to
mouth recommendations from close friends/acquaintances are Coke, better memory of Coke, and more emotional ties to
also effective. Coke produced a brand recognition/operative preference for
In the case of well-known celebrities, it is a situation of Coke which overwhelmed the actual taste preference for
more is better because multiple exposures to the celebritys (reward provided by) Pepsi. In this case, what the brain
image increased liking. From a research perspective, knows about Coke is more important than what it is
marketers wishing to determine which celebrity endorser feeling about Pepsi. More importantly, it suggests brand
would perform best should be able to empirically test the and image development is probably just as important as
secretion level of hormones associated with exposure to product development.
various celebrities. Higher secretion levels would suggest more Marketers commonly engage in the practice of giving
positive influence and thus higher trust. This does not remove human-like personalities to their brands or products, e.g. fun,
the need to initially screen the celebrity pool or the need to reliable, hard-working. Yoon et al. (2006) hypothesized those
match brand attributes with endorser characteristics, but consumers judgments about adjectives used to describe
neuromarketing does provide researchers with a way to make people and objects would be processing in different regions of
the final selection of endorser based on physical evidence. the brain. In their experiment, fMRI showed that the left
Presumably, highly familiar and liked celebrities would be inferior prefrontal cortex was active during judgments about
most useful with products and/or product messages that are brands and the medial prefrontal cortex was active during
likely to be under suspicion. judgments about people. While consumers may attribute
Conversely, the brain is also programmed to avoid danger; a human characteristics to brands and products, these
result of survival tendencies. Once a face becomes associated attributions are not made in the same way as they are for
with negative or unpleasant consequences, the human brain people. This poses many questions for the marketing practice
tends to avoid contact with that image. This perhaps explains of developing brand personalities (Eastman, 2006).
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Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
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Neuromarketing: a laymans look at neuroscience Journal of Consumer Marketing
Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
or short-term rewards (Economist, 2005; Frick, 2005). responsible for how the brain reacts to the subjective
Neurological scanning suggests that decision making about calculated value of a good or service. Value is related to; but
economic gain or loss may be more emotional than once not interchangeable with, the notion of reward and pleasure.
thought. Consumers faced with a choice of whether to Until this difference is resolved, any recommendations on
consumer something now or delay gratification, can be as economic rationality based on neuromarketing finding are
impulsive as chimps (Coy, 2005). A phenomenon called highly speculative.
time inconsistency suggests that the brain operates in two
radically different ways. One part, the reward in the
future part that operates out of the prefrontal cortex is The role of satisfaction
fairly rational (from an economic perspective). The other Marketers have used the mantra of customer satisfaction for
part, the immediate gratification part operates out of the
at least the last four decades; assuming the Marketing
more primitive limbic region and behaves in an emotional,
Concept had accurately captured a prime consumer
selfish and largely irrational (from an economic perspective)
motivator. Unfortunately, satisfaction is a short lived
way.
While this is happening under the umbrella of phenomenon. Surveys indicate that even satisfied customers
neuroeconomics, neuromarketers concur that evaluations of leave the firm on a regular basis. The explanation to this
long term economic gain do indeed occur in the frontal conundrum may lie inside the brain. The striatum in the brain
cortex; the rational thinking part of the brain. It is also quickly gets used to new stimuli and tends to react only to the
believed that short-term rewards are governed by the limbic unexpected (Coy, 2005). This provides a neural-based
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system; the reptilian section of the lower brain where explanation why marketing experts now exhort us to
emotions are processed. The tenor of emotional feelings delight our consumers instead of simply satisfying them.
exerts a powerful influence on how we process any factual The Gallup Poll News Service used fMRI machines in a
information that follows. Thus, the marketer who uses an somewhat different fashion than the norm. Instead of
attention gaining device that features short term pleasure/ presenting marketing stimuli directly, they asked customers
arousal (via release of the pleasure chemical dopamine) of their retailer client a series of CE (Consumer Engagement)
should not try to deliver a brand message or product claim questions. Brain activity associated with each of the questions
during the emotionally aroused phase. Timing is critical; plus control questions was measured. Robison (2006)
rational messages or claims should wait until right afterwards presented this record of their findings:
when the emotion-charged brain is primed to receive new The higher the level of engagement, the more activity
information (duPlessis, 2005, Mucha, 2005a). See the list occurred in three specific areas of the brain: the orbital frontal
below for a hypothetical product advertising scenario cortex, which is where emotion and cognition are integrated;
illustrating the neural impact of timing on an emotional/ the temporal pole, which is one area for accessing memory;
rational ordered advertisement. and the fusiform gyrus, which is implicated in facial
recognition. The initial hypothesis was that the more
Delivering the right sensory elements at just the right engaged customers are, the more actively they pull out
time memories and that their thinking process involves faces. The
1 Establish the mood. Set to a pulsating rock music
hypothesis was that they were probably recollecting an
soundtrack, a Ruggedero (fictional model) SUV zips
experience they had had at the retailer, and at the same time,
down a winding California road. The natural beauty
they were more active in integrating emotional and cognitive
sparks increased EEG activity in the left frontal region of
the brain, suggesting subconscious emotional attraction. information. When we looked more closely at those who
2 Build the tension. Jump to a scene on the road ahead. scored high on questions related to their Passion for the
Three baby seals waddle onto the highway. Our SUV retailer, two additional areas of the brain lit up. The first was
swerves to avoid the accident, and the pups safely reach the amygdala, which is the area associated with emotional
the other side. The dramatic tension triggers massive processing. The second area was the anterior cingulate gyrus,
frontal lobe activity; more blood flows to the brain, the which is implicated in binary decisions for example, decision
heart rate slows, and alertness increases to assess threats about what is good or bad. So those customers who had
and opportunities. intensely strong feelings of attachment to the retailer also
3 Deliver the message. Just three second later, frontal EEG showed enhanced activity in the amygdala, which is the
activity becomes more evenly balanced. As the SUV drives emotional storehouse, as well as the area involved in good/bad
into the sunset, the mind becomes more relaxed and more decision making. The implication is that their brains were
focused. With the viewer primed to receive new firing off on a lot of emotional content.
information, the commercial delivers the branding When these two positions are viewed in tandem, it suggests
message: Think safety. Think Ruggedero (Mucha, that generating customer satisfaction is not nearly as sufficient
2005a). as once thought. Customer satisfaction may be the lower end
As a practical matter, being able to know when and where the of what marketers must achieve with their target market. To
consumer computes the magnitude and probability of gains elevate customers to that point where they deliver value back
and losses would be a great advantage for marketers offering to the firm, marketers must find the crucial emotional
either short term or long term reward oriented products. connections (e.g. trust, fairness, respect) that create customer
However, it is difficult to resolve the question of what region, engagement and passion emotions that can be discovered
or more likely what modular integrated circuitry, is and tracked as neural activity.
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Neuromarketing: a laymans look at neuroscience Journal of Consumer Marketing
Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
analytical techniques?
Macklem, 2005) says interpreting brain scans in response to
marketing efforts is not that far removed from reading tea
leaves; the technology is vastly exaggerated and Conclusions and recommendations
overestimated by people who do not know the limitations. At this point, neuromarketing is mostly a set of intriguing but
Advertising professor John Jones (quoted in Henricks, far from conclusive experiments linking internal brain activity
2006) says neuromarketing destroys the supposed with external behaviors. For this field of study to become
differentiation between rational and emotional legitimized (loosely following Rangel, 2004), it would be
advertising. . .thats the key thing, theres nothing more to it necessary to construct a behavioral model that would predict
than that. what types of consumption related problems that brain
Pure neuroscientists also disdain the commercialization of structures under study need to solve. Second, there would
their discipline. One of the most concise and comprehensive need to be experimental methods which measure the
critiques comes from Medina (2004). He believes that the contribution of each brain structure to the overall decision.
technology is still imprecise; that current neuroscientific Once this task is concluded, the model could be
understanding is insufficient to answer the complex questions operationalized by determining which stimuli (marketing
of consumer response and behavior; and that knowing the inputs) provide the appropriate brain structure with the
structure of the brain does not necessarily illustrate how the material it needs to accomplish its assigned task.
brain makes decisions. Such a model appears to be far in the future at this point
Add to this list scientists concerns about the highly although some preliminary conceptualization of neuroscience
processed nature of the images and the inability to extrapolate and the broader field of marketing science are explored by Lee
findings from a small sample to a genetically and culturally et al. (2007).
diverse population in an almost infinite variety of situations More to the present, what can or what should we do with
(Nature Neuroscience, 2004). For example, Harris (2006) the knowledge gained so far? It is strategically risky to ignore a
reported that humor caused a different response in the USA, promising new science, even worse to accept it without
Canada, and the UK. question. The following recommendations are offered in no
Greenfield (quoted in Reynolds, 2006) suggests that the particular order of importance:
brain has no fixed area for consciousness and instead talks First, Grimes (2006) makes a very good argument that it is
about consciousness residing in a neuronal assembly where difficult to create classification schemes for marketing stimuli
the components can belong to a number of assemblies and that are specific, mutually exclusive and exhaustive. A
where they can do other things. At this time, stimulus such as a word can processed for visual (STOP)
neuromarketing findings are still under a cloud of suspicion value, simple linguistic value (stop); generate varying degree
and are usually validated by more conventional (and of interest (STOP); be of high or low involvement ( );
therefore subjective/inferential) market research techniques. have emotional or connotative meanings (STOP!), and so
Neurological results can also be compared to physiological forth depending on the person. Each stimulus would likely
results such as galvanic skin response (GSR) and sweating produce a different result depending on which neural
which measure arousal. networks were activated. In other words, marketers and
researchers would have great difficulty translating narrowly
defined scientific findings into broadly applicable tools and
Critics abound
frameworks.
Gary Ruskin, as executive director of the consumer advocacy Future work in the area of neuromarketing, to be fruitful
lobby group Commercial Alert, thinks that marketers already and to lay the groundwork for the model outlined above,
have sufficient influence in the marketplace without the added should attempt to find universal stimulus classification
advantage of neuromarketing. He is quoted in Economist systems that are generalizable to a broad population or at least
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Neuromarketing: a laymans look at neuroscience Journal of Consumer Marketing
Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
a viable target market. Otherwise, the interactive nature of Consumer Policy Review (2003), Publications, Consumer
brain function will likely result in widely differing responses Policy Review, Vol. 13 No. 6, pp. 227-8.
and eventual behavior vis-a-vis any particular stimulus and Coy, P. (2005), Why logic often takes a backseat, Business
audience. The opposing position, customizing each stimulus Week, 28 March, pp. 94-5.
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incompatible with consumer interests, e.g. might reduce Economist, Vol. 371 No. 8379, p. 12.
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become even rarer. Neurological science envisions therapies Review, May, pp. 74-6.
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mental disease. think about it, Precision Marketing, Vol. 24, September,
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Lace, S. (Ed.) (2005), The Glass Consumer: Living in a
neuroscience, we should shift part of the neural science focus
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to applied research in marketing. This likely means funding,
Lee, N., Broderick, A. and Chamberlain, L. (2007), What is
legitimization of the effort by bodies such as the American
neuromarketing? A discussion and agenda for future
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Mucha, T. (2005a), This is your brain on advertising, Executive summary and implications for
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Mucha, T. (2005b), Why the caveman loves the pitchman,
Business 2.0, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 37-9. This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
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Neuroscience, Vol. 7 No. 7, p. 683. particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article
Psychiatric Annals (2004), Psychiatric Annals Biological in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of
branding: neuroimaging studies may form a basis for new the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the
marketing and advertising strategies, Psychiatric Annals, material present.
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Uncertainity, and the Brain: The Science of Neuroeconomics, business environment. Academic study and research data may
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Renvoise, P. and Morin, C. (2005), Neuromarketing: Is There a decision making process using clinical information about
Buy Button Inside the Brain?, SalesBrain Publishing, San brain functions and mechanisms is whetting the appetite of
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pp. 189-90. What is neuromarketing?
The process involves wiring subjects to various electronic
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393
Neuromarketing: a laymans look at neuroscience Journal of Consumer Marketing
Douglas L. Fugate Volume 24 Number 7 2007 385 394
thoughts. Depending on which area of the brain responds to on the bottle. Since this did not occur when Pepsi was
the stimuli may help determine whether the advertisement has accordingly labeled, assumptions were made that the result
succeeded in eliciting the intended response (such as was due to higher levels of brand recognition and emotional
excitement, passion or humor, for instance) or not. The attachment. The author believes these outcomes show that
marketer gains some feedback on ad effectiveness but any developing image and brand is arguably as important as
impact on purchase behavior remains an unknown at this developing the product.
stage. Research has also indicated that triggering a response in
certain areas of the brain might be linked to better recall of Media selection
specific ads. And while recall does not guarantee liking or A long held tenet is that different media is processed on
subsequent purchase, it is acknowledged as being one different sides of the brain. Researchers claim that areas of the
determinant of purchase intention. brain that control vision are considerably older than those
Studies of reactions to images, tag lines and music used in
used for language, and marketing stimuli should therefore be
TV advertisements has also proved interesting and allowed the
more visual. But brain scanning raises doubts about the
company involved to ascertain the ad elements that are
existence of such lateralization. Instead, there is now greater
neurologically engaging. Research has similarly investigated
inclination to believe that major decisions are the result of
neurological response to sense stimuli or even store layout.
complex interaction between these different brain areas.
One conclusion is that responses to the sense of smell have
Neuromarketers are thus extremely interested in identifying
considerable influence on memories and feelings.
circuits or collaborative systems of specialized regions that
influence choice and opinion.
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