The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind (43 page)

A small sampling of the results:

r Three of the six commercials scored significantly higher for overall Effectiveness in
Intervention
than in the competitive drama. The other three scored essentially the same in both shows.

r In our key NeuroMetric of Emotional Engagement,
Intervention
scored highest in each of the six advertising categories.

The research went on to document that viewers remained highly engaged with
Intervention
throughout the duration of the program. That level of emotional involvement resulted in ad placement later in the show suffering no drop-off in overall Effectiveness.

The top-line takeaway from this research was that the priming effect on commercials was quantified and unequivocal:
Advertising benefited from
appearing in this emotionally strong programming environment.

Out of Sync, Out of Sales?

How else can neurological testing help advertising become more effective?

One thing learned from neuroscience that can help a number of current advertisers (and definitely future ones) is what we know about a neurological syndrome known as Audio/Visual Synchrony.

A major car manufacturer runs an annual end-of-the-model-year clearance TV campaign featuring an animated main character. This fellow is featured prominently in each of the several spots in this ongoing campaign, and he’s P1: OTA/XYZ

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got a catchy tagline that closes each commercial. He’s friendly, attractive in a sort of average man way, and allows the auto marketer to combine animation with live action shots of the product.

The only problem is that
he bothers the brain
.

Why? Because his mouth movements are chronically out of sync with the voice track. Our brains are structured to match
what
we see someone saying with
how
we see them saying it—the way their lips and tongue move in synchrony with the sounds we hear. When you introduce a break in that connection—when the brain encounters a disconnect between those two interrelated stimuli, what we hear and what we see—it causes what neuroscientists describe as a “mismatch negativity.” That is not a good thing for advertising, I assure you, when you have all of 30 seconds to sell.

Our brains are forced to work overtime, simultaneously capturing and analyzing what our auditory and visual cortexes are receiving, and comparing that data with what our subconscious mind
expects
those stimuli to be. When they match up, as they do in normal conversation, our brains perceive that all is working as it should in the world.

But when they don’t align, the brain is presented with mismatch negativity.

The upshot is that we devote precious cognitive resources to attempting to interpret what is going on, and we can be distracted from the main message.

Next time you watch TV, look more carefully at the animated commercials for a popular online insurance company, an online hotel reservations booking site, and others. See if you also spot badly lip-synced live-action ads; they’re out there pretty regularly (and the disconnect doesn’t have to be pronounced to produce that infamous mismatch negativity). When you do see them, you’ll now know what’s going on in your own brain as you watch. That maestro of cortical coordination, your prefrontal cortex, is putting extra effort into trying to sort it all out. The advertiser who just spent several hundred thousand dollars to air that message is unaware of the reduced effectiveness built right into it.

But your brain recognizes it right off the bat.

This is an excellent opportunity to tell you a little about another very important neurological syndrome called Sensory Integration (SI). It’s linked directly to the Audio/Visual Synchrony effect I just described.

Neuroscience research has discovered that, contrary to previous beliefs, the auditory cortex and the visual cortex in the brain interact early in the perceptual process—and take special note of this—
one sense can prime the
other.
What do I mean by “early”? It can take less than 200 milliseconds for these two separate senses to integrate in the subconscious. A properly synchronized multisensory experience is not just additive; it has a multiplicative effect.

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Research shows that the more precise the synchrony is between auditory and visual stimuli, the faster that integration between them can occur.

The reward of such fast, accurate Sensory Integration for marketers is called the “multiplier effect.” Here’s how Dr. Robert T. Knight, one of the world’s preeminent neuroscientists and NeuroFocus’s Chief Science Advisor, describes the value of SI:

“If the auditory component in a commercial is X and the visual component is X, when you don’t have synchrony between the two the best result you can get is basically 2X. When you do have synchrony, though, you get a multiplier effect—you achieve 3X or more. This is what we describe as the power of Sensory Integration, and we see both effects in many of the brain measurements we’ve done over the years.”

Another leading neuroscientist (and NeuroFocus on-staff expert), Dr. Michael Smith, adds another critical point to this subject:

“The crossover effect of Sensory Integration can actually enhance your perceptual experience, because it can prompt your brain to anticipate what you’re about to hear based on what you’re seeing, and vice versa. We synthesize these two streams of stimuli to render the world consistent with our experiences and expectations. So when Audio/Visual Synchrony is ‘off,’ and the brain has to work harder to reconcile the conflict, the less Sensory Integration occurs and what does occur happens later in the perceptual process.”

Dr. Smith makes another related point that is particularly critical for marketers looking to leverage neuromarketing knowledge and methodologies for their products and services:

“Both the auditory and visual cortexes are located in the lateral and posterior regions of the brain. Unless you measure those areas with electrodes positioned to capture brainwave activity generated in them, you will be missing this vital data. This is why
neuroscience laboratories rely on full-brain coverage
for their research
. The brain is a vastly complex and interconnected series of neural networks. Unless you capture their activity with sensors arrayed across the surface of the whole brain, you are almost completely missing the massive flows of brainwave activity that occur between critical regions of the brain; and you are incapable of detecting the synergistic effects of multisensory integration.”

The lesson here for marketers is that only full-brain measurement will deliver accurate, reliable, and actionable results. For those who tell you otherwise, there is only one course of action to take: Ask for their neuroscientific credentials P1: OTA/XYZ

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and check them carefully—because no neuroscientist worth his or her Ph.D.

would endorse anything less than this full-brain coverage standard.

I’ll cite a recent real-world example of how neurological testing can tease out information that would escape capture using conventional methodologies.

We have a client in Asia who wanted to test two of its commercials for its dishwashing liquid against the competition. The interesting thing about both the client spots was that they were virtually identical; the only difference was that in one ad there was a scene that had a caption saying, “These images are simulated.” This scene would appear and then disappear in two or three seconds. It was really difficult to test this through traditional research methods, since this difference would not be easily discernible, and often memory-based methodologies are not well suited for use in evaluating such minor differences.

We completed the study and found that both ads were equal in their overall Effectiveness scores. However, when we looked in detail at Purchase Intent scores, the ad without any caption scored significantly higher than the ad with the caption, indicating that if the client went ahead with this ad (with no caption) it was more likely to persuade consumers to buy. We also looked at second-by-second “noodle chart” results showing where the Effectiveness started to drop. Interestingly, the Effectiveness of both the ads was identical until we came to the particular scene where the caption was mentioned. The Effectiveness dropped immediately after the caption was shown. The client went ahead with the ad that we recommended and within eight weeks saw a marked increase in market share.

This was a great marketplace demonstration of the power of neurological testing to isolate and identify the effects of specific advertising elements, even one this relatively small, and proved once again how our NeuroMetrics are closely tied to, and can produce, specific recommendations that can positively impact market performance.

What are the other ways that neurological testing can benefit advertising?

One way is through creative development:

r Basic concepts can be tested to determine, with precision, how the subconscious responds to them. The savings in cost and time that result from this streamlined approach can be significant. Multiple creative solutions need not be pursued past the initial stage in the hope of deciphering which solution may be more effective; the brain will indicate the answer, with clarity, at the earliest conceptual stage. The assurance that the concept will appeal to consumers at this most fundamental and essential of levels enables the creative team to design and execute messaging with P1: OTA/XYZ

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confidence that their strategic platform is proven to be neurologically sound.

r Copy testing similarly produces clear and precise results. Rather than having to rely on test subjects’ articulated responses to proposed copy, neurological testing reveals exactly how subjects react at the subconscious level, in real time. The brainwave activity data recorded provides detailed knowledge and metrics.

r Storyboards, animatics, ripomatics, and rough cuts can be tested to determine neurological responses. The results can offer clear indications of which specific elements are most effective, leading to more efficient creative development and production processes.

r Finished ads can be tested to ascertain their overall Effectiveness against campaign objectives, as well as which elements are neurologically best suited for adaptation to alternative media. Neurological compression can be applied to isolate key video frames and scenes, enabling the original creative material to be used efficiently and effectively in platforms requiring shorter-length formats.

r Priming studies can be conducted to measure the effects of programming on advertising effectiveness, and vice versa.

For new product launches and brand extensions, neurological testing can be used as a stand-alone measurement of advertising effectiveness, and also be applied in conjunction with brainwave activity measurements connected with product design, packaging, and in-store environments. This multiple testing methodology can give marketers the most comprehensive view of how these separate components work together, and where there are specific opportunities to improve their individual and collective effectiveness.

Neurological testing can also deliver critical knowledge and insights into how multimedia campaigns perform, including interactive campaigns. It can also gauge how effective creative concepts and specific elements are when deployed in different mediums.

Neurological testing can also be used to measure the effectiveness of otherwise difficult-to-determine components, such as spokespeople, music, graphics, special effects, animation versus live action, and other creative or production considerations.

For major advertisers and their agencies, the application of neurological testing over time can produce a database of the most effective individual ads and their specific components. This library can be a very valuable resource, providing examples of previous successes and the specific neurological best practices employed to achieve them, when new campaigns for existing brands P1: OTA/XYZ

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or for new products or brand extensions are in development. The cost and time savings gained as a result can be substantial.

Print Advertising—Learnings Using

the Framework

Logos and symbols:

r Place logos and symbols primarily in the central visual field.

r Option: Place logos or other symbols with a slight bias to the left visual field.

r Avoid more than two logos or symbols overall.

Print advertising/websites:

r Place images on the left and semantics on the right.

r Use human imagery to engage viewers.

r Create layouts that use a circular/clockwise visual exploration pattern.

r Use just two or three major visual elements for maximum neurological impact.

r Use interesting, unique fonts to increase Attention and Novelty factors.

r Use ambiguous imagery and puzzles that resolve in four seconds maximum.

Screen partitioning:

r If you split imagery into multiple units (say, separate faces), use no more than three.

r Insert a space between each partition.

r Use vertical, not horizontal, placement and separation.