Institute of Management, Nirma University MBA (FT) - 2014-16

Integrated Marketing Communication Group Assignment - 2

(Library Assignment & Presentation)

Neuromarketing

Submitted by: Group No-3

KARAN MEHTA
(141122)
ANISHA BHANSALI
(141208)
PRAVEEN KUMAR JHA
(141237)
SUMIT KUMAR
(141259)

BHARGAV KORAT (141308)

INTRODUCTION
Its easy for businesses to keep track of what we buy, but harder to figure out why. Enter a
nascent field called neuromarketing, which uses the tools of neuroscience to determine why we
prefer some products over others. People are fairly good at expressing what they want, what
they like, or even how much they will pay for an item, says Uma R. Karmarkar, an assistant
professor at Harvard Business School who sports PhDs in both marketing and neuroscience. But
they arent very good at accessing where that value comes from, or how and when it is
influenced by factors like store displays or brands. Neuroscience can help us understand those
hidden elements of the decision process. Neuromarketing is the tool which helps in unlocking
the mysteries of consumer choice.
Neuromarketing is an emerging field that bridges the study of consumer behaviour with
neuroscience. Controversial when it first emerged in 2002, the field is gaining rapid
credibility and adoption among advertising and marketing professionals. Each year,over 400 billi
on dollars is invested in advertising campaigns. Yet, conventional methods for testing and
predicting the effectiveness of those investments have generally failed because they depend on
consumers willingness and competency to describe how they feel when they are exposed to an
advertisement. Therefore, many major corporations have begun to take special interest in
understanding how the human brain can help them better understand consumers. Neuromarketing
offers cutting edge methods or directly probing minds without requiring demanding cognitive or
conscious partipation.
History of Neuromarketing
The combination of neuro and marketing implies the merging of two fields of study
(neuroscience and marketing).The term neuromarketing cannot be attributed to a particular
individual as it started appearing somewhat organically around 2002. At the time, a few U.S
companies like Brighthouse and SalesBrain became the first to offer neuromarketing research
and consulting services advocating the use of technology and knowledge coming from the field
of cognitive neuroscience. Basically, neuronmarketing is to marketing what neuropsychology is
to psychology. While neuropsychology studies the relationship between the brain and human
cognitive and psychological functions, neuromarketing promotes the value of looking at
consumer behavior from a brain perspective.
The first scholarly piece of neuromarketing research was performed by Read Montague,
Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in 2003 and published in Neuron in
2004. In a blind-taste test, consumers are asked to choose between Pepsi and Coca-Colaand
to no ones surprise, Pepsi wins. However, a decade ago, neuroscientist Read Montague posed a
question: If people truly prefer Pepsi over Coke, why isnt Pepsi dominating the market?

Montague created a Pepsi Challenge of his own, hooking up his test subjects to an MRI machine
to track brain activity. At first, about half of the participants said they preferred Pepsi; however,
when Montague told them which samples were Coca-Cola, preferences shifted to three-to-one in
favor of Coke. Additionally, he observed heightened activity had in the prefrontal cortex, part of
the brain that controls higher thinking; as well as in the hippocampus, which relates to
memory.Montague concluded that the brain was recalling images and ideas from commercials,
and that the thoughts and emotions connected to the branding were overriding reactions to the
actual quality of the product. In 2004, he published his findingsand as a result, neuromarketing
emerged from the shadows and into the public eye.

For what kinds of customers is neuromarketing effective?

Neuromarketing is a flexible method to determine customer preferences and brand loyalty,
because it can apply to nearly anyone who has developed an opinion about a product or
company. No matter what form it takes, marketing focuses on creating positive and memorable
impact in the minds of customers. Neuromarketing measures those impacts, but anyone can take
the basic discoveries and adjust their product or sevice to reflect subconscious consumer needs.
Sensory devices that create or evoke memories, for example, can be easily employedthe aroma
of fresh bread, recollections of past stories (either a published work or a shared experience),
evocative language, a song that gets stuck in your head and wont come out -- ultimately, these
are all effective (if crude) examples of neuromarketing that can be used by nearly any business of
any size.
Tapping the subconscious mind:
Today marketers are adapting new and complex scientific techniques to dig into consumers
subconscious minds to make the art of selling more creative and data driven. Its not the product
or a service that makes a customer happy but what makes a customer happy is how that product
is perceived, the sense of joy and pride that comes by being associated with that product/brand.
Neuroscience & Marketing
Brand and product management through consumer behaviour is more of an influencing art rather
than a marketing tactics. Neuromarketing finds its importance in revealing the taste of the
consumers as per their gender composition, emotional connect, brand importance. Nowadays
packaging, messaging, advertisements, marketing themes such as ambush, subliminal, guerrilla
are all influenced by the brain waves action of Neuromarketing. Neuromarketing is primarily
used nowadays to better understand consumers wants and needs and point consumers in the
right direction towards right fit by tapping the comfort zone of the consumers and then using
marketing science tactics for any product launch.

Neuromarketing and consumer satisfaction:

In such an advance social media network and constantly changing buying behaviour,
Neuromarketing signals a direct new brain to brain shared emotion. Every firm, organization and
community whosoever is dealing with consumer or employer is trying to satisfy the needs and
wants in order to retain the consumer and maintain long term relationship for better sales of their
products. Neuronal sensory system drives consumer thoughts and behaviour towards anything
and thus appeals to consumer wants, needs and desires.
Neuro Marketing Tools:
Fu

Neuro Marketing
Tools

Recording Metabolic
Activities in Brain

Positron
Emission
Tomography
(PET)

Functional
Magnetic
Resonance
Imaging
(FMRI)

Recording Electrical
Activities in Brain

Without recording
Brain activities

Electroencephalography
(EEG)

Eye Tracking

Magneto encephalography
(MEG)

Skin Conductance

Steady State Topography

(SST)

Facial Coding

Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation (TMS)

Facial
Electromyography

nctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI):

It allows observation of deep brain structures and it is suitable for neuro marketing
studies

It combines magnetic field and radio waves, producing a signal that allows viewing brain
structures in detail

It allows measuring brain activity while subjects perform certain tasks or experience
marketing stimuli, searching for patterns

Electroencephalography (EEG):

EEG measures electric product of the brain activity, when brain undergoes any stimulus.

It captures variations in brainwaves, and the amplitudes of the recorded brainwaves

correspond to certain mental states, such as wakefulness , relaxation, calmness and sleep

A number of electrodes (up to 256) are placed on the scalp of the subjects, in certain
areas, in order to measure and record the electricity for that certain spot.

For the analysis, voltage and frequency are measured for each subject and compared to
the data that is recorded without using marketing stimuli.

Neuroscience Working Principle:

Neuromarketing understands that when stimulated different parts of the brain are
activated.
By understanding and observing these responses using MRI and EEG, and analysing the
timing and response of our brains in relation to specific stimulus researchers can
determine what we really think.

Neuromarketing Relevance:
Decision buying and consumer behaviour is highly reflected by the below mentioned seven
tactics of Neuromarketing:

Be visual: the study by Neuro marketers suggests that any item should reflect visibility in
front of target audience and appeals to the desire of the consumer. Visibility matters much
more than the content description.

Create contrast: Since the plethora of products are available in the market for attracting
customers, sale and maintaining customer base, any firm should have some USP
associated with the product launch. That USP should posses contrast, should stand out
among other products and should truly reveal the essence of launch.

Firsts and Lasts push: A good marketing strategy on any product is something which
could capture the mind of customer in its first launch and left an everlasting impression.
In such a busy and competitive lifestyle, Neuro marketers suggest an ideology of first
impression is the last impression.

Emotional connect: To influence brain activity, any product should have an emotional
connect with the consumer mind to persuade him towards buying proposition. Brain to
brain association of product with consumers is essentially important for success of
product.

Keep it simple: Any complicated and complex terminology requires lot of thinking and
interpretation. People are too busy to give a minute of thoughts on product. They
immediately carry an image of product which has simple but lucrative demonstration in
the outlets.

Concreteness: Simplicity and concreteness is the guru mantra influencing buying

decision and creating positive image in the consumers mind.

Make it personal: Product should be directly associated with the needs of consumer. No
matter how much personifying a demonstration will be, it would carry no meaning and
importance until and unless it is related to the needs, wants and desires of consumer.

Case Study: Shelf Analysis (Space Management)

Agency: iMotions - Enabling Services

Date: April - June 2009
Client: Cadbury
Place: Denmark
Objectives:
The client wanted to know the optimal space management to place the Fusion group of products
and the V6 group of products in the supermarket check-out shelf
Methodology:
Attention Tool + Questionnaire
Target segment: 120 people (Males 50% / Females 50%) 15-39 years old
2 Cells: (A/B) 60 people each (30 M / 30 F)
Cell A was shown to be measured by EYE TRACKING METRICS Spotlight &
Highlight.
Cell B was shown to be measured by the same metrics

1. Fusion group of product on Top Shelf

2. V6 group of product on Top Shelf

Note - Area nos are given in ascending order based on the decreasing order of time spent in
looking shelf space.
The Result shows that customer was looking at other places for 38% of their time in case when
Fusion group of product are placed on top shelf and 27% of time when V6 group of products are
on Top shelf.

Highlight
Top Shelf
Middle Shelf
Discount Divider

Fusion at top (Time Spent)

15%
10%
X

V6

at

top

(Time

Spent)
12%
11%
4%

Conclusions / Learnings

The Fusion group of products gets more attention than the V6 group of products no
matter where they are placed (though the difference is very little).
The Top shelf gets more attention than the Middle shelf no matter which products are
placed.
In general the respondents look first at the top shelf and then at the middle shelf no matter
the arrangement of the products.
Whenever the Discount-Price groceries divider is present, it is the first element to catch
the attention of the respondents, gets considerable amount of attention and is looked by
approximately 75% of the respondents.
The optimal space management arrangement for product visibility is to place the V6
group of products in the Top shelf and the Fusion group of products in the Middle shelf to
help V6 gain more attention.

Case Study on Campbell Soup Company

Company
Introduction
New Jersey, USA based company Campbell was a maker and seller of food products. As of
November, 2011, Campbell was the largest producer of Soups in the world. It had about 75% of
US market share in wet soup market with annual sales accounting to about 2 billion cans.
History
Campbell started a tinning unit in 1869. It started manufacturing condensed soups in late 1890s.
As of 1904, the unit had annual soup sales of 18 million cans. In 1922, the unit was incorporated
as the Campbell Soup Company. Campbell introduced its chicken noodle and cream of
mushroom soups in 1934, tomato juice in 1938, and, cream of chicken soup in 1947. The
company achieved annual sales of US$100 million in the early 1940s. For the year ended July
31, 2011, it generated net sales of US$7,719 million and net earnings of US$802 million.

Issues Faced by the Company

1. The product has reached its maturity stage in PLC and hence it was difficult for the
company to consume more soup than before.
2. The sales of condensed soup reduced by 5% in 2002 in USA
3. The exports of the company also reduced by 6% in the next quarter
4. Their advertisements had little or no influence over consumers buying behaviour
5. The consumers' actual buying patterns were not consistent with the correlation they had
exhibited between ad remembrance and willingness to buy. The company was unable to
know the consumer behaviour because of conventional market research methodology.

Methodology
The company decided to go for an intensive market research as well as use the technique of
Neuro Marketing to know the behaviour of consumer based on their responses to different
catalysts in advertisements, communiqus, pictorial presentations, and other marketing ploys.
The basic reason for using Neuro Marketing was that consumer purchasing decisions took place
in micro seconds in the subconscious, emotional segment of the brain and by assessing what
consumers preferred, did not prefer, needed, were scared of, or were less enthused by, as

suggested by their brain's responses to propellants, marketers could develop products and
messages that would cater better to market requirements, and bond and influence the purchase.
The physiological aspects under study were consumer heartbeat, perspiration and pupil
movement while viewing the Campbells soup cans.
Changes made by The Company
Campbell made many changes to create positive feelings within the customer when they view it.
The changes made were as under
1. Company removed the spoon from the image incorporating an image of steam rising
from the soup signalling the feeling of warmth connected with consumer at an emotional
level.
2. Moreover company also removed its legendary red coloured streak at the top of the soup
containers which was making it difficult for the consumer to pick up their preferred
flavour
Results
In the initial quarter after the changes were made, an increase in sales of about 5% was noted.
But in the next quarter the sales again decreased which gave the company clear signs that there is
the requirement of new product in the market to push on sale. Campbell has been continuing the
same product line since 40 years and hence there was an requirement for new offering in the
market.