Business Improvement and Social media

The same primitive impulses that helped early man survive against the evolutionary odds also draws shoppers to pairs of tan suede shoes. At least that’s the theory behind neuromarketing, an emerging field that uses the tools of neuroscience to understand the secrets of the consumer brain.

By having a subject wear an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap with electrodes placed all over his/her head, it records the electrical impulses on the surface of the brain. Eye tracking goggles also reveal exactly what he’s looking at when the computer records a flash of emotion. And one agency is at the forefront of this technology in Canada.

Diana Lucaci is the founder of True Impact Marketing, which is currently the first and only neuromarketing research company in Canada that uses both EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to try to read consumers’ minds. Her company owns the EEG cap and eye tracking goggles, but must buy time with hospitals and universities to use the fMRI machine. Using both these technologies, the company measures three key metrics: engagement, attention, and memory. The company also measures levels of positive and negative emotion as well because businesses want to know if its brand elicits a particular emotional response, if it’s positive or negative at a particular point in time.

As a marketer, Diana always wanted better tools before going to market with a campaign. “When you know that a campaign requires millions of dollars and putting it together takes months and months, and the only data you have is a survey, and often you don’t even have that, so you just cross your fingers and hope that people pay attention,” she said.

All of this is just the beginning of neuromarketing in Canada. But the industry is growing. The first Neuromarketing World Forum was held last April in Amsterdam. And the Neuromarketing Science and Business Association say there are now more than 75 companies doing neuromarketing research all over the world.