Exploring the Pleasure Principle with Neuro-Marketing

Advertising is big business. Advertisers spent $739 billion on advertising globally, and that number is expected to rise 8.7% by 2022 (dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecast ). The advertising spend has grown phenomenally since 2000. Which means a lot more ads hitting a lot more target audience and lot more number of times per day. With this, marketers face a challenge, decline of attention span of the audience and the ads fighting for attention at the same time. But what does all that money buy? A lot of research has been done on how advertising affects our behavior, but little is known about what it does to our brains. A new study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience sheds some light on that question. Researchers from the University of Southern California and Stanford University used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of people while they looked at a series of ads. The results showed that ads activate regions of the brain associated with desire and want. In other words, ads make us want things we may not even need.

This was an accidental discovery in the 1950s when the scientists discovered a 'pleasure center' in a rodent's brain in nucleus accumbens. The lab rats discovered a way to please themselves when they learnt that by pressing a certain button in the confines of where they were kept. This button released electrical current and they pressed hundreds of times per hour, without eating or resting, and ultimately some of them died of exhaustion. There's a similar 'pleasure center' in human brain as well.

"People are fairly good at expressing what they want, what they like, or even how much they will pay for an item, But they aren't 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. - Uma R. Karmarkar, assistant professor at Harvard Business School having a PhD each in Marketing and Neuroscience Read her 'Note on Neuromarketing'

Advertisers are constantly looking for new ways to reach consumers and get their attention. Neuro marketing is a new field that uses neuroscience to understand how consumers react to different marketing stimuli. Neuro marketing research has shown that certain kinds of advertising are more effective than others. For example, ads that elicit an emotional response are more likely to be remembered by consumers. As neuro marketing continues to evolve, advertisers will have a better understanding of how to create effective campaigns that reach consumers on a deeper level.

Do you remember this ad? And how you felt?

In recent years, marketers have become increasingly interested in understanding the brain and how it affects consumer behavior. Another common technique is EEG, which measures electrical activity in the brain. EEG can be used to track how quickly someone's brain responds to a stimulus, and how much attention they are paying to it. For example, a study might show that when people see an ad for a new car, the part of the brain responsible for processing images of objects is activated. This information can then be used to create more effective ads that target that specific part of the brain. Neuro marketing is still a relatively new field, but it has already begun to have a significant impact on the way marketing is conducted.

There's a reason we can't resist a good sale or that new car smell (It's so intoxicating that it's hard to resist buying a new car even when we know we can't afford it). Marketing plays on our brain chemistry to influence our spending habits, and sometimes it works too well. When we see something we want, our brains release dopamine, giving us a pleasurable sensation and motivating us to take action. This is the same chemical that's released when we eat food or have sex- it's nature's way of making sure we do things that are essential for survival. But in today's society, there are plenty of things that we want but don't need. And marketing companies know how to harness this fact. They use techniques like sensory overload, social pressure, and even subliminal messages to get us to spend money on things we probably need (or don't need).

Sales and marketing campaigns are designed to appeal to our senses and play on our emotions in order to get us to make a purchase. Studies have shown that the color red makes people more likely to take risks, while blue has the opposite effect. This is why many casinos use red in their decor and why so many fast food restaurants use the color as well. Similarly, scents can also trigger certain emotions and memories. The smell of baking cookies might remind us of our childhood or a happy memory, making us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

This area of marketing is still in its infancy, but some believe that it has the potential to revolutionize the way products are advertised. There are many critics of neuro marketing who believe that it is nothing more than a gimmick. They argue that advertisers will use any excuse to get into our heads and manipulate us into buying their products. However, there are also those who believe that neuro marketing could be a powerful tool for good. Some argue that neuro marketing could help marketers create more effective and targeted ads. Others believe that it could be used to improve the overall customer experience. Ultimately, only time will tell if neuro marketing lives up to its promise using this knowledge to better understand how people make decisions, and what factors influence their choices. This information can be used to create more effective advertising, and to understand what consumers want.

A word of advise for those organizations which want to jump onto the bus of neuromarketing and wish to hire a consultant or an agency that can help them do so. Beware, not all of them are equipped with the know-how, scientific acumen, technology or expertise in the field. Green flags are - company owned/ run by a scientist with a track record else the conclusions could be deceptive and reliance on bad data can be a death knell not only for the marketing campaigns, but the company itself.