This video shows how the brain responds to a Range Rover ad. I watched it a few times and it’s interesting to think about why parts of the ad make the brain “light up” at certain times. Why do you think this is?
Sands Research, based in El Paso, TX, does analyses on neuromarketing. This includes the annual analysis of the Super Bowl ads and their levels of emotional engagement.
Neuromarketing is an emerging trend that studies the brain’s reactions to various stimuli in ads, messages, visuals and marketing tactics, and then seeks to apply those findings in a way that makes marketing more effective.
Truly, this is a subject that can be discussed for quite some time. But rather than have you read endless amounts of copy about what neuromarketing is and how it works, I’ve decided to feature videos and other helpful bits from industry professionals on the subject.
As today is the first day of a full week of neuromarketing, we’re going to start with the basics. Did you know that Germany, Britain and America are the leaders in the study and application of neuromarketing? Michael Brammer knew.
As chairman of Neurosense, a UK-based neuromarketing consultancy, Brammer definitely knows his stuff. Below is an interview in which Brammer talks about:
• blogs as a form of neuromarketing
• the future of neuromarketing
• how it actually helps marketers
• and practical applications on neuromarketing
For such a meaty subject, Brammer does a great job of simplifying the key ideas behind it—despite the pushy interviewer’s aggressive questioning.
This is a 6-minute clip but it’s worth every second. So press play and keep working while you listen, or sit back and enjoy.
More great videos and examples coming later today!
You’ve done it! You’ve made it five years. And you actually show no sign of slowing down. That’s truly amazing for any Web application, isn’t it? Let’s see what you’ve accomplished since your 2004 birth in a Harvard campus dorm room:
You’ve done a lot in your five years. If you were a human being, you’d still be taking naps in kindergarten. Hmm. A nap sounds pretty good about now…
Read the birthday blog post from Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, here.
Picture this, you’re walking along in the park and you see a cute little bunny hopping towards you. Then, the cute little bunny looks up at you and says, “I’m cute!” Suddenly, that cute little bunny has become obnoxious and you start thinking how much you miss the tie-dyed rabbit’s foot you had in third grade.
This is what Michael Phelps’ apology did to me, and this is where Beth and I disagree.
Had Phelps’ publicist issued the statement about the Olympic star’s young age, I would have been completely on board this train. However, Phelps being the one to say he was young and would make mistakes boggles my mind, because his recognition of his own immaturity is in fact an act of maturity.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want him to suffer for this. It’s not like I’m some small county sheriff who needs some publicity (check out that story here). I’m just saying the PR rep should have thought this through.
I sure did.
I’m not mad at Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill or even Whitney Houston, at least not for lip-syncing at the Super Bowl. The NFL, however, does not receive my good graces.
Here’s a quick timeline of how it went down:
Sunday: I missed the Super Bowl
Monday: I heard about Jennifer Hudson’s amazing performance and watched it on Youtube.
Tuesday: I read that it was lip-synced. GASP! What?
I get the NFL’s reasons for pressing the artists to lip-sync when singing the National Anthem and other patriotic songs. Rob Levine, executive editor of Billboard magazine, put it like this:
“If Bruce Springsteen flubs a line on ‘Born to Run’ only his fans will notice,” he said. “If Jennifer Hudson flubs on the national anthem, people are going to get upset. People want it to be technically perfect as well as emotionally inspiring.“
And you know what? It was emotionally inspiring…until this morning. There are a million analogies I could come up for this kind of disappointment: Going to bed after having a few drinks and waking up with a headache; thinking someone is waving at you on the street only to find they are waving at the person behind you; reaching for a grape in the fruit bowl only to discover it’s plastic…you get the picture.
For it to last, it has to be real. The fact that the NFL encourages lip-syncing makes me feel pandered too and like they are out to get me. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think anyone who tries to deceive me shouldn’t be trusted.
Is the game real? Or is it just a show too?
And why isn’t the NFL receiving the kind of bad PR that Ashlee Simpson suffered five years ago? I know you haven’t all forgotten that…or forgiven her for it.
Fuser has been around for a while now. For those of you who are not familiar with it, Fuser is a free online tool that allows you to check email and social network messages all from one inbox. Essentially, it fuses everything together.
Though I have not yet allowed myself to be fused, I do see the benefit here. Between Facebook, MySpace, AOL, Twitter, Linkedin and work email, it can be tedious to log into so many different (yet essential?) systems. With the “big bang” of social networks in the last few years, a consolidation tool is sorely needed. After all, the laws of physics declare that a thing can only expand so much before it must collapse on itself (read: the sun, the economy and bubble gum).
Why am I so hesitant to stick my toes in the water? I have a morbid fear that my compartmentalized life will implode if I fuse it all together, leaving me with missed messages and MAILER-DAEMON notices. Man, I hate those things. So in lieu of subjecting my entire virtual life to the fangs of Fuser, I’ve read reviews on the service so I would know where to point you all to find out more.
Joseph Crawford has written a very thorough review on the service, including all of its pros and cons. Check out his article to see for yourself if it’s time to fuse your life.
And let me know how it goes.
Tomorrow on The Side Note: The top Super Bowl ads of all time. Cast your vote!
I have to give the ADCD credit for posting this yesterday. But everyone knows what an IKEA nut I am so I have to post this too. It’s hard to believe this is the third biggest publication ever, but it’s easy to see why IKEA rocks.
Just a quick update on Beth…the animals got tired so I sent them home. Beth is now tied to a chair and I’m making her watch the Jeremy Piven/Good Morning America clip over and over and over.
A full week of neuromarketing is coming in February!
I first heard about the new Tropicana packaging from a friend of mine who is an extremely busy working mother of two. She told me of her weekly trip to the grocery with her two boys (8 and 2 years old) and how her eyes bugged at the OJ cooler.
“They changed all the packaging!” she said. “And it’s not color coordinated anymore. I’m used to just grabbing the blue one (reduced sugar). I have my two-year old with me. I don’t have time to sit and figure out what’s going on with the orange juice, so I bought the King Soopers brand just to spite Tropicana.”
Granted, there actually is still some color coordination going on for Tropicana (who, incidentally has 18 kinds of orange juice to choose from), but it’s very subtle. In fact, it’s only on the top of the box. In the old packaging, the color keys were about five times larger. Look at the picture below and tell me how well you would notice the colors in a giant cooler with a 2-year old screaming in your ear.
I give Tropicana props for the new look, though. Not only is it clean and simple, therefore making it stand out from the clutter, but it also plays to our psychology (um, neuromarketing*) by attracting us with the look of a generic brand. Basically, we will feel like we are saving money, even though we are not.
And yet, this neuromarketing fails the test with moms and other bloggers. Susan Gunelius over at Brand Curve says, “They’re not fooling anyone. The cheap looking 7-11-esque packaging doesn’t make me feel any better about forking over a whole lot of money so my kids can get their Vitamin C in the morning.”
*Speaking of neuromarketing, Beth and I are gearing up for a full week of it in February. We’ll explain what it is, how it works, and why it matters with plenty of examples and insights from industry professionals. We are even running a few tests of our own. I have Beth on a treadmill right now, hooked up to all kinds of machines, and small animals are randomly jumping out of boxes and shrieking at her. Each of those animals has an ad taped to their back so I can measure Beth’s reaction to them. I’ll let you know the results.
By the way, none of the animals are being harmed. They all volunteered for this and I have their signatures to prove it.
I am going to get booed here, I know it, but I was never a fan of the Cadbury gorilla playing Phil Collins. It was just too much for me. Creepy in a way. Maybe it stirred some long forgotten and disturbing memory deep within me (one I hope stays forgotten).
And even though I feel I should be equally disturbed by it, I am 100% for their latest ad. Check it out.
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