[Webinar] Applying Neuroscience to Communications Research

HCD Seminar Series:

Applying Neuroscience to Communications Research April 16, 2014

Welcome and Introduction

Glenn Kessler President and CEO HCD Research, Inc.

Webinar Objectives • Provide an overview of the applications of integrated Consumer Communications Science

• Discuss variation in neuromarketing methods and tools

• Share case studies and experience using specific methods for specific problems

• Learn the science of psychophysiology/neuromarketing

HCD Approach to Neurocognitive Market Research

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• Cognitive and neuro/psychophysiological methods answer different questions Cognitive research can address how people feel Applied neuroscience and psychophysiological methods can address the

reason for a cognitive response One method does not replace another

• No single research method answers all questions and satisfies all research requirements. Different tools should be considered to solve different research questions.

• Results of cognitive/psychophysiological methods should be integrated and interpretations and recommendations should be the focus of reports…not the technology used to obtain data.

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A Consumer Experience

Research Company

Sensory Experience

User Experience

Brand Experience

Sensory Experience

User Experience

Brand Experience

Sensory Experience

User Experience

Brand Experience

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Sensory Experience • Taste (flavor) • Touch (somatosensory) • Vision (colors, images, viscosity, etc.) • Smell (fragrance) • Product Innovation (ingredients, new products/technologies) • Product Use/Packaging

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Sensory Experience

User Experience

Brand Experience

User Experience • Website Usability • Interactive Digital Media • Apps • User Interface • Digital Advertising

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Sensory Experience

User Experience

Brand Experience

Brand Experience • Brand Identity • Positioning • Concept • Messaging • Packaging • Advertising

Early-Stage Application • The diagnostic power of integrated cognitive and psychophysiological methods is greatest in early-stage product

and concept development.

• The sensitivity of this technology allows marketing and product development teams to observe the impact of nuanced variations across potential…

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Product Names and Logos

Color Schemes and Images/Photography

Product Claims/Positioning/Messaging

Product Concepts

Animatics and Storyboards

Product Spokespersons

Arthur Kover, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Fordham University Yale Management Fellow Former Editor of the Journal of Advertising Research

Professor Paul Bolls, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Strategic Communication, Missouri School of Journalism Co-Director, PRIME LAB, Missouri School of Journalism

Michelle Niedziela, Ph.D. Neuroscientist and Chief Methodologist, HCD Research

Joe Messina Director of Marketing Sciences, HCD Research

Communications Research in the New Research World

Arthur Kover, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Fordham University Yale Management Fellow Former Editor of the Journal of Advertising Research

Communications Research

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- A Conversation -

A Researcher

The Public

Words: Not Total Communication

Total Communication

Filtered • Words Unfiltered/Emotional • Gestures • Body Language/Posture • Eye Contact Hidden • Heart Beat • Startle & Awareness Responses

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Conventional Research

“New” Research

Limitations of Conventional Research

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Advantages Disadvantages

Captures conscious response Does not capture subconscious response

Large, representative sample with statistical validity

Question phrasing/interviewer can bias results

Cost-effective Inaccuracies in self-reporting

Fast turn-around

New Research Techniques

• New techniques supplement/expand current research Unmediated, not filtered Uncontrolled ‘rationally’ Very quick Recognizes the hidden elements of human response

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Moving Forward

• BUT, how to combine these (new and older) approaches to reveal a complete response?

• And how to overcome: Resistance to change among researchers; and Single-minded reliance on the new approaches?

• This webinar provides a path and an answer

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Applied Neuroscience: What is consumer neuroscience & how can we use it?

Michelle Niedziela, Ph.D. Neuroscientist and Chief Methodologist, HCD Research

How do people see, interpret and behave in the world?

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Non-conscious Conscious

Speak & Act Deliberate & Analyze

Determine Meaning &

Value

Form Impressions

What is Applied Consumer Neuroscience?

• Psychology Self-report, questionnaire,

psychoanalysis Assumes people can

consciously access why they feel a certain way

• Neuroscience People don’t know why “why” is not constant May never be aware

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Why not just ask?

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Peripheral Nervous System

Central Nervous System (Brain & Spinal Cord) What How

Blood Flow fMRI

Electrical Activity EEG

Choice Behavioral Experiments

Applied Consumer Neuroscience Methods

What How

Facial Expressions

Automated/ Expert Coding

Facial Muscle Movement EMG

Eye Movement Eye Tracking

Perspiration EDA, SCR, GSR

Heart Rate Respiration EKG, strain gage

Cognitive Accessibility

Behavioral Response Time

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= FEAR

Psychology & Emotion: Discrete

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Multi-Modal Approach • Visual depiction of the

"emotional distance" between experiences

• Divided into two or three dimensions known as valences (how negative or positive the experience was), arousal (extent of reaction to stimuli) and approach/avoidance

• These dimensions can be depicted on a 2D or 3D coordinate map

Psychology & Emotion: Multidimensional

Arousal

Approach/ Avoidance

Emotional Valence

Pleasantness

Arou

sal

Pleasant Unpleasant

Mild

Intense

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Bored

Miserable

Angry

Afraid Happy

Astonished

Glad

Relaxed

Tired

Content

Sad

Distressed

Disgust

Arousal

Approach/ Avoidance

Emotional Valence

neutral

pleasant happy

surprised

ecstatic

excitement interested

enjoyment

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What How

Facial Expressions





Heart Rate Respiration

EKG, strain gage



Classification View

Emotional Valence

Attention

Arousal

Approach/ Withdrawal

Arousal

Approach/ Avoidance

Emotional Valence

Implicit Testing

Applied Consumer Neuroscience Methods Peripheral Nervous System

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fMRI – Academic neuroscience research • Great for spatial, structural resolution • Emotion:

Amygdala – emotional significance, basic needs (fear) Thalamus – wakefulness & relay Hypothalamus – hormones, nts (reward, arousal) Hippocampus – memory Fornix – output for memory, executive function Mammillary body – memory Olfactory bulb – smell Cingulate gyrus – affect, motor/muscle control,

attention, emotional awareness/consciousness Basal ganglia – motivation Orbitofrontal cortex – decision/emotions Prefrontal cortex – anticipating, regulating

emotions Ventral striatum – emotion/behavior Nucleus accumbens – goal directed emotion,

addiction Insula – body emotion (PNS), taste (disgust) Cerebellum – emotional regulation ETC…

Neuroscience & Emotion: fMRI

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Neuroscience & Emotion: fMRI

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Neuroscience & Emotion: EEG

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Central Nervous System (Brain & Spinal Cord)

What How

Blood Flow fMRI




Emotional Valence

Structure/ Anatomy

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What How

Facial Expressions





Heart Rate Respiration

EKG, strain gage



Peripheral Nervous System

Central Nervous System (Brain & Spinal Cord)

What How

Blood Flow fMRI




Follow me on twitter: @HCDNeuroscience Find me on LinkedIn: Michelle Niedziela Email me: [email protected]

Media Psychophysiology: The pathway to valid and valuable Biometric Marketing Science

Professor Paul Bolls, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Strategic Communication, Missouri School of Journalism Co-Director, PRIME LAB, Missouri School of Journalism Scientific Consultant, HCD Research

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Validity Validity depends on basic science targeted at determining the psychological meaning of nervous system activity

PRACTICAL BENEFIT

Value Value depends on identifying specific biometric measures that index concepts critical to effective brand communication and insightful data analysis

Biometric Research “Value Proposition”

Presenter

Presentation Notes

PAUL

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Media content ‘the stimulus’

Delivered via a new interactive technology ‘into the mind’ of the audience

Emerging effects ‘the response’

Intervening process embodied in the brain leads to…

Approach observes brain activity in real time as consumers experience and interact with brand messages offering insight into how and why messages succeed or fail

Media use is a dynamic across time interaction between embodied ‘mind’ and ‘media’

The Biometric Marketing Communication Science Paradigm

Media use engages ‘intervening processes’ in cognitive / emotional form, observable though psychophysiological measures (e.g. EEG, cardiac activity)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

PAUL

Measuring “Mental Experience” with Brand Communication

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Qualitative Interview, Self-report Scales,

And Behavioral Observation

Memory Tests

Biometric Measures

Eye Tracking

Dynamic Processes Model of Mediated Message Processing

Complex social environment consisting of across-time interactions between messages and message receiver

Biometrics Impact Score

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BIOMETRICS IMPACT SCORE

Stopping Power (First 6 Seconds)

Magnitude of the Orienting Response as a composite measure of Cardiac Deceleration (Heart rate) + Arousal (GSR) + Emotion* (Facial EMG) In The First Six (6) Seconds

• Extent to which an ad is likely to succeed at capturing attention in a cluttered advertising environment

Sustained Positive Engagement

Composite measure of Cardiac Deceleration (Heart rate) + Arousal (GSR) + Emotion* (Facial EMG) For The Remainder of Exposure

• Extent to which an ad is likely to maintain attention and relatively strong levels of arousal with desired emotional response

Brand Immersion

Composite measure of Cardiac Deceleration (Heart rate) + Arousal (GSR) + Emotion (Facial EMG) During Branding Moments**

• Extent to which an ad evokes a brand-favorable response during presentation of the branding elements

Biometrics Impact Score The Composite Score of All Three Metrics

* The use of Positive Emotion as measured by Facial EMG is determined by the Creative Brief ** All ads featured a single primary branding moment in the last 6 seconds of the exposure.

Biometrics Graph Interpretation

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A decrease in heart rate indicates viewers are paying attention to the content.

An increase in heart rate indicates viewers are accessing memories and are not attending to details in content.

An increase in arousal is most likely due to a more conscious level of interest. However, it is critical to remember that interest is not the same as attention.

Arousal usually tapers off over time.

It is important to consider positive and negative emotion as independent responses. Any increase or decrease in one response does not automatically result in the opposite response in the other. This is known as coactive emotional response.

X Axis = Rate of Change Y Axis = Length of Exposure (sec)

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Message testing (ads, concepts, positioning)

Communication Contexts for Holistic Biometric Marketing Research

Branded content optimization

Entertainment / Information content testing

Website optimization

Digital, interactive, mobile platform testing

Product sensory experience

Presenter

Presentation Notes

PAUL

Integrated Research in Action

Joe Messina Director of Marketing Sciences, HCD Research

Case Study: Commercial Testing 2013-2014 Campaign

Biometrics Impact Score* Vs. Clutter • GE is the most effective of these ads at driving attention, engagement and positive emotion, and thus achieves a

Biometrics Impact Score that is much greater than the HCD Benchmark.

• Toyota achieves a Biometrics Impact Score of 1.3, which is weaker than the HCD Benchmark, as well as commercials placed in clutter.

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*Composite measure of Brand Positive Stopping Power, Sustained Positive Engagement and Brand Immersion

1.0

1.3

6.4

3.8

7.2

3.7

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Taco Bell

Toyota

Swiffer

Old Spice

GE

HCD BENCHMARK

BIOMETRICS IMPACT SCORE*

Emotional Diagnosis Over Time (Biometrics) • The introduction (lobby scene) does not create an emotional response, which is detrimental to the commercial’s

performance as it could lead to loss of engagement before the main message is revealed.

• Once the message (the financial offer) is revealed , there is a meaningful emotional response.

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-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Posi

tive

Faci

al E

MG

Ch

ange

from

Bas

elin

e

Positive Emotional Response

Negative Emotional Response

Indicates statistically significantly superior/inferior to the HCD Benchmark

Call-To-Action (Top 2 Box) Toyota (n=150) HCD Benchmark

Prompts Me to Seek Additional Information 42% 30%

Likelihood to Talk to Friends and Family About Commercial 38% 33%

Case Study: Ad Concept Campaign

Purpose:

• To understand which concept most effectively drives a relevant emotional response to the product and motivates trial purchase.

• The messages are identical for each ad.

• The visual depiction of the message is different and is the focus of the test.

Methodology:

• Integration of Biometrics and Eye-Tracking with traditional quantitative survey methods

Selecting a Lead Concept For New Ad Campaign

Emotional Response to Ad Concepts

1

2

3

4

5

EMOTIONAL IMPACT

• The emotional response of Concept A is more positive, while the Concept B shows higher negative emotion driven by graphic element 2 and the bottom graphic element 3.

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 191 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19

Increases in negative response Higher positive response

Concept A Concept B

Positive Negative

1 2

3

4 5

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Q36_1

CALL-TO-ACTION

Call-to-Action Measures Concept A

(n=101) A

Concept B (n=103)

B

Motivates to purchase Product X Top-2 Box 79% 65%

Motivates seek additional information Top-2 Box 75% 63%

Motivates to Visit the Website Top-2 Box 65% 61%

Driving Factors for Call-to-Action Concept A

(n=101) A

Concept B (n=103)

B

Message Effectiveness

Clarity/Ease in Understanding Top-2 Box 81% 77% Relevance Top-2 Box 90% 80%

Other Measures % Found Aspects that Encourage to Seek Additional Information 72% 58% Concept A Concept B

Positive Negative

More positive emotion can be linked to viewers thinking the graphics are more encouraging.

Which Concept Is The Winner? • The stronger positive emotional response to the visual elements of Concept A leads to more effective

communication and ultimately higher motivation toward purchase.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Q36_1

Case Study: Testing Video Advertising within Website Environments

Purpose:

• To understand how consumers engage with online video advertisements across different website environments.

• Provide insight for branded web property owner to provide its advertising clients with a data story to prove that ads placed in branded content are more effective than when placed in generic sites.

Methodology:

• Integration of Biometrics and Eye-Tracking with traditional quantitative survey methods

• A mix of videos were utilized across all environments to ensure a robust market mix of consumers.

• Consumers were between the ages of 25-54 years old. • Must watch videos on the Internet at least once a week.

Testing Video Advertising within Website Environments

Branded 1 User Generated Video (UGV)

Test Materials

To be as brave as the people we help

-5-4-3-2-101234

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

ATTENTION

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

AROUSAL/INTENSITY

-0.5

-0.25

0

0.25

0.5

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

POSITIVE

NEGATIVE

The large black border serves to keep viewer’s attention locked up in the ad window.

AD ENGAGEMENT

LOW MODERATE HIGH Biometrics for Branded Website • Ads placed in a relevant context on a branded website are more engaging.

To be as brave as the people we help

-5-4-3-2-101234

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

ATTENTION

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

AROUSAL

-0.5

-0.25

0

0.25

0.5

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

POSITIVE

NEGATIVE

Some visual engagement on the ad is lost to surrounding content.

AD ENGAGEMENT

LOW MODERATE HIGH

Biometrics for UGV Website • Ads placed in the User Generated Video environment do not effectively grab

attention.

Key Metrics

Branded 1 A

UGV B

Biometrics

Attention Arousal

Emotion

Ad Recall % Unaided

% Aided

Call-To-Action

Purchase Interest (top 2 box)

Click on the Ad

Search to find out more

Other Communication

(Top 2 Box)

Impression of the Brand Is More Favorable After Viewing Ad in Website Environment

Ad Fit with Website Environment

Ad Is Relevant to Website

Results from Key Metrics • While ads placed in generic UGV sites can potentially get more traffic, ads placed in contextually relevant, branded

sites get more attention that is sustained, and therefore are more memorable and motivating.

You have Questions? We have Answers!

Please enter your questions now, or feel free to contact us individually:

Glenn Kessler: [email protected]

Arthur Kover: [email protected]

Michelle Niedziela: [email protected]

Paul Bolls: [email protected]

Joe Messina: [email protected]

[Webinar] Applying Neuroscience to Communications Research

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