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TV Networks Open Neuroscience Labs To Improve Their Shows and Ads (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader writes: NBCUniversal's recently-opened Orlando neuroscience lab is trying to develop methods of delivering advertisements related to the scene in the show preceding them, such as delivering a food advertisement directly after a scene which has been shown to make test-subjects hungry. Viacom is building a lab right now to take electroencephalagrams of viewers while they watch. "And ratings firm Nielsen Holdings, which just bought neuroscience firm Innerscope Research earlier this year, is adding facial coding and biometrics to its labs, which currently conduct eye tracking and perform EEGs." NBC doesn't trust what viewers say when asked for their opinion on shows. They want to use science to determine which scenes trigger an emotional response, whether the viewer acknowledges it or not.
Young grasshopper, there is much I could teach you.
When effective marketing organizations lay out plans to get people to buy a product, they design around a concept called a "sales funnel" and map out the mental state of potential buyers in various states. These states include (at a high level) learning about whether or not they have a need, deciding they need a solution, deciding what solutions they are going to purchase, and deciding to pull the trigger on their preferred solution.
Marketing organizations set up interactions designed to nudge buyers down the funnel at all stages, including the stages I listed: "do I have a problem" (often helped along by planted news stories with statistics like 74% of all health care companies fell prey to whatever) and "what solutions are available for this" (often helped along by seeding if not outright buying off a "trusted" reviewer or analyst). Throw in a couple of advertisements that reinforce the exposure of this or that brand name (which is also backed up by psychology), and suddenly you're another sheep buying Oracle.
Are you keeping up now?