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Neuromarketing How Brands Are Leveraging Brain Science to Decode Your Desires by EOS Intelligence
by EOS Intelligence EOS Intelligence No Comments

Neuromarketing: How Brands Are Leveraging Brain Science to Decode Your Desires

Innovative marketing strategies have become highly important for businesses in today’s crowded markets, where there is abundant competition and consumers have a vast array of options. This is why neuromarketing, a concept where brain science meets marketing, has started gaining popularity. Christened “astonishing hypothesis” by Nobel Laureate Francis Crick, it holds great promise for current and future marketers.

Neuromarketing is a marketing strategy that uses scientific methods to understand how consumers’ brains respond to products and advertisements. It measures brain activity and how people subconsciously react to ads, packaging, and products using methods such as electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and eye tracking.

The goal is to uncover the underlying motivations, preferences, and decision-making processes that drive customer behavior. This approach can help marketers and businesses create more effective advertisements, develop products that meet customer needs and wants, and set appealing prices.

The concept of neuromarketing has been around since the 1990s and it gained popularity with the development techniques such as the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique. This method allows researchers to tap into a person’s conscious and unconscious thoughts by analyzing their metaphoric or non-literal expressions.

Companies are using various approaches to adopt neuromarketing

Neuromarketing campaigns can use numerous approaches to attract customers.

EEGs and fMRIs are becoming increasingly popular

One approach is to use brain scanning techniques such as fMRI or EEG to monitor brain activity and understand how people process information.

An example is the 2011 neuromarketing study by the South Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai. The company measured brain activity using EEG and identified the design features most likely stimulating a desire to buy. Based on the study, Hyundai also modified the exterior design of its cars.

Another one is the 2011 commercial Yahoo rolled out to attract more users to its search engine. Before launching the US$100 million rebranding campaign, the company tested the 60-second commercial featuring happy people dancing worldwide. The company had people wear EEG caps to monitor their brain activity while watching the ad to gauge its impact. The results showed that the ad stimulated activity in areas of the brain associated with memory and emotional response, suggesting it could effectively grab viewers’ attention.

Similarly, Microsoft partnered with California-based market research company EmSense in 2009 to study the brain activity of Xbox gamers to understand how engaged they are when exposed to 30- and 60-second TV ads versus in-game ads on the Xbox. The study, using EEG technology, showed that the highest level of brain activity occurred during the first half of TV ads promoting an automotive brand. Also, brain activity decreased when the same ad was repeated during Xbox Live in-game advertising. Microsoft incorporated this format to improve the ad’s memorability.

Businesses such as Frito-Lay, a US-based snack manufacturer, use EEG and focus groups to assess consumers’ genuine reactions to new advertisements. In a 2008 ad, they showed a woman pranking her friend by filling her laundry with orange Cheetos. Despite the focus group participants expressing a dislike for the ad, an EEG study revealed that they actually found it enjoyable.

The EEG-based neuromarketing trend will likely gain even more traction, especially with wearable EEG devices becoming increasingly common. In 2011, Tokyo-based multinational conglomerate Hitachi developed a portable, wearable brain scanner that neuromarketing can employ. Users can wear it while performing everyday activities, such as shopping, allowing marketers to study consumer behavior and preferences in real-life settings. This will also help them to develop marketing campaigns aligned with consumer preferences.

Neuromarketing How Brands Are Leveraging Brain Science to Decode Your Desires by EOS Intelligence

Neuromarketing How Brands Are Leveraging Brain Science to Decode Your Desires by EOS Intelligence

Marketers track eyes to identify customer preferences

Eye-tracking technology is another important technique used in neuromarketing. This technology records the movement of a person’s eyes as they view a screen, generating a heat map to show where they focused their attention. This method can be used to compare the effectiveness of different ads.

A 2009 study conducted by Objective Experience, a Singapore-based research firm, found that when people are shown a diaper ad with a baby looking directly at them, they pay less attention to the message. However, when the baby looks at the ad content, people engage more with the message.

Companies such as UK-based Unilever frequently use this method to test how their products perform in-store. In 2016, it partnered with Swedish technology company Tobii to record shoppers’ attention data while browsing products on the shelf using wearable eye trackers. The data was then analyzed to identify the features that drew shoppers’ attention, how they interacted with branding and marketing elements, and their impact on customer behavior. The insights from this study helped Unilever determine the design features that resonate most with shoppers, allowing the company to optimize brand awareness and perception.

Many other companies have also experimented with eye-tracking techniques. In 2017, the Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota collaborated with Tobii to improve its in-store experience. The study revealed that younger shoppers spent more time on interactive digital elements, while older shoppers focused on textual information. However, it also showed that interactive digital screens generated the most engagement. This study became very beneficial for Toyota. Since consumers, such as automobile buyers, visit showrooms to make a specific purchase, eye-tracking technology can directly impact the sales of such companies.

While Unilever and Toyota collaborated with Tobii on neuromarketing strategies, UK-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has developed an in-house technique. In 2017, it launched a “Consumer Sensory Lab” to test its products using eye-tracking technology. The lab is designed to mimic a real store, allowing consumers to browse and shop while being monitored by eye-tracking devices. This allows GSK to analyze how consumers interact with products on the shelf and what packaging elements catch their attention. GSK’s investment in this technology shows that big players are now considering leveraging neuromarketing for market research and product development.

Packaging, colors, and emotions are essential in neuromarketing

Many companies are using effective packaging and experimenting with color psychology in neuromarketing. In 2009, Frito-Lay partnered with Ontario-based Juniper Park to understand why women were not choosing their products. The company identified that its shiny packaging was generating feelings of guilt in women while snacking. They redesigned their packaging using softer colors and avoided language that might trigger guilt.

Several companies use certain colors as neuromarketing tools to evoke specific emotions. US-based Coca-Cola’s use of the color red is an example. Similarly, brands such as Target and Netflix use red to convey feelings of power, excitement, and passion. Red has also been linked to increased hunger. Many fast-food chains, such as Wendy’s and KFC, use red to increase client engagement.

Many businesses also try to increase engagement by bringing out specific emotions. An example is German auto manufacturer Volkswagen’s 2011 Super Bowl ad, featuring a young boy dressed as Darth Vader trying to use “the force” on a VW Passat. Experts attributed the ad’s success to its combination of nostalgia (Star Wars), empathy (parental love), and humor (Darth Vader’s reaction).

Another example is Frito Lay’s 2018 “Operation Smile” campaign, which featured a series of smiles on the packaging of its potato chips. The campaign was designed to bring joy and happiness to customers and successfully connect with them.

Many brands are redesigning their packages and presentations using neuromarketing feedback, and the trend is expected to continue in the future.

AI integration and emotion AI are the emerging trends in the market

Integration with AI is one emerging trend that is greatly benefiting neuromarketing. As consumers engage in various online platforms, including social media, they leave a digital trail of personal information. This can be accessed by AI programs stored in the cloud.

AI analyzes this data and identifies patterns and customer preferences. This information can then be used to create effective marketing strategies. Netflix, for example, uses AI to power its recommendation engine and suggest shows based on users’ viewing history, completion rates, popularity rankings, etc.

AI also plays a crucial role in facial recognition and emotion detection. AI-driven facial tracking technologies are expected to help marketers understand how people respond emotionally to ad content more efficiently and accurately, helping them to design more engaging and impactful experiences.

Emotion AI, a type of artificial intelligence that analyzes, responds to, and simulates human emotions by detecting and interpreting emotional signals from various sources such as text, audio, and video, is another technological trend expected to benefit neuromarketing. Since this technology can capture and analyze human emotions and body language, marketers can use it to create user-centered and empathetic advertisements.

Sentiment analysis is an example, a tool used by Emotion AI that analyzes human emotions in text. This is often employed in marketing functions such as product review analysis.

An example is a 2018 campaign by the American sportswear giant Nike. The company used sentiment analysis to navigate the controversy surrounding NFL player Colin Kaepernick’s “take a knee” protest. As public opinion was divided, with both critics and supporters voicing their views, Nike partnered with California-based software development company Sentieo to monitor customer sentiments to protect its reputation. They tracked tweets and news related to the campaign before and after incorporating the “#justdoit” hashtag in Kaepernick’s tweets. The analysis also showed that consumer purchase intent improved due to the campaign, which benefited Nike.

Using tools such as Emotion AI is expected to directly affect companies’ profits since it helps them easily identify the customer’s opinion about the brand. It can also be used to detect early warning signs of customer dissatisfaction or frustration. This is expected to enable businesses to address issues promptly and reduce the risk of negative word-of-mouth or online reviews.

There are challenges and concerns about adoption

Though neuromarketing is expected to shape the future of marketing, interested players must address some concerns before taking the plunge. Critics have raised ethical concerns about its morality and the potential for privacy violations. There is also a potential for bias and inaccuracies in the research methods, leading to unreliable conclusions and flawed marketing strategies.

Larger companies with greater budgets are more likely to use neuromarketing leaving smaller players, who cannot afford the cost, at a significant disadvantage. This will widen the gap between these companies, as smaller ones will struggle to compete with larger companies’ marketing and advertising capabilities. Also, consumers may unknowingly choose products influenced by neuromarketing tactics, making it even harder for smaller companies to compete.

Moreover, larger corporations will have the means to invest in research and development of own neuromarketing techniques, further solidifying their advantage. These companies are also likely to keep the research findings proprietary, thereby limiting opportunities for smaller companies to compete.

More research is also needed to bring neuromarketing to the mainstream, especially in areas where real-time responses and feedback are required, such as in-store shopping. Since EEG technology, widely used in neuromarketing, can be compromised by interference from other electrical devices and requires subjects to remain still, it can become difficult to replicate lab-based research conditions in a real-world setting.

EOS Perspective

The marketing landscape has significantly transformed in the past few years. Consumers are now more tech-savvy and take to social media platforms when faced with an unpleasant event. Companies are also aware that negative reviews on online platforms can significantly impact a brand’s reputation within a short time. This can be increasingly managed by employing neuromarketing. Though it is still considered to be in its embryonic stage, experts believe this innovative marketing technique will reshape advertising and consumer-business relationships.

As the number of global mobile users is expected to cross 7.5 billion in 2025, according to a 2021 report by the US-based market research firm, The Radicati Group, neuromarketers are expected to collect real-time data by leveraging mobile devices. This will enable players to capture a more authentic and nuanced understanding of consumer behavior in real-world settings rather than relying solely on laboratory-based or controlled environments.

This real-time data collected using mobile devices can be used to design marketing strategies, product development, and customer experiences that are more tailored to meet consumers’ evolving needs and preferences.

Experts also believe that technological advancements such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can revolutionize the marketing landscape in the near future. BCIs enable seamless communication between the human brain and machines, giving marketers access to consumers’ real-time thoughts and emotions. This is expected to pave the way for ultra-personalization, as companies can tailor their products and advertisements to individuals’ unique preferences and emotional responses.

While there are ethical concerns surrounding its use, the fact that neuromarketing is still in its early stages of development means it has the potential to evolve in tandem with addressing the ethical doubts. As technology becomes more accessible, the key challenge will be ensuring that neuromarketing is used responsibly and ethically.

Influencer Marketing Redefining the Fashion and Beauty Industry
by EOS Intelligence EOS Intelligence No Comments

Influencer Marketing Redefining the Fashion and Beauty Industry

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Social media users are increasingly reliant on and influenced by what they see online, particularly, when it comes to marketing done by fashion and beauty brands. Social media provides immense marketing opportunities to the fashion and beauty industry by allowing them to closely interact with customers and influence their buying decisions like never before. To tap such opportunities, about 78% of global fashion brands incorporated social influencers in their marketing strategy in 2017, according to a survey conducted by Launchmetrics. Influencers are slowly becoming an integral part of marketing campaigns for fashion and beauty brands – for high-end brands such as Becca Cosmetics and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as affordable brands such as Maybelline, for whom influencers have been pivotal in driving sales.

Why beauty and fashion brands are adopting influencer marketing?

In the past, to launch new collections or promote products, fashion/beauty brands invested heavily in celebrities and television models gracing magazine covers, billboard and television advertisements, among others. These efforts were effective but as technology progresses, fresh marketing tactics are born. While most of the traditional forms of advertising are still being used, brands have started to realize how laborious it is to employ traditional methods in promoting products, hence, majority of brands are going digital and starting to work with influencers.

How influential is influencer marketing?

Undoubtedly, influencer marketing is one of the fastest growing digital marketing tools, providing unparalleled access to real-time word-of-mouth targeting. For marketers, today’s social media influencers are yesterday’s celebrities and socialites, only with a more persuasive voice and greater power to reach audiences.

Beauty and fashion industry has understood the power of influencer marketing quite well. Cosmetics brands such as Smashbox have completely abandoned the use of traditional print media for advertising while luxury cosmetics companies such as Estee Lauder have significantly reduced spending on traditional media to focus on digital.

Fashion and cosmetics brands are using various types of influencer campaigns to promote products, foster brand awareness, and boost sales. For example, Maybelline (an American cosmetics company) in China used the influence of beauty bloggers and 50 celebrity influencers to do a 20-minute livestream video for a newly launched lipstick in 2016, which led to sales of 10,000 lipsticks in two hours.

On the other hand, Olay (an American skincare company) introduced a skincare campaign, Olay 28-day Challenge, which urged influencers to document their four-week experience of using company’s products while updating their followers simultaneously across various social media platforms. Influencers also gave away free samples and offered discounts to followers to encourage them to buy the products to join the skincare challenge. In 2018, the campaign was able to increase engagement rate by 20% and there was a significant increase in Google searches for the brand name.

There is no end to innovative social media campaigns that brands are launching. For example, in 2018, H&M (A Swedish clothing retail company) engaged in conversation with consumers on Instagram to come up with new designs for its brand Nyden, which is targeted at millennials. H&M worked with nine influencers, who used Instagram stories’ polling feature to understand followers’ preferences for certain designs, such as using zippers versus buttons, among others. Over a period of two weeks, the polls attracted more than 425,000 viewers and generated 35,000 votes.

For brands such as Fashion Nova (an American fast fashion retail company), with 14 million Instagram followers and ranked as the most Googled fashion brand of 2018, marketing through Instagram has been pivotal in its rapid ascent in the fashion industry. Fashion Nova is known for betting big on Instagram and use of celebrity influencers – as of December 2018, the company had worked with 3,000 influencers on Instagram. Using celebrity influencers, it claims to have generated sales up to US$ 50,000 per post and selling out a whole collection of clothing line within 82 minutes. With about 20 to 30 posts per day on Instagram, Fashion Nova knows how to keep its audience engaged and generate brand awareness.

What challenges are obstructing growth?

Influencer fatigue

Influencer marketing is not as impeccable as it sounds to be. With more and more businesses adopting influencer marketing, threat of influencer fatigue increases, which could result in disengaged audiences and reduced impact. According to a study conducted by Bazaarvoice in 2018, about 47% respondents claimed to be fatigued with repetitive influencer posts on Instagram.

Promotional content is already beginning to clutter consumer’s news feeds. With beauty and fashion influencers recommending every other product that enters the market, audiences will eventually lose trust in them, feel disengaged and overwhelmed. Consumers, after some time, are bound to get tired of having their buying behavior manipulated. Just like people started using ad-blockers when websites became loaded with advertisements, there’s a probability that they may also turn away from beauty/fashion influencers.

Absence of standard metrics/parameters to determine success of campaigns

There is uncertainty regarding what constitutes a successful influencer marketing campaign and how to calculate ROI on marketing spend. Beauty and fashion companies are unable to accurately calculate profitability of influencer campaigns. According to a study published by Celebrity Intelligence in 2018, 46% of respondents (from the beauty industry) faced challenge in evaluating ROI of an influencer collaboration.

Driving purchases is not always the key objective of influencer marketing, rather it focuses on softer goals like growing brand awareness or boosting engagement, which makes ROI far more complex to determine.

Influencer marketing does not guarantee results in terms of sales, brand reach, or number of clicks. No standard metrics have been set for the industry to measure success, instead brands end up speculating whether the campaign was successful or not. Some beauty and fashion companies monitor the comments or number of likes on the posts, while others determine views on videos or track campaign hashtags, all of which are not very effective methodologies.

Fraudulent practices

Much like other industries, beauty and fashion market has also fallen prey to influencer frauds. According a report published Points North Group in 2018, cosmetics/skincare companies suffered losses due to fraudulent engagement – 46% of Raw Sugar Living’s influencer marketing budget was squandered on fake followers, Clarins lost 45% of its budget on influencer frauds, while L’occitane blew 24% of its budget, among various others. Such deceitful practices have taken a toll on marketers, who invest in influencers to drive brand awareness and sales, but their campaigns fail to reach the actual target audience.

Another inauthentic social media activity plaguing the beauty and fashion industry is staging fake promotional posts by aspiring influencers. Companies want to see promotional abilities and references of past campaigns of influencers before hiring them to do paid sponsored posts. Hence, aspiring influencers, particularly from the beauty and fashion industry, have started to publish posts with brand hashtags and captioning it in a manner such that it seems to be a promotional or sponsored content. While this leads to free publicity for brands but most of them complain that this also results in inferior quality sponsored content posted without approval, which could harm brand’s reputation.

Influencer Marketing Redefining the Fashion and Beauty Industry by EOS Intelligence

EOS Perspective

If there is any market that qualifies to be an early adopter of influencer marketing, it is the beauty and fashion industry. It is an extremely dynamic industry and to stand out from competitors, brands need to constantly evolve, be creative, and promote products extensively – all of which is easily achieved through influencer marketing.

Equipped with social media savviness, influencers have the power to eloquently persuade consumers to make purchases. There is no limit to the creativity that they bring to the table – fashion/beauty influencers design compelling marketing campaigns for the brands by reviewing products, conducting polls and contests, offering huge giveaways, sharing their experiences of using products through videos or photographs, attending events organized by brands and promoting such events, among various other tactics.

Is influencer marketing here to stay?

There is no doubt that influencer marketing is becoming the mainstay of beauty and fashion industry, far from a passing fad. The personal nature of influencer campaigns is one of the reasons why it is proving to be effective for the beauty and fashion industry. According to a survey conducted by Celebrity Intelligence in 2018, 98% of beauty companies believed that influencer marketing is effective for the industry while 68% thought beauty segment has a natural affinity with influencers. Even though difficult to calculate, surveys have determined that influencer campaigns could also provide high ROIs – for every US$1 spent on influencer marketing, brands received average ROI of US$10.7 in 2017. Fashion and beauty brands have gauged the power of social media and know that with the right influencer endorsing to the right community/audience, it can translate into clicks, conversions, and actual sales.

Find out more about drivers and challenges in influencer marketing adoption here

For fashion and beauty brands, influencer marketing has become a multi-million-dollar investment, with considerable portions of their budgets dedicated to influencers. For example, Estee Lauder (a US-based cosmetics company), in 2019, revealed that 75% of its marketing budget will be spent on digital marketing, particularly on influencers, while Shiseido (Japanese multinational personal care company) increased its influencer marketing budget by 50% in 2019. On the other hand, in February 2019, Benefit Cosmetics (a US-based cosmetics company) formed an in-house dedicated influencer agency in the UK to streamline influencer marketing operations and manage influencer relationships. In the future, it plans to expand the in-house influencer agency to other locations as well.

Undoubtedly, influencer marketing has dramatically changed the fashion and beauty industry, by allowing real people to narrate a brand story, demonstrate product, and provide honest and credible product reviews. In order to make it a sustainable marketing strategy, measures are being taken to overcome some of the existing challenges. In pursuit to engage with authentic influencers, beauty brands are adopting more sophisticated, data-led approach to selection process. According to Celebrity Intelligence survey, in 2018, about 67% of beauty brands identified social media analytics (including audience insights and engagement metrics) useful to choose authentic and suitable content creators.

Another ongoing challenge is to accurately determine success of campaigns, which some companies (including lifestyle and cosmetics brands such as Daniel Wellington, L’Oréal, and Olay) are tackling by providing influencers with a unique URL or a discount code, which followers can use and brands can easily track conversions. If the campaign does not entail discounts, various metrics can be used to evaluate ROI such as traffic driven, social reach, social media impressions, engagement rate, cost per impression, and cost per engagement, among others.

Nonetheless, opportunities that influencer marketing provides for the beauty and fashion industry outweigh all downsides. While brands have achieved success with sponsored posts and brand hashtags on social media, there is still a lot more for them to explore and innovate through influencer marketing.

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