Neuromarketing Hollywood style [inc. Fox!]: “This allows our clients to see what their audience is seeing and feeling, not what they say they’re seeing and feeling”

The intrepid Variety columnist Brian Lowry took readers on a tour of a neuromarketing outfit that works for show-biz companies, among others.  Here’s a excerpt:

Innerscope Research was birthed just three years ago, but the company has already found various entertainment and advertising clients for its biometric research, which employs eye-tracking technology as well as EKG monitors to gauge subconscious response along four key criteria: heart rate, breathing, moisture levels (or sweat) and movement.

“It’s very hard for people to accurately reflect their internal world,” says Innerscope CEO Carl Marci, noting that 75% of brain processing “is below conscious awareness.”…they have notched a number of entertainment clients looking to augment traditional research, including Fox, NBC and Discovery, along with a growing number of advertisers…Biometrics thus provides a diagnostic tool, able to pinpoint physical reactions to specific moments that the viewer might not even realize…Innerscope’s findings have included the revelation that people exhibit emotional responses as they fast-forward through commercial pods, meaning that ads are still registering to those viewing via TiVo or another digital video recorder. The company can also pinpoint whether a movie trailer, say, is generating the sort of “emotional engagement” that marketers hope to achieve.

“This allows our clients to see what their audience is seeing and feeling, not what they say they’re seeing and feeling,” Marci explains [Innerscope CEO Carl Marci].

source:  The future of focus group testing/This test gets under your skin.  Brian Lowry.  Variety.  October 5-11, 2009,

“Behavioral targeting, by camouflaging the tracking of consumers, can damage the perceived trustworthiness of an e-commerce site or the actor it represents”

That’s from an important new research paper by Professor Catherine Dwyer of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Pace University.  “Behavioral Targeting: A Case Study on Consumer Tracking on Levis.com” was presented at the 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems.   We have sent the paper to Congress, the European Commission and the FTC.  In its summary, Prof. Dwyer explains that:

In order to illustrate the nature of consumer tracking, a case study was conducted that examined behavioral targeting within Levis.com, the e-commerce site for the Levis clothing line. The results show the Levis web site loads a total of nine tracking tags that link to eight third party companies, none of which are acknowledged in the Levis privacy policy. Behavioral targeting, by camouflaging the tracking of consumers, can damage the perceived trustworthiness of an e-commerce site or the actor it represents.

Online Ad Networks Targeting Teens: Time for new privacy safeguards

Teens are a major focus of online advertising.  We have asked Congress and the FTC to develop safeguards to ensure adolescents have their privacy protected.  As part of the public debate, it’s useful to review how online ad networks target teen users.  Here are some examples:

Betawave (its 12-17 targeting service):  “If it feels like it’s impossible to capture the attention of today’s short-attention-span teenager, we’d beg to differ. On average, teenagers spent 15 mins per session on our publisher sites and 73.7 mins per month. More importantly, their mindstate is highly receptive to advertising with stats 118% higher than industry average and 158% more likely to agree that advertisements influence their purchase decisions…What’s our secret? Our selection of casual games, virtual worlds, and social play sites that are in touch with their Teen and Tween audiences. We know how to create content to hold the attention of the American Teenager, but to also keep them coming back for more…Our Teen and Tween audience consumes all types of different media, but is addicted to the Internet. The content of our sites appeal to the “Influencers” — the kids who assert their preferences with parents and peers and impact the behavior of others…“Virtual World Integration:  Imagine a marketing vehicle where users embrace sponsorship, where they constantly ask for more brands, and where advertising is seen as a validation of their community. Virtual worlds offer this experience to savvy marketers…Integrate your product into virtual worlds, and turn casual observers into brand champions.”

Kiwibox teen network [Burst Network]:  “Kiwibox Teen Network, brought to you by Burst Network, is the premier online vehicle for advertisers looking to target the teenage audience of girls and guys that are currently in high school or college. The anchor site for the network, Kiwibox.com, is a popular social networking destination and online magazine for teens…

As a member of Kiwibox Teen Network, your site will get the attention of popular brand marketers and attract high CPM campaigns. Advertisers on Kiwibox Teen Network will include the best brand names in consumer electronics, telecom, entertainment, apparel/footwear, snacks and beverages, retail, beauty products, and fast food…Kiwibox Teen Network supports several types of Rich Media layer ad units, including Interstitials, Superstitials, Floating, Synchronized and In-Person Rovion ads. We have partnerships with the top Rich Media vendors like PointRoll, Eyewonder, EyeBlaster, Unicast, Interpoll, and Atlas… “

“Targeting in the Internet world”–Nielsen counts the ways

excerpt:  Marketers determine a schedule of web sites, portals or ad networks that will deliver the desired audience… online media buyers can also buy actual audience segments based on elements like geo-coded inventory through a reverse IP look-up, modeled segmentation based on cookie or panel data, offline sales data, registered user data and a host of other possibilities.

source:  Does Online Advertising Deliver the Target Audience.  Nielsen.  Oct. 6, 2009.

Yahoo tells Advertisers: “We even know their online user behaviour and when they are ready to buy” [Annals of Behavioral Targeting]

Via Yahoo’s UK site:

Precision is where the real value lies. We know what our users are interested in. We also know their demographics, geographics and psychographics. We even know their online user behaviour and when they are ready to buy. So we can find you whoever you fancy and you won’t be bothered by anyone you don’t.

The “Hidden Persuaders” returns with the growing role of Neuromarketing: “Your message or materials will be absorbed directly into the consumer’s subsconscious” [Annals of Mass Micro-Persuasion]

As we have explained to policymakers in the US and EU, the growing use of neuroscience techniques requires government scrutiny and regulatory safeguards. Even political campaigns appear to be using such methods.  No one should be permitted, in my opinion, to devise any public effort that is designed to deliberately influence the unconscious part of our brain.

Here’s an except from a research paper by a Nielsen backed neuromarketing firm called Neurofocus.   The paper is “Absorption:  How Messages Morph into Meaning And Value in The Mind,” and was written by Dr. A. K. Pradeep.  [published September 2008]

Engagement brings you to the threshold. Absorption carries you beyond, to the state where your message or other material has been fully taken in by the consumer’s brain... Full absorption is also when your message or materials or retail environment, etc. return the highest rate of impact and value for your investment. But neuroscientific research demonstrates that you cannot, and will not, reach that goal consistently and most effectively unless and until you understand how the brain actually functions, and you shape your messages/material /environment accordingly.

For example, as I cited above, we have identified 67 specific ‘best practices’ that should be implemented when words and images are presented on a screen (any screen, from a TV or PC to a mobile phone or movie theater). They are the result of advanced neurological research into various brain functions, and especially research that has delved into the mysteries of diseases like Alzheimer’s, and brain conditions like ADD/ADHD, obsessive/compulsive behavior, and bipolar disorder.

Follow these best practices, give the brain what it wants and likes most, and you stand the best chance of success for your brand and your investment. Your message or materials will be absorbed directly into the consumer’s subconscious, where we can measure them for their effectiveness at the level devoid of any ‘outside’ contaminating influences like education, language, cultural ethnicity or other factors.





Coca Cola Collects Pictures of Faces for its “Database” using Facebook. What About Privacy?

Coca Cola has developed what it calls a “Facial Profiler” as part of a online marketing campaign.  The idea is that it will help identify people that look like you.  Here’s what the Coca Cola site says:

“Facial Profiler is a one-of-a-kind app that matches and connects people via Facebook.  But before we can do it, we need to compile a database of faces around the world.  So add your photo to the database.  The sooner it’s filled, the sooner we can unlock the results.”

Does CIA now also stand for Coke Intelligence Agency?  Will Coca Cola link people’s faces with its other forms of data collection, like MyCoke rewards?

Online Behavioral Marketing: “targeting types of people”

excerpt:  “Were seeing a fundamental shift from where traditionally marketers have targeted pages, to where they’re targeting types of people” [ says Joshua Koran, VP, Targeting and Optimization, ValueClick, Inc.].   Advertisers can tailor their campaigns for a stronger impact by better understanding the behaviors and characteristics of their ideal customers, and by serving ads only to them. The ads’ messages can be tailored to the tastes of these customers, in addition to the content near the ad…They look through an advertiser’s historic data, analyzing the behaviors of the people who ultimately clicked on an ad or converted. Software helps them mine this data to better understand which behaviors have a high correlation with conversion.

Using the insights from data mining, they target ads to people with the same characteristics of those who have already clicked or converted…”Even without knowing ahead of time which audiences are more likely to respond to a campaign, we can watch which audience are clicking and converting and begin targeting more of them.”

source:   Behavioral Targeting: 3 Methods Compared, and Tips on Simplifying Data.  via Adtech.

Study: “…our findings suggest that if Americans could vote on behavioral targeting today, they would shut it down.”

That’s from the overview section of an important new research report: Americans Reject Tailored Advertising and Three Activities That Enable It. Conducted by a team of academics in two leading universities–the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania and UC Berkeley’s Center for Law & Technology–it’s an essential text for those concerned about privacy, consumer welfare and civil liberties.  The study is a concise overview of the issue, and includes a very important analysis and discussion.

Protecting Privacy Online from so-called `Smart’ Ads that “Gleans Information about the Consumer”

As we have explained to policymakers, they also must address how online marketing applications threaten consumer privacy.   The rise of so-called smart ads that learn about your interests and behaviors, and then makes you special offers, involves the use of sophisticated digital techniques such as rich media. As this week’s Performance Insider on “Add Direct Response to Get More out of Rich-Media Ads” explains:

Ad delivery technologies further enhance direct response success by leveraging dynamic ad generation to produce a custom rich media ad that is optimized based on specific levers — products or creative elements of interest to the consumer combined with behavioral, demographic, geo and other targeting. By creating an on-the-fly, ultra-relevant ad with in-banner key response activities, marketers will drive greater interaction, response and conversion.

Rich media and online marketing company Pointroll (owned by Gannett) explains how the use of its “tailgating” technologies expand the capability of interactive multimedia ads:

Rich media ads are attention-grabbing, powerful, and engaging. They can encourage consumers to buy products and direct them to the advertiser’s retail stores or website via click-through to make the purchase. But until now, they were not a true end-to-end solution. Now, through a partnership with tailgate, pointroll offers secure ecommerce capabilities directly within rich media ad units. With pointroll ads powered by tailgate technology, consumers can purchase goods and services directly within the ad unit, without ever leaving the site they’re browsing. Tailgate can enable any credit card-based ecommerce transaction. Possible applications include purchasing movie tickets, music, ring tones and retail goods; and making political or charitable donations…Advanced analytics – integrated reporting, analysis & research tools provide an in-depth look at campaign performance and visibility into consumer behavior and purchase patterns.

Pointroll’s Ad Control product adds this dimension:  Create, deliver and measure unlimited creative and messaging combinations with dynamic ads that influence the right consumer at the right time with PointRoll’s AdControl.  Create: AdControl enables advertisers and their agencies to easily produce infinite ad combinations by mixing and matching various creative elements and dynamically generating a unique ad in real time. Connect: AdControl seamlessly leverages each possible creative combination and marries it with information known about the user to deliver the most relevant, customized ad experience based on characteristics such as geo, site, placement, or custom defined variables…AdControl gleans information about the consumer and turns this knowledge into a customized ad; ensuring the most relevant creative is served to each user…By mapping user characteristics to creative elements, AdControl can produce the right ad for the right consumer.