N
euromarketing is the
practice of tracking
activity in the human
brain, observing
activity, thought
patterns and more to hopefully
understand customers on a deeper
level. EEG (electroencephalogram),
magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) and a never-ending, hyper-
sophisticated toolkit are used to
understand and explain how we
react to ads, experiences and
products. Experts in the fi eld
garner attention from marketers
the world over and neuromarketing
theories and practice have – guilty
as charged – even appeared in the
pages of Marketing throughout
the years.
Here, Marketing meets with
Harvard neuroscientist Jared
Cooney Horvath for an expert’s
take, putting the tools and tropes
promoted by neuromarketers to
the test. Spoiler alert: it’s not
looking good.- TOOLS
THE STORY: neuro-
marketers conduct studies
with state-of-the-art brain-
tracking instruments like
EEG and MRI to glean insights
into what’s going on in
consumers’ brains.
The truth: you’re much better
off sending out a questionnaire.
To be of any use to marketers,
neuromarketing has to provide a
sophisticated, detailed and scientific
understanding. The problem is,
says Cooney Horvath, “all of the
neuroscience tools, except for one,
undershoot questionnaires by
about 30 to 70 percent,” in terms of
accuracy and insight.
Questionnaires – neuro or
otherwise – aren’t exactly the sexiest
tools in today’s world of marketing
automation and real-time datalytics.
Is it our obsession with the latest
and most detailed insight that leads
us to neuromarketing?”
“People go, ‘cool, we can avoid
the questionnaires and go straight to
the source – to the brain’,” he says,
“but it doesn’t matter what the brain
says.” Eventually it has to come back
to whether or not a consumer will
buy a product.MRI
MRI, says Cooney Horvath, is the
only tool that comes remotely
close to being on a par with
questionnaires. He poses a
comparison: “Questionnaires cost
maybe five cents a sheet to print
and the time of the person to take
it could be 30 seconds. MRI costs
$15 million for the machine; you’re@marketingmag
Neurotrash!
Harvard neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath has a thing or two to say about
neuromarketing. Ben Ice sits with him to get the expert’s take.33 INTERVIEW
looking at another million for the
analysis equipment, and the time it
takes to do it and get the measures
is ridiculous... And still it’s slightly
worse than a questionnaire.”
An MRI study would work by
a subtraction method, wherein
numerous – “about 100” –
commercials would be shown to a
subject, followed by 100 competitor
ads, then subtracting one from the
other to conclude on average, 'here’s
what you think.'
In a questionnaire? “I can show
you one commercial. Here it is, what
did you think?”
It speaks volumes that Cooney
Horvath and other practitioners
of neuroscience armed with these
tools, using them for scientifi c tasks
and not marketing, continue to rely
on questionnaires. “There’s a reason
people haven’t got rid of them. Even
in neuroscience we still ask the
questions because it’s the easiest
way to get the answer.”All the tools bomb
Tools like EEG, MRI and NIRS (near
infrared spectroscopy) are all highly
reactive. A subject sneezing or even
blinking can send a recording out of
the window.
Conducting the experiments
and obtaining results is a
cumbersome task. Dozens ofTHE TRUTH ISSUE