OK, so this subtitle isn't very snappy. Likely it will appeal to some people, but others will click to something else. Would I get more readers if I had a shorter, catchier title or subtitle? The only way to find out would be to do some market research. I could ask some people at random what they thought of a few different titles, ask them to pick the one they liked the most and choose the most popular. This is more or less how market research is usually done.

But there are lots of problems inherent with this method. People may not tell me the truth. Instead of telling me which title they like best, they may try to guess which one they think others will like, which one will be the most effective. If I could actually see what happens in their brain when they see or hear the different titles, I may get a reliable indicator of the best choice. 

If a potential reader of the article was placed in a device that measures brain activity, like an MRI, and read the title Connecting Neural Stimulation with Consumer Behavior, I could actually see what parts of the brain are activated. I could then read alternative titles, like perhaps, "Brain Waves Spark Rave Reviews" and see if they generate more or less stimulation.  I could also see if the brain activity was in parts of the brain associated with pleasure or with fear and disgust.

This is neuromarketing. The use of brain imaging to determine the neurological response to the stimulation provided by a brand or product.  Science provides market researchers with a new toolkit.  Rather than reliance on consumers verbal or written responses to market research questions, researchers can actually see what is happening in their brains.  Doing this to choose an article title would be a bit extreme, but if I were selling consumer products to a global market, it may be something worth considering.  

I first encountered the use of neuroimaging for consumer research about 5 years ago when I read Gerald Zaltman's book, How Customers Think. In this book, Zaltman describes the work he and Harvard psychology professor Stephen Kosslyn did in a neuroimaging project at Harvard.

In addition to the expensive and cumbersome MRI, they used a technique called fDOT (Functional Diffuse Optical Tomography).  The fDOT method uses beams of light at near infrared frequency to reveal blood flow in tissues. Neural activity is seen when oxegenated or deoxygenated blood flows to and from parts of the brain during stimulation.

The team measured response to advertisements and scenarios for retail sites. In the latter test, they were able to achieve a fourfold increase in the gross sales of the test sites.  In spite of these results, Zaltman cautions that the use of neuroimaging does not point to a specific trigger in the brain that involves decision making.  The human brain is more complicated than that.

The first use of the term neuromarketing is credited to Ale Smidts, a professor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Holland.  Smidts is also the Director of the Centre of Neuroeconomics at Erasmus.  The university describes the emerging field of the neurology of economic decisions as a technology driven social science.  Smidts and his colleagues continue to conduct research and publish papers on a variety of related topics.

One of the most recent publications in the field of neuromarketing is the book, Buy.ology by branding expert Martin Lindstrom. This Danish consultant spent millions of dollars, funded mostly by major corporations, on a massive research project involving about 7000 people from several countries.  He examines a variety of marketing and branding issues related to the results of extensive neuroimaging research.   

The use of psychology in marketing and advertising has been around for a long time. Early in the twentieth century, Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, tried to figure out how to use appeals to our subconscious desires to sell products.  He was quite successful. As an example, he convinced women that smoking was a sign of their liberation (his slogan dubbed cigarettes "Torches of Freedom").  He also persuaded people in North America that bacon and eggs was a healthy breakfast. Apparently, people previously ate eggs without the side of meat. These examples show that he was able to sell products by changing the whole cultural perception of certain behaviors.

Around the same time that Bernays was applying Freud's theories to marketing, behavioral psychologist John Watson was busy working with a New York ad agency applying his theories to advertising effectiveness. The main gist of behavioral psychology was to develop positive associations between the product and something that is desirable. This method is still in use, such as associating beer drinking with sports.

Even though these psychological techniques have been effective, they do not seem to cross the line of taking away the freedom of choice for the consumer. It is not likely that neuromarketing will cross this line either.  As Zaltman points out, the human brain is too complicated to make the possibility the automatic response to a single stimulation possible.  But continued monitoring of new market research techniques by consumer advocate organizations is probably still a good idea. 

Traditional advertising, where huge segments of the market could be reached by a single medium, no longer exists.  Marketing has become increasingly fragmented, requiring specialized approaches to more and more specific targets, using a wide variety of media. Neuromarketing will likely provide a new set of tools to further refine approaches to consumers.  Consumers may even benefit from not having to endure so much noise in order to hear the messages that interest them.  The key problem seems to be that because neuromarketing research is very sophisticated and expensive, it will likely benefit only very large companies.