consumer profiling gets in your head
posted by:Dina Mashayekhi // 06:54 PM // June 13, 2005 // Surveillance and social sorting
Marketers try high-tech tool to push brain's 'buy button'
Marketers are trying to use brain scans to convince consumers to buy their product, although scientists say the approach may not be ready to be applied.
Peering into someone's brain seems like it may have its benefits for marketers, who aim to find out whether consumers will like a product.
"If you knew exactly how they were hearing your messages, clearly you can choose the best way of making that message to them," said Barry Welford, president of Strategic Marketing Montreal.
Brain scan technology, such as functional MRIs, shows which parts of the brain are activated by impulses. Some marketers theorize that since the scans suggest positive or negative reactions, the technology can help them to fine-tune their message.
"Right now, media tools are pretty much limited in terms of how to reach people," said Fred Auchterlonie, vice-president of PHD Media Canada, one of the first companies to use the technique in Canada. "Really what we're trying to get at is how to influence them. But the technique is not cheap."
A single experiment with at least 12 subjects could cost as much as $7,500.
Continued at CBC News
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