Two of Australia's leading advertisers are harnessing the mystical power of neuroscience to shape their advertising and tap into the brains of potential customers.
Optus and Jetstar have both worked with Melbourne-based Forethought Research on recent ad campaigns to
uncover the deeply embedded emotional notes in a consumer's brain which are linked to purchase behaviour.
Forethought has developed a quantitative neuromarketing research tool, called Prophecy Feelings, which it claims enables advertisers to uncover unconscious feelings, which focus groups fail to recognise because they rely on cognitive conscious processes.
Jetstar head of marketing & PR David May said: “Understanding these emotions has been a missing piece in developing our communications programs.
“Managing the brand is as much about understanding and building on the positive brand attributes as it is about managing the negative emotions associated with specific brand choice.”
Optus general manager of insights, segmentation & planning Darren Stein said: “We are interested in applying methodologies that uncover the emotions that are the precursors to behavioural outcomes such as increased consumption and acquisition.”
Forethought Research managing partner Ken Roberts is working with a raft of other undisclosed advertisers to uncover the purchasing intentions of consumers.
The agency's work for clients is shrouded in secrecy due to client demands, however, Roberts applied his technique to a campaign for WorkSafe Victoria, which was created by The Shannon Company, as an example of Forethought's approach.
Using metaphor-based avatars which consumers select on a computer, Roberts said the campaign was successful at heightening the negative emotions of a loved one failing to return home due to unsafe work practices by stimulating love, anxiety and sadness
in the viewer.
He said: “For too long advertisers have talked about the importance of emotion with little consideration of what specific emotion they believe will stimulate purchase behaviour. Gaining insight into the specific emotions that drive consumption behaviour has until now been the elusive horizon, but this is about to change.”
Darren Davidson
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