NeuroFocus Research Highlights Importance of Context for Advertisers

BERKELEY, California, December 7, 2011 -

New Study Measures Consumer Responses to Premium Web Sites

Today NeuroFocus, a world leader in the application of neuroscience to consumer insights, announced the results of a new study that takes a close look at consumer engagement on premium web sites. Designed to understand quantitatively how people respond to different online experiences, the research underscores the importance of context for marketers and for optimizing their messages across different types of media. Facebook collaborated with NeuroFocus on the first study in the paper.

To compare a spectrum of premium web site experiences, NeuroFocus tested three popular web site homepages: the New York Times homepage (representing a hard news and commentary experience), Yahoo’s non-personalized homepage (representing a light news and entertainment experience), and a Facebook News Feed Page (representing a social experience). NeuroFocus’ three primary NeuroMetrics were then used to analyze consumers’ subconscious responses to each of these sites: attention, emotional engagement, and memory retention.

Using those same measures, NeuroFocus fielded a second study that examined people’s responses to the same advertisement but in different environments - on TV, on a corporate web site, and on a Facebook brand Page.

The overall key findings:

• Based on NeuroFocus norms, Yahoo!, The New York Times, and Facebook deliver substantially more engaging experiences than the average web site.
• Consumers respond differently to premium web sites oriented toward different purposes. These differences are represented neurologically by different levels of attention, memory, and emotional engagement. For instance, the New York Times scored highest on memory.
• Similarly, consumers respond differently to the same advertisement presented in a different medium. For example, the ad presented on a Facebook brand page scored higher on emotional engagement vs. on TV or a corporate web site.

“This study underscores what full-brain neurological testing measurements can bring to critical decision-making when it comes to allocating advertising campaigns across online experiences,” said Dr. A. K. Pradeep, Chief Executive Officer of NeuroFocus. “The ability to understand consumers’ subconscious responses to premium web sites brings new understanding on how people engage with online and social media sites.”

To download the full study, please click here: neurofocus.com/pdfs/Facebook_NeuroFocus_whitepaper.pdf.

About NeuroFocus

The world’s leading neuromarketing firm, NeuroFocus (neurofocus.com) brings advanced neuroscience knowledge and expertise to the worlds of branding, product development and packaging design, in-store marketing, advertising, and entertainment. NeuroFocus clients include Fortune 100 companies across dozens of categories, including automotive, consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, financial services, Internet, pharmaceutical, retail, and many more sectors. Entertainment category clients include major companies in the broadcast and cable television and motion picture industries.

Headquartered in the U.S. and operating globally through offices and NeuroLabs in the UK and Europe, the Asia/Pacific region, Latin America, and the Middle East, the company leverages Nobel Prize caliber and Doctorate-level credentials in neuroscience and marketing from the University of California at Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Columbia University, and other leading institutions, combined with executive business management and consulting experience. NeuroFocus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nielsen.

Tom Robbins,T, +1-510-526-9882, M, +1-510-367-1920, tom.robbins at neurofocus.com