Applying advanced neuromarketing solutions to discover new learning about how advertising works for a media trade association
An association for a major media channel was interested in comparing inter-media engagement levels between radio and TV. G&R undertook a study using CERA, a neuromarketing system for measuring an audience’s emotional response to advertising content.
Method:
Sixteen pairs of match commercials (each pair had a TV and a radio counterpart) were inserted into actual radio and TV programming. Respondents were invited to select among various program types (for radio: News Feature; Soft Rock; Country Music; Urban Music; Classic Rock; and for TV: Hard news documentary; Soft news biography; Female-oriented drama; African-American-oriented comedy; General-audience comedy/drama) the one that interested them most. During exposure, and after an acclimation period, continuous fEMG recordings were made of positive and negative emotional activation and mean ratings of emotional valence were used to compare Radio and TV results.
Result:
The research showed that individual campaigns varied significantly between radio and TV. Some TV campaigns were stronger than the radio version and some radio campaigns were stronger than the TV version. On average, though, the radio ads had an emotional impact on consumers that was equal to that of the television ads. The research received extensive publicity and provided the basis of a Journal of Advertising Research article.