{"id":7599,"date":"2019-08-04T23:00:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/advertising-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:09:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:09:28","slug":"advertising-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/advertising-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder\/","title":{"rendered":"Advertising in the eye of the beholder"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do consumers really think about your advert? It\u2019s hard to know for sure. With multiple platforms in a saturated market, your ad needs something special to capture attention. Finding that spark is an imprecise science \u2013 intuitive rather than definitive. Now, that could all be about to change.<\/p>\n

Down in the Consumer Research Lab<\/a> at Curtin University, Dr Billy Sung, Professor Ian Phau, HDR student Kevin Teah and a team of researchers are recording audience reactions to advertising using biometric testing techniques.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the new elixir of marketing, biometric testing gauges a consumer\u2019s subconscious reactions to marketing stimuli, giving businesses incredible insight into their hearts and minds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Biometric tests measure quantifiable human reactions such as heart rate, skin conductance, eye gaze and facial expression, and a consumer\u2019s emotional state when they look at an advertisement or interact with a product.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional survey and ad-tracking techniques, biometric testing is carried out in natural situations and in real-time, so emotional reactions and comprehension can be analysed objectively, frame-by-frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiometric data provides granular insights into different psychological processes of consumers, which is not achievable using only self-reported measures such as surveys or interviews,\u201d Sung says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides reliable measures of unconscious processes such as visual attention. Eye-tracking technology for example can precisely follow what respondents look at on a television commercial second-by-second.\u201d<\/p>\n

The results allow researchers to analyse the effectiveness of advertising creative and can even predict the success of a marketing campaign.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Recently, the team collaborated with RAC to test viewers watching a RAC brand television commercial, which featured animated sequences of a RAC Rescue helicopter out on a mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis campaign was about stimulating the emotion of pride so we saw biometric testing as an innovative method to test whether the creative approach would be successful,\u201d RAC General Manager Brand, Peter Williams explains.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow
RAC are using biometric testing to gauge people’s responses to their latest advertising campaign. Credit: RAC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prior to market launch, Sung\u2019s team conducted biometric testing on 20 participants \u2013 10 RAC members and 10 non-members \u2013 selecting methods that could measure reactions to the commercial\u2019s trigger points of pride, brand warmth and positive brand attitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used an array of research methods\u00ad \u2013 survey, eye tracking technology, facial expression, heart rate and skin conductance analysis \u2013 to measure respondents\u2019 feelings of pride, visual attention and engagement,\u201d Sung says.<\/p>\n

The results identified elements in the commercial that could be altered to enhance attention and emphasise brand elements, and confirmed correct predictions of consumer sentiment at precise points in the narrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumer reactions to trigger points within the commercial, such as the RAC Rescue helicopter and the description of its life-saving mission, provided insight into the executions and visuals evoking an incidental feeling of pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also found the commercial featuring the RAC Rescue helicopter elicited significantly greater pride than a product-orientated commercial,\u201d Sung explains.<\/p>\n

Williams says the results provide unique consumer insight and will help improve future campaign creative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was surprising to see how powerful human faces can be in advertising.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“The testing revealed that brand cues we think consumers will notice are often hidden. These learnings will be taken into the development of other RAC campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there is no winning formula for a 21st century advertisement, research clearly shows that advertisements with emotional relevance have a higher likelihood of success.<\/p>\n

During the 2018 Football World Cup, market research company, GfK used biometric testing to analyse consumer reactions to 21 advertisements. The ad \u00adwith the greatest positive response, Ladbrokes #BrianandtheBear, contained verbal and visual humour that resonated with the audience\u2019s mood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best advertising campaigns get your attention, stimulate emotion and give you something to remember. Effectiveness comes from knowing your audience, creative that resonates and using a channel mix that lives where they are,\u201d Williams says.<\/p>\n

There are still wrinkles in the testing process and as yet, no standards or benchmarks, but the future seems bright for biometrics. It could soon become an essential part of pre-launch campaign testing and may even incorporate data from wearable technology such as Fitbit and AppleWatch.<\/p>\n

Sung\u2019s team is now working with HBF, Lotterywest and Alyka to conduct biometric testing on customer touchpoints.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is still a relatively new field of research in marketing. More research is necessary to identify valid correlations between psychological processes not measurable by current technologies. The Consumer Research Lab is extremely active in this space,\u201d Sung says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the costs of the technology decline, we will see more and more integration of consumer biometrics in the realm of marketing. In the future, you may even see digital signage tailor advertisements based on your attention and emotional responses as you walk past.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dubbed the new ‘elixir’ of marketing, biometric testing measures a consumer’s subconscious reaction to advertisements, giving businesses unique insight into the hearts and minds of their customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4182,"featured_media":7600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,40],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-7599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-innovation-and-law","category-technology"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"Biometric methods","content":"

Eye tracking device
\n<\/strong>Enables continuous and live tracking measures of consumer\u2019s gaze and dwell time.<\/p>\n

Biometric wristband<\/strong>
\nMeasures skin conductance (sweat level) and heart rate to understand consumer engagement and interest.<\/p>\n

Facial expression analysis<\/strong>
\nProvides accurate measure of consumer\u2019s emotional states.<\/p>\n

Brainwave headset
\n<\/strong>Measures brainwave activity to understand the learning and memory processes, along with determining purchase intention.<\/p>\n

Virtual reality goggles
\n<\/strong>Creates an immersive experience, which stimulates a user\u2019s presence within physical environment.<\/p>\n","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":{"title":"Anita Shore","url":"#","target":""},"photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1101708101-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Zoe","last_name":"Taylor","display_name":"Zoe Taylor"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 16:00:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7599"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=7599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}