The mystery of the consumer’s mind

The consumer’s mind is a very interesting area. A lot of philosophers, scientists and marketers have study this subject without being able to explain consumer’s behaviour which is influenced by rationality, emotions, value creation and satisfaction. Any models can perfectly predict consumer’s behaviour. The neuromarketing has been able to solve this mystery. This technology is observing the brain activity. Depending on the changes of brain or the area that is active, searchers are able to see the impact of an image, tag line, music, brand, odour or taste on consumers. Different techniques are used to see the brain activities and the latest one is the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This new technology is very useful to test the effectiveness of advertising, product appeal or brand selection, and those are only examples. The neuromarketing is the perfect substitute to focus group or survey because people could not be influenced by the environment and they could not control their answer to the stimulus. Even if we do not know yet the real impact on sales, it is now easier to create product that fits to consumer’s preferences.

If we look at the neuromarketing with the Porter’s framework, the two forces that would be more influenced by this technology are the rivalry among existing competitors and the threat of new entrants.

First, the introduction of neuromarketing will probably increase the rivalry among existing competitors. As an example, if we take the market of soft drink, there is already a lot of competition between Pepsi and Coke. Because of the neuromarketing, the soft drink companies will be able to increase the efficiency of their advertisement campaign and to target more precisely consumers. The neuromarketing do not describe the preferences of consumers, it is only to do comparison so both companies will try to make modifications to their products, promotions and ads to be as closer to consumer’s tastes as they could. This tool will encourage company to invest more and more money in marketing, and it will be a never-ending war.

After that, the treat of new entrants is low because actually, the neuromarketing is a really expensive technology and it could be consider as an entry barrier. If actual companies use this technology, new firms will not be able to survive without using this tool. In the case that a company just decides to stay passive in front of neuromarketing, other firms will have a really big competitive advantage because they will answer more properly to the consumers’ needs and expectations. So, a new company that will try to enter the market will face outrageous costs at the beginning which could compromise its profitability.

The neuromarketing seems to be a very promising technology. However, there are a lot of critics concerning the ethics: some people think see neuromarketing as an experience on humans and a new way to manipulate consumers.

----, The Latest in Consumer Brainwashing—Neuromarketing, Organic Consumers Association, December 1st
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/neuromarketing.cfm

----, Neuromarketing, Wikipedia, January 21st 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromarketing

FUGATE, Douglas L., Neuromarketing: a layman's look at neuroscience and its potential application to marketing practice , Journal of Consumer Marketing, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Year: 2007 Volume: 24 Issue: 7 Page: 385 - 394