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Consumer Neuroscience and Digital/Social Media Health/Social Cause Advertisement Effectiveness.
Joanne M Harris, Joseph Ciorciari1, John Gountas
1Centre for Mental Health, Faculty of Health, Art and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Australia. jciorciari@swin.edu.au.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|April 21, 2019
Summary
Consumer neuroscience effectively measures public health advertisement impact. Electroencephalography (EEG) and surveys revealed that emotionally resonant, action-oriented ads increase donations and engagement, guiding future health campaign strategies.
Area of Science:
- Consumer Neuroscience
- Advertising Effectiveness
- Public Health Communication
Background:
- Evaluating the effectiveness of public health and social cause (HSC) advertisements is challenging, despite significant health expenditure.
- Traditional market research methods have limitations in assessing the nuanced impact of emotion- and action-based advertising.
- Few studies integrate neuroscience techniques with market research to understand consumer responses to HSC campaigns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the utility of consumer neuroscience, specifically electroencephalography (EEG), in determining the effectiveness of action/emotion-based HSC advertisements.
- To measure changes in behavioral intent, such as donation amounts, in response to viewing HSC advertisements.
- To identify key neuroscientific indicators of attention and emotional response to different advertising strategies.
Main Methods:
- A two-part study combining electroencephalography (EEG) with a 64-channel wet cap (n=47) and an online psychometric survey (n=256).
- Participants viewed six action/emotion-based HSC advertisements and one control ad, making donations before and after exposure.
- EEG data analyzed for attention (theta/alpha synchrony) and approach responses (sLORETA), correlated with survey responses and donation changes.
Main Results:
- EEG indicated attention and episodic memory encoding (theta synchronisation, alpha desynchronisation) and approach responses (left prefrontal/right parietal activation) to action/emotion-based ads.
- The 'ManUp' advertisement, featuring raw male emotion and vulnerability, elicited the highest liking and greatest increase in donations.
- Novel faces were more appealing than conventional ones, and rapid face presentation was less effective; brand logos did not correlate with peak neural responses.
Conclusions:
- Combining EEG with traditional market research provides valuable insights into advertising effectiveness and behavioral intent changes for HSC campaigns.
- Action/emotion-based marketing strategies, particularly those evoking vulnerability, are effective in increasing engagement and donations.
- Findings offer managerial implications for optimizing HSC communications to enhance impact and reduce expenditure on ineffective campaigns.
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