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December 2021 (Vol. 61, Issue 4)

How Moment-to-Moment EEG Measures Enhance Ad Effectiveness Evaluation: Peak Emotions during Branding Moments as Key Indicators
Research about neuromarketing measures typically leaves questions about the validity of any one tool. The consensus is that no single, neuro-based measure can fully capture an ad’s effectiveness without other supporting metrics. This exploratory study by Tomaž Kolar (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Zenel Batagelj, Ismir Omeragić (VALICON, a research and consulting agency in Ljubljana), and Melika Husić-Mehmedović (University of Sarajevo), leaves open questions. But its comprehensive overview of various EEG aggregate and momentary indicators as well as survey-based indicators, with their respective strengths and weaknesses, provide a foundation for future research in this area.

A key part of the work shows how moment-to-moment EEG indicators (such as peak emotions during branding moments on television) are enhancing the evaluation of advertising effectiveness. “The key findings are that EEG and survey indicators measure different kinds of emotions (and attention) and that the newly developed, momentary EEG indicators are superior to the conventional, aggregated ones,” the researchers write. The aggregated approach, by contrast, provides “averaged advertising indicators across the whole advertising duration, missing decisive branding moments and (so) cannot utilize the true potential of EEG.”

Among the takeaways:

  • “Established associations among EEG indicators provide new insights into unconscious emotional responses to advertisements, which counter straightforward attention-interest-desire-action (AIDA) logic.”
  • “EEG exhibits great potential for advertising pretesting in terms of additional communication goals and distinct effectiveness criteria, beyond the constraints inherent to survey indicators.”
  • There are significant limitations which the authors hope will be addressed in future research. The small sample, for example, “suggests caution with interpretation and conclusions,” and the fact that the data came from a proprietary source “suggests a need for greater transparency.”
  • Future research should include measure of actual purchase behavior and the potential adverse effects of anger and other negative emotions.

Read the full article here.