Have you ever been part of a neuromarketing experiment where the researchers actually scanned your brain? How many people do you know that have been? Probably not too many. Still, there are heaps of neuromarketing articles too be found. All of us at New Neuromarketing are, of course, very happy with this, as it gives us much to write about.

But if we look closer at a multitude of this research, we notice that often behavioral or attitudinal data is used. Experiments investigate what people do, what they say they will do or how they feel. Especially the latter is slightly ironic, as an important basis of neuromarketing research as it was intended, is that people are horrible at predicting what they will do or at evaluating how they feel.

That is why researchers want to learn as much as they can about our brains, and what happens when we buy products, watch advertisements and interact with brands in other ways.

We don’t like to admit it, but as humans we do a pretty bad job at controlling our attention. Sure, we can actively choose to maintain or divert our focus after something has captured our attention. But we hardly understand why it grabbed our eyes in the first place.

Chocolate bars, everyone has at least one in their kitchen cabinets, for those rainy evenings on the couch. Yes, (nearly) everyone loves chocolate, but some companies thrive and others…well…have a harder time trying to sell their chocolate bars.

Did you know that when you’re in the grocery store picking out a bottle of wine, the music that is playing can influence your choice? If you follow our posts closely you probably did. But either way, get ready to dive a little deeper into what influences you (and your customers) subconsciously.

Personally, I think the most fascinating thing about neuromarketing is that in this field of science findings are again and again surprising and counterintuitive. A recent study by Andrews, Lou, Fang and Ghose (2015) is another example of this phenomenon. But let’s take a step back first.