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Use of Techniques From Neuroscience in Today's Marketing

Using knowledge from neurosciences to market to consumers is nothing new but scanning consumers' brains to gauge their response to commercials is gaining in popularity.

Esteban Ribero, senior strategic planner at Lapiz says there are dangers in looking for answers to consumer behaviors using these techniques but there is tremendous value in using them as part of the overall strategic planning process. In his presentation to account planners at the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies 23rd Semi-Annual Conference, Ribero shared with an audience of account planners that opening the black box - the brain - is not the ultimate solution to effectively
market to consumers.

Account planners seek to understand the motivation behind consumer behavior and use insight and consumer perspective to provide the foundation for innovative concepts and creative execution. Borrowing the techniques and tools from neuroscientists to get to know the consumer better may offer some direction but it's not that easy, according to Ribero. "Scanning consumers' brainwaves while they watch ads and discuss concepts is a new fad and some are suggesting it is a way to bypass focus groups," Ribero says. "I want to open up the debate for account planners who are searching for the truth. I think there are huge dangers in basing our campaigns
solely on this type of information."

Ribero's presentation and interactive discussion with account planners from the Hispanic marketing industry was part of AHAA's skill-building workshops planned to challenge creative thinking and approaches. The conference was designed to spark ideas and debate, and maybe create a little controversy according to Jackie Bird, AHAA chairwoman and president of Wing Latino.

"It is imperative that we keep on top of trends that will continue to propel our industry forward," Bird says. "Our planners, and frankly all of the professionals in our business, need to understand new tools so they can use them effectively in delivering exceptional work to our clients. We can't rely on what's been done in the past to communicate with Latino consumers of today. It takes bold thinking and a willingness to listen to, and experiment with, new ideas to succeed as a professional, as a Latino agency and as an industry."

Ribero wants planners to be better informed about neuromarketing. Rather than asking consumers to identify the reasons for their behaviors, Ribero believes planners should infer that by studying humans and understanding why humans like certain things. "Humans behave the way they do but they don't know why," Ribero says. "And we won't get to the truth by asking them. By studying, reading and observing human behavior we will become better planners. As we become more strategic, our brands will become more connected with their consumers and not just sell stuff but fulfill
desires and needs that we can help them identify."

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Playgrounds Could Unlock Key to Childhood Obesity, Study Says

A RAND Corporation study says school playgrounds and athletic facilities can be important tools in the fight against childhood obesity, but many are locked and in accessible to children on weekends – especially in poor and minority neighborhoods.

The study is a new analysis of data from a national research study called the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls. The data deals with the physical activity of 1,556 girls in the sixth grade in six metropolitan areas: Washington, D.C./Baltimore, Md.; Columbia, S.C.; Minneapolis, Minn.; New Orleans, La.; Tucson, Ariz.; and San Diego, Calif.

Researchers visited all the schools and parks within a half-mile radius of the homes of the girls on Saturdays in the spring of 2003 for the original study. The 407 schools represented 44 percent of potential neighborhood sites for physical activity.

Researchers found that, on average, 66 percent of the schools were unlocked on weekends. But only 57 percent of schools were both unlocked and had accessible facilities for weekend physical activities such as playgrounds, athletic fields, basketball courts and paved playing surfaces.

The percent of unlocked schools with accessible amenities varied across the communities in this way:

• New Orleans – 23 percent (before Hurricane Katrina)
• Tucson – 50 percent
• Washington/Baltimore – 54 percent
• San Diego – 74 percent
• Columbia – 77 percent
• Minneapolis – 93 percent

“Girls who lived near locked schools tended to be heavier, and neighborhoods with locked schools were disproportionately poor and had larger minority populations,” sayas Molly Scott, lead author of the study and research analyst with RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “These neighborhoods, where risk of obesity is high and public parks and playgrounds are often lacking, could benefit from convenient and safe places for physical activity. And making schools accessible doesn't require construction. It's a policy change.”

Although the RAND Health study didn't find a relationship between school accessibility and increased weekend physical activity rates, the number of locked schools was associated with significantly higher body mass index for the girls. Body mass index, or BMI, is a mathematical formula representing weight relative to height that can be used to determine whether a person is overweight or underweight.

The study found differences in BMI and physical activity by the girls' race and socioeconomic status, consistent with the findings of previous studies. Hispanic and African-American girls had 7.2 percent and 7.8 percent higher BMIs respectively than whites, and non-white girls recorded less physical activity than their white counterparts.

“Studies consistently find that people of different races have different BMIs, but the policy implications of that are often unclear,” Scott says. “This study identifies locked schools as great points of policy intervention where gains in the fight against obesity could potentially be made.”

More research is needed, Scott says, noting that the study did not measure whether the girls in the study actually used the school facilities for exercise. The fact that girls with higher BMIs tended to live in areas with locked schools also could signal that the girls live in a more stressful, high-crime area or a neighborhood with less access to stores that sell healthy food.

The study is titled “Weekend Schoolyard Accessibility, Physical Activity, and Obesity: The Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls (TAAG) Study.” It will appear in the May issue of Preventive Medicine.


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