NeU‘s Neuro-Marketing Consultation Services:
To “know” people is an important aspect in product planning, manufacturing and marketing. With this in mind, NeU’s advanced technologies and applications respond quickly to globalization and diversification needs for products and services worldwide.
Brain Science + Product Development & Marketing
Professional knowledge and expertise are necessary for effective brain measurement and analysis. Based on knowledge and experience gained from over 20 years, NeU can offer optimal experiment design, measurement, analysis and reporting.
An objective evaluation by “listening directly to the brain” is an effective method compared to subjective assessments such as questionnaires and interviews. Data from conventional methods can have reliability issues where a participant can answer differently from factors such as: changes in the conscious state, the way of questioning, environment, location, and so forth.
However, NeU is able to quantify the more intuitive reaction of the brain with advanced technologies and applications. In addition to subjective assessments, bioinformatics such as brain activity analysis are also utilized extensively. Find out more about how NeU’s consultation services for global enterprises can make a world of difference.
NeU supports every step of the product manufacturing and marketing process where effective globalization and diversification response is needed quickly and efficiently.
R&D · Prototype
Brain activity data that reveals how a user “feels” can be utilized during the R&D and prototyping phase.
CASE STUDY
Spacial survey for high intellectual productivity: Evaluating impressions based on color difference of a given space.
Which booth color will increase the efficiency of a simple calculation task?
Participants who performed a simple calculation task showed higher brain activity and more correct answers in the yellow booth.
Product Planning
In addition to subjective assessments, a more objective evaluation from quantifying the intuitive reactions of the brain can be used in the product planning phase.
CASE STUDY
Making toys to match growth.
Certification of the “Brain Science” mark shows that advanced brain science was utilized during a product’s manufacturing process, and these products will show the “Brain Science” label on the packaging:
In collaboration with Bandai Co. featuring NeU’s advanced brain science, we successfully differentiated the uniqueness of “BabyLabo” Toys compared to similar ones from other companies. In the end, annual market shares increased and sales exceeded 3.8 billion yen per year. By utilizing “brain science”, NeU was able to provide Bandai Co. with valuable information and specifications to modify products according to the “growth” of toddlers, adjusting quickly to changing demands.
CASE STUDY
“Prevention of Dementia” by verifying potential health benefits of brain exercise games.
Certification of the “Brain Science” mark shows that advanced brain science was utilized during a product’s manufacturing process, and these products will show the “Brain Science” label on the packaging:
An example of NeU’s collaboration includes Kids Star Brain Exercise to develop dementia and long-term care prevention services for the elderly through brain training (moving the body while performing brain exercises). These programs can benefit both short and long-term elderly care facilities, fitness clubs, and can also be performed at home.
Moreover, data revealed that utilizing knowledge of brain science can improve cognitive functions through short-term brain exercises, which is said to prevent brain function deterioration due to aging.
Design · Manufacturing
NeU can assist in the designing and manufacturing process by revealing how a user truly “feels” based on his or her behavior during an experiment.
CASE STUDY
Usability study of elevator buttons.
Have you ever mistakenly pressed the wrong open or close button in an elevator?
Tests have revealed that there are many avoidable mistakes in conventional designs of elevator buttons that causes delays in a user’s judgment. Through brain science and facial recognition, we experimented and designed “faces” for buttons, which showed that the cognitive processing load was lowered, resulting to less “pushing” mistakes.
As a result, it turned out that the judgment time is shorter with the “face” button design, resulting to a decrease in “push” error. In the brain, there is a part responsible for “face” processing, and we utilized our brain science knowledge which revealed that cognitive processing for “faces” is inherently faster.
Evaluating the user interface of elevator button icons.
By incorporating knowledge of brain science, we managed to reduce the error rate and improve learning efficiency. Moreover, the importance of objective indexing proved to be an important aspect in designing elevator buttons, as although subjective assessments of various buttons designs were good, the measurements from behavioral results differed.
Promotion · Advertisement
We can measure accurate impressions and effects of advertisements such as animation, still image, web, and so forth from the aspect of brain science.
CASE STUDY
Utilizing brain science to evaluate the impressions of company logos.
Determining which logos can leave a longer-lasting impression and how people feel about a particular design is one of the key advantages of basing evaluations on objective brain activity measurements. Take for example, a case study with the “QUICK” logo:
• A survey with a sample pool of 10 adults were conducted using both optical topography and conventional subjective evaluation.
• The evaluation was conducted by recording and “grading” the amount of blood volume in the part of the forehead associated with “memory” and “empathy”.
• Surprisingly, it was found that the results of the subjective evaluation (interviews) did not coincide with the level of brain activity for memory and empathy.
• Considering that data from brain activity measurements are objective indicators of a person’s impression, the new company logo was adopted for use beginning April 2016.
CASE STUDY
Evaluating the impression of a website’s content viewed on different devices such as smartphones.
In this case study, NeU evaluates the frontal cerebral activity while browsing the internet on a smartphone showing different font sizes.
· SPATIAL: Brain activity coincides with different font sizes (larger the font, higher the brain activity).
· TEMPORAL: The same observation is made in the temporal region as well, where brain activity coincides with font sizes.
· In sum, NeU has verified that there is a strong relationship between both the image (content) and character information (quantity).
CASE STUDY
Verifying brain activity while chewing “Sticky Sweets” such as the well-known POCKY snack.
With the use of brain science, NeU has been able to verify that chewing longer “stick-type” confectionery with the front teeth tend to show higher brain activity compared to normal sized sweets. In addition to verifying the different biting effects, the evaluation can also be applied to the ingested ingredients.
CASE STUDY
Evaluating viewer impression of video medias such as TV commercials during LIVE broadcasts.
In this case study, brain activity was evaluated by the NIRS method to measure the rate of cerebral blood flow change during a LIVE Japanese national football game that took place on March 23 and 27. Pictured below shows the measurement environment at NeU’s conference room:
The target audience consisted of men and women in their 20s to 30s who have a special interested in sports. The groups were asked to watch a general program content (including commercials) and a LIVE nationwide broadcast of a Japanese soccer game (with a soccer themed commercial). While watching TV, the participants’ brain activity from the forehead region was measured using NeU’s HOT-1000.
The results showed that watching commercials related to the LIVE broadcast content (in this case, commercials catering to soccer), showed higher brain activity compared to “general contents”. Moreover, the results indicate that the audience showed twice as much more interest for “soccer themed” commercials.
Based on these findings, we can expect that brain activity will be higher when watching commercials during high-profile sports broadcasts, which can prove to have better advertisement effects. The following diagram shows the comparison of brain activities of general content commercials to that of a more theme-focused content viewed during a LIVE broadcast:
NeU has verified through this innovative case study that themed-focused commercials is an effective advertisement tool to reach out to a target audience, and that the advertisement effect varies not only on the audience, but the contents being advertised as well.
NeU will continue to make ground-breaking discoveries such as this to push the boundaries of effective advertisement campaigns.
Store Sales · Net Sales
Brain science can be utilized for effective product placement by measuring customer satisfaction levels at both physical store locations and e-commerce sites.
CASE STUDY
Comparing behaviors of Point of Purchase sales.
This case study investigates the behavior of “sudden, unplanned purchased” from the perspective of brain science. Two types of “rice-ball cakes” are used as an example:
1. In the laboratory environment, according to brain function measurements, the brain is active when it comes to omelette rice-cakes.
2. In an actual store environment, potato chestnut rice-cakes with POP display showed almost double the interest compared to ones without.
CASE STUDY
Utilizing brain science to improve customer satisfaction levels of “call center” operators.
In this case study, we work closely with Nestle Japan Co., to verify customer satisfaction levels of their call center operators from the perspective of brain science. Moreover, we look in-depth and analyse the brain activity characteristics of operators with high customer satisfaction levels (higher vs. lower ranked), to find ways to improve Nestle’s overall customer satisfaction. The following are the main aspects of this case study:
1. To measuring brain activity during an incoming customer service call and to analyse the data to develop a custom training program.
2. There were only small variations in the brain activity among higher-ranked operators compared to lower ranked operators during a service call.
3. By implementing NeU’s training program with the goal to improve customer satisfaction levels of lower-ranked operators, overall results showed an increase in customer satisfaction levels.
4. In response to these results, initiatives have been implemented to increase customer satisfaction levels by introducing “Brain HQ” communication training at the Nestle Wellness Club.
The “Brain Science” Mark
Certification of the “Brain Science” mark shows that advanced brain science was utilized during a product’s manufacturing process. In addition, the mark shows that third-party experts from the “Brain Science Review Board” have verified the results of a product’s effectiveness using advanced scientific verification methods based on brain function, behavior, and physiological indexes. Please note: the “Brain Science” mark is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd.
Some examples of where the “Brain Science” mark has been granted are:
Bandai Co., Ltd.
“Baby Labo”, “Block Labo”, “Baby’s Brain Work”
Benesse Corporation
“LED Stand”
Kid Star
“Brain Exercise”
Senoh MotoTiles
“MotoTiles”
Flow of Implementation
Utilizing brain science requires special knowledge and expertise during preliminary surveys, designing experiments, data analysis, and so forth. NeU can support all aspects of a project either partly or in full based upon your needs and requests. Please contact us for further details.
