Neuromarketing: Its potential role in Indian rural markets

Author Information: Jayakrishnan.S,

Assistant Professor SCMS School of technology and Management, India,
Email id: jayakrishnan@scmsgroup.org, jayakrishnan303@gmail.com

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2397588

 Neuromarketing: Its potential role in Indian rural markets

Abstract

Neuromarketing is one of the emerging discipline which is an applied extension of Neuroscience

and Marketing. Neuromarketing helps us to understand the human mind and how brain
influences our purchase intention. Rural consumers are complex, diverse in nature and
neuromarketing can provide better insights about their purchase intentions.

Key words: Neuromarketing, Functional magnetic resonance imaging, EEG, Caudate region,
Old brain, Reptilian brain, Neurosense, Neuroco, Neurofocus, Sales brain, Rural markets,
Opinion leaders, Packaging aesthetics, Brand association.

The notion that "the mind is what the brain does" is catching fire in academia, especially in the
trendy area of neuroscience. Derived from the word Neurology and Marketing; Neuromarketing
is a new field of marketing that studies the buying behavior of a consumer. Neurology\Neuro
science is dealing with the study of Nervous system. Neuromarketing is the applied extension of
Neuroscience and one of emerging field of marketing which is focusing on understanding the
responses of human brain to marketing and products stimuli? The term Neuromarketing was
coined by Ale Smidts (Erasmus University) in 2002. It is one among the technologies that can
provide a push to the marketing and sales profession. A button in a critical system use to quickly
activate an extreme measure to mitigate an emergency situation. People get aggravated when
their panic button is pressed. This happens at home, hostel, work place or anywhere for that
matter. The pusher knows how to trigger the button so that the target gets aggravated. The same
logic is applied for marketing too by pressing the buy button. The only difference here is that it
should be for the mass. The marketers are searching for the buy button. So let us understand
what is Neuromarketing all about? Neuroscientist claims that emotions have an important
influence on decision making which can create preference for one brand over the other.

For better understanding, we need to go back to our biology classes. Our brain consists of three
areas or parts a) New brain (frontal lobes) b) Midbrain c) Old brain (Brain stem) [Fig 1]. Old
brain is lowest evolved part of the brain and its also called reptilian brain due to the similarities
with Reptiles. Why each part is different from each other? New brain is involved in

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2397588

rationalization and generates conclusions which are communicated to mid and old brain. Mid
brain is the center of all feelings and emotions whose role is to interpret it and transfer it to other
parts. Old brain is the decision making center or where our buy button is located. It accumulates
all information and decides how to respond? The important thing about this area its lacks any
language and basically driven by emotions, instincts and feelings. So even if we claim that we
purchase on the basis of rationale, neuroscience reveals that we are influenced by the emotions,
stimulus or instincts and then we rationalize our purchases later. Purchase or preference is mostly
an emotional activity by brain which is later rationalized.

Figure 1(A)
Old Brain\Reptilian Brain
Courtesy: Sales Brain Courtesy: Sales Brain

We can conclude that our first responses to many things tend to be involuntary, unconscious and
can be influenced by simple stimuli like long forgotten smell, musical chord, words and
combination of colours before our conscious brain are aware of it. So what our communications,
stimulus has to be targeted towards old brain to influence the consumers mind.

Brain is one of the complex organs in our human system. With development of electromagnetic
scanning and imaging technology, we can trace what happens inside our brain when we see and
think about a product, brand and its advertisement. The major technologies used in mapping of
human brains to product stimuli and advertising stimuli are FMRI (Functional magnetic
resonance imaging) and Electro encephalography (EEG). This new field of marketing will
explore the how cultural and social messages penetrate the brain and change their preferences or
purchase behavior. Moreover this area reveals that purchasing behavior or decisions are
influenced by emotions and it is rationalized later. By understanding this producer can create
better products and develop effective commercials which can create a long-term impression
about their products in the mind of the consumers.

One of the classical examples of Neuromarketing study is revealed when Daimyler-Chrysler

showed pictures analyse how consumers perceive their cars. The results were surprising. The
grills and headlights grab the attention because they resemble faces which brain processes
phenomenally well. So the result will be vital for Daimyler in designing of their future models
and designing the shape of headlights and grills. Some people had emotional attraction towards
sports car.

Another classic example is of Coke-Pepsi. A team of academicians explored the thoughts and
perceptions of people on consumption worlds famous brands of carbonated soft drinks. When
they conducted the blind tests, they consumers found difficulty in distinguishing each other. The
brain images revealed that brain images are identical for both Coke and Pepsi. When people were
told that they are given Coke, the brain images revealed increased blood flow and changes in
brain cells. The activated centres of brain are emotions and memory. The knowledge that its
Coke made it taste better. It means that taste is not the major influencing the factor, the word
Coke is exciting the brain not the taste factor. But we rationalize that taste is leading us to prefer
Coke.

Celebrity endorsement is one among the most adopted strategies among the corporate houses.
Let us look at the case of Celebrity endorsement and what Neuromarketing has to say about this?
In what way Celebrity endorsement can influence our purchasing pattern. The classical example
cited in RSM outlook (Rotterdam school of Management) is about Chrysler. Chrysler chooses
Celine Dion as its brand ambassador. The campaign was huge success for the model not for the
company. Chrysler didnt witness any change in Sales. Here company wants to persuade the
customer by making a popular person as brand ambassador. In this case, brain perceives that
Dion is not an expert of cars. Smidts says that the link between trust in the judgment of the
expert and persuasion holds the key. If she is endorsing any English tuition college or publishing
house it can invoke trust as she sings in different languages including English. Brain studies
revealed that celebrity endorsed product has a high recollection and influence the hippocampus
an important area for memory encoding. Moreover celebrities with high level of perceived
expertise evoked enhanced caudate activity which can lead to higher buying intention. Caudate
area has a key role in transforming motivational or persuasive information. Recent Research
shows that caudate activity correlates with the intention to trust. So here also our purchase is
influenced by emotions which determine the purchasing behaviour. This information is vital for
advertising campaigns for many products.

Warwick Cairns, planning director- Brand house says that brands will become less rational and
more emotional and this will be reflected in the advertising of products and services.
Neuromarketing has evolved over the years. Currently research is going on in different global
institutions like Stanford, Rotterdam, Leeds and Cornell University etc. We have examples of
Jack Daniels and companies like UniLever, P&G etc venturing to explore the techniques of
Neuromarketing for better understanding of their customers. We have consultancy like
Neurosense, Neuroco, Neurofocus and Sales Brain are some of the leading Neuromarketing
consulting firms in US, Netherlands and Europe.

About Indian Rural Markets Why its different?

Now the biggest challenge for many of the Indian corporate is to make inroads into urban and
rural markets. Rural consumer behaviour is more complex and diverse when compared to urban
consumers due to socio-cultural, economic and regional differences. So many times the same
strategy wont work in all places. Let us explore the key features of rural markets. One among
the key features is the influence of opinion leaders in rural areas. The opinion leaders have a
profound influence on rural purchasing behaviour. So perception of opinion leaders has a vital
role in decision making. Another important factor influencing the rural purchases is the
packaging aesthetics. Rural consumers always appreciate bright colours. The most accepted
colours include yellow, red, Violet etc. Here also we difference in rural consumers perception
across south and north. In South yellow is the sign of prosperity, purity and auspicious, but in
north yellow colour is related with jaundice and ill health. The classical example of Texla
Television sets. They initially launched a TV sets with grey and blank cabinets, but sales didnt
catch up like they expected. It introduced Red and Yellow cabinets and sales dramatically
increased. Dull and Sober colours are not popular among rural consumers. In Rural markets,
Brand association is mainly with colours, numbers and visuals. Lifebuoy is identified as Red
soap, Eveready as Red battery and Dabur tooth powder as Lal Dant manjan. The numbers
include 501 bar soap, 502 Pataka chai. Visuals include Katchua Chaap mosquito, 3 Roses tea and
Rin (lighting) etc. In Urban markets people mostly relate products with brand names. So this
reveals the complexity of rural markets. International development Enterprises introduced low
cost foot operated treadle pump for drawing water. Initially it didnt create any responses. When
it was operated in a bore well and then farmers were convinced and they were willing to
purchase. The success of Coca cola, Bajaj and Tata roofing sheets can be attributed to
understanding rural consumers perceptions and behaviour in choosing the product. So in order
to explore rural markets and establish rural markets we need to understand the mind and
perceptions of rural consumers to a extend that we should know the minute details. In such a
situation,

Neuromarketing has a vital role in identifying what are the key factors and why these characters
are influencing the purchasing behaviour of rural consumers. Why packaging aesthetics, Visuals
are influencing the purchasing behaviour of rural consumers. So let us find out why it is
happening and how it can be utilized in Indian rural markets which can ensure better products,
better quality and services in rural markets of India.

Neuromarketing: What difference it can make in Indian Rural markets.

Neuromarketing explores the emotions, thoughts and interpretation of products that consumers
visualize in his brain. We are making sense out of anything because of the interpretation of brain
by conditioning. Consider we are launching X brand in Rural markets. Since its a new branded
product we cant predict the success and failures of the brand. But Neuromarketing techniques
can how people perceive your product and what influence or emotions arise in consumers mind
on seeing your product? It can provide rational explanation for product and brand recognition in
rural markets. The acceptance of any brand in rural markets can be influenced by Opinion
leaders. By brain imaging techniques we can identify what emotions and perceptions arise on
opinion leaders, it can through light on the product attributes which can be influential. So this
knowledge about the opinion leaders response can help the company to rethink if it has a
negative response. But we should ensure that imaging has to be done on reasonable sample for
better outcomes. In the case of Coke experiment, the Coke itself produces a response in the brain
and makes the feeling that cold drinks mean coke. The colour of packaging materials can also
play vital role in determining the sales potential of any product in rural markets. The main reason
is that bright colours can stimulate the decision center in brain which results is the purchasing of
the product. Another important point is the recollection of branded products especially FMCG by
colour, numbers and Visuals. Here Neuromarketing techniques can be utilized to understand
what are the common colours, numbers and visuals which brain processed easily and the
stimulus it can provide to the decision making center of brain. So this can give better insight into
branding and product design also. Even in the area of rural advertising also, Neuromarketing
techniques can be used to identify what impact an advertisement about a particular product is
creating on the buy button of the brain. The main obstacle in continuing the research in
Neuromarketing is its cost factor. It cost around Rs.50 Lakhs to Rs.100 Lakhs for conducting a
FMRI survey. On top of that consumers are become aware of their buy button and has already
come up with their slogans like Dont make us robotic shoppers in US. Nevertheless, the buy
button idea is a science fiction though.

Conclusion

Neuro marketing is one of the emerging areas in Marketing. It can provide valuable insights
about consumer behaviour which can in turn help us to develop products and services to create
customer delight. As Neuromarketing further evolves we can expect more and more revelation
of intricacies involved which determines the consumer and purchasing behaviour of rural and
urban customers for any product or brand.

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 References

1. If you have a Buy Button in your Brain, What pushes it? By Sandra Blakeslee published
in Newyork Times- October 19, 2004
2. Neuromarketing: Whats it all about? By Max Sutherland( www.sutherlandsurvey.com)
3. Neuromarketing could make mind reading the ad-mans ultimate tool by Nick Carr, the
Guardian, 3 rd April 2008.
4. Future shock by FregHapGood, CMO magazine September 2004.
5. Switched on to Buy by Paul Bray, Telegraph, and 19th January 2007.
6. This is your Brain on Advertising by Amber Haq, Business week, October 8 2007.
7. Inside the Consumer mind, What Neuroscience can tell us about Marketing by Wendy
Melillo Adweek, Commercial alert, January 16 th, 2006.
8. Decision Neuroscience by Baba Shiv, Ale Smidts, Susan. J. Grant, A. Peter McGraw,
Antonie Bechara, Irwin Levin, Joseph.W.Alba, James R. Bettman, Laurette Dube,
Springer science, 2005.
9. The brain mechanism of persuasion, RSM outlook, Spring 2007.
10. www.salesbrain.net