Breakthrough 3D Virtual Reality Based In-Store Research: NeuroFocus Introduces N-Matrix 3D(TM) System

BERKELEY, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- "Avatar 3D" is coming to the supermarket aisle.

NeuroFocus, the world's leading neuromarketing firm, announced today that it is introducing a breakthrough 3D virtual store technology that leapfrogs all other virtual reality systems in the marketplace. Code named N-Matrix 3D, the landmark neuroscience-based platform enables companies to test product designs, packaging, and entire store layouts with startling clarity, detail, and flexibility.

Based on neuroscientific research, the N-Matrix 3D virtual reality shopper insights system applies advanced, proprietary digital technology that is on a par with what "Avatar 3D," the world record-breaking motion picture, incorporates. The patented software applies neuroscientific knowledge of how the brain perceives and analyzes products, package designs, and store settings to create three-dimensional virtual renderings that stimulate the subconscious to process them as it does reality.

Current 2D virtual reality technologies cannot meet the brain's desire and expectation for critical elements such as lifelike lighting and shadows, depth perception, and details. The result is that the brain is forced to add in such elements itself to satisfy these subconscious demands, rendering the results of such virtual reality research imperfect at best and unreliable at worst.

In sharp contrast, the N-Matrix 3D system reproduces entire environments and the individual elements contained within them in extremely fine detail, incorporating the other neurologically critical visual cues of realistic lighting and perspective. NeuroFocus developed the N-Matrix 3D technology using advanced knowledge gained in world-leading neuroscience laboratories, and the company's own extensive brainwave-based research projects.

"We can give manufacturers, marketers, and retailers what they have always sought but could not have until now: an extremely lifelike testing environment that also allows endless opportunities for quickly altering every element from the macro to the micro," said Dr. A. K. Pradeep, Chief Executive Officer of NeuroFocus. "N-Matrix 3D signals the end of trade-offs in market research, where until now compromises had to be made and accepted. We are bringing the real world right into the laboratory by adding the critical third dimension to virtual reality, and at the same time we're also providing the flexibility to alter that reality with speed and scalability."

NeuroFocus elaborated on the most significant features and benefits of the N-Matrix 3D system, which are important to companies seeking to gain the most accurate gauge of how consumers respond subconsciously to product designs, packaging, and store layouts.

* Rapidly Customizable 3D Environments: Conventional market research capabilities in the retail sector are severely constrained in terms of their ability to alter scenarios and individual elements. Virtual reality testing schemes offer more flexibility, but fall short of meeting the brain's basic need for the appearance of authenticity. In comparison, N-Matrix 3D enables changes to be made immediately to entire store settings, scaling down to individual elements including signage and pricing, while maintaining all the critical three-dimensional cues that the brain requires for credibility. The software creates individualized 'skins' for any specific retailer, from big-box outlets to convenience stores, so that the testing environment replicates the real world setting in every respect.

* Maximum Realism and Flexibility for Product Designs and Packaging: N-Matrix 3D employs touch-sensitive gloves that enable subjects to reach out and pick up products and view them exactly as they would in an actual store or other real-world setting. The realism this interaction simulates enables companies to gain accurate, actionable knowledge of how consumers respond to all components of product designs and packaging at the subconscious level, where critical impressions and key decisions such as purchase intent are made.

* Highly Predictive: N-Matrix 3D results have proven to be highly predictive of consumer behavior in the marketplace. NeuroFocus' extensive development and testing processes produced clear and repeated data patterns indicating the technology's capability to model effective package designs, packaging, and retail environments based upon subjects' subconscious responses.

"N-Matrix 3D is founded on several key neuroscientific principles and specific brain functions," said Dr. Steven Miller, Director of Global NeuroLab Operations for NeuroFocus. "We leverage our brain's ability to extract and interpret spatial, depth, color, and motion information, which are centered in the brain's visual association cortex."

NeuroFocus captures consumers' responses at the subconscious level through EEG-based full-brain measurements that offer a depth and accuracy of data and insights that conventional market research methodologies cannot match.

In making the announcement, the company explained that N-Matrix 3D will be available exclusively to its current and potential NeuroLab clients. NeuroLabs are neurological testing centers that NeuroFocus designs, builds, staffs, and operates on behalf of individual clients around the world. Teams of neuroscientists, neurophysiologists, neuromarketing consultants, and project managers are on-site, enabling NeuroLab clients to conduct testing on as wide a range of areas and on the timetables that are most efficient for them. NeuroFocus has NeuroLabs in operation in multiple U.S. markets, as well as in the UK/European, Asia/Pacific, and Latin American regions.

"Our goal with N-Matrix 3D was to create the sense of reality in a lab setting that would allow test subjects to experience the critical subconscious cues that drive perceptions and purchase decisions," said Ratnakar Dev, NeuroFocus' chief architect and technical leader for the N-Matrix 3D system. "Designing this 3D virtual reality environment from the ground up using neuroscience is the breakthrough. We live and buy and consume products in a three dimensional world. Now we can test products and store environments the same way we shop."

About NeuroFocus

The world's leading neuromarketing firm, NeuroFocus (http://neurofocus.com) brings advanced neuroscience knowledge and expertise to the worlds of branding, product development and packaging, advertising, in-store marketing, and entertainment. NeuroFocus clients include Fortune 100 companies across dozens of categories, including automotive, consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, financial services, Internet, pharmaceutical, retail, and many more sectors. Entertainment category clients include major companies in the broadcast and cable television and motion picture industries.

Headquartered in the U.S. and operating globally through offices and NeuroLabs in the UK and Europe, the Asia/Pacific region, Latin America, and the Middle East, the company leverages Nobel Prize caliber and Doctorate-level credentials in neuroscience and marketing from the University of California at Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Columbia University, and other leading institutions, combined with executive business management and consulting experience. The Nielsen Company is a strategic investor in NeuroFocus.

SOURCE NeuroFocus