NeuroFocus Defines New 'Social Operating System' as Critical Component of 21st Century Marketing

BERKELEY, Calif., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Are four hundred million Facebook members creating new metrics for marketing to mass audiences? A new study from NeuroFocus, the world's leading neuromarketing company, strongly indicates they and other social media subscribers are.

The results document that what the company defines as the global "Social Operating System" is key to successful marketing today, and will be even more so in the future.

"Until now, the focus has been on hardware (three screens) and media distribution channels, but that perspective misses the larger phenomenon that is altering marketing on a worldwide and permanent basis," said Dr. A. K. Pradeep, Chief Executive Officer of NeuroFocus. "Companies would be wise to stop dwelling on these silos and shift their attention to this new 'Social Operating System.' It is remaking marketing, and through brainwave measurements and analysis we are quantifying the effects on consumers' subconscious responses across multiple platforms. The medium is no longer the message; instead, it's context that influences how consumers conceive of your brand."

In the first study of its kind, NeuroFocus applied its full-brain measurement technology to discover how consumers responded to "Trip For Life," a TV commercial featured in "Go World," VISA's multimedia campaign centered around the 2010 Winter Olympics. NeuroFocus measured viewers' subconscious responses to that advertisement by placing it on the special website and Facebook pages created to be VISA's Internet marketing platforms for the Vancouver event, as well as testing the commercial as shown on television during the Games. The study was conducted solely for NeuroFocus' own research; neither VISA nor any of its vendors or other entities commissioned the report.

The brainwave-based research revealed the power of social media as a marketing communications platform. Topline findings are:

• Highest overall effectiveness for the ad, especially with women: Facebook
• Purchase intent generated by the ad: highest on both Facebook and TV
• Messaging carried by the ad strongest on: Internet platform, with Facebook stronger than website
• Highest attention-getter: Internet
• VISA brand perception lifted most strongly: TV

"This marks the first time that a major consumer marketing campaign has been neurologically measured for its effectiveness across the most important communications platforms of our age," Dr. Pradeep said. "The findings reflect how pervasive and powerful social media are today. But they can't be defined by delivery systems any longer—Facebook is now available on your high-definition big-screen TV as well as your iPhone, your laptop, your desktop, and now your iPad. There are powerful strategic implications of this global 'Social Operating System' for companies looking to optimize their marketing communications investments. Up until now, they haven't known with scientific certainty the role that social media especially plays in that marketing mix. Full-brain, EEG-based testing is the most accurate and reliable means to get at that critical information, which is why our clients rely on it for decision-making."

About NeuroFocus

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.

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