How Neuromarketing Can Revolutionize the Digital Marketing Industry

I recently bought baggy jeans, and the decision to buy baggy jeans was triggered by my urge to fit into the latest Gen Z fashion trend, my urge to belong in a group because humans want to be a part of communities and they fear isolation. The conclusion about my purchase led me to really ponder about neuromarketing and what methods companies use to hack consumers into spending their money!

Most of the buying decisions we make are emotional and not really rational. Most of the beauty products and fashion items that women buy are deeply rooted in their insecurities regarding their looks and appearance, which emerge from a need for desirability in their social circles. Food courts are always present on the topmost floor in malls to attract exhausted customers that get hungry after browsing through all the floors and stores. Humans make a lot of buying decisions subconsciously, and that is where Neuromarketing comes in. Neuromarketers have adopted a range of technologies in their marketing studies to dive deep inside consumers’ brains. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalograms measure activity in the brain. Eye-tracking shows where we direct our attention. Heart rate and skin conductance show what we find exciting.

In 1985, Coca-Cola was losing customers to Pepsi; hence, it decided to improve the taste by changing its formula. It came up with New Coke, and over 200,000 people tasted it and developed a preference for the new Coke over the original. However, things flipped, and customers protested, demanding the original Coke back. Coca-Cola headquarters received about 8,000 angry calls a day. Coca-Cola wondered what it missed out on.

It turns out that what it missed was a strong emotional connection that people had for nearly a hundred years when Coca-Cola was marketed as a feel-good product. Coca-cola was more than a sweet beverage; it was a feel-good experience.

In a study, volunteers were given Coke and Pepsi while their brains were scanned to find out which part of the brain became active. Over 50% of volunteers preferred Pepsi. Then the researchers made a slight change to the Pepsi challenge, and the volunteers were told what they were going to drink before taking a sip; it was no longer a blind taste test anymore. Suddenly, 75% of volunteers preferred Coke over Pepsi; moreover, while they were drinking Coke, the emotional, memory, and thinking parts of the brain became active; this pattern was, however, not observed while they were drinking Pepsi. The study is a perfect demonstration of what happens subconsciously in our brains when we think of popular brands like Coca-Cola. The study also demonstrated that our thoughts, feelings, and memories can subconsciously change our experience with a product; this is exactly how the unconscious mind influences our choices. The feelings and memories evoked by the Coca-Cola brand are strong. Coca-Cola missed those strong emotional connections when they reduced this iconic drink to just taste; this is why New Coke failed.

In the era of digital marketing and social media, most buying decisions are influenced by apps like Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. People buy into the culture prior to buying products. There are many current trends that are driving the buying decisions of the Indian youth, including K-pop culture and Aesthetic culture. Many brands like Miniso, Ikea, and Mr. Diy are already capitalizing on the ‘Aesthetic Items’ demand driven by the desire to be aesthetic. Neuromarketing can be powerful if applied in marketing because it helps deep dive into a customer’s core desires.