Marketing and neuroscience
Tim Ambler discusses the benefits and pitfalls for marketers of using neuroscience to understand how the consumer's mind works and how companies can partner consumers to their mutual advantage
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In a new podcast Tim Ambler, Senior Fellow in Marketing at London Business School, discusses the ways in which neuroscience can further our understanding of how advertising and marketing communications work and of consumer decision making.
Tim explains: "Market research is built on reason and rationality, but people buy products and make consumer choices based on feelings, not reason. Neuroscience is a new area which we should approach with care, but it deals with what is really going on in their heads when consumers make choices. We know that we are unable to accurately report what is going on in our heads, not least because we are not fully aware of it ourselves"
Tim goes on to discuss the use of neuroscience to disprove flawed models of consumer behaviour, but suggests that consciousness studies are of little use to marketers: "To a ship a rock is a rock whether it is just visible above the water or just below it. And it is what is below the waterline that sinks the ship."
Tim believes that autism research could offer real insights to marketers; by studying individuals who lack emotional empathy and two-way communication skills, marketers can understand how to encourage the opposite characteristics in consumers.
Listen to the podcast to hear more of Tim Ambler's thoughts on marketing and neuroscience