In the changing world of corporate events, creating memorable experiences is essential to stand out in an impact saturated world. This is where neuromarketing comes into play; it is a discipline that combines neuroscience with marketing to use the studies on how the human mind works in the interests of our brand. This growing trend has become a powerful tool that helps many companies organise events that are not only more impressive but also more effective. Let’s see how neuromarketing can transform just another corporate event into a memorable occasion.
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What is neuromarketing?
Neuromarketing is a discipline that combines the techniques of neuroscience with marketing strategies. It is based on the study of how the human brain responds to advertising and brand stimuli, in order to understand the purchasing decisions and the emotions associated with them.
The main idea behind neuromarketing is that, if companies get a better understanding of the unconscious motivation and the emotional responses of their customers, they can design more effective marketing strategies. Instead of only basing themselves on surveys or focus groups, which often depend on self-assessment and might not be completely accurate, neuromarketing looks for answers in the source: the human brain.
This discipline is not only used in the field of advertising or purchase decisions, it is also becoming a useful tool for numerous sectors, including the MICE sector and the organisation of corporate events. In this way, through certain stimuli, brands can connect with their target audience in a deeper and more genuine way.
Real uses of neuromarketing
Neuromarketing has been used in a wide variety of fields and applications in different areas such as advertising, entertainment or politics. Here are some examples of how companies and brands have implemented neuromarketing techniques to improve their persuasion and sales strategies, based on data about human behaviour.
- Packaging design: Companies, especially in the consumer goods sector, have used eye-tracking to determine what elements of packaging capture the attention of the consumer first and for how long. In this way, there are increasingly more appealing packaging designs that stand out on the store shelves.
- Advertising: Historically, brands have used studies based on encephalograms to determine the brain response of the viewers to different advertisements. This enables them to determine which parts of the advertisement are more exciting or memorable, and which parts might need changing.
- Experience in stores: You can easily see how physical stores have experimented with specific scents and music, based on neuromarketing research that shows how certain smells or sounds might encourage the consumers to stay longer in the store or even spend more.
- Website design and UX (user experience): Eye tracking is a very common practice used to analyse how users browse around a website. This helps identify the areas that get the attention of the users most and the order in which they browse around the content. By doing so, brands can adapt their content to the general behaviour of their customer.
- Product testing: Before launching a new product, some companies carry out technical tests such as magnetic resonance imaging, on users to see which areas of the brain are activated when consumers interact with the product in question.
- Multimedia content: In turn, entertainment businesses have used neuromarketing to evaluate the emotional response of the audience to films or TV programmes; so that adjustments can be made before they are launched definitively.
- Music in adverts: Studies are carried out on how music makes it easier to remember an advertisement and favours the customer’s positive perception of the brand. Choosing the right music can trigger the required brain responses, which makes their adverts more effective.
- Politics: Although it might be controversial, some politicians and political parties have used neuromarketing techniques to evaluate the responses of the voters to their speeches or campaign advertisements.
Possible uses of neuromarketing in corporate events
Implementing neuromarketing in corporate events might help persuade your audience and find out about their behaviour. This is how we can determine whether our work has been positive and then act accordingly. To this end, neuromarketing has various uses when it comes to organising a corporate event:
- Selection of music and sound: According to research that shows how certain types of music or sound can affect the listener’s mood and energy, the right atmosphere can be created for the event, whether it is energizing to launch a product or relaxing for an educational talk.
- Lighting and colours: Using the knowledge about how different colours and intensities of light affect emotions and the concentration to create an atmosphere that favours participation and engagement.
- Feedback in real time: Set up wearable devices that measure bioindicators such as the heart rate or the skin conductance. This would enable the organisers to obtain immediate feedback about the reactions of those participating in different parts of the event.
- Smells and aromas: Just like with music, certain aromas can have specific effects on the mood and perception. Including specific aromas in the event might improve the overall experience and make a long-lasting impression.
- Networking and group activities: By understanding how people react to different group dynamics, networking activities can be designed to maximize interaction and positive exchange.
- Post-event: After the event, the surveys combined with neuromarketing techniques, such as eye tracking on visual materials or analysing expressions when the event is remembered, might provide a more complete picture about what worked and what could be improved.
Neuromarketing in the MICE sector: A glimpse into the future
The MICE world (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, and Exhibitions) focuses on creating unique and memorable experiences for the participants. As the industry evolves, the expectations for more customised and emotionally resonant events continue to grow. In this context, neuromarketing becomes a powerful and promising tool.
Neuromarketing, as it unravels the mysteries of the human brain and its response to different stimuli, provides an unprecedented opportunity to come up with events that really connect with the participants. By going beyond conscious responses and exploring the terrain of subconscious reactions, the organisers might actually understand what really moves, thrills and motivates their audience.
As technology advances and the neuromarketing tools become more accessible, it is highly likely that they will be used increasingly more in the MICE sector. Let’s imagine events where each detail, from the light and the sound to the interaction dynamics, are all meticulously designed according to neuroscientific data, which guarantees that experiences will make a tremendous impact.