NTT Data’s neuromarketing knows how you feel

We’re now in the age where neuroscience and AI are starting to be used in the field of marketing. Dubbed “neuromarketing”, it involves converting the processes where our feelings lead us to make decisions into numerical form to measure more precisely the effects of ads. In Japan, companies have already jumped onto this bandwagon at an early stage. Here we take a look at the example of NTT Data , which has started its own neuroscience service for advertising.

What exactly happens when a person receives information, processes it and acts upon it — in other words, the decision-making process? There’s a lot of research currently focusing on better understanding of how human beings work. Neuroscience is a branch that is focusing especially on the workings of the brain.

The technology for measuring human brain activity has been established, using such techniques as fMRI (“functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging”, a method of detecting brain activity with MRI devices) and EEG (“ElectroEncephaloGram”, where electrodes are placed on the scalp to record the electrical activity of the brain). Through these, solving the mysteries of how the brain works is rapidly advancing forward.

Add marketing to the mix and you have “neuromarketing”, and already an implementation of the technology in advertising and media is fast-growing, with the market expanding at an annual rate of over 10%. Companies that are keeping track of consumer behavior and interpreting the cognitive processes of consumers using neuromarketing techniques include Google, Nielsen, CBC, Frito-Lay, and A&E TV.

NTT Data offers neural services for advertising

NTT Data launched their neuro-business team in 2014 and has been exploring the possibilities of neuroscience business through the industrial-academic collaboration of NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting, Inc. and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). In 2016 they released an fMRI-utilizing video rating service, and in November 2017 launched the “Neuro-ICT LAB” for researching ways of commercializing neural ICT (Information and Communications Technology).

In terms of practical application, NTT Data has launched a service called “D-Planner”. Focusing on the creative content of advertising, the service looks at both neural information and behavior results to predict the effects of video ads and assists in market entry decision-making through content creation and development. D-Planner is already being used by over 20 firms, including Audi Japan and Getty Images Japan.

Ryo Yano, head of NTT Data’s Social Innovation Project Division, of which handles D-Planner, reveals that by processing what humans watch and hear using cutting-edge neuro-ICT technology, it’s become possible to decipher how human beings react to a piece of content through both the conscious and unconscious mind, and quantify such reactions by linking them to natural language (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.).

For example, AI can take the brain activity data of someone who has seen a certain video ad and show how that person perceived the images by converting the data into words. Say the person is watching an ad that features a golf course, the AI might bring up such words as “outdoors”, “swing through” or “spacious”. Because the conscious and unconscious reactions of consumers can be expressed in nouns (the thing being recognized), verbs (the action being recognized) and adjectives (the impression), it becomes possible to verify whether the consumer who was exposed to the advertisement took in what the ad’s producer originally intended to convey.

With these results, the ad owner is able to more clearly discuss on the production side about what parts should be changed in order to create an ad that conveys the intention better.

An artificial brain simulation that NTT Data has named “NeuroAI” has also been developed. This uses actual fMRI results to measure the activity of the brain as it responds to stimulus. In combination with D-Planner, it can use neural data to simulate how effective different content can be by processing through tens of thousands of patterns containing different arrangements of scenes. Through this process, the optimal arrangement is able to be selected.

Fine-tuning and the inputting of past data are needed for teaching the AI, but for companies that want to conduct large-volume A/B testing efficiently, to see if the ad’s intention is being properly conveyed and how viewers are reacting to it, this service is no doubt worthwhile.

However, there is a downside to relying too much on these functions. If neuroscience and AI are used to produce ads, then within the segment of a particular target demographic the video and imagery that are interpreted as being appealing will be of a similar nature. As a result, ads of the same product genre may start to resemble each other.

Another point to consider is that AI is capable of gathering material for people and analyzing it, but it can’t create something new. AI and neuroscience can assist in the creation of high-performance content by allowing the marketer to focus on creativity, understand the demographic and raise productivity. The technology, however, cannot simply create ads in place of human marketers.

So what becomes important is clarifying your company’s policies. What is the philosophy of your company? What do you want to convey to consumers? What is it that only your company can convey? And how can these aspects be measured? Once the policies are clear, hard work is needed to convey them to consumers. On top of that, when creating new content, it’s up to people to sense the current mood of society and try to predict new trends. That’s a job only humans are capable of.

Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Yukari Akiyama