CHICAGO, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Your brain may be determining what car
you buy before you've even taken a test drive. A new study gauging the
brain's response to product branding has found that strong brands elicit
strong activity in our brains. The findings were presented today at the
annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
"This is the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) test
examining the power of brands," said Christine Born, M.D., radiologist at
University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. "We
found that strong brands activate certain areas of the brain independent of
product categories."
"Brain branding" is a novel, interdisciplinary approach to improve the
understanding of how the mind perceives and processes brands. Using modern
imaging methods, researchers are now able to go beyond marketing surveys
and gather information on how the brain responds to a particular brand at
the most basic level.
"Brain imaging technologies may complement methods normally used in the
developing area of neuroeconomics," Dr. Born said.
Dr. Born and colleagues used fMRI to study 20 adult men and women. The
volunteers were all right-handed, had a mean age of 28 years and possessed
a high level of education. While in the fMRI scanners, the volunteers were
presented with a series of three-second visual stimuli containing the logos
of strong (well-known) and weak (lesser-known) brands of car manufacturers
and insurance companies. A brief question was included with each stimulus
to evaluate perception of the brand. The volunteers pressed a button to
respond using a four-point scale ranging from "disagree" to "agree
strongly." During the sequence, the fMRI acquired images of the brain,
depicting areas that activated in response to the different stimuli. In
addition to the questions asked during the scanning, the volunteers were
given questionnaires prior and subsequent to fMRI.
The results showed that strong brands activated a network of cortical
areas and areas involved in positive emotional processing and associated
with self-identification and rewards. The activation pattern was
independent of the category of the product or the service being offered.
Furthermore, strong brands were processed with less effort on the part of
the brain. Weak brands showed higher levels of activation in areas of
working memory and negative emotional response.
Dr. Born believes that this research will be used as a benchmark to
improve the understanding of the processing of brand-related information.
"The vision of this research is to better understand the needs of
people and to create markets which are more oriented towards satisfaction
of those needs," she said. "Research aimed at finding ways to address
individual needs may contribute to a higher quality of life."
Co-authors are Stefan O. Schoenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Maximilian F. Reiser,
M.D., Thomas M. Meindl, M.D., and Ernst Poeppel, M.D.
AT A GLANCE
-- Well-known brands activate positive emotional responses in our brains.
-- Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study
areas of the brain affected by visual stimuli associated with strong
and weak brands.
-- "Brain branding" is an interdisciplinary approach to improve
understanding of how the mind perceives and processes brands.
RSNA is an association of more than 40,000 radiologists, radiation
oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to
promoting excellence in radiology through education and by fostering
research, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. The Society is
based in Oak Brook, Ill.
SOURCE Radiological Society of North America
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Related links:
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CONTACT:
RSNA Newsroom, +1-312-949-3233, Before
11-25-06 or after 11-30-06: RSNA Media Relations,
+1-630-590-7762, or Maureen Morley of Radiological Society of
North America, +1-630-590-7754, mmorley@rsna.org
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