In the digital age in which we live, online advertising is becoming increasingly relevant for companies wishing to reach their target audience. Among the several platforms available, YouTube has established itself as one of the main channels for promoting products and services.

However, the presence of elements such as the countdown timer and the time progress bar, which are intended to provide information on the duration of the advertisement, is a topic that requires further investigation. A neuromarketing study analysed, by means of eye tracker and facial coding, the effects of these elements on the visual attention of users, on the viewing times of key ad elements (viewed to seen) (e.g. brand and product) and on emotions (disgust).

The research focused on a particular type of advertisement on the YouTube channel: mid-roll 15-s, non-skippable in-stream ad format.

The study included participants' exposure to these advertisements in three several conditions: the 'current', in which ad and non-ad items (countdown timer and time progress bar) were present; a 'low' condition featured by a reduced non-ad items’ presence (no countdown timer and only time progress bar); and the 'absent' condition, characterised by the complete absence of non-ad items (no countdown timer and no time progress bar).

The results revealed an interesting evidence: the advertisement characterized by the absence of non ad items was the most effective in terms of attention and emotion compared to the equivalent formats with the non-ad items.

In fact, the presence of countdown timer and time progress bar meant that users' visual attention to key elements of advertising was greatly reduced, while at the same time prolonging the time it took to notice them.

From an emotional point of view, it was also shown how the absence of the non-ad items was associated with a lower degree of irritability by users and thus of the disgust felt, since the association with the perceived deception was diminished.

In the light of these results, the study highlighted: 

• For those investing in ads the importance of carefully considering the presence of non-ad items in YouTube ads.
• For the researcher the eye tracker and facial coding indicators allowed a more in-depth look at the differences between the conditions under test than the questionnaires.

Article written in collaboration with some students of the degree course Biomedical Scientific Communication at the Sapienza University of Rome with reference to: 

Mancini, M.; Cherubino, P.; Martinez, A.; Vozzi, A.; Menicocci, S.; Ferrara, S.; Giorgi, A.; Aricò, P.; Trettel, A.; Babiloni, F. (2023). What Is behind In-Stream Advertising on YouTube? A Remote Neuromarketing Study employing Eye-Tracking and Facial Coding techniques. Brain Sci. 13, 1481. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13101481

In questo campo c’è ancora molta strada da percorrere ma, anche in Italia, le premesse sono tutte valide e propedeutiche ad uno sviluppo di rilievo con modalità sempre più accessibili. Il caso di BrainExpresso.

In Italia crescono curiosità’ ed interesse di aziende e agenzie di comunicazione italiane per l’utilizzo del Neuromarketing all’interno delle loro strategie di ricerca e di ottimizzazione della comunicazione: lo rivela l’esperienza con i Clienti di BrainSigns. 

Secondo fonti recenti a livello globale ancora solo il 31% delle aziende ma il 70% dei grandi brand hanno già utilizzato strategie e soluzioni di neuromarketing per valutare quell’impatto immediato che avviene in pochissimi secondi nei consumatori di fronte a prodotti o a stimoli di marketing. Sono cifre che non fanno parlare ancora di adozione su larga scala per queste tecniche ma che dimostrano comunque una crescita del comparto in linea con le previsioni sulla diffusione globale delle tecnologie per applicare il neuromarketing per cui si prevede nei prossimi 7-8 anni una crescita media annua del 10% non solo in USA ma anche in Europa e in Asia. Tra i motivi dell’incremento, ci sono l’implementazione di algoritmi sempre più evoluti, la disponibilità di device innovativi sempre più facili da indossare e usare, l’utilizzo sempre più frequente dell’Intelligenza Artificiale, l’esordio di piattaforme che valorizzano applicazioni ormai consolidate.

Che cosa spinge aziende ed agenzie ad esplorare soluzioni di neuromarketing? L’efficacia dell’esperienza diretta delle nuove possibilità di valutare preventivamente e con ottimo grado di accuratezza l’impatto della propria comunicazione sulla percezione immediata del target per migliorarla e la volontà di ottimizzare i costi degli approcci di marketing e comunicazione.

BrainSigns, in linea con la sensibilità dei Clienti ha lanciato recentemente BrainExpresso (https://brainexpresso.brainsigns.com/), un servizio di neurotesting che consente alle aziende di valutare preventivamente l’efficacia delle loro pubblicità ADV attraverso tecniche di neuromarketing basate sulla lettura di segnali cerebrali, tracciamento dello sguardo, battito cardiaco e sudorazione della pelle.

Dopo anni di neurotesting sulla pubblicità ADV, algoritmi di analisi consolidati e più di 400 spot ADV testati – spiega la dott.ssa Patrizia Cherubino, PHD, Head of Neuromarketing Research in BrainSigns - abbiamo sviluppato una piattaforma software che ci sconsente di offrire alle aziende un’analisi neuromarketing di spot e annunci in tempi rapidi e con algoritmi affinati, impiegando sensori EEG, eye tracker monitoraggio di battito cardiaco e conduttanza cutanea. Il neurotesting consente una diagnosi della decodifica immediata della comunicazione rapida ed efficace a costi più contenuti. Dai risultati si possono in aggiunta ottenere anche “non-conscious insight” sui format e sulle necessità dei target di riferimento utili per migliorare in generale non solo la comunicazione pubblicitaria specifica ma anche la strategia di comunicazione per offrire messaggi sempre più “brain friendly”, fluidi e performanti.

Online neuromarketing research has been conducted in Italy and Finland to assess how different populations perceive sustainable advertising of eco-fashion brands on social media.

The sample has been chosen among young Millennials from two countries expressing several cultures, the Nordic and the Mediterranean. While participants observed a series of social media posts, eye movements and emotions have been recorded using eye tracker and facial coding respectively.

The results demonstrated a trend shared by Finnish and Italian Millennials: sustainable ADV was seen sooner (Time to first fixation) and for longer (Time Viewed).

In particular, in the 'green' post participants looked at the caption containing the explanation of why the fashion item can be considered sustainable, after viewing the image accompanying the post.

Also the negative emotions felt were few when viewing the 'green' post in both Italy and Finland. It is noteworthy that a lower value of negative emotions has been found in Italy than in Finland.

This shows that sustainable ADV has a significant impact on users attitudes toward marketing stimulus in the younger generation in both Italy and Finland. Italians, contrary to stereotypes, are very sensitive to this issue.

The research, conducted by the BrainSigns team in collaboration with Dr Myriam Caratù (UNINT), has been published in Italian Journal of Marketing.

Cite

Caratù, M., Cherubino, P., Menicocci, S. et al. Does sustainable communication have an impact on international social media audiences? A neuromarketing explorative study between Finland and Italy. Ital. J. Mark. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43039-023-00086-z

On June 29th, 2023, the first suborbital human flight of the Italian Air Force took off from Las Cruces (New Mexico, USA) on Virgin Galactic's Spaceship-2 spacecraft. The aim of the flight was to investigate the impact of microgravity on the human body and cognition, and testing new technologies for space missions.

The passengers were two Air Force officers and a CNR engineer, the first-ever flight of this kind.

The scientist from the Department of Molecular Medicine of the Sapienza University of Rome and from BrainSigns, prof. Gianluca Borghini, took part in the mission as head of the study on the impact of microgravity on cognitive functions. In particular, neurophysiological signals, like brain and heart activity and skin conductance, were acquired during the flight together with the performance while dealing with specific experimental tasks.

In this context, BrainSigns provided the technology for recording these signals and the software for their analysis derived from industrial experiences in the aviation context.

Before, during and after the flight, lasted about seventy-five-minute, the crew conducted 13 experiments, proposed by the Department of Aerospace Medicine of the Italian Air Force, IMAS Milan, CNR, University of Milan, IRCCS Policlinico Foundation of Milan, Sapienza University of Rome, Polytechnic University of the Marche, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo of Milan and Andremacon Biotech of Italy.

This aspect allowed for carrying out multidisciplinary tests that would otherwise be difficult to perform. The results will provide useful data for scientific research applicable to several fields, not only technological but also human health.

For more information visit the Virgin Galactic website from this link, and watch the official video of the flight here.