Brain-scanning technology reveals how we process brands and products

Brain-scanning technology reveals how we process brands and products

In a groundbreaking new study, researchers from the University of Michigan and Harvard University use cutting-edge brain-scanning technology to explore how different regions of the brain are activated when we think about certain qualities of brands and products. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research, is the first to use fMRI to assess consumer perceptions and has important implications for the use of metaphorical human-like traits in branding.

"[fMRI] allows one to gauge, for the first time, the degree to which the underlying thought processes are similar," write the researchers.

Subjects were given 450 adjectives such as "reliable," "sophisticated," and "cheerful," and scanned while indicating whether each word was applicable to themselves and someone else. The sample group was also scanned while making similar judgments about brands they know and use. The researchers discovered that even when the consumers were judging products on unmistakably human terms, they still used the part of the brain associated with inanimate objects.

"Although we may use similar vocabularies to describe people and products, we can't say that the same concepts are involved," explain the researchers. "Companies building brand images and icons should be wary of taking the legitimately useful metaphor of brand personality too literally, since it's now apparent that consumers themselves do not." ###

Carolyn Yoon, Angela H. Gutchess, Fred Feinberg, and Thad A. Polk. "A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Neural Dissociations between Brand and Person Judgments" Journal of Consumer Research. June 2006.

Not all products are created equal: Study explores how consumers evaluate newly released products
In a forthcoming study from the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers from Indiana University explore the process by which consumers evaluate new products, be it a new razor with an unprecedented number of blades or an even mintier chewing gum. The researchers argue that when a multi-product brand – such as Nike, which recently added electronic gadgets to its core of athletic apparel – releases a new product, the consumer's evaluative process is significantly different than when a brand strongly associated with one product – such as Gillette – releases a new product.
"[The] attitude transfer process may be more complex than suggested by current models," write Huifang Mao and H. Shanker Krishnan. "For a multi-product brand, multiple referent points exist to judge a brand extension, resulting in more complex evaluative processes."

For multi-product brands, the researchers distinguish between the two measures consumers use to decide what they think of a newly released product: brand fit and product fit. "Brand fit" is the degree to which a new product is consistent with the overall brand image, and knee pads would fit well with the athletic Nike persona. However, certain new products that do not mesh with the Nike brand might still garner a positive consumer reaction if they demonstrate "product fit." A Nike car audio system, for example, would have high product fit with Nike's existing line of audio equipment for joggers. Surprisingly, this second type of association is often easier for consumers to make, the researchers found. "Consumers tend to transfer attitudes from varying sources to a brand extension," explain the authors. "[But] consumers may transfer their liking for an existing product to an extension in a spontaneous fashion." ###

Huifang Mao and H. Shanker Krishnan. "Effects of Prototype and Exemplar Fit on Brand Extension Evaluations: A Two-Process Contingency Model" Journal of Consumer Research. June 2006.

Contact: Suzanne Wu swu@press.uchicago.edu 773-834-0386 University of Chicago Press Journals

Technorati Tags: Brain-scanning or biological and biology or Consumer Research and technology or fMRI or brand images and consumers or Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Neural Dissociations or Nike and Gillette or brand

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