We read your mind : Market Research through brain wave - reading gadget

Marketing research, as we all know, doubtlessly plays an the most important role in today's world of business. So how does it feel when a device comes along, which would read your mind as you innocently watch your favorite sitcom through the myriad adverts, how would you feel if the marketing executives of each brand are able to measure your reaction to the product?

embandtech

The EmBand™ and EmBand 24™ are the most advanced neuromeasurement devices in the world, and the only ones specifically designed for market research. They record more types of measures than any other individual physiological measurement device, capturing not only brainwaves, but also respiration, blinking, head movement, temperature and changes in heart rate.

For the first time marketers and market researchers can gain direct access to consumers’ cognitive engagement and emotional responses to advertising, concepts, packaging, in- store and online marketing. This is made possible through the EmSense neuromeasurement devices, the first ever scalable, non-invasive physiological and brainwave measurement technology - made specifically for market research.

Designed by San Francisco firm EmSense, EmBand and EmBand 24 provide quantitative metrics and breakthrough insights that assist marketers in optimizing campaign strategy and tactics. Moreover, both devices are completely comfortable for consumers to wear and non biasing to research.

A headband designed by San Francisco firm EmSense can sense your brainwaves as you have reactions to watching something and then record the data for researchers.The process of measuring your reaction to something is known as ‘quantitative neurometrics’ and it can be carried out as you watch a computer or television screen.

How it works :

Consumers will go through a screening and opt-in process to qualify to be part of the “neuro-panel,” and then be shipped a headband and wireless receiver. These will connect to their PC.

Periodically, the panel members will receive an email invitation to participate in a study. They will go to a web page, don their headband, and be monitored as they view the content. The neuro-testing can be conducted for a variety of content types, including TV advertisements, virtual shopping, creative concepts, and movie trailers.

EmSense ships the user a kit with an EmBand wireless headset and a wireless receiver for use with his or her PC computer, directing them to a specific web page.

The firm, which has 80 employees, was founded by technologists from Hewlett-Packard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004.It has tested more than 100,000 respondents in 25 countries, reported Venture Beat.

Breakthrough Features of the EmBand™ and EmBand 24™:

Rapid set-up (one minute or less)

Use “no-gel” electrodes (avoids messy conductive gels and respondent clean-up)

Encrypted, wireless data transmission (no dangling wires)

Slip on easily (no uncomfortable head cap)

Easily removed upon test completion

Enable natural, comfortable testing (no attachments like chest or finger electrodes)

Fully mobile; allow testing in virtually any consumer research setting (not restricted to a “lab”)EmSense says its wireless “EmBand” monitor can be set up in less than a minute and lets consumer reactions be monitored in the comfortable environment of their home.

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EmSense CEO Keith Winter says the firm strives to measure “emotion and consumer engagement in all forms of marketing stimuli, spanning advertising, packaging, creative concepts and the shopper experience.” The in-home approach offers the advantages of a more natural setting, lower costs, and larger sample sizes. The firm claims to have more than 2,000 households enrolled in the home neuro panel, and plans to expand that to 25,000 by the end of 2011.

“Now marketers can have more extensive, robust measurements without trading off consumer comfort, quantitative samples or ease of use,” says Keith Winter, EmSense CEO.

“With the global availability of the EmBand 24,” according to Elissa Moses, Chief Analytics Officer at EmSense, “the ability to objectively understand consumer engagement and emotional response will ultimately accelerate the success rate for ad campaigns, package restages and new product introductions.”