• New research shows emotional brain responses can forecast market trends 
• Major companies like Coca-Cola and Nike are exploring neuroscience tools to fine-tune product development and marketing 
• Could ‘mind reading’ marketing have ethical quandaries?  

The age of surveys, focus groups and product testing may be coming to an end in market research. No longer will cold calls from random companies asking you to answer multiple choice questions, on “how often do you use your air frier?” take place. 

In a world where digital ads flood every scroll, swipe and stream, marketers are desperate for their products to stand out. But traditional tools like surveys, focus groups, and A/B testing may no longer cut it, particularly when it comes to getting a swift and widescale picture of what’s likely to appeal to potential customers.  

Enter neuroforecasting: a breakthrough in neuroscience that could render conventional consumer prediction methods obsolete. 

A new study from Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University, in collaboration with Stanford University, reveals that analysing brain activity can more accurately forecast consumer behaviour than traditional marketing tools. 

By using neuroimaging to track how the brain responds to pitches and ads before a person makes a decision, marketers may be able to even predict what people actually want. 

Researchers Alexander Genevsky, Lester C Tong, and Brian Knutson monitored the brain activity of 80 participants as they reviewed crowdfunding campaigns and YouTube videos. They focused on a brain region called the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc), linked to reward and anticipation.  

Their findings? Participants’ brain responses were powerful indicators of how well products or content would perform in the real world. When the results of these small sample sizes were compared to much larger online datasets the same trends and patterns emerged highlighting that, in many instances, it is possible for marketers to rely upon the data gathered from some to better appeal to the interests of the many. 

For businesses and marketers, this makes it possible to conduct swifter, more accurate (and even cheaper) market analysis and enhance their agility when it comes to understanding and meeting customer and market needs.  

Why it’s better than old-school methods

Traditional consumer research methods have long been plagued by inaccuracies. People don’t always say what they think, and what they think doesn’t always reflect what they do. Neuroforecasting skips the middleman by tapping directly into the brain’s reward centres, capturing instinctive reactions before any verbal response is formed. 

The study explains: “These combined findings suggest that when a representative sample is available, the addition of neural data (EEG testing) might still account for added variance in forecasts of aggregate choice. Thus, brain measures may complement behavioural measures to improve representative forecasts of aggregate behaviour.” 

In short, conventional methods like surveys often fail to generalise to larger markets. But early emotional responses shared across people can help improve forecasts. Not only is it more accurate, but it’s also more efficient. Small samples can yield powerful insights, eliminating the need for costly, large-scale testing. 

Global Brands are already reading our minds 

The possibilities for business may seem game-changing, but there are already a number of tech-savvy tools analysing our behaviour, in order for marketers to gain an advantage. For example, eye-tracking technology has long been used to understand where customer’s eyes naturally linger when scanning shelves on the shop floor, so that products can be placed in prime positions. Then, as online shopping became more common, data gathered on where a cursor hovers on a page or how quickly a person scrolls by a product can provide retailers with valuable insights into what items or services are piquing consumer interest.  

Harvesting brain data, in context, seems a natural next step. EEG (electroencephalography) scans track real-time brainwave activity, offering marketers direct insight into emotional and subconscious responses to products, ads, and experiences, often revealing customer preferences that traditional methods like surveys miss. 

Major brands aren’t just watching this space, they’re already investing in it. Coca-Cola has been using EEG scans and facial coding to fine-tune their ads based on emotional responses for over a decade.  

Nike partnered with Kinda Studios to use EEG headsets and eye-tracking tools to test how viewers emotionally connect with their campaigns. Even McDonalds uses EEG scans in sensory marketing, such as revealing specific colour schemes and ambient scents to individuals, to see what best stimulates appetite and enhances the dining experience. Procter & Gamble and Ford have also embraced neuro-driven insights to refine everything from packaging to car designs to webpage layouts.  

For these global giants, understanding not just what consumers say they want, but what their brains actually react to, is proving to be the new marketing gold, enabling companies to know what their consumers want, before the consumers even know themselves.  

The future of marketing: Responsive, personalised, predictive 

Imagine a future where streaming services can tailor trailers that your brain loves, or supermarkets design layouts that instinctively draw your eye to certain products. That future isn’t seemingly far off. With further developments in AI and machine learning, brain-data analysis could become fully automated, fast-tracking how products are tested, tailored, and launched. 

But there’s a catch: ethics. As companies learn to read our minds (sort of), questions around consent, privacy, and manipulation will grow louder. Tighter controls must be put in place. 

Unregulated innovation, experts warn, poses a real danger to organisations and to society. In “The Business Case For Responsible AI”, researchers Claudia Zeisberger, Senior Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD and Anik Bose Managing General Partner at BGV, advocate for leaders to take control and get ahead of AI before it’s too late. “Once the genie is out of the bottle, we can’t put it back in, and the repercussions will be sizeable,” Zeisberger warns. 

Just like AI, brain-data tools need clear consent frameworks, strict data protection, and transparency to ensure they create value without compromising individual autonomy or public trust. 

Businesses should implement clear consent protocols, ensure data privacy, and avoid manipulating emotional triggers purely for profit. Just as with AI, creating value through neurotechnology demands transparency, regulatory readiness, and a commitment to doing no harm.  

Still, if deployed responsibly, neuroforecasting could lead to smarter marketing, better products, and happier customers, and less so a dark ending to a Black Mirror episode.  

In a world oversaturated with content and choice, the brands that survive will be the ones that stop just asking what consumers want and start also understanding how they feel. Thanks to neuroscience, they might just be able to do both. 

By, Adam Kelly-Moore

Interested in this topic? You might also like this…