Millward Brown Highlights Neuromarketing Leadership

LONDON, January 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Over 3,000 Facial Coding Studies Conducted in Last Year; Now Standard in World's Leading Copytesting Solution

Millward Brown, a global leader in brand, media and communications research, today announced it has carried out more than 3,000 facial coding studies over the last year, an annual growth rate of 700%. The world's largest provider of neuromarketing solutions also announced that Affectiva's Affdex™ facial coding technology is now included as standard in Link^[TM], its pioneering and award-winning copytesting solution, significantly expanding its ability to optimize advertising.

Millward Brown and Affectiva first partnered to offer the service to brands in 2012.  Today's announcement means that all Link studies will seamlessly integrate automatic classification of moment-by-moment facial responses to adverts with viewers' verbal responses.

It will also enable marketers to:

• more quickly identify branding moments and cues that did or did not work well;
• pinpoint the emotional power of ads that can be difficult to explain in detail with  survey responses;
• improve the ability of Link to predict sales effects with even more accuracy by picking up important information in respondents' instinctive responses (such as frowns, smiles or eyebrow movement) that complements the survey data.

Graham Page, Head of Millward Brown's Consumer Neuroscience Practice, said, "We are seeing an explosion in the use of facial coding research by brands from more than 60 countries around the world. By integrating this technology with our established survey based research we are able to deliver a level of emotional insight simply not achieved by either approach alone. It's been interesting to see that measuring people's facial expressions in response to an ad seems to be able to capture subtle negative responses that are not necessarily reported elsewhere in Link but which end up being really important to the ad's success in-market.

The challenge with neuromarketing to date," he continues, "is that it has not been able to operate at the scale and price point that are necessary in the day-to-day market research world. By including facial coding with Link we're able to make neuromarketing scalable for the first time."

Page points to companies like Kellogg's UK and Unilever who have already adopted facial coding for advertising pre-test research.

Global Brand Director for Creative Development at Millward Brown, Daren Poole, added: "The addition of facial coding to Link, along with new measures to evaluate the potential of advertising to build long-term equity, gives us and marketers a solution that is unrivalled in terms of its scope". 

Link has been used on more than 100,000 adverts (in finished and unfinished form) since its inception. Around 10,000 new Link studies are conducted every year. The inclusion of facial coding measurements in Link as standard will make it the most widely used neuromarketing tool globally, regularly used by the world's biggest advertisers.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Millward Brown

Millward Brown is a leading global research agency specializing in advertising effectiveness, strategic communication, media and brand equity research. Millward Brown helps clients grow great brands through comprehensive research-based qualitative and quantitative solutions. Specialist global practices include Millward Brown Digital (a leader in digital effectiveness and intelligence), Firefly Millward Brown (our global qualitative network), a Neuroscience Practice (using neuroscience to optimize the value of traditional research techniques), and Millward Brown Optimor (a strategy consultancy helping companies maximize financial returns on brand and marketing investments). Millward Brown operates in more than 55 countries and is part of Kantar, WPP's data investment management division. Learn more at http://www.millwardbrown.com.

About Link

Developed by Millward Brown 40 years ago, Link is the world's most widely used advertising and communications pre-test research tool. More than 100,000 adverts around the world have been tested by Link and validated against future sales growth in both the long and short-term. Link uses a comprehensive set of evaluative and diagnostic questions to analyse rational and emotional viewer reactions. Neuromarketing solutions like facial coding are built into Link to more accurately measure emotional responses. Eye tracking and intuitive association measurement are available as additional measures.

About Affectiva

Affectiva is the leading expert in consumer emotion insights. Through Affdex™ facial coding software, the company delivers cost-effective, scalable emotion analytics to global Fortune 500 companies, market research agencies and entertainment and media publishers. Based on the world's largest emotion metrics database, their technology has become the standard for real-world accuracy and relevance in consumer insights. For more information, visit http://www.affdex.com

For further information please contact:
Baljit Thandi, Global Marketing and Communications, Millward Brown
Email: baljit.thandi@millwardbrown.com
Tel: +44(0)1926-826152

Or

Teresa Horscroft, PR Consultant, Eureka Communications
Email: teresa@eurekacomms.co.uk
Tel: +44(0)1420-564346