Are you a Coke or Pepsi drinker? Do you pull into McDonald's golden arches or prefer to "have it your way" at Burger King? When it comes to toothpaste, which flavor gets you brushing, Colgate or Crest? If you think it's just your taste buds that guide these preferences, you may be surprised by what neuroscientists are discovering when they peer inside the brain as it makes everyday choices like these.

DEFINITION: Neuromarketing is the application of neuroscience to marketing, how a person’s brain responds to advertising and other brand-related messages. Neuromarketing includes the direct use of brain imaging, scanning, eye tracking, skin response or other brain activity measurement technology to measure a subject’s response to specific products, packaging, advertising, or other marketing elements.

Neuromarketing will tell the marketer what the consumer reacts to, whether it was the color of the packaging, the sound the box makes when shaken, or the idea that they will have something their co-consumers do not to help in development of products and communications (4ps) as indicated by our brain's reactions to brand stimuli, marketers can design products and communications to better meet "unmet" market needs, connect and drive "the buy".
"We can use brain imaging to gain insight into the mechanisms behind people's decisions in a way that is often difficult to get at simply by asking a person or watching their behavior," says Dr. Gregory Berns, a psychiatrist at Emory University.

HISTORY:
Neuromarketing researches have been developped in the United States since 1991. First, they were results of the research laboratories that were specialized in neurosciences, research that were requested by important companies.
Although this research was initially confidential, the collaboration with important companies (Coca-Cola, L-mart, Levi-Strauss, Ford, Delta Airlines etc.) interested in the results, developed more and more.
The word "neuromarketing" was coined by Ale Smidts in 2002

CRITICISM: Some anti-marketing activists, such as Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, warn that neuromarketing could ultimately be used to manipulate consumers by playing on their fears or unethically stimulating positive responses. Practitioners argue that such precise manipulation is neither possible nor desirable. According to BrightHouse, an Atlanta-based consultancy firm, neuromarketing only seeks to understand "how and why customers develop relationships with products, brands, and the company itself."

Examples
-Pepsi vs Coke: In a study from the group of Read Montague published in 2004 in Neuron,[7] 67 people had their brains scanned while being given the "Pepsi Challenge", a blind taste test of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Half the subjects chose Pepsi, since Pepsi tended to produce a stronger response than Coke in their brain's ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a region thought to process feelings of reward. But when the subjects were told they were drinking Coke three-quarters said that Coke tasted better. Their brain activity had also changed. The lateral prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that scientists say governs high-level cognitive powers, and the hippocampus, an area related to memory, were now being used, indicating that the consumers were thinking about Coke and relating it to memories and other impressions. The results demonstrated that Pepsi should have half the market share, but in reality consumers are buying Coke for reasons related less to their taste preferences and more to their experience with the Coke brand.
Microsoft is now mining EEG data to understand users' interactions with computers including their feelings of "surprise, satisfaction and frustration."
Frito-Lay has been studying female brains to learn how to better appeal to women. Findings showed the company should avoid pitches related to "guilt" and guilt-free and play up "healthy" associations.
Google made some waves when it partnered with MediaVest on a "biometrics" study to measure the effectiveness of YouTube overlays versus pre-rolls. Result: Overlays were much more effective with subjects.
Daimler employed fMRI research to inform a campaign featuring car headlights to suggest human faces which tied to the reward center of the brain.
The Weather Channel used EEG, eye-tracking and skin response techniques to measure viewer reactions to three different promotional pitches for a popular series.