Neuroscience and facial coding techniques are "hot topics" in our industry. Often, however, they are positioned as replacing “outmoded” survey techniques. This presentation argues that the task of 'brain researchers' is in fact to adapt their methods to better integrate with surveys. Via case studies and demonstrations of new software system, automated Facial Imaging, we show the possibilities of such integration. This approach provides scalable access to direct measurement of emotional response and, for online research, has the potential to confront two key issues - declining response rates, and inaccurate or 'professional' response. This enables us to reinvent our approach to measuring emotional impacts on brands and advertising, and in the process reinvigorate clients' faith in online surveys.

A joint presentation, "The Face of Our Consumer" , by nViso S.A. and SSI Inc will be presented at the The Third APRC and the Seventh CMRA Conference on 11th October 2011 in Xi’an China. Based on work jointly carried out by nViso and SSI in China, the presentation covers the application of Facial Imaging to online surveys, and how this can be used to obtain a more accurate and robust understanding of emotional response among consumers in China's complex and fast-changing marketplace.

Advertising only works if it triggers emotions. Emotions mean attention, impulse buying and brand loyalty. So far, the direct and immediate measurement of emotions could only be attempted to be measured with elaborate instrumental methods in the laboratory settings, for example, with fMRI or EEG devices. Using LINK EmotiCam emotional reactions, for the first time, are measured directly and non-verbal in the context of broad, representative online surveys. In collaboration with nViso, LINK has implemented a system that detects viewer's emotions in his face using a simple webcam. The measure avoids having to use "classic" scaled questions and the classic problem of distortion from rationalization and linguistic cognition. EmotiCam measures all the important emotions of a second by second TV spots, and can be used in many application fields as well, the new method is demonstrated via a live demonstration and case studies.

ESOMAR sponsored Best Presentation Award - Conventional research techniques are restricted by respondents' recall and difficulty in describing subtle, unconscious emotional states. This has increased interest in neuroscience-influenced methods. Many methods (e.g. fMRI, EEG) are high cost, intrusive, and difficult to apply across diverse populations or integrate with existing methods. Methodologies like Facial Imaging, while firmly science-based, can be integrated into existing research frameworks increasing their power. This offers potential for insights into near-term issues, such as emotional response to advertising's creative development and pre-testing, on-shelf brand choice, and so forth. Furthermore, it will also help to create more accurate, consistent measures of emotive response – metrics that can be applied strategically, across brands and categories. This presentation covers recent marketing and advertising case study examples of ground-breaking work undertaken by nViso, the Swiss-based technology company, which has pioneered Facial Imaging.

Facial expressions are one of the strongest visual methods to convey emotions and one of the most powerful means used by human beings to relate to each other. nViso 3D Facial Imaging passively records human emotions from facial expressions. It can be applied to better measure consumer response to marketing stimuli (e.g. advertising, packaging, retail displays) and is a robust, repeatable method. This presentation shows, via a case study, how an automated, artificial intelligence based system of facial imaging can be used to directly record emotive reaction to TV ads, and how this might improve the outputs we provide to advertisers and ad agencies.Specifically we report on a pilot study that Gordon & McCallum and Saatchi & Saatchi conducted using the nViso software in which we looked at 6 New Zealand bank ads in order to produce a category overview of emotional response to bank advertising.

What are the tools that neuroscience has to offer the research industry? How do they work? What do they look like? Get a taste of the latest market research tools coming from neuroscience and biometric understanding. Tools being demonstrated include:

Researchers of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) "IM2 - Interactive multimodal information management" have developed a software that automatically captures and analyses eye movements. This opens up new avenues for market research. The researchers are currently presenting the new software in Hannover at the world's largest trade fair.

Alp ICT hosted their third venture night during Lift11. Following the successful 2008 and 2010 experiences that saw eight startups present in front of the audience, more startups were given the chance to accelerate their development by presenting their ideas, products and services to the Lift community.