Neuromarketing: science instead of gut feeling

m&k: Gesa Lischka, neuromarketing combines two fascinating disciplines - neuroscience and marketing. What inspired you personally to bring these two fields together and build a career in this area?

As a cultural and media scientist, I have always been interested in how people make decisions - not only consciously, but also unconsciously. I find it particularly fascinating how colors, shapes, codes and language work on a subtle, unconscious level and influence decisions without us noticing it directly.

Where did your journey into neuromarketing begin?

On a boat in New York. After a successful conference, Prof. Dr. Bernd Weber and I found ourselves on a relaxing cruise around Manhattan Island. During this trip, we decided to pool our expertise and carry out studies and projects together. We quickly realized that our collaboration could yield valuable insights. This work has been a steep learning curve for me. I have attended countless conferences, studied scientific papers and given my own presentations on our experiences. One of the biggest challenges is that while there is a lot of talk about findings, few actually put the research results into practice. This is exactly what I am trying to change with our team at Kochstrasse.

How do you implement this?

With a team of over 70 creative and strategic minds and national and international clients, some of whom we have had relationships with for decades, I have the opportunity not only to understand scientific findings but also to put them into practice. I often see myself as a kind of translator between science and practice, making sure that groundbreaking research findings don't just remain in theory, but also have a tangible impact in the real world.

How can companies use neuromarketing to better understand and address their customers?

Based on neuroscientific findings, we can make statements about the unconscious drivers behind purchasing decisions and use these specifically in design and brand communication. When relaunching a major travel brand, for example, we were able to immediately increase the brand's appeal and willingness to pay just by slightly changing the color and type of the logo.

Neuromarketing is still a relatively new and complex topic for many. What simple principles or techniques could companies apply immediately to improve their marketing strategies?

There are many heuristics and biases* that people unconsciously apply when making purchasing decisions, for example the availability heuristic, where people make judgments based on the ease with which they can think of relevant examples, or the confirmation bias, where people tend to look for or interpret information that confirms their existing beliefs. These heuristics and biases are a good and low-threshold starting point without the need to use complex technologies.

In an increasingly digital world, consumers are constantly exposed to new stimuli. How can neuromarketing help a brand stand out from this flood of information and be remembered?

Through neuromarketing, we have gained a deep understanding of how processes take place in the brain - what the brain takes in and how it processes this information. We use this knowledge to develop campaign strategies that are precisely tailored to these neuronal mechanisms. While creatives and designers often used to rely on their gut feeling to design successful campaigns, we can now make well-founded and data-based design decisions thanks to neuroscientific findings.

Your presentation at Woohw! will certainly also deal with the ethical aspects of neuromarketing. How can companies ensure that they use this powerful tool responsibly and transparently?

This is a central point in our work. Despite all the technological possibilities and fascinating insights into the human brain, we must never lose sight of the human being. We strive to use our findings responsibly and strictly adhere to ethical standards. Our aim is to develop marketing measures that support and enrich people rather than manipulate them. This also means that we are constantly reflecting and developing our methods to ensure that people and their needs are always at the center. As an agency, we have a very clear position here: Enter tomorrow. Brave and safe. That is our promise. To our clients and to the society in which we live.

Neuromarketing expert Gesa Lischka will be appearing at the Woohw! event in Zurich on September 19. If you would like to find out more about the event online all information. As a media partner, m&k will be reporting on the event in detail.

* On the website Kochstrasse.agency/neuro/ the agency has listed 100 neuroinsights free of charge and explained how they can be applied to everyday marketing.