Tracking Bias, Biometrically

A article popped up recently regarding the differences in reactions to marketing campaigns between an average consumer and an “industry pro,” or rather, someone who works within the media industry and whose job is to create or market content and products to regular consumers. Generally, it’s assumed (by industry pros) that they know what the average public wants and needs (though this is often based on what the public demands instead). But do industry professionals react to media differently than your average consumer?

With the goal of testing the theory that media professionals are in tune with consumers, a biometric research firm out of Boston called Innerscope conducted a series of studies on a group of a dozen industry professionals and a group of average consumers. In an effort to see how their bodies and brains reacted to the same pre-programmed media content, researchers exposed the participants to an edited mix of programming “designed to provoke a range of human emotions.” Videos featuring Apple’s iPad infomercial were shown, a viral YouTube video on Social Media Revolution was shown, and many of the participants were media executives from large companies such as AT&T, comScore, and The American Association of Advertising Agencies.

The industry pros and regular consumers were subjected to the exact same content, except the industry pros were also shown video segments featuring themselves, so they could observe how they reacted to each clip.

In the past, studies have typically shown that industry pros are biased, and that there is quite a bit of difference as to what the average consumer perceives as important and what the industry professional believes the average consumer perceives as important. According to the article, industry pros regularly show higher regard to big, national media, network TV, consumer magazines, internet, etc., while consumers tend to stick with local media, newspapers, television, and radio.

As it turned out, the studies showed fewer divides than expected, though admittedly, the research was conducted with a relatively small sample. Apparently, Innerscope went into the project expecting to see larger divides between the two groups, as past studies have shown that industry pros are more “jaded” about their businesses than the average consumer.

In the article, Brian Levine, president of Innerscope cites an eye tracking study they recently completed with cartoon editors of The New Yorker magazine in an effort to see how they reacted when exposed to cartoons. Levine says they were typically more jaded, and that after seeing thousands of submissions, you really respond only to the ones that exceed your expectations.

This Is Your Brain On Media: Study To Reveal Biometric Differences Between Consumers, Industry Pros