fMRI study: Brands have an emotional impact and influence purchasing decisions

Promarca, the professional association for the Swiss branded goods industry, has conducted an independent brand study together with the HSG Research Center for Business Metrics, Audi Lab for Market Research. The research project, entitled "Tell me what you feel and I'll tell you what you think", used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effect of emotions on test subjects when engaging with brands. The results suggest that branded articles have a highly emotional effect in contrast to non-branded articles. This unconsciously influences the consumer's information processing. According to the study, emotions play a far more important role in purchasing decisions than positive or negative information about the product. The study will be presented in November.