Consumer Neuroscience: TV commercials vs. virtual reality commercials

Objective In marketing world, it is not enough to commercialize the products only through traditional channels anymore. Today’s consumers research new stimuli and would like to be engaged in different ways. This consumer neuroscience research aimed at detecting the different cognitive and emotive responses during the vision of two types of commercials: traditional TV commercials and virtual reality commercials. Implicit (brain oscillations and physiological indexes) and explicit (subject evaluation) measures were considered in order to understand the different consumer engagement. Participants and methods Brain oscillations (delta, theta, alpha, beta) and physiological indexes (SCL - Skin Conductance Level, PULS - Hart Rate) were monitored, when subject (N=seventeen) observed four traditional TV commercials and four virtual reality commercialsin randomized order. During the vision of virtual reality commercials, the participants were absorbed into the advertisement and interacted with it thanks to “Oculus Rift”. Subjects were also asked to explicitly evaluate each commercial (on eleven dimensions) and to express their preference on them. Results The results show a more prefrontal cortex increased theta activity and greater SCL in response to virtual reality commercials, evaluated as more emotionally involving and interesting, compared to traditional advertising. It is evident a strong relationship between explicit and implicit measures. Conclusion The subjects appeared more captivated, enthusiastic and felt like protagonists thanks to a new way to do advertising.