• by Gabe Samuels , February 6, 2014

If it’s a legitimate question, and if the answer is yes, and there is some evidence to support it, we have to say it’s about time!

The study of the brain goes back a few years, even before 1875, when Dr. Richard Caton, a physician practicing in Liverpool, presented his findings about electrical phenomena of the exposed cerebral hemispheres of rabbits and monkeys in the British Medical Journal.

Fifty years later, a German psychiatrist, Dr. Hans Berger, invented Electroencephalography (EEG) and started testing and reporting on human subject. In 1947, The American EEG Society was founded and the first International EEG congress was held. So much for ancient history.

In the 1970s and 1980s some scientists and neurologists showed interest in the technique as a medical diagnostic tool. And interestingly, media/marketing people were involved in a few small scale studies. Notable was a study that “proved” that a magazine spread was more effective than a 30-second TV commercial. 

Not much else of consequence connected neurology and marketing for the last few decades. 

But this seems to be changing rapidly. 

Leading the charge, it appears, is the Neuromarketing Science & Business Association (NMSBA), headquartered in The Netherlands. The NMSBA will be holding its third World Forum on Neuromarketing (yes! It is now an accepted discipline) in New York in March 5-7.

Besides providing an opportunity to listen to and mingle with the dozens of practitioners, both academics and businessmen, a major publication will be officially launched. It will include a global directory of Neuromarketing companies/organizations; global directory of universities offering in-field degrees/classes;unique cases of Neuromarketing research conducted by NMSBA Members and summaries of Neuromarketing scientific research from around the globe.

So, coming back to the original question: Is neuromarketing coming of age? – the answer is fairly obvious. Like other new advances in technology that led to upheavals and major innovations in marketing, like radio, television, cable TV, Internet, wireless, to name a few, the science and practice of neuromarketing is very likely the future.