Data Science Institute launches collaboration exploring cognitive marketing

Researchers will explore human responses to marketing stimuli

The Data Science Institute has launched a research collaboration with marketing and data science specialist, Jaywing.

The new research collaboration, which will explore cognitive responses to marketing stimuli, will be a multidisciplinary effort, bringing in expertise from the Dyson School of Design Engineering and the Division of Brain Sciences.

The Institute's immersive KPMG Data Observatory facility, which launched in November last year, is being equipped with technology that can detect human responses to stimuli, creating a unique research environment to support the research project. 

Using advanced neuroscience techniques, the programme will apply technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and steady state topography (SST) to measure brain response, and changes in physiological state, to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and which brain areas are responsible. 

Professor Yike Guo, Director of the Data Science Institute, said "We’re particularly excited by this project, as it’s the first opportunity to use the KPMG Data Observtory as a research environment for marketing. The field of marketing is an exciting departure from our typical applications and early indications show the research has huge future potential.

Data Science can, and will, inform creative content production and brand development in the coming decades. We hope this collaboration will help bring that to fruition."

Research partner Jaywing, an award winning marketing agency, prides itself on its tradition of applying data driven insight to marketing.

Martin Brody, Jaywing CEO, explained, "This collaboration will enable us to form a scientific framework to predict emotional responses to marketing stimuli and understand how to translate immediate response into long-term brand advocacy. This programme has the potential to disrupt the marketing industry, changing the way marketing is done and the role played by marketing agencies."