Innerscope Research was an integrated

consumer neuroscience Consumer neuroscience is the combination of consumer research with modern neuroscience. The goal of the field is to find neural explanations for consumer behaviors in individuals both with or without disease. Consumer research Consumer research h ...

research firm that was acquired by Nielsen in 2015. Founded in 2006, Innerscope was based in Boston, Massachusetts with an office in New York City. Using applied

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

tools such as

biometrics Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...

eye tracking Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze (where one is looking) or the motion of an eye relative to the head. An eye tracker is a device for measuring eye positions and eye movement. Eye trackers are used in research ...

, facial coding as well as

fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...

, often integrated with traditional measures of self-report, the company aims to measure in a more comprehensive way consumers’ non-conscious emotional connection to brands, products and services. The company services

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

clients and works in multiple domains using a neuroscience informed framework (sometimes referred to as

neuromarketing Neuromarketing is a commercial marketing communication field that applies neuropsychology to market research, studying consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective responses to marketing stimuli. The potential benefits to marketers include ...

). Its research offering includes the evaluation of video advertising, shopper marketing, media platforms, online/mobile user experience as well as a variety of custom studies from testing fragrances to automobile driving experiences. Innerscope’s goal is to help its clients understand the role of non-conscious processing in decision making. On May 27, 2015, Nielsen completed an acquisition of Innerscope Research and renamed its combined offering as Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience. Dr. Carl Marci was named Chief Neuroscientist.

Projects

Innerscope annually studies the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

to identify which ads are most emotionally engaging – a far better predictor of success than traditional research methods. Each year, during television’s most watched event, Innerscope collects live biometric data to measure viewers’ non-conscious responses to advertisements with the goal of understanding advertising effectiveness and consumer behaviors. The results of its 2012 Super Bowl study were featured o
CNN
In 2014, Innerscope partnered with Time Warner Medialab and

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

to conduct a study that allowed viewers to watch the Super Bowl in an environment that would resemble a live viewing of the sporting event. The research was designed to measure consumer engagement and media habits, using biometrics technology, in settings like a theater, a living room, a mock shopping area, and eye-tracking stations. The researchers then gave ads based on levels of biometric engagement to Temple University to measure the brain activity using fMRI (

functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...

). Innerscope also conducted research concerning path-to-purchase and consumer packaging with companies including

Campbell Soup Company Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...

. The research firm’s work played a significant role in Campbell Soup Company redesigning its condensed soup label. The research looks at physiological responses such as perspiration and increased heart rate and marketing.

History

The company was founded by

Dr. Carl Marci Carl D. Marci (born April 26, 1969), is a physician, scientist, entrepreneur and author of the book, ''Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age''. He is currently Chief Psychiatrist and Managing Director at OM1, a venture-backed health da ...

and Brian Levine in 2006 who had worked at the

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...

. On May 27, 2015, Nielsen completed an acquisition of Innerscope Research and renamed its combined offering as Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience. Dr. Carl Marci was named Chief Neuroscientist.

References

{{Reflist, 1 Market research companies of the United States MIT Media Lab Neuropsychology Neuroscience research centers in the United States Technology companies established in 2006 Research institutes in Massachusetts