There are many people who tune in to the Superbowl every year, not to watch the game, but to watch the commercials. In addition to paying advertising agencies and production costs to produce their commercials, companies pay millions of dollars for 30-second slots simply to air the commercials. Superbowl commercials are to the advertising world as the Christmas shopping season is to retail markets.

Especially when one takes into account the time and effort that is invested in each commercial, it is essential that companies find an objective way to analyze the success or failure of each commercial. Objective evidence is hard to come by when the only measurement available comes from polling consumers. However, an emerging industry, neuromarketing - the study of the brain's responses to advertisements - is beginning to change that.

The first neuromarketing research study was published in the October 2004 issue of "Neuron." Scientists use fMRIs (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to study the brain activity of people during an activity and comparing that data with subjective information provided by the participants.

During Superbowl 2007, a similar study was performed on people watching the Superbowl commercials. The results showed that Coca-Cola's "Video Game" ad - a 60 second animated spot that promotes random acts of kindness - was the all around winner because it elicited the most positive emotions in subjects' brains."

In addition to the Coca Cola commercial, the most successful ads for Superbowl 2007, were Doritos: "Live the Flavor" and Bud Light: "Hitchhiker"

The 3 least successful ads for Superbowl 2007, were: Emerald Nuts: "Robert Goulet" Honda: "CRV Crave" and Sprint: "Connectile Dysfunction"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/ frontline/shows/persua ders/etc/neuro.html
http://news.com.com/Who+really +won+during+the+Super+ Bowl/2100-1008_3-6156330.html

Learn more about this author, Piper Wilson.
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