MB Extends Facial Coding to LatAm & AsiaPac

Millward Brown (MB) has extended the availability of its facial coding capabilities, offered as part of its LINK ad copy evaluation solution and developed in partnership with emotional measurement company Affectiva, to the emerging markets of Latin America and Asia Pacific.

LINK, which has been in use for more than twenty years, helps advertisers understand the overall effect of their multimedia communications. Earlier this year, Millward Brown integrated Affdex, Affectiva's facial expression analysis technology, into LINK to offer deeper insight into the emotional impact of TV advertising.

Graham Page, EVP of Millward Brown's neuroscience practice, comments: 'Facial expression analysis is very compelling for emerging markets where cultural norms can make it even harder for people to give negative or potentially embarrassing feedback We are already seeing powerful insights from emerging market LINK studies that include facial coding analysis.'

Affectiva has used the studies to validate its facial emotion metrics in emerging markets, and co-founder and CTO Dr Rana el Kaliouby says the resulting accuracy scores are comparable to - and in some cases exceeding - those from tests in the US or Europe.

One example included an ad in India, in which one scene showed a husband's hand touching his wife's bare midriff. When interviewed about the ad, most female viewers gave a generic response about the interaction. However, the moment-by-moment analysis of their facial expressions as they watched the ad indicated that the shot was the most emotionally engaging moment of the commercial. As a result, the advertiser retained the scene in the edited version.

Web sites: www.millwardbrown.com and www.affectiva.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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