Vibrating Eyeballs to Help Ad Research

Another piece of hard science aiming to open up new possibilities for research... Tenafly, NJ-based agency PreTesting has launched 'e-Motion' technology which it claims 'will revolutionize marketing' by measuring the vibrations in consumers' eyeballs when they view ads.

The patent-pending technology measures emotional 'connectedness' when viewing television ads or web sites and uses the fact that when a person is interested, their eyes are in constant vibration. The vibrations are known by scientists as 'microsaccades' and speed up the more interested the person gets. The firm's web site explains: 'The vibrations are controlled by the brain's desire to obtain more visual information. If someone is engaged in a television commercial, the brain will seek more details and specifics, creating more focus points, and thus, faster vibrations.'

PreTesting says the breakthrough technology can 'immediately record both visual fixations and saccadic response to these media.' Responses thus calculated are then superimposed over the commercial to graphically illustrate its ability to reach the target audience, on a second-by-second basis.

The web site is at www.pretesting.com .

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