MARS Marketing improved accuracy of purchase intent in marketing research by 8% using facial analysis during ad viewing

Summary:

MARS Marketing conducted a marketing research study which tracked customers' facial emotions while watching ads. This was to determine if emotional state could be used to predict likelihood to buy products, particularly more so than traditional marketing research techniques.

They found that emotional state complemented research subjects' self-reported purchase intents to boost predictive power.

Problem:

"Like many advertisers, MARS is faced with the challenge of assessing which ads are more likely to be effective from a sales point of view. It is critical to understand why, for instance, only one of two humorous ads that MARS had produced in the Chocolate category succeeded in boosting sales. What are the emotion profiles of the ad that led to sales success?