THE ART AND SCIENCE OF INFLUENCEA NEUROSCIENCE EXPERIMENT SHEDS NEW LIGHT

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4 WHAT NEUROSCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT THE POWER OF PR AND EARNED CONTENT Explaining the setup and science of a revolutionary experiment that studies consumers’ neurological reactions as they view content and, subsequently, the precise impact all forms of content have on them

6 THE RESULTS: HOW CONTENT PERFORMS From awareness to intent to purchase, this in-depth study reveals precisely how and why earned content bests all other forms, with a specific look at the effectiveness of MSL’s ECUs (earned content units)

3INTRODUCTION A joint initiative conducted by MSL and SPARK Neuro gives PR pros true cause for excitement. Includes exclusive comments from MSL global CEO Guillaume Herbette about impact and influence

9 THE ROLE OF NEUROSCIENCE IN UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONAL VERSUS RATIONAL DECISIONS How communicators can help brands strengthen the imperfect relationship between art and science and, in the process, win over consumers’ hearts and minds

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N PR-DRIVEN MEDIA: HERO OF THE DAYEvery brand is a media company now. This message has undoubtedly been instilled in every communications and marketing professional. And what it means is that every brand must create content – lots of it on various platforms – if they want to influence consumers.

This is a very exciting reality for PR pros as it increases the value of the services they are particularly expert in delivering for those they counsel. PR-driven content, such as earned articles and brand videos, is increasingly proving to have the highest impact on consumers – at all stages of their journey, from increasing their affinity for brands (also known as “brand lift”) to the actual purchase of products.

MSL has particular cause for enthusiasm, too. Last year, the firm introduced ECUs (earned content units) as part of its Conversation2Commerce initiative. Though ECUs occupy the same space as banner ads, they feature headlines from earned content instead of regular product ads. This hybrid between digital ads and earned content delivered significantly more cognitive attention. In turn, the content stayed in memory longer, brand affinity was improved, and increased action was encouraged.

Of course, in an ROI-driven world, tangible proof is always sought as to PR’s real-world impact. In this case, the pre- vailing query is: How do you know your content is having that ultimate impact on consumers? Surveys and focus groups have long been used to make such determinations, but the answers provided are often limited. But where those traditional paths fall short, neuroscience is revealing.

Thanks to a recent experiment conducted by MSL in partnership with SPARK Neuro, what was once only subjective – how much people are engaged with content and their emotional experience with it – can now be directly quantified by reading brain activity and other neurological responses.

On succeeding pages, you’ll hear from SPARK Neuro founder and CEO Spencer Gerrol, who will explain how this revolutionary research enables us to see how consumers are impacted by content – both consciously and subconsciously – in ways never before possible. This includes study of brain-cell activity, sweaty palms, eye tracking, and facial expressions – all of which were linked to direct consumer activity. The end result: the real-world impact of all types of content – banner ads, TV ads, brand videos, feature articles, even movie trailers – can now be scientifically proven.

And the best news for PR: by proving that earned media is the hero of the day for eliciting emotions and driving sales, neuroscience is further validating the discipline’s increasing role in boosting brands’ bottom lines.

FROM MSLAs a global public relations and integrated communications partner to our clients, MSL is committed to building influence and delivering impact.

Influence is where our industry is headed, but impact is where we look to grow the tangible value we bring to clients. By taking a holistic approach and looking beyond the boundaries of the traditional PR industry, we are developing both influence and impact in new and exciting ways through the use of sophisticated data, analytics, and our new Conversation2Commerce platform.

Our sponsorship of this experiment is intended to uncover new learning about the rise in influence and how it can be used in smarter and new strategic ways for communicators and marketers.

Guillaume Herbette Global CEO, MSL

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PRINT, ONLINE PUBLICATIONS, social media, television, and digital

ads – to name a few – all form part of an overarching marketing

strategy. However, specific details on how each form of content

affects consumers remain somewhat of an enigma.

MSL, Publicis Groupe’s strategic communications division and one

of the world’s largest PR companies, partnered with SPARK Neuro

to learn how the brain engages with and reacts to different forms of

content. MSL has a passion for helping brands better use the levers

of influence to deliver a new level of meaningful, measurable impact. 

The key to this experiment’s success is the application of neuroscience

methods. Asking people to evaluate how they feel about each type of

content would yield little in the way of meaningful results. Scanning

for their actual neurological state, including brain activity and nervous-

system activation, is far more reliable.

In April 2017, millennial women were recruited to browse a controlled

set of online content while hooked up to our series of neurometric

and biometric devices.

THE SETUP

Experiment participants independently browsed Refinery29, as well

as a competitor site. During research, the women were exposed to

digital banner ads, earned articles, and brand videos that were pro-

fessionally produced instructional films featuring specific products. 

WHAT NEUROSCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT THE POWER OF  PR AND EARNED CONTENTBy Spencer Gerrol, CEO and Founder, SPARK Neuro

A new type of content was also

put to the test. MSL, as part of

its Conversation2Commerce

(C2C) initiative, developed

a hybrid between digital

advertising and earned content,

known as earned content units

(ECUs). While occupying the

same space as banner ads,

ECUs are styled differently.

They feature headlines from

earned content instead of

regular product ads.

All content within the

experiment fit into the health

and beauty category. All

participants were recruited for

their interest in beauty content.

Participants were only asked to

browse content of interest. They

were not made aware of what

was being studied so as not to

bias their interactions.

While the site content was

naturalistically presented and

PERCEPTION AND ACTION

To further understand the impact of these various content forms, we

also measured for the effects on branding and buying through pre-

and post-exposure surveys. Unlike traditional surveys, however, our

unique method captures the subconscious decision-making process.

By measuring changes to reaction times, as well as minor movements

of the mouse trajectory (angle of attack), we gain insight into the

implicit process of how decisions are made. 

These measures provide a much more accurate view of the range of

consumer responses – be it confidence, hesitance, or ambivalence.

Brand lift. We gave an implicit brand lift survey both before and after

the participants were exposed to content. We measured the extent

to which people had an affinity for each brand and, moreover, if their

“brand love” increased based on exposure to content.

Purchase intent. We measured how content affected people’s

desires to purchase products, again utilizing measures of sub-

conscious decision-making in addition to their conscious choice.

Purchase behavior. To further strengthen the findings beyond

purchase “intent,” participants were given monetary compensation

that could be used in a web store at the study’s end. We tracked

which products people actually bought so as to compare with

biometric measures collected from brain and body activity.

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subjects decided what to spend time

on, content was also tightly controlled

to ensure a repeatable experimental

design. Select ads and content were

presented in random order to eliminate

the biases of order effects.

THE SCIENCE

While perusing the site, participants

were hooked up to these sensors:

Electroencephalography (EEG).  Brain cells communicate by releasing

chemicals (neurotransmitters) and

electricity. These electrical impulses

are measured on the scalp via highly

sensitive electrodes within milliseconds

of those brain cells becoming active.

This neural activity reflects attention

and emotional processing, providing a

measure of message resonance. While

the most complex to analyze, this data

is the richest source of information on

attention and emotion.

Galvanic Skin Response (GSR).  Surely, you’ve noticed that your palms

sweat with heightened emotions,

whether fear or joy. While you only

notice this in more extreme situations,

it is happening at varying levels all day

every day. When a person is excited,

their nervous system becomes highly

activated and causes pores to open.

These pores release sweat, which

allows the GSR device to measure

electrical conductance on the hands, 

a measure of emotional arousal. 

Eye Tracking. Visual engagement is

tracked through eye movements and

analysis of visual patterns by meas-

uring saccades (rapid eye movements)

and fixations. Eye tracking tells us

exactly where people are looking

within millimeter accuracy. This offers

a precise view of how people visually

attend to different content, including

how quickly the stimulus draws

attention, for how long, and how often. 

Micro-Facial Expression Encoding.  Every grin and pout provides further

evidence of what a person is feeling.

A camera detects tiny movements in

facial muscles and translates these

nonverbal cues into meaningful data.

While facial expressions are less

common while consuming online

content, they add one more layer to

strengthen the overall data.

BY M E ASU RING CHANG E S TO RE AC TION TIM E S , WE GAIN IN S IG HT INTO TH E IM PLIC IT PROCE SS OF HOW DECIS ION S ARE MADE

Brain actiivity, skin response, eye movement, and facial expression were all studied to gain unprecedented insight into content’s impact on consumers

Moreover, brightly colored ads were

looked at for 50% longer than duller

colors. Again, we are evolutionarily

adapted to notice bright colors

before less saturated colors. 

Both faces with bright colors 

in conjunction had a multiplying

effect, getting about twice as

much visual attention as dull colors

with no faces.

HOW DO MSL’s EARNED CONTENT UNITS COMPARE?

MSL’s ECUs are an advertising/

PR hybrid that takes the value

of cost effective banner ads, but

simplifies the visual design and uses

earned content headings instead of

typical ad messaging. The theory

is that if an article is written about

a product, the press is good, but

it has a shelf life in our 24-hour

news cycle (or event faster these

days). By advertising the articles

across the web, especially alongside

contextually relevant content, the

earned news story becomes more

evergreen.

But does it work? Typical banner

ads are highly designed and, frankly,

more visually appealing. MSL

argues that ECUs’ lack of design is

purposeful, but does this put them

at a disadvantage?

THIS STUDY UTILIZED the most

advanced metrics to shed light on

the details of how people consume

different types of content, including

how it engaged their attention and

emotions and how this translated

into real-world purchasing decisions. 

One of the first types of content

we evaluated were banner ads that

sat to the right side of the page

content. These ads are notorious in

the research community for “banner

blindness.” In other words, people

often don’t even notice them since

their main task and motivation is to

look at the content of interest while

avoiding ads.

Eye tracking confirmed that 96% of

the time people stayed focused on

page content, looking at the banner

ads only about 4% of the time. While

minimal, 0.4 seconds out of every

10 is better than nothing, especially

given the low cost of banner ads. 

When banner ads appeared, they

tended to attract a quick glance,

for about 0.1 seconds. That’s

because our eyes are attracted to

movement. In fact, human beings

have evolved to sense motion/

change faster than any other visual

attribute. The appearance of an ad is

enough to instinctually yield a single

saccade (rapid eye movement).

After that initial glance, people

decide, not necessarily consciously,

to look away or to take another

peek. If the ad looks relevant, they

may spend a bit more time on it.

However, not all banner ads are

created equal. For example, ads

with images of faces were viewed

23% longer than ads without faces.

Why? Human beings are pro-

grammed to look at faces, especially

eyes. This begins nearly from birth,

developing as early as within the

first couple neonatal weeks.

THE RESULTS: HOW CONTENT PERFORMS

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it increases the chances of storing

content in memory, improving

affinity, and encouraging action.

HOW DO ARTICLES AND ONLINE BRAND VIDEOS PERFORM?

Looking at cognitive response as

recorded by brain activity, we saw

an interesting effect. 

For context, let’s start with a few

comparison points. After testing

hundreds of TV ads with our brain-

wave technology, SPARK Neuro

measured the average ad attention

at 3.8 out of 10. While some ads

score higher (9.2 is the best we have

measured), the average TV ad does

not foster heightened attention. 

Meanwhile, movie trailers on

average score 5.6 for attention,

almost 50% higher than the average

ad. Why? Trailers are typically highly

produced. Moreover, people watch

them by choice, as opposed to

ads, which people prefer to ignore

(unless they are really good).

With those benchmarks in

mind, how do articles featuring

products compare? Attention for

articles scored 4.7 on average.

That is significantly better than

the average TV ad, though not

quite up to standards of movie

trailers. Unlike ads (and more 

like movie trailers), people choose 

to read articles. That choice

fosters more deliberate and intent

engagement.

We also measured a particular

type of video commonly used in

PR – branded instructional videos.

These videos feature products,

such as Refinery29 videos teaching

people how to artfully apply

different types of makeup while

highlighting a specific makeup

brand. Branded videos scored 5.3

with the intended audience. That

score is better than TV ads and

articles, and it even approaches

movie-trailer status.

TRANSLATING TO BRAND LOVE

We know that attention was lowest

for banner ads, better for articles,

and better yet for branded videos.

But how does that translate to brand lift? Experiment participants were

asked to rate each brand before and

after the study.

Digital ads only contributed a

1.4% brand lift. Articles increased

brand affinity 1.6%, which, although

slight, was still a statistically sig-

nificant difference compared to

Perhaps surprisingly, the data

showed a clear and significant

advantage for ECUs. In fact,

eye tracking results demonstrated

that participants looked at ECUs for

twice as long as traditional banner

ads (0.8 seconds vs. 0.4 seconds). 

Why is that? The unique visual style

that emphasizes a more minimalist

approach drew attention because

of its simplicity. It also retained

attention due to an absence of too

many distracting visual elements. 

Moreover, think about the context

of the situation. People are on a site

reading articles about fashion and,

lo and behold, the “ad” is also

featuring another article about

fashion. The idea of featuring articles next to other articles feels a lot

more like native, unobtrusive, and

valuable content compared to

most ads that are, frankly, seen

as a distraction. This advantage

proved highly beneficial. 

In fact, the benefit of the ECU

goes beyond visual attention. The

challenge with eye tracking alone is

that sometimes your eyes look

at something, but the gears in your

brain don’t turn. In other words, your

eyes can be instinctually attracted

to something, but that does not

necessarily mean the content

registered in your brain.

Using EEG (electroencepha-

lography), we were able to look

beyond visual attention and into

cognitive attention. For the same

amount of looking time, ECUs

showed 16% more cognitive

attention. Considering ECUs

were looked at twice as long,

that’s 32% more brain processing. 

When your brain is more engaged,

The idea of featuring articles next to other articles feels a lot less obtrusive than banner ads to most content viewers - another nod to the impact of earned content

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DATA SHOWE D A S IG NIFICANT ADVANTAG E FOR ECUs , AS PARTICIPANTS LOOKE D AT TH E M FOR T WICE AS LONG AS TR ADITIONAL BAN N E R ADS

BANNER AD

digital ads. Brand videos did an even

better job of reinforcing brand love,

promoting a 3.6% brand lift. These

trends correlate perfectly with the

biometric data.

TRANSLATING TO ACTION

While increases in brand affinity

are nice, the end goal is often sales.

Measuring for purchase intent, we

observed that digital banner ads 

set the baseline at 13%, not much

greater than purchase intent for

no ad at all. 

Brand videos doubled the purchase

intent compared to digital ads,

achieving 26%. 

Meanwhile earned articles increased

purchase intent to 45%. That’s 3.5

times more than digital ads.

How could it be that articles

performed so much better for

purchase intent whereas videos

performed better for brand lift?

Interestingly, the instructional

videos featured the brands more

subtly, with the main emphasis

being on topics such as how

to apply makeup. This subtle

and elegant featuring of brands

allowed them to seep into people’s

subconscious, affecting how they

feel about the brand or product.

On the other hand, articles

had different advantages. First,

they were more direct about how

they featured products, linking

more clearly with purchasing

choices. Second, the nature of an

article is considered more serious

and more credible; news is looked

at through a different lens than

other brand content.

Despite these clear and consis-

tent results, we still need to

determine how this all translates

to the real world. The challenge

with purchase intent is that it is

just that — intent. The metric,

while meaningful (and even more

accurate because of our unique

way of measuring the subconscious

decision-making influence), does

not necessarily equate to products

flying off shelves.

In order to track something closer

to actual purchases, we set up a

web store and asked participants to

go shopping. They were provided

compensation for the study and

could use some of that money to

buy products that were then mailed

to them after the session.

Fourteen percent of the items

purchased were “foils,” meaning

they were not promoted in any

way during the study. This 14%

sets a baseline from which we

can track improvements due

to content exposure. 

Eighteen percent of items pur-

chased were shown in digital

banner ads, a small 4% lift from

no advertisement at all.

Meanwhile, 27% of the products

purchased were featured in brand

videos, a major lift over digital ads

and consistent with the purchase

intent metric. 

Topping the chart, earned articles

contributed to 42% of purchases –

again consistent with our unique,

implicit method for tracking

purchase intent. 

Needless to say, earned content has a significant effect and is the hero of the day.

CONCLUSION: WHAT DO THESE RESULTS MEAN?

In the social and digital environment

in which people engage today,

earned media and other PR types of

content appear to play a critical role

in both attention and engagement.  

Ultimately, while we see clear trends

from one content type to another,

the true value is influenced by the

quality of the content. You can make

a stellar video or a boring one. The

same applies across the board, in-

cluding various forms of PR content.

The most important step goes back

to how we optimize the creative,

encourage risks, and stand out from

the pack. Neuroscience methods and learnings augment our capa-bility to measure and optimize each piece of content.

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ART AND SCIENCE IS IMPERFECT. It’s a

constant tug of war. On one hand, a research-driven approach is the best

way to ensure decisions are made with the target audience in mind. On the

flip side, a brilliant storyteller has a uniquely honed intuition. An inspired

artist might not be able to back it up with numbers, but has a sense of when

something feels right.

I’m a scientist who specializes in studying human behavior and cognitive

psychology and then applying actionable research to decisions for

advertising and entertainment. On the topic of research versus creative, you

might reasonably expect that I side with the data scientists. Alas, I don’t. 

My team at SPARK Neuro is composed largely of PhD neuroscientists and

some of the brightest minds plucked from academia to influence the real

world. After 15 years of conducting research, we keep seeing the same thing. 

To be clear, it’s the format and usage of traditional research that gives me

pause. “Self-report” studies, such as surveys and focus groups, suffer from

many biases – group think (“What he said!”), social-desirability bias (“Don’t

judge me.”), and experimenter bias (“That’s what you wanted to hear,

right?”). Moreover, trying to describe

how we feel forces us to rationalize

a response. Inevitably, the narratives

that we invent leave something

deeper, more powerful, and in-

herently more “true” still hidden.

The challenge is that emotion is largely a subconscious process. It’s

not something of which we are

constantly or consciously aware.

As such, we can’t expect people

to report on emotion accurately.

Why do you think it takes years of

therapy to figure out how you feel

about your mother?

MARKETING’s HOLY GRAIL: ATTENTION AND EMOTION

A tree falls in the woods. No one is

there to hear it. Did it make a sound? 

The age-old adage teaches us an

important lesson about marketing. 

Your content is presented, but

people tune it out. Did your content

exist? Of course it did, but with-

out attracting attention it simply

doesn’t register.

Here’s another riddle: What do you

always have, only sometimes notice,

and have a hard time talking about?

Answer: Emotion. As discussed,

emotion, by nature, is part of a

THE ROLE OF NEUROSCIENCE IN UNDERSTANDING  EMOTIONAL VERSUS RATIONAL DECISIONSBy Spencer Gerrol, CEO and Founder of Spark Neuro

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subconscious process. It is constantly pushing and pulling us despite the

fact we aren’t always aware of it and often struggle to articulate it.

Attention and emotion are the Holy Grail in marketing. If people are not tuned in to your message, it won’t register; and if your content doesn’t make people feel something, it will have a limited effect.

However, attention and emotion are among the hardest things to measure. 

Attention is often measured by clicks, impressions, page views, and

television ratings – but these methods have their weaknesses. Just because

an ad displayed or aired does not mean people noticed it; and even if they

did glance at it, that does not mean they paid attention to the message.

Emotion is measured even more subjectively. We simply ask people about

their feelings, beliefs, and attitudes. People aren’t continuously aware of

how emotions affect everything they do. Introspection is hard, even more

difficult to articulate, and surveys aren’t conducive to getting either deep

or specific-enough answers.

Furthermore, if we are to understand how to employ emotion, we first must

unravel how it all works.

REASON, EMOTION, AND DECISION-MAKING

Here’s a choice for you. In my left hand, I have a banana. In my right hand, I

have a chocolate bar. You can only choose one. Which option would be the

more emotional choice? Which would be the more rational one?

We are trained to think that rational decisions are better and emotional 

decisions are more destructive. Science disagrees, however.

In fact, I would argue that the artificial bifurcation of reason and feeling is

damaging to how we understand humanity. As such, this misconception of

“rational decisions” is adverse to how we practice marketing. 

In 1994, Antonio Damasio, an acclaimed neuroscientist and professor,

published the seminal work that refutes this dichotomy between emotion

and reason. His book, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human

Brain, introduces a new theory.

In this book, Damasio, through a series of mind-bending case studies,

poses that there is no such thing as a decision without emotion. That’s

worth repeating. It is not humanly possible to make a decision or take

an action without a significant emotional influence. It is not realistic to

believe a person can fully process the variables of a choice consciously

and then come to a conclusion. Cognitive processes such as working

memory would become overloaded by all the potential outcomes and

we would simply freeze. 

Instead, our brain takes a shortcut. We feel something. As conditioned by

the combination of life experience and human evolution, if you see a certain

stimulus, your heart rate increases, your palms begin to sweat, you start

breathing faster, your muscles contract, and your eyebrows furrow. This

response is converted to emotion in your brain, which tells you something

about the situation in front of you. You then decide to pursue or avoid a

course of action. This decision shortcut is what you call your “gut.”

René Descartes, a 17th century French philosopher, mathematician, and

scientist, famously said, “Cogito ergo sum.” Translation: “I think, therefore

I am.” The error, according to Damasio, is that your feelings, not just

cognition, play a critical role in the ability to make clear, rational decisions.

Perhaps it should be: “I feel, therefore I am.”

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Since we can’t make decisions or take an action without the presence of emotion, marketers need a better way to measure emotion. But if

we can’t rely on surveys and focus groups to help us dissect emotion,

what can we do?

RESEARCH 2.0: ENTER NEUROSCIENCE

We have acknowledged that the flaws with self-reported data are limiting;

asking people to articulate what is buried in the subconscious creates

unavoidable biases. We also reviewed how emotion is critical to changing

perceptions and behaviors and that without “qualitative” data we are

missing something important.

Qualitative, however, does not have to mean subjective. Enter neuroscience.

Neuroscience involves studying the brain and nervous system and holds the

key to more accurately measuring attention and emotion. Unfortunately, like

most cutting-edge research, neuroscience methods are often confined to

academia and don’t make their way into practical application. SPARK Neuro

exists to create real-world solutions with the scientific methods that are

otherwise stuck in the “ivory tower.” 

Instead of asking people, we go right to the source, reading brain activity and other neurological responses to quantify what is otherwise subjective

— to what degree people are engaged in content, their emotional

experience, and how that translates into decisions.

We use EEG (Electroencephalography) to measure brain activity, GSR

(Galvanic Skin Response) to measure skin conductance, Eye Tracking to

quantify visual attention, as well as computerized Micro-Facial Expression Encoding to capture every smile and smirk. This combination of biometric

signals gives us deep insights into the Holy Grail — is content captivating

people? How much? And exactly when (down to the second)?

Our metrics, which are processed through complex algorithms that make

sense of thousands of data points per second, have been shown to predict

marketing effectiveness. Higher scores correlate with more sharing and

liking in social media, improved brand affinity, and increased purchase

intent. In other words, when people’s attention is captivated and when their emotions are stirred, they like brands more and are more likely to buy.

A DIFFERENT RESULT

One of the common complaints about traditional research is that it can

often water down creativity because with surveys and focus groups people

often object to things that violate their expectations. Why is neurometric

research different? When reading how someone’s brain and body responds,

we emphasize different measures of success. 

We look for peaks in attention, which are often caused by the unexpected.

A dramatic pause, a surprising twist, and a mystery waiting to be uncovered

are all examples of elements that raise attention. Human beings are

attracted to things that are different, causing increased focus.

We also look for peaks in emotional intensity. A dramatic story with a mix

of positive and negative emotions causes increased engagement. For

example, fear followed quickly by relief and then love creates an emotional

rollercoaster that causes us to focus even harder and remember even more.

Regardless of the medium, it has been proven time and time again that the most effective marketing messages are those that evoke strong emotions, surprise you, and seamlessly integrate with the brand.

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Spencer Gerrol spends every

waking moment thinking about

the intersection of art and science.

As CEO of SPARK Neuro, he leads

an applied neuroscience company

that studies how people think, feel,

decide, and act.

The complexities of how humans attend to information and experi-ence emotion push and pull us, altering our perceptions and in- fluencing our behaviors. But when it comes to understanding these forces, Gerrol notes that traditional research methods don’t cut it. As such, SPARK Neuro doesn’t just rely on what people have to say. Instead, it bypasses biased responses by measuring brain and nervous system activity.

A sought-after speaker, Gerrol has presented at Google, TED, the Pentagon, the United Nations, the White House, and Cannes Lions. Additionally, Gerrol was honored at the White House for founding one of the top 100 companies started by young entrepreneurs and was named a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum.

Having worked with many top global brands and film studios, Gerrol specializes in how to make advertising and entertainment truly affect people. His academic background in the burgeoning field of Human Factors – the study of cognitive psychology and human behavior research as applied to technology and design – enables Gerrol to illuminate opportunities to influence human behavior through marketing.

SPENCER GERROL

ABOUT SPARK NEUROSPARK Neuro is an applied neuroscience company revolutionizing the evaluation

of audience engagement in advertising and entertainment. Instead of relying

on traditional, biased research methods, SPARK Neuro goes right to the source,

measuring brain and nervous system activity so it can see exactly when people

are engaged and when they are not. SPARK Neuro quantifies attention and

emotional levels with second-by-second precision. SPARK’s research is trusted by

major brands including GM, Clorox, Toyota, NBC, Universal Pictures, Telemundo,

and Netflix. SPARK Neuro has been featured for its innovative research by CNN,

ABC News, and The Washington Post.

CONNECT WITH SPARK NEUROWeb: sparkneuro.com

Twitter: @SparkNeuro

Facebook: Facebook.com/Sparkneuro

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/spark-neuro

ABOUT MSLMSL is Publicis Groupe’s strategic communications and engagement group.

It is one of the world’s largest public relations and integrated communications

networks and provides strategic counsel and creative thinking. It champions its

clients’ interests through fearless and insightful campaigns that engage multiple

perspectives and holistic thinking to build influence and deliver impact. With

more than 3,100 people across more than 110 offices worldwide, MSL is also the

largest PR network in Europe, fast-growing China, and India.

CONNECT WITH MSLWeb: mslgroup.com

Twitter: @MSL_GROUP

Facebook: facebook.com/MSLGROUP

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/mslgroup

YouTube: youtube.com/MSLGROUPofficial

Slideshare: slideshare.net/mslgroup

Instagram: instagram.com/mslgroupglobal

For more information about Conversation2Commerce, email Erin.Lanuti@mslgroup.com or visit www.publicisC2C.com.

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