Presentation Abstract

Facial coding is a market research tool grounded in scientific studies done by Charles Darwin and Dr. Paul Ekman’s Facial Action Coding System (FACS). What Darwin and Ekman realized was that human beings have the same facial expressions across all cultural divides, and that our shared facial expressions were, in fact, a reliable gateway to the emotions that drive us. Using a system made-up of 43 action-units (AUs), Ekman created a system that accurately and scientifically gauges how a person feels by analyzing the subtle, abundant muscle movements on their face. With this tool, it became possible to get read a person’s emotions and better understand their motivations.

Darwin and Ekman knew that facial expressions were universal, spontaneous and abundant – and those are the three factors that make facial expressions the ideal reference point for market research. Rather than informing clients’ business decisions solely on rationalization, facial coding uses emotional data based on facial expressions to predict outcomes and allows clients to make changes, if necessary, based on the emotions that inform decision-making. Facial coding gives marketers the ability to go beyond the say/feel gap of everyday life and parse particular emotions on a second-by-second basis across multiple marketing methods. That’s why it’s no surprise that the ARF concluded in its NeuroStandards Collaboration report that, “facial coding can be more accurate than traditional methods,” in gauging the direction of emotion/valence.

During this session, we will go in-depth on three particular topics:

• Why facial coding is the best tool for market research efforts if you’re looking to send an on-emotion message.
• How facial coding slices through the ambiguity and misdirection of traditional market research procedures to learn what’s emotionally salient to people.
• The importance of emotional momentum in your marketing efforts.

Speaker Biography

Dan Hill is a recognized authority on the role of emotions in consumer and employee behavior with over a decade of experience operating his scientific, emotional insights consultancy: Sensory Logic, Inc. One of the company’s unique research tools is facial coding, as highlighted in Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller Blink and the former FOX TV show “Lie to Me."

Over the past decade, Hill has contributed insights to over 30% of Ad Age’s Top 100 Marketers. On his own, Hill has written four books on the topic of psycho-physiological research including Emotionomics, one of Ad Age’s “Top 10 Books You Should Have Read in 2009.” Hill’s work has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Hill is also an experienced speaker – with acclaimed speaking slots at WARC Map and the CASRO Annual Conference.

Dan received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University following studies at Brown University, Oxford University, and St. Olaf College.