Late last year, the UK's third-largest retailer, Tesco, created something of a furore when it announced plans to install face-scanning technology at its petrol stations so that it could target on-screen advertisements to individual customers at the payment tills.
As a Tesco spokeswoman stressed at the time, there's nothing now in this. And she was absolutely right. In fact as Nicola Hunt finds out in this conversation with neuro-psychologist Dr David Lewis – the godfather of 'shopping science' – advertisers have already installed "intelligent" advertising screens in places like bus stops that can work out who you are and show you different ads depending on your age and sex. And that's just the beginning . . .
play now
Dr David Lewis has described as the 'father of neuromarketing' for his pioneering studies into the way our brain activity affects our behaviour as consumers. He has been studying the human brain since the 1980s and is founder and Chairman of UK-based Mindlab International, which specialises in the neuroscience of consumerism and communications.
He is also a best-selling author of more than 20 books, the latest of which, "The Brain Sell – When Science Meets Shopping" explores how advances in neuroscience and psychology are providing advertisers, marketers and retailers with new insights into what we buy and why.
