Brainwave Market Researcher NeuroFocus Buying UK Counterpart

imageNeuroco, a Surrey-based company developing technology to interrogate people’s subconscious minds for market research, is being acquired by Neurofocus, a larger, Berkeley, California-based counterpart.

Neuroco’s website reads like a cyberpunk movie plot: “The vast majority of our decision making and emotional reactions occur below the level of conscious awareness and, therefore, remain fundamentally inaccessible to direct and conscious interrogation. What is needed is a completely new approach which gets closer to the root of consumer response.” Both companies use EEG monitoring to measure brainwaves produced by survey participants’ unconscious responses to various stimuli.

Neurofocus, which counts Nielsen as an investor, has already deployed the offering to measure brand effectiveness, product impact and more. Neuroco counts BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) and 20th Century Fox as clients, as well as car makers, consumer goods producers, drinks makers and those in leisure and retail.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed but Neuroco will be rebadged “Neurofocus Europe” to lead Neurofocus’ continental operation. It recently began winning clients in Japan and Korea. Release.

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