GlassView To Enhance Marketing Performance with Investment in Cogwear's Emotion-Sensing Headband
GlassView, the world's largest independent video advertising distribution and performance platform, invests strategically in brain health startup Cogwear to advance a new neuromarketing headband. The patent-pending device, designed to look and feel like a comfortable athletic headband, senses emotions and other physiological feedback directly from the brain in real-time. It can gauge audience affinity for products and brands shown in digital video advertisements so that advertisers can optimize creative content.
Cogwear’s emotion-sensing headband.
As part of the agreement, GlassView will outfit thousands of volunteers with 5,000 of Cogwear's patented headbands in the coming 12-36 months. Volunteers will wear the headbands while streaming digital advertising content. As each ad unfolds, the devices will collect clinical-grade, neurofeedback from participants. GlassView expects to acquire tens of millions of anonymized data points during the initial roll out in the US.
Unlike eye tracking and other biodata, which can indicate attention but not affinity, Cogwear's headband directly measures a user's engagement, emotion, and memory straight from the brain. GlassView and its customers will use the data to finetune ads and drive engagement, creating a more enhanced experience for target audiences and more effective advertising for brand owners.
"An ad can't be effective if it doesn't first engage the consumer. But afterward, it must make them feel. Studies have repeatedly shown that directly measuring the brain for engagement, emotion, and memory in even just a handful of volunteers can predict the behavior of millions of people along a variety of dimensions from click-through-rates to sales. It's the trifecta of consumer psychology," explained Dr. Michael L. Platt, Cogwear's co-founder and a new member of the GlassView advisory board. Platt is also the director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative.
"Engagement alone is dead. From now on, emotion will be the most important metric in advertising. With neuro-data, we can shape campaigns and truly connect with people at scale. It will create a better online experience for both brands and consumers," said James Brooks, CEO and founder of GlassView.
GlassView's investment will also support Cogwear's research and commercialization in other areas, including health and wellness, which are Cogwear's primary markets. The startup is preparing to pursue FDA clearance for using its headband as a clinical diagnostic tool for anxiety, depression and Alzheimer's. Cogwear also has a commercial agreement with an athletic equipment company for headgear that monitors focus, fatigue, and potential brain injuries in high-impact sports.
"Cogwear is about health, peace, and performance. This strategic investment from GlassView will help us accelerate growth in our core markets while expanding into a promising new segment," said David Yonce, Cogwear CEO.
GlassView will not have access to any personally identifiable information nor specific information about the biological and neurological health of customers. Additionally, all volunteers will explicitly opt-in to participate. Cogwear is governed by the strictest privacy laws that govern the healthcare industry, including but not limited to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as well as state and local laws.
For more information and images of Cogwear's emotion-sensing headband, view the press kit here.
About GlassView
GlassView's mission is to drive performance through video advertising. Through emotion-based targeting and optimization, high-frequency trading (SmartGamma™), and delivery across connected devices, GlassView is best known for its performance. Launched in 2014, GlassView has headquarters in Dallas, with offices in New York City, Tokyo, Singapore, London, and Paris, among other locations.
For more information on GlassView, please visit www.glassview.com
About Cogwear
Cogwear is a brain technology company that improves health, peace, and performance through its comfortable, wearable technology for better brain insights. The Philadelphia-based start-up has developed a platform solution that gives people on-demand access to their own clinical-grade cognitive and emotional data in real-time in virtually any setting. Pioneered in collaboration with neuroscience experts from the University of Pennsylvania and supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, Cogwear's proprietary dry electroencephalography (EEG) sensors comfortably and accurately measure, interpret, and report electrical brain activity through a secure app and shareable dashboard. Cogwear creates value for society by supporting brain health, boosting elite performance, and driving better decisions. Visit cogweartech.com to learn more.