MRG One Day Conference: Exploring The Subconscious

Lucy Bristow, research manager at Channel 4 and Carine Evans, divisional director at TNS Media brought last week’s MRG conference to a close with an introduction into a radical new research technique called semiometrie.

The French technique, which blends classic psychology and semiotics, is designed to “probe the unconscious mind” in order to help advertisers gain a greater understanding of programme audiences. Bristow, said: “It is more sophisticated than a simple demographic breakdown. It’s about what people subconsciously want or desire as opposed to what they already have or think they want.”

The technique is based on the Freudian theory that words are the gateway to the subconscious and aims to create a psychological profile of subjects by discovering their preference to certain words plotted on a specially designed word map.

Channel 4 plan to use the technique as a guide for potential programme sponsorship deals after it revealed that there was a good psychological fit with viewers of Sex and The City and its current brand sponsor Bailey’s.

More information about the MRG conference can be found on the MRG website: www.mrg.org.uk