BVA in neuroscience partnership with French university

The firm will fund academic research led by Olivier Droulers, professor of neuromarketing at the university’s graduate school of management.

The research will measure respondents’ brain activity and physiological responses while they are testing packaging, products and advertising, with the aim of providing “fresh insight into the non-conscious mechanisms at work in the decision process”.

As well as his work at the University of Rennes 1, Droulers (pictured) has written several books on consumer-related applications of neuroscience.

BVA, one of the largest research agencies in France, is led by chairman Gérard Lopez and general manager Pascal Gaudin. Its US subsidiary In Vivo BVA USA was launched in 2009.