Imagine testing a new retail layout without moving a single shelf. By placing participants in a virtual reality (VR) simulation, retailers can measure where shoppers look first, how long they linger in front of displays, and what draws them to make a purchase.
Or consider the launch of a new ad campaign. With eye-tracking, advertisers can see whether viewers actually notice the brand logo or message. Paired with EEG (electroencephalography) readings, they can also detect whether the campaign sparks excitement, confusion, or indifference.
These are just a few of the capabilities offered by the Insights Research Lab (IRL) at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business. Established in 2011, the lab was originally known as the Business Research Institute. Last year, it was rebranded as the Insights Research Lab to better reflect its focus on understanding consumer behavior, marketing, and decision-making.
Over the years, the IRL has become a resource for both academic researchers and businesses seeking to understand market dynamics, fine-tune products, test ad campaigns, improve messaging and websites, optimize store designs, and more. The lab remains one of the most advanced agency-inspired marketing research facilities between San Francisco and Seattle. And because it is located on the UO campus, it offers ready access to test products and concepts on students in the coveted 18-34 year-old demographic.
Now, with renewed investment from the HEDCO Foundation, the lab has undergone significant upgrades that expand its capabilities for the benefit of students, faculty, and organizations alike. Recent HEDCO-funded enhancements include:
- Upgraded eye-tracking devices that reveal exactly where attention is focused in both digital and physical environments
- New EEG brainwave monitors to measure moment-to-moment cognitive and emotional responses
- VR headsets used for building and testing immersive environments that mirror real-world settings
- Enhanced high-performance computers, tablets, and recording equipment for efficiently collecting and analyzing massive amounts of behavioral data.
Together, these tools are providing researchers and organizations with insights into how people perceive, process, and act in everyday situations. In the past year alone, the lab has deployed the new tools to help non-profits, researchers, and local businesses build brand awareness, analyze customer journeys, run focus groups, and conduct customer surveys.
Beyond serving businesses and community partners, the IRL is run by marketing faculty and serves as a hub for cutting-edge academic inquiry. Lundquist Faculty and PhD students use the lab not only for data collection but also as a platform to combine their expertise in psychology, consumer behavior, sponsorship, and advertising. Among the recent research projects supported by the lab are
- A paper by PhD candidate Abby Frank with Andrew Edelblum, PhD ’22, (now an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Dayton) that uncovered how extreme attractiveness in fitness influencers can sometimes reduce their relatability and lower audience engagement.
- A study by assistant professor of marketing Noelle Nelson and coauthors that examined how people's social identities can sometimes create barriers that limit their willingness to engage in pro-environmental behaviors.
- An analysis by PhD candidate Adria Mankute with professor of marketing and Philip H. Knight Chair T. Bettina Cornwell and associate professor of marketing Jiao Zhang developed and tested a new way to measure how people engage with hands-on brand experiences (sporting events, arts, music performances), helping sponsors and businesses better understand what makes those experiences memorable and effective.
These are just two examples of how by pairing sophisticated technology with faculty insight, the IRL enables scholars to ask new questions and generate findings with real-world implications.
And it's not just faculty and business partners that benefit from the lab's technologies and tools.
"Having access to this technology allows our students to learn research techniques that are at the forefront of marketing and human behavior analysis," noted PhD student Mankute, who is also the IRL lab manager. "They are gaining firsthand experience with tools that connect classroom concepts to real-world business challenges."
Nelson, the lab's director, added that she and Mankute have been hosting expos, open houses, and tours to showcase the lab's new capabilities to campus and community partners, trained UO students to run A/B testing using the lab, and even taught kids and teens about biometrics and other data collection technique as part of the UO SAIL program's "Kids on Campus." The UO SAIL program hosts middle and high school kids every summer to encourage them to believe they can succeed in higher education.
"We are deeply grateful to the HEDCO Foundation and to all supporters of the Insights Research Lab," said Nelson. "HEDCO's continued investment shows how philanthropy drives innovation, benefiting not only faculty and students, but also the companies and community members we partner with. The IRL stands as a testament to how donors, community partners, students, businesses, researchers, and faculty come together to fuel discovery, education, and impact."
If you are interested in using the IRL for your organization's marketing research needs, you can reserve a spot and learn more about its capabilities online.