Biometric Lab Offers Market Insights

By Emily Daniels

This past March, Mississippi State University’s College of Business opened its doors to the brand new Market Innovation Laboratory and Observatory (MILO) with a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house. COB faculty and staff along with members of the Executive and Marketing, Quantitative Analysis & Business Law (MAB) advisory boards, joined CEO and founder of iMotions Peter Hartzbech and his team to celebrate the grand opening of the newly renovated space in McCool Hall.

MILO is one of the largest biometric marketing and human behavior research labs in the southeastern United States. Using equipment developed by international company iMotions, MILO began in 2014 with one computer station. This new lab has grown to house 12 stations that are fully equipped with hardware and software used for eye tracking, galvanic skin response, facial expression recognition and EEG equipment – which shows what areas of the brain “light up” in reaction to a focused-on item or message. Each of these technologies adds a new layer of understanding.

The facility affords students from every discipline the opportunity for hands-on experience using the equipment to conduct market research in the classroom – an attractive skill set that will give them an upper hand in the workforce. MILO is helping Mississippi State maintain its top-tier research university status by providing doctoral and faculty researchers in the College of Business and across campus with another tool in their suite of research techniques to conduct even more compelling and innovative studies. Access to MILO will not be limited to those on campus – the lab also presents an opportunity for area businesses to take their marketing to the next level by getting incredibly detailed feedback on how consumers perceive their messaging.

This new lab puts our students at the forefront of the marketing industry, further increasing their job prospects as companies look for marketing and business leaders who can better understand the people whom every business is built around,” states College of Business Dean Sharon Oswald. “MILO would not be possible without the generous financial contributions from members of our College of Business and MAB advisory boards, as well as project support from Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business Law Department Head Melissa Moore, Associate Professor of Marketing Mike Breazeale and marketing alumna and Chair of the College’s advisory board Kathy St. John. With their help, we were able to make this transformative project a reality.

She concludes, “We are excited about the valuable opportunities that the new lab represents, not only for our students and researchers, but also the local communities, the state of Mississippi and beyond.”