From 6 Emotions to 98: How Facial Coding Redefines Marketing Research

The Research: Your Face Tells More Than Your Words

In 2023, a team from the University of Mannheim published a study in Frontiers in Neuroscience that every marketer should know. They recruited 219 participants and exposed them to a selection of Cannes Lions–winning commercials. While participants watched, their faces were recorded via webcam. Using Automatic Facial Coding (AFC), the researchers analyzed 20 Action Units (AU) — the tiny muscle movements that, in combination, form every facial expression.

But the experiment didn’t stop at observation. After each ad, participants completed surveys about their emotions (e.g., joy), ad likeability, brand likeability (before vs. after exposure), and purchase intention (before vs. after exposure). The researchers then built predictive models to see if facial activity could anticipate these outcomes.

The results were clear and robust:

Facial activity predicted self-reported emotions. When participants felt joy, the corresponding facial markers showed up in the data.

More importantly, facial coding also predicted brand-related outcomes: whether people liked the ad, whether brand likeability increased, and whether purchase intent rose — all beyond what traditional questionnaires alone could explain.

The findings supported the well-known affect-transfer model: joy → ad like → brand like → purchase intent.

In other words: emotions aren’t just reflections of ad performance. They are the engine that drives brand outcomes — and AFC can capture them in real time.

Which Facial Signals Mattered Most

The researchers dug deeper to link specific Action Units to marketing-relevant outcomes. A few patterns stood out clearly:

• AU12 (lip corner pull) combined with AU6 (cheek raiser) is the hallmark of a genuine smile — not just a polite grin, but authentic joy. This authentic smile predicted significant boosts in both ad likeability and brand likeability.
• AU4 (brow lowerer), the classic marker of frowning or tension, was associated with drops in ad and brand evaluation. When brows pulled down, persuasion suffered.
• AU14 (dimpler) and AU24 (lip pressor), subtle signs of control, restraint, or discomfort, consistently predicted weaker increases in purchase intention. In other words, when people held back, they were less likely to convert feelings into action.

The lesson is simple: authentic joy builds value, while tension and restraint limit persuasion.

Beyond Expressions: The Shift to Micro-Expressions

Traditional advertising research often looked at big, visible expressions: a smile, a frown, a raised eyebrow. But AFC dives into micro-expressions — fleeting movements lasting fractions of a second, usually outside conscious awareness.

Why does this matter? Because micro-expressions reveal what people can’t or won’t say.

• A polite smile without AU6 is masking.
• A true smile (AU12 + AU6) is genuine joy.
• A micro-frown at the payoff signals tension, even if the participant later reports, “I liked it.”

For marketers, this distinction is critical: it separates surface-level responses from authentic emotional truth.

Enter Emotivae: 98 Emotions, Attention, and Cognitive Load

The Mannheim study proved one thing: emotions predict brand outcomes. But the old model of “six basic emotions” is too crude to guide modern marketing.

This is where Emotivae raises the bar. Instead of stopping at joy, anger, fear, disgust, sadness, and surprise, Emotivae maps 98 distinct emotions — from nostalgia to relief, pride to curiosity, tenderness to awe. Each emotion carries different implications for brand storytelling.

And Emotivae doesn’t stop at emotions. It adds two crucial layers:

• Attention: detecting whether people are truly focused on the content.
• Cognitive Load: measuring mental effort. Is the ad stimulating healthy engagement or creating friction that blocks persuasion?

This three-dimensional approach (emotions + attention + cognitive load) allows marketers to map not only what people feel, but also how engaged they are and how hard their brains are working.

That’s the difference between knowing “they liked it” and knowing why it worked, how it worked, and when it worked.

Why This Matters for Marketing

1. Real-time campaign optimization Moment-by-moment analysis shows where an ad peaks or drops. If joy spikes early but fades before the logo, you know to re-edit for stronger brand linkage.
2. From like to purchase The study confirmed the funnel: joy drives ad likeability → ad likeability drives brand likeability → brand likeability drives purchase intent. Ignoring this sequence means missing the mechanism of persuasion.
3. Move beyond smiles Not all positive emotions are equal. Tenderness builds affinity, awe builds memorability, pride builds trust. Emotivae lets brands design which emotions matter most.
4. Balance attention and load An ad that entertains but loses focus won’t sell. One that overloads cognition during the call-to-action will backfire. With Emotivae, you can balance stimulation with clarity.
5. Storytelling with precision Instead of generic positivity, marketers can orchestrate arcs like curiosity → surprise → relief → pride. This sequencing is what turns an ad into an experience that sticks.

Focus Groups Are Dead. Long Live Facial Coding.

Traditional focus groups suffer from predictable flaws:

• People tell moderators what they think they want to hear.
• They misremember emotions after the fact.
• They rationalize choices that were emotional all along.

Emotivae bypasses all three.

• Micro-expressions emerge before rationalization.
• Cognitive load reveals processing effort, showing friction or flow.
• Attention data shows if viewers are mentally present at all.

Imagine a focus group where:

• You don’t just hear opinions — you see raw reactions.
• You don’t just measure post-hoc stories — you capture real-time feelings.
• You don’t just get “I liked it” — you uncover which of 98 emotions moved the needle.

That’s not opinion. That’s evidence.

The New Frontier of Consumer Neuroscience

Consumer neuroscience is evolving fast. From six basic emotions to 98 nuanced states. From broad expressions to micro-expressions. From “did they smile?” to “which emotions, when, under what cognitive load, and at what level of attention?”

This isn’t just science. It’s a new toolkit for marketing — one that makes campaign testing, focus groups, and brand strategy more truthful, predictive, and actionable.

The next advantage won’t go to the brand with the biggest budget, but to the one that knows how to orchestrate emotions, attention, and cognition in real time.

That’s the frontier Emotivae opens. And it’s here now.

If this world of hidden emotions, micro-expressions, and cognitive signals sounds like the future you want your brand to step into, let’s talk. Emotivae was built exactly for this: to reveal what traditional tools can’t and give you clarity on what really drives decisions.

If you want to know more about how Emotivae works, and how it can help your campaigns, just write me.