Neuromarketing in education: how emotional content affects the perceived effectiveness of university videos

Purpose of the Research. This study investigates respondents’ emotional reactions to Almaty Management University’s promotional videos and examines how those reactions influence perceived attractiveness of the videos and recall of their content. Understanding these effects may inform the development of more effective educational-marketing strategies by showing how emotional engagement drives prospective students’ interest. Methodology. The research is based on the observations of the facial expressions of subjects showing two promotional videos developed by the marketing department of Almaty Management University. Twenty prospective students (ages 16–20), who were considering applying to the university, took part in the study. Facial expressions were recorded using FaceReader during video viewing, after which each participant completed surveys to assess ad recall and perceived attractiveness, allowing to examine their relationship with the recorded emotional responses. To predict the memory output and the perceived attractiveness based on FaceReader results machine learning models such as Random Forest and Gradient Boost were employed. Originality/Value of the Research. By having combined facial expression analysis with predictive analytics, this study intends to serve as a contribution in the growing area of neuromarketing within educational marketing. Contrary to traditional marketing methods which mainly rely on self-report, our research provides an objective evaluation for emotional involvement and its cognitive consequences. Findings. Positive emotions like joy and sentimentality significantly enhance memory retention and perceived attractiveness of university promo videos. Fear and anger, however, had lower predictive power. According to machine learning models, positive emotion is important for student engagement and recall. Positive emotion-engaging video content will prove a strong tool in educational marketing to increase brand recall and prospective students’ decision-making. The results are of practical importance in providing necessary information to universities to better their marketing strategies.