M&M Global reporter Anna Dobbie got to try out Unruly’s latest technological, designed to help advertisers deal with the increase in ad blocking software.

On 18 September, when I was led down to Unruly’s basement lab at its Shoreditch headquarters, it conjured up images of black and white B-movies featuring mad scientist – and what greeted me wasn’t that far off.

I was given a very attractive cap, through which electrodes were attached to my head using a sticky gel. I was then shown this Old Spice viral advert and my responses were measured.

Overall, the system recorded my results as similar to others of my demographic group. However, my emotional response to the bed scene was muted, whereas the German test audience had a strong response to this scene. My emotional response was shown to decline towards the end of the video, likely indicating a build of confusion as the video became progressively weird.

Unruly’s advice? A lack of attention towards the end from both the German sample and myself indicated that lots of viewers were turned off by the closing scenes of the video.

Using the technology, Old Spice could have found the sub-group of its target audience that likely to have a strong positive emotional response to the content, increasing brand favourability and purchase intent driven by the campaign.

The new lab has been designed following a survey that shows that over half UK consumers are likely to use software to block adverts online, highlighting the growing issues facing advertisers struggling to engage their target audiences. A recent YouGov survey also found that trust in advertising is at an all-time low.

The Unruly Future Video Lab replaces the company’s existing Social Video Lab, which was launched in London in 2013.

“Using social, emotional and behavioural data in the Future Video Lab, brands can power up their video content and ensure their video distribution strategy doesn’t alienate the very audience they’re trying to attract,” said Unruly co-chief executive and co-founder Sarah Wood.

“The digital video advertising landscape has evolved so rapidly – with viewability, mobile audience data and ad avoidance all becoming critical pain points – that we saw an urgent need to help our clients use Unruly’s video data and expertise to future-proof their digital video advertising strategies.”

I was very impressed by how accurate the systems responses were to my reactions and am fascinated to see how the lab will impact the encroaching threats posed by ad blocking.