If you want to figure out the best medium to engage your target, try scanning images of their brain. Neuroscience is just one of the emerging methods being utilized by media agencies to help marketers get to engagement. But that's just one side of the equation; truly getting there calls for a deft creative hand too. In other words, there's an art and a science to it.

The fact that the new buzzword hasn't really been defined yet is not stopping folks in the industry from trying to get a handle on the elusive quality, believed to be a key ingredient of advertising effectiveness. "Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context," says Joe Plummer, chief research officer of the NYC-based Advertising Research Foundation. The organization is currently working to flesh out that definition and develop some metrics for assessing engagement.

In the meantime, a number of research and media measurement companies have been touting various studies and systems for getting to engagement. Last month Florida-based Simmons Research launched a pilot of its National Multi-Media Engagement Study in the U.S. The company plans to start a full study this fall with the ultimate goal of providing ratings of the cognitive, behaviourial, and emotional involvement consumers have with media.

Meanwhile, Nielsen Media Research in the U.S. begins its engagement research program this month using a separate panel of people meter households that have finished their two-year terms. These households will continue to have their viewing metered but, unlike the ratings panel, they will also participate in surveys to see if there is a correlation between what they watch and brand and advertising recall, awareness and attitudes.

And IAG Research of New York, which says its programming, ad, and product placement research already helps gauge engagement, has plans to add an engagement component to its online and print research products. Currently IAG collects 50 different attribute measurements about every ad, product placement, and program sponsorship occurring across all U.S. broadcast and major cable networks during prime time. It conducts 80,000 surveys daily about the television programs panelists watched the night before.

Although television seems to be the first focus for engagement research, media agencies don't believe engagement is limited to TV or to interactivity. Most have been working on the engagement conundrum for the past few years and have already developed research studies that have helped enhance their planning and buying strategies.

PHD Canada of Toronto is blending both art and science with programs and tools that go beyond basic consumer research to the realm of neuroscience in its quest to understand how best to engage consumers.

On the art side, instead of just passively agreeing that media needs to get more creative, PHD took steps to make it happen. Passport to Innovation, an 18-month management-level program, was developed to infuse the entire organization with the skill set that media agencies haven't historically been know for - creativity. The program was designed by Toronto creativity and innovation consulting organization CreativityLand.