Better Packaging via Neuromarketing

What’s better than a chocolate chip cookie? A chocolate chip cookie in a package optimized with neuromarketing. Consumer companies don’t often talk about their neuromarketing efforts, perhaps because of the vaguely scary sound of it all. Some of the rare public windows into neuromarketing studies have been in the packaging area, notably the Campbell’s Soup project. Now we have another packaging study to review, this time involving Gerber baby food and Chips Ahoy cookies.

In an article at Brand Packaging, Scott Young, president of Perception Research Services, International, describes the process for Gerber’s iconic jars:

As might be expected, the study reinforced the power of the familiar Gerber branding and baby visual. But the research also uncovered negative emotional reactions to various graphic elements, including the visual icon intended to convey baby stages, the benefit bands and less-prominent health claims. These reactions suggest either confusion in interpretation and/or difficulty reading smaller print. Taken collectively, they spoke to a need to “clean up” and simplify the packs, to make them more accessible to shoppers.

The cookie study led to specific design changes:

For instance, resealability was known to be a valued feature, but the resealability claim itself was driving negative emotional reactions; it was too jarring on the current packaging and too difficult to read on the proposed. The cookie visual on the proposed packaging was also problematic. Despite its prominence, it didn’t appear to be effective because it only drew neutral reactions. These insights led to significant refinements to both design elements prior to launch. The resealability tab was made more legible, while the cookie visual was given more energy with flying chips visuals.

Young indicates that the neuromarketing work was done by EmSense, and was a combination of eye-tracking and EEG. Young thinks the key contribution of neuromarketing is the “why” component. It’s easy enough to see if a new package works by comparing actual sales data, but neuromarketing analysis can identify specific design elements that work or don’t work, he says.

Like any good consulting firm, Emsense has created a four-quadrant matrix – theirs plots what they call emotional and cognitive response. Low levels of both indicate lack of engagement, while high levels indicate interest. The other quadrants are the most interesting for packaged goods, according to Young. High cognitive involvement with low emotion indicates confusion, while the sweet spot is the combination of low cognition and high emotion (dubbed “Easy Enjoyment”).

Young briefly mentions several other packaging studies that used neuromarketing. In one case, it was found removing a familiar brand character from a food package had a negative impact. He notes that seemingly insignificant items like a bit of steam rising from an entree or a “cheese pull” on a pizza package had a measurable impact. Now, one can only hope that someone ties the research together with sales data and publishes it. That would be a great validation of this very interesting work on package design.