Wim Hamaekers, Managing Partner at haystack, and Iris Cremers, European Shopper Insight Manager at Unilever, shared their learnings about packaging research in general but more specific how neuro-tools like eye-tracking, EEG, GSR and implicit associations can give you a deeper understanding of your packaging.

1. Measuring the Impact of
Packaging with Neuroscience
Iris Cremers Wim Hamaekers
#shopperbrain #haystackint @wim_haystack

2. How we see a retailer shelf

3. In peripheral vision, packs are similar

4. Unilever & Shopper
Research

5. Most
shoppers buy
the product
they FIRST
interact with
Brand must stand out !

6. 20.000 - 30.000 SKU’S in NL
A store is an extremely complex environment for shopper brains
26 minutes average shopping trip in NL
Overload of visual information
unique
products are
bought per
year by an
avg HH
#
< 300
Source: Haystack

7. THE BRAIN DESELECTS BEFORE SELECTING
An existing coding in your memory helps you
quickly recognize the object you are looking for
Shoppers on a planned mission do the same
thing by deselecting what is not relevant to them

8. POS video

9. Shopper understanding is
essential
A lot of shopping behaviour is sub-conscious

10. Most eye fixations in store
are on or around the product
Product
And around product

11. Shopper brains follow a visual hierarchy

12. 12+
# ?
Shopper brains can’t handle too many messages on a pack

13. PACK DESIGN IS
THE SINGLE MOST
IMPORTANT THING
TO GET RIGHT FOR
SHOPPERS
Pack is KING

14. Pack design research – TOP TIPS
BE CAREFUL WITH REDESIGN
=> No revolution
NEVER TEST IN ISOLATION
=> Use shopper / store context

15. MEASURING PACKAGE IMPACT
WITH NEURO RESEARCH

16. 4 IAT
Are the different elements
communicating the right
message?
UNDERSTAND
2EEG
Do these elements evoke
positive, neutral or negative
emotional engagement?
ENGAGEMENT
3GSR
Do these elements provoke
physical activation?
ACTIVATION
1EYE-TRACKING
What elements draw most
attention and which elements are
hardly seen?
WHAT
Mix traditional tools with biometrics & implicit research tools

17. ICE CREAM STUDY

18. Test material
CURRENT DESIGN
PROTOTYPE
ROUTE 1
PROTOTYPE
ROUTE 2

19. BE NOTICED

20. Route 2 engage positively with shoppers and activate them
Current ROUTE 1 ROUTE 2
Engagement
Activation
BEST PERFORMER

21. Current Route 1 Route 2 Current Route 1 Route 2
Area of Interest Engagement Activation
Hertog Total
SKU 1
SKU 2
SKU 3
SKU 4
Neuro reveals small differences between SKU’s

22. Current Route 1 Route 2
Engagement
Activation
Instant attraction
3 sec. 100 97 97
Total attraction
15 sec. 100 97 97
Same shelf impact however 2 route clearly engages better
EQUAL
BETWEEN
ROUTES

23. Route 2 attracts most shoppers faster
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
3 sec 5 sec 7 sec 10 sec 15 sec
ROUTE 2
ROUTE 1
CURRENT

24. BE DESIRED &
REMEMBERED

25. Route 2 stands out, strong communication power!
-0,20
0,00
0,20
0,40
0,60
0,80
1,00
Communicates
ROUTE 2ROUTE 1CURRENT
A B C D E F G H I J

26. How emotag works
Indulgent
Clear
contrast
Brand name Tasty
Respondents can tag elements they like in the
stimulus and elements they dislike in the stimulus.
For each tag, they are asked to leave an explanation
on what exactly they like or dislike about it.
Dark brown
not appealing
Variant not clear

27. Route 2 received more positive comments
Pack element 1
Pack element 2
Pack element 3
Pack element 4
Pack element 5
Pack element 6
ROUTE 2
ROUTE 1

28. What did we learn?
Indication for best design route
Emotional appeal
Stand out from shelf
Level of engagement and activation per design route
What does the pack communicate and what not
=> Explicit areas of pack improvement
=> Choose winning concept to launch

29. NEURO & PACK
RESEARCH LEARNINGS

30. 1. Use realistic research setups
80% OF THE SHOPPERS READ ONLY FRONT OF PACK

31. 4. Counter verbal measures with neuro
SHOPPERS TEND TO BE RESISTANT TO ACCEPT CHANGE
Lower
purchase
intent &
appreciation
(verbal
measures)
Higher
consideration
new pack
(eye tracking
measures)

32. General learnings pack
Be seen! Differentiation is key: use contrast
Guide the shopper – remember the intuitive shopper (habits)
Try to capture mind AND heart: be engaging
Implicit cues are always good to support your message
Limit the number of claims on pack
It’s not a beauty contest – The norm = the competition

33. THE FUTURE

34. What’s NEW in what we learned?
Real emotional appeal
Level of sub-conscious engagement on specific areas
Level of sub-conscious activation
=> No claimed behaviour

35. Future
Further exploration to understand sub-conscious behaviour
Low n needed to be quantitative
Concrete output
Combine with qualitative research
Point of Sales touch points

36. A wise man’s words
“Not everything that can be counted
counts,
and not everything that counts can be
counted”
Albert Einstein

37. Our quest is to understand
the unconscious shopper brain better!
Iris Cremers
EU Shopper Insight Manager
Unilever
Wim Hamaekers
Managing Partner
@wim_haystack
w.hamaekers@haystack-international.com