Vision One Research Launches New Packaging Evaluation Tool - PackProbe

November 18, 2015 - Latest research from consumer and shopper insight specialists Vision One, shows that brand owners and graphic designers need to rethink the way they approach designing and testing their packaging ideas.

Advances in psychology, neuroscience and behavioural economics have been shedding new light on consumer shopping behaviour and decision-making in recent years. Perhaps the most prevalent trend in packaging and packaging research, is the adoption of Daniel Kahneman's System 1 (fast thinking) from his international best seller Thinking Fast and Slow. His ideas about the emotional and automatic System 1 thinking have encouraged brand owners to focus on how quickly their packaging works. In the retail environment, ultimately pack designs need to be both eye-catching and communicate the right things within just a matter of a few seconds.

However, in addition to the speed at which packaging has to work, there is another important idea that is being overlooked by packaging designers and the food packaging industry in general, and this relates to how the pack performs in our 'Peripheral Vision'.

Whilst our peripheral vision is blurred and out of focus, it is nevertheless vital to our survival. For millions of years, our peripheral vision has been there to help us detect movement and impending threats out of the corner of our eye. However, in a more contemporary shopping situation, we use this blurred vision to help us identify products and packs that we should look at before we have consciously noticed them.

For pack designers this means that packaging works in a 'blurred' state rather than in the full focus. Vision One now incorporates blurred packaging tests as part of their innovative and award winning PackProbe.

A recent packaging research study, conducted by Vision One into popular teabag brands, showed that pack designs for leading brands including; PG Tips, Tetley, Twinings and Clipper Tea all performed similarly in terms of appeal and recognition under System 1 testing. However, when looking at the same products through the Peripheral Vision test certain brands dramatically outperformed others whilst others were much weaker. It would appear that underperforming brands was due to the fact that their packaging failed to develop strong brand/design associations with shoppers at a subconscious level.

About PackProbe
Developed by company directors Tony Lewis and Duncan Swan, designed for the way people shop, PackProbe offers a wide range of innovative features, including;

2D and 3D video walkthroughs and interactive shopping displays to create a more realistic shopping environment

More accurate way of testing pack designs by putting respondents under time pressure (System 1)

Unique Peripheral Vision testing that evaluates pack designs in a blurred state (mimicking what we see out of the corner of our eyes)

Stand-out tests to assess the ability for shoppers to find the product quickly and easily on shelf

PackProbe measures key packaging components to understand messaging hierarchy and effectiveness of key elements (avoiding the need for expensive Eye-tracking)

Bespoke emotional and message evaluations tools to understand emotional and implicit components of the pack

About Vision One
Vision One is a specialist UK and International market research company offering innovative market research to help businesses make better decisions. With award winning customer insight products and services, Vision One offers a range of leading edge insight discovery services, including; advertising, customer satisfaction, new product & brand development and packaging across a wide range of sectors.

Please give us a call or visit our website Vision One for more information.