Overview

Our client, a healthier snacking brand, had reduced the sugar content of a key product range. This created an opportunity to strengthen its health credentials, but also a communication challenge: how could the brand convey the benefit without compromising expectations of taste?

Five alternative executions were on the table. Our task was to understand which had the greatest potential to capture attention, communicate the product’s benefits and drive purchase consideration.

Approach

Advertising doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It needs to work amongst everything else competing for attention. To understand how it will land, we needed to test it in the context in which people will encounter it.

To do this, we conducted in-depth interviews with regular buyers of healthier snack multipacks. Using ReTrack™, we recreated a relevant context and mindset before showing the executions amongst competitor advertising. This allowed us to explore what people spontaneously noticed and took away, without directing their attention towards the brand or asking them to scrutinise every element.

We then used PrimeTrack™ purchase simulations to explore whether exposure to the advertising influenced attention, perceptions and product consideration in a shopping context.

Finally, we revisited the executions and alternative messages in more detail to further understand what was driving initial responses and where the executions could be strengthened.

Output

The research gave our client clear direction on which design and messaging elements had the greatest potential, why they worked and how to bring them together into a stronger execution. Insights included:

• Creative direction: Which visuals drove attention and appeal, and which created confusion or distracted from the message.

• Messaging strategy: How to communicate the product benefit whilst protecting taste appeal and brand credibility.

• Communication hierarchy: What needed to register first and how to stop key messages getting lost.

• Brand impact: How the executions shaped perceptions of the brand and purchase behaviour.

• The psychology at play: The psychology underpinning the balance between taste and health messages, providing guidance for future communications.