Table 2 Methods used to assess the nature and/or strength of the expectations and associations that people/consumers hold with specific visual features in product packaging
From: Visual communication via the design of food and beverage packaging
Technique | Description | Representative study |
|---|---|---|
Focus group/in-depth interviewing | Traditional approach to eliciting insights concerning the consumer's associations. Little standardization in terms of approach | Questionable scientific validity of such traditional approaches popularized by famous marketers (e.g. see Cheskin, 1957, 1967, 1972; Lunt, 1981; Rapaille, 2007; Stern, 1981) |
Word analysis (WA) | Excellent technique to reveal spontaneous top of mind associated with packaging | Piqueras-Fiszman et al. (2013) used WA together with eye-tracking to assess the associations with variety of visual design choices for packaging for jam/marmalade bottle |
Implicit association task (IAT) | Robust experimental technique capable of assessing the strength of people's associations with specific packaging attributes | Parise and Spence (2012) used IAT to assess strength of association between angularity of packaging silhouette (i.e. image mould) and expected strength/efficacy of contents |
Semantic differential technique (SDT) | Longstanding approach that helps researchers to determine the connotative associations with packaging exemplars | Henson et al. (2006) used SDT to assess connotative associations with a variety of visual shampoo bottle designs (cf. Kunz et al., 2020; Morich, 1981; Schaefer & Rotte, 2010) |
Conjoint analysis (CA) | Excellent technique to assess the relative strength of different associations with a variety of packaging design solutions | Baptista et al. (submitted) used CA to assess the relative importance of colour vs. texture to chocolate packaging (cf. Ares & Deliza, 2010; Gislason et al., 2020) |
Temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) | Contemporary analysis technique that enables researchers to track the changing associations with packaging over time (typically 10Â s of secs) | Merlo et al. (2018) used TDS to track impact of hamburger packaging colour on consumers' emotions. See also Schifferstein et al. (2013), for temporal assessment over lifetime of consumer's interaction with product |
Neuroimaging (e.g. ERP, fMRI) | Little used to date, but various neuroimaging techniques help researchers to understand neural mechanisms underpinning behaviour | Huang et al. (2021) used fMRI to assess neural consequences of colour-taste incongruency in packaging design (cf. Moya et al., 2020). Weinstein (1981) for an early attempt to use ERP |