Cadbury Adams Canada applied consumer psychology to support user segmentations and ultimately design and position products, said Mike Henry, consumer and shopper insights manager for the company. The value of this approach, he said, is threefold: knowing who your shoppers are, knowing how they behave in the store, and understanding how changing the in-store environment can help change their behavior.
Henry said applying psychology lets marketers take the shopper into consideration early on in product development. In categories where consumers act most rationally, a market can trigger desired behavior, using verbal dialogue. For more emotional products, however, pictures or imagery might be more effective.
Henry described what he called the manufacturer mindset as seeking “opportunities to trigger category interest through in-store merchandising and strategically placed triggers and messaging.” Taking the retailer’s interest into account, the manufacturer might also try “to increase brand sales by improving in-store performance through in-store shopper-sensitive initiatives.”
Cadbury seeks to target consumers using both rational and emotional drivers. The challenge, he conceded, is “how to uncover their deeper needs and wants.” A product like chocolate, which has a strong emotional component, is associated with sharing, giving, and self indulgence. The company looks at such factors as mood state and usage occasion, category triggers such as displays and ads, and final decision factors such as taste, brand, and ease of obtaining the desired product. Among several techniques the company applies to the capture purchases, he said, is the use of package imagery that “shows the flavor” of the product.
Cadbury Adams Canada used VideoMining technology (which derives behavioral data from in-store video cameras) to obtain insights about confection shoppers. It found that while 52 percent of buyers browsed the store, the other 48 percent make a quick trip in and out.
The company applied these insights in the development of Cadbury Thins, a 100-calorie chocolate bar that has met with great success in the Canadian market and is being ready for rollout in the United States. Cadbury aimed it at a segment Henry described as “calorie-conscious Karen,” who loves chocolate but hate calories. The manufacturer merchandised the bars in small clip-on displays that could be located in magazine aisles, near checkouts, and in gum racks for impulse triggering.
“When people go to a drug store, they start thinking about themselves. This is good for chocolate,” said Henry.
This is just a taste of the detailed insights in the work in progress that is category management. For a more comprehensive report on the entire conference, visit CPG CatNet at www.cpgcatnet.org.
