A few weeks ago, I came across a post using behavioral science to suggest that Campbell’s may have made a mistake in walking away from their iconic, symmetrical packaging design with their most recent pack update. The hypothesis was that human beings are predisposed to prefer symmetry and thus, the addition of the flavor imagery broke the rules and would prove to be a mistake. But is that true?
Because we have a bit of a rebellious streak here at DESIGNOLOGY, and also happen to own our own consumer insights platform, we decided to put that hypothesis on trial. We shelf tested the Campbell’s Condensed Soup line with and without flavor imagery in our Pivot platform, pitting the iconic red and white soup against competing brands. The test found that with the imagery added to the design, Campbell’s had a larger share of category sales, and overall category sales increased in both units sold and average dollars spent, without losing the consumer perception of Campbell’s as an iconic brand they remember from their past. In short, nothing in particular against behavioral science and evolutionary biology, but this time at least, it’s asymmetrics for the win. Well done, Campbell’s!
As packaging designers, we totally get this one. Shopping a crowded category is challenging and it’s easy to get lost on shelf. Appetite appeal imagery, if done correctly, can enhance an iconic brand architecture and greatly improve shopability. Have a hypothesis you’d like to test? If you’re a marketer looking for something new, we think Pivot might be the most innovative and flexible rapid-response consumer testing platform on the market today, and we’d love to show you what we can do. Give us a shout!
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