Big Picture Unveils 'DesignCounts' Pack Test

Specialist design research agency The Big Picture has launched a quant methodology called DesignCounts, to help validate and optimise new pack designs.

With locations in London and New York, The Big Picture celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2019. The firm works on packaging and branding, digital and consumer experience research and strategy, and its new solution has been developed to give brand and insight teams a 'clearer picture' of how new packaging will perform in the real world. Rather than relying on generic norms or assessing new designs solely against the current pack, DesignCounts uses software and survey design to add multiple competitor benchmarks to every study. According to the firm, this enables brand teams to assess KPIs against their real market context.

Core to this approach is PatternID - the agency's proprietary tool to assess prominence at the shelf developed with behavioural economist Nick Southgate - which tasks consumers with using their pattern recognition skills to assess which designs have the best standout on-shelf. DesignCounts also uses a range of gamification techniques to help replicate System 1 thinking, which describes the way consumers make most of their decisions: quickly, intuitively and emotionally. The firm says this guarantees insights that span both the immediate impressions communicated at shelf, and the more considered messages consumers consciously engage with on the pack. Qual interviews are also conducted to further explore design communication with consumers.

Laura Pereira (pictured) Head of Quant Research, comments: 'We have seen a fantastic response to DesignCounts from our clients over the last year, so much so that we are continually growing our team to meet demand, and are very excited to see the ongoing positive impact this approach has on our clients' brands'.

Web site: www.thebigpicture.agency .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.