Tim Froggett, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Anglia Ruskin, helps Marstons Beer Company answer pressing questions with a bespoke consultancy project.
What was the business challenge?
With increasing competition in the retail market for premium bottled ales, Marstons Beer Company, the UK leader in PBA sought to understand the visual saliency of a number of its bottled ale brands.
How did the University help?
Tim Froggett and Nataliia Bobrova (LAIBS PhD student) of Anglia Ruskin’s PubLAB designed an eye tracking study to measure the relationship between visual saliency and choice of the 20 best-selling premium bottled ales. This involved asking respondents to choose beer from a retail display whilst their eye movements were recorded. Analysis of the gaze data allows us to identify which elements within the retail scene generate more attention than others and how this relates to product choice.
What are the real business benefits?
With increasing competition for valuable retail space it’s important for brands to be visible in-store (visual equity). By using eye tracking technology we can arrive at quantitative measures of visual equity and use this to optimise the on-shelf performance of the brand. Brand owners can gain important insights in areas such as number of shelf facings, position on shelf, distinctiveness of packaging design effectiveness of point-of-purchase promotional activity.
Tim Froggett and the PubLAB team delivered an excellent project on time and to budget. The clarity of analysis and presentation generated a number of actionable insights for our business.
Tom Lenihan Shopper Marketer Controller, Marstons Beer Company
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