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Implicit tests
Measuring impact
beyond declared responses
François Abiven (Repères)
CEO
Gaël Allain (Mémoire & Marketing)
Doctor in cognitive psychology

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1. The consumer: a complex study subject
2. The theory behind implicit tests
3. Case study : Packaging & values

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1. The consumer: a
complex study
subject

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“The trouble with market research is
that people don’t think how they feel,
they don’t say what they think and
they don’t do what they say”
David Ogilvy

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of brain activity is below the
threshold of consciousness
Over of what we “know” was learned
implicitly (unconsciously)

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It is essential to take emotions 6
into account
The majority of our decisions and thoughts are
a combination of emotion and reason

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But emotions are difficult to 7
measure!
Being capable of measuring:
• Subtle (low intensity) emotions
• Unconscious (hidden) emotions
• Mixed (simultaneous) emotions

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An enriched toolkit 8
EEG Skin
IRM
Neurofocus’ Mynd conductance
(Affectiva’s Q
sensor)
Eyetracker
(Tobii) Facial Coding Implicit Association Test
(Paul Ekman’s FACS) (Harvard’s implicit project)

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Measuring emotions at 9
REPERES
Projective The analysis of Implicit tests
qualitative non-verbal
research among communication
a large number
in conjunction with
of people
What are the What happens What is the impact
emotional bonds before I express an of a stimulus
between a brand opinion? beyond what
and consumers? consumers say?

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2. The theory
behind implicit
tests

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What is perception?

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Perception: a complex mechanism… 12
What do you perceive here?
How did you recognize it was a shoe?
The recognition of an object (sometimes in 20 milliseconds) whatever its position is
possible because perception automatically draws on knowledge already stored in our
memory.
There is therefore a dual mechanism at work: extraction of perceptual information from
the environment and implicit retrieval of information stored in our memory.

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Perception: a matter of sense… 13
…and individuals
The conclusion we arrive at will differ according to the information we retrieve from our
memory!
Recognition of an object is therefore very heavily influenced by the first pieces of information
we retrieve from our memory, which tend to be the most frequent, recent… and/or
(emotionally) striking ones!

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Perception: a matter of sense… 14
…and available resources
The whole recognition process is conditioned by the availability of our resources!
Yet in a “modern” environment we no longer have the resources needed to process all the information
that is constantly bombarding our brain.
The brain therefore makes an (attentional) selection of the information and only part of it is truly
analysed.

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Perception process: a mechanism that is... 15
Perceptions of
the outside world
…highly subjective!
…and largely
unconscious!
System 1 System 2
Quick Slow
Automatic Conscious
Unconscious Requires effort
The emotional field The field of rationalisation

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Against this
background, how can
we evaluate
perceived brand
image?

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Traditional (declaration-based) questionnaires give 17
access to a part of perception
Questionnaire !
A certain number of well known
biases exist…
- Social desirability
- Post-rationalisation
- Checked responses
 Declared responses are not
always predictive of behaviour
Info accessible to the consciousness
of the people interviewed

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The challenge… 18
To complete “traditional” measures with a non declarative measure
For a fuller and more reliable assessment
Questionnaire Non declarative measure
Info accessible to the consciousness For accessing the unconscious
of the people interviewed

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How? 19
Look for the values automatically associated with a product
Principle:
 Measure reaction time  Distract attention

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Principle of implicit tests (example of priming) 20
Method:
A test comprising a succession of sequences!
Focus point
Stimulus
Response time measured
Dog Target
Cat
Lexical decision task
Is it a real word from the French language?

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Principle of implicit tests (example of priming) 21
Focus point Focus point
Stimulus Stimulus
Target Target
Pasta Car
Fast “word” response Slower “word” response
Focus point
Stimulus
Target
“Pseudo-word” response – distraction sequence

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Principle of the test carried out 22
Implicit test
 To reveal the values
conveyed unconsciously
Overall analysis
 Full diagnosis of the
brand values perceived by
consumers
Explicit test
 To evaluate the inferred
brand image, from a more
rational point of view

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3. Case study
Packaging & values

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A brand wishes to develop new packs that
will effectively convey certain key values of
Background their brand.
 Preliminary in-depth qualitative research to identify
the words used by consumers to express the values
of the brand
 5 packaging routes have been developed
 The aim is to evaluate the impact of each pack as
regards its capacity to convey the different values of
the brand

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 An implicit association test combined with
traditional explicit questioning
Protocol  Hall test
 In Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Metz,
Bordeaux and Nantes from 16 to 25 May
2011
 On-street recruitment and in-hall
interviews
 Self-completion CAWI
 120 female consumers of the product category

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20 minute questionnaire:
 Screener: eligibility questions
Interviews
 Implicit questionnaire
 Test of 6 stimuli (packs) and 5 target
words (brand values)
 Explicit questionnaire
 For each pack, evaluation of the target
words on an agreement scale
 Brand image inferred by the packs
on a dozen items (CATA)

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Declared
results

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Purchase intent 28
Pack 2 Pack 4 Pack 5 Pack 1 Pack 3 CURRENT
Positive purchase intent
74% 76% 80% 79% 78% 85% +
 The current pack stands out in terms of positive PI
The other packs are at parity

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Comprehension of the packs and inferred image 29
Pack 2 Pack 4 Pack 5 Pack 1 Pack 3 CURRENT
Credible pack
QUALITY Clear, easy to Easy to
understand understand
pack pack TRUST
PROXIMITY
-- TRUST QUALITY
-- PROXIMITY Pack is difficult
to understand
-- LOYALTY
-- ADDED No particular outstanding points in
VALUE Does not terms of inferred brand image
match
-- QUALITY expectations

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Implicit
results

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How can we analyse the results? 31
Pack
TRUST
5 Pack
3
LOYALTY
CURR PROXIMITY
Pack ENT
4 Pack ADDED
2 VALUE
Pack
1 QUALITY
Measure the PACK – WORD response time
 Variance analysis

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Current pack performances 32
Reminder of the
explicit results
CURRENT
Trust
Proximity 85% PI +
Current Credible pack
pack
TRUST
PROXIMITY
Loyalty
Quality QUALITY
Strength of the
Added
association value
 Confirms the good explicit results

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Pack_3 performances 33
Reminder of the
explicit results
Pack 3
Trust
No particular
Proximity
outstanding
Current points in
terms of
pack
brand image
Quality Loyalty
Added
value
 A very impactful pack, whereas in the explicit results it was rather “lifeless”

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Pack_1 performances 34
Reminder of the
Trust explicit results
Proximity Pack 1
No particular
outstanding
points in
Current
terms of
pack brand image
Régule
Quality
Added
Loyalty
value
 The pack struggles to convey the brand values effectively

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Action: cross
the implicit
data with the
explicit data

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Summary of pack performances 36
Overall
Implicit score for the
pack
association
++ Score = 3 Score = 5 Score = 6
In line with
the average Score = 2 Score = 4 Score = 5
-- Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3 Explicit
association
-- In line with the
average
++

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Summary of pack performances 37
Implicit
association
Less explicit activation  No
++  Work on an explicit (long- reworking
needed
term) message
In line with Less implicit
the average activation
 Work on
“scripting the
 Pack that brand values”
requires an
-- in-depth Explicit
reworking association
-- In line with the
average
++

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Summary: current pack 38
Implicit
association Score
= 25
TRUST
CURRE
++ PROXIMITY
NT
ADDED VALUE
In line with QUALITY
the average LOYALTY
-- Explicit
association
-- In line with the
average
++

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Summary: pack 3 39
Implicit
association Score
= 23
QUALITY
Pack 3
++ TRUST
PROXIMITY
ADDED VALUE
In line with
the average
LOYALTY
-- Explicit
association
-- In line with the
average
++

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Summary: pack 1 40
Implicit
association Score
= 14
Pack 1
++
ADDED VALUE
In line with
the average QUALITY
LOYALTY
-- TRUST Explicit
PROXIMITY association
-- In line with the
average
++

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Benefits of
the method

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Benefits
• Innovatory results:
• A complementary evaluation method to traditional
tests that is well suited to FMCG
• Precise reworking recommendations for excellence
as regards pack execution

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Benefits
• A new dimension of the consumer that it is possible to
quantify
• A reliable measure already proven in the field of
cognitive psychology
• A simple measure to implement

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Thank you for your
attention!