O \O c\ BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 Group Research ~ Oevelopment Centre, 8ritish-kerican robacco Co, ttd,, SOUTHAMPTON, LM/OM/46E PRrKIPLES OF MEASUREMENT OF IISUAl STANDOUT IN PACK DESIGN REPORT NO. R0,2039 RESTRICTED 23,5,1986 AUTHOR: I. Miller GROUP LEAOER: R,P, Ferrls ISSUED BY: T, Hirji DISTRIBUTION: Or, A, Binns Copy No, 1 Mr, A.1, Heard Y U 2 Mr, E,E, Kohnhorst 31 a Or, P,J, Dunn U r 5 Or. S.R, Hassey I 1 6 Mr, R,G, Nichotls " " 1, 8 Herr E, flittershaus " 9 Dr, E, Kausch " 10 Dr, C.J,P, de S~queira 11 Mr, H,V, Thomsen " " 12 Mr, R,F, Gflderdate " 13 Library " 14, 15 COPY NO, 15 O 191b B a.T (U K. ua b~on~ ~nuYd, rhll apln mull nul be ~PpLJ w I~wcn to unlulhw~~nl pnwrl ~C ~4iii~~N·.~..··..~4.·· ·:·· BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 Group Research ~ Development Centre, British-American Tobacco Co, Ltd,, SOUTHAMPTON, LM/OM/Q6E 23rd May, 1986 PRINCIPLES OF MEASUREMENT OF VISUAL STANDOUT IN PACK DESIGN REPORT NO, R0s2039 RESTRICTED SUMMARY The increasing imposition of advertising rertricition on the tobacco industry inevitably results In the visual Impact of the cigarette pact itself assuming more importance as a means of attracting consumer attention to the product, Whilst acknowledging that the aesthetic aspect of pack design must still be regarded as the principal foundation for the develop- ment of brand imagery, this report makes the case for accompany- ing such a concern with a routine screening for visual impact during either new pack design exercises, the screening of series of pack variants on a theme, or mddifications/extensions of established brand pack design, It is emphasised that visual impact measurement should be taken to complement rather than supplant the aesthetic aspect of pack design, This report highlights the methodological issues involved in using a tachistoscope for measurement of visual prominence, It is stressed that the main application of this technique is to measure the relative visual prominence Of the elements within an individual pack, It is not intended that the technique be used to provide reliable information with respect to the relative overall visual impact of one cigarette pack over and .i. O S 1916 a I T (V K Ind ~lml~mllra Thll DPln mull not k ~opl~J ~~ ~~wn a uo~~~Jnml p~nool "l"lr ' ""' -- L~L~ BATCo document far legal Senrices : Health Canada 19 May 1999 above another, (~his issue is currently the subject of a research project which will receive separate reporting). It is anticipated that this technique is more useful In the early stages of pack development to screen between a number of attern- atives, taking into account factors such as the readability of brand name or the standout of the company Crest. rive experiments are described, In the first two the experim- ental procedure Involved In tachistoscoplc testing is specified, The need to control, in this type of study, factors such as level of illumination is highlighted, In order to conduct these first two experiments, seven packs were selected from the U,K, market, ~he findings from the experiments are discussed with reference to establishing guidelines for designing packs with a view to achieving maximum visual impact of their constituent elements, However, it is aphasised that no suggestion is made that the packs used in the test should be changed in any way as they were launched with the benefit of advertising support, As stressed previously, it is anticipated that the main appll· cation of the technique will be in the development of pack designs. In a typical development situation, several design alternatives may be available all of which have the same brandname but the style of presentation is varied between them, Thus, the third experiment outlined in the report describes the roeti~odology involved in testing sets of packs all with the same brand name, This Involves the use of matched groups of subjects selected on criteria specific to this type of task, This approach avoids the possibility of anybiasing influence of learning effects an performance, SHiss packs are used to demonstrate the method. Although It is not Intended that this technique is used to make comparisons between packs concerning their overall level of visual impact, it may he desired to know, for example, how the -if- ~D O IPlb a A T IU K, Inl Elp~nl L~msrd, rlul r~pln mull ntll k ~Dpid Ur Ih~rn lu unlul&KJ pmunl ~O -··---- -- ~C· BA~Co document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 _____ company crest stands out on development packs relative to competition/existing packs on the market. In this example it Is necessary to know whether or not the perceptual results will be biased by familiarity effects, Experiment Four des- cribes a cross cultural study comparing results between Finland and the U,K, It was a complete cross-over design where both Flnnfsh and U,K, subjects were tested on both Flnnlsh and U,K, packs, It was concluded that, apart from readability of the brand name, familiarity did not affect the relative ordering of emergent pack detailing, The results also suggested that, within the westcmlsed context, If readability of brand name is of prime concern then it Is possible to test the packs in another market without pre· judldng the results. Experiment live considers the relationship of visual pr~ln· ence of pack design elements to consumer recall of those elements concluding that a strong positive relationship exists between these two factors, This finding indicates that as well as attracting attention to themselves, visually impacting design elements are more likely to be consolidated Into the memory process, The style of tachlstoscoplc testing reported here represents a highly timelcost effective addition to the process of pact development, It allows the assurance that the various symbol- ism carried by the pack Is achieving the desired effect in terms of Impact, This is no way detracts frcrn the principal Importance of the aesthetic aspect of pack design to support brand imagery, ·111- O PII ILT IV K ~~ Elpll~rll ~~~ Rpn 1~1 II b~ LLPld 190119 IIYlhl~ Cdl --- ---- '-~ BATCo document for Legal Services : Heath Canada 19 May 1999 KEY WORDS Park Design Brand Imagery Cfgarette Packs Pack Imagery Pack Prominence Memory visual Impact Recognition Print Colour Smokers Brand Name Nonsmokers Consumer Product Testing fachfstoscope Su$jective Asresnnent Ccnsumer Research Technlpues visual Perception -iv· O IPlb &A T IU K. rna Elml~mild Thi~ npon m~ul no(k ropird or llWuO IO unldunKd pnwnl 0~ ..~-~-11- · .. BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 i. INTRDOUCTIO% The tobacco Industry is increasingly faced with the problem of inability to market products using traditional labo~e·line' means. Restrictions on advertising, brought about as an indirect legistlative consequence of the smoking and health debate, mean that many of the accepted routes of communicating with the consumer have been severed. The extent of the problem varies from one market to another, At the present time the restrictions in most markets are only partial. in these markets, restrictions in comm- unicatidg through one medium can be partially compensated for by extra expenditure in another. However, in those markets where there is a total ban an advertising of tobacco products (e·4· Finland and Singapore) legislatively viable methods of communication must be developed in order to sustain dialogue with the consumer. These developments achieve even greater significance in the context of the present day market scenario where the increase in novel product propositions make adequate cormnunicati6n with the consumer probably more important than it has ever been. Advertising restrictions have, in many markets, coincided with attempts on behalf of the t6bacco industry to meet the demands of the increasing low delivery sector, Another example is where products such as low sidestream cigarettes are required to be launched without the advantage of adequate media to describe the hr'therto unfamiliar technical developments and their associated product benefits, Given the above points the consequences of an advertising ban require fullest consideration, Finland represents a good example of an advertising ban market where the ban was introduced in successive staqes,.Initially, voluntary industry agreements on advertising restrictions before the tobacco law included cinema (19691, youth's magazines (1969), direct mail (19691, television (1971), and a ban on advertising of new brands (1977), These were the precursors leading up to a total ban O on advertising anC consumer oriented promotions which took b; place from 1978. Many other contemporary markets are now ~O b IP61 I A T IU X lbd ElpullLal~d Thll r~pln mul: a a ropl~d ~lr !k~lm 1~ uuul~dnl~J prunl C'- 1 _ · _ BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 receiving similar warning signals, It is during this period that the use of other media as a means of comnunlcating the produc: should be maxinf set to its full potential, In particular, the cigarette pack Itself assumes great importance since it is likely to he one of the last remaining means of conrmunicating with the consumer in an advertising ban market, Historically, cigarette pack design has assumed a great deal of importance in the marketing process, This is because brand imagery is salient in the mind of the consumer, Certain consumer segments demand products which portray certain types of imagery, Much of the imagery has traditionally been developed through advertising, However, it has been understood that this Imagery must be carried right through to the brand, The cigarette itself offers limited opportunity for conveying brand imagery although longer length, king size (latterly luxury length) and gold bands an examples or opportnnities that have been taken, The main focus of attention, therefore, has been on the pack which carries the product, This has been achieved to such an extent that any pack designer understands intuitively that there are bounds which he can not break if he wants to convey certain messages~ For example, in the U,K, market it is established in the minds of consumers that green is associated with menthol, This is a very powerful association since It Is reinforced by its use in other product fields, Therefore, the designer who wishes to tell the consumer that the pack contains a full flavour U,S, blended type produCt would be unwise to place it in a green pack, Red is the colour which is pre· dominantly used to convey this particular image, In fact, colour has been used to considerable advantage In the creation of imagery, In the U~K~ market, for example, it is now rarely the case to find a high class product which does not carry some gold on the pack, Lower delivery products tend to be featured in blue packs, Indeed, as one moves down the delivery sector then the closer to white a pack tends to become. This is because white is generally held to convey a clean, healthy association, Q 1Pllb a I ill K. ~d Elplnl~mllrJ ~hl~ rrp~n mull nill be Coprd Q thoun w uo~ulh,nd xnonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 Brand name Is also increasingly being used to convey imagery, An example from the U,K, market is Raffles, thi s name provi des a direct associative link with the place from which it originates and, in this example, provides an inference of a classy product, Passport is an example from the Canadian market, This product incorporates reduced sidestream and the name Passport Is designed to be associated with the notion of "Passport to freedom", fhis may be a partialarly attractive notion to the Canadian smoker who has possibly been harassed more over the passive smoking issue than smokers In any other market, To quote one last example, Kool on the U,S, market was designed to Convey not only something about the product but also to appeal to the particular market segment at which it is aimed, It is recognised that the use of pack design as a means of conveying brand imagery is now firmly embedded within the understanding of the consumer, However, it is felt that given the consequences of a total ban an advertising, a pack should be designed to give the product visual impact as well as brand imagery, Thi s can be achi eved at ~o 1 evel s: (al The elements of the pack can be designed so that those that are most important in communication terms also achieve the highest level of visual impact, An example of this is Marlboro where the chevron, which has very high visual prominence on the pack, is used as a means of symbolising the product in advertising ban markets, (b) The pack itself can be designed so that it achieves more visual impact In the point of sale environment than its competitors, Approaches to the measurement of visual impact in the paint of sale environment will be the issue of seperate reporting, IJith the luxury of advertising, pack design for visual impact has been a largely neglected area of research within the tobacco O in~s:ry. Any research into pack design, therefore, needs to establish the ground rules as well as establishing a viable ~C O 1916 a A.t (I].K. Ird ElponlL~mll~d, hi rrp~n mun not be ~oprd or ~hu*n I~ un~ah~nud peoonl ---------- ·~ -- E3ATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 _ Y~Y~ technique, The first stage within the process of designing packs for visual impact is to look at them on an individual basis. io do this the technique outlined In this report uses an item of experimental eouipment known as a conventional tachistoscope, A conventional tachistoscope is a piece of portable equipment which allows the presentation of visual stimulus material for successively increasing short intervals of time, Initially. the exposure durations are so short that the stimulus material is presented below the Ulteshotd (known as sub-threshold), Threshold is the level at which exposure durations are~just long enough for the individual to actually become conciously aware of the stimulus, As the exposure durations increase different elements of the pack reach the perceptual threshold level, This level is determined by the visual prominence of those elements, In this research the time intervals'used were in the range of 0-20 milliseconds (msec), Previous pilot work had shown that within this time span the majority of individuals can see most elements on all packs tested, A series of studies using the tachistoscope ate described in this report hiqhlighting~ methodological and practical issues in tachistoscopic testing, 2, EXPERIMENT 1: THE USE OF THE TACHISTDSCOPE FOR MEASURING THE YISUAL PROMINENCE OF PACK DESIGN ELEMENTS, The initial experiment using the tachistoscope was designed to evaluate the equipment as a means of measuring the visual prominence of pack design elements, A variety of packs from the U,K, market were selected for test and they were as follows: Benson and Hedges (Middle Tar) Marlboro (low to Middle Tar) Rothmans (Middle Tar) Silk Cut (low Tar) State Express 555 Medium Mild (Low to Mittle Tar) C Ounhill (Middle Tar) 3~ Stat? Express 555 Filter Kings (Middle Tari The king size version of each of these brands was used, L· O Illb 8.~ t (U K. Ind ~lplnlL~mlltd rhll rr;vn mvrl np( br EOpgJ Or IAuwn lu unlullk~nml p~nonr i V - -- · BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 Sixty subjects Here tested an each of these pacts, The subjects were all consumers from the Charter Research Panel, Any subjects who normally wore spectacles to correct their vision were required to use them during the experiment, The order in which the packs were presented was randomised between subjects, The subject pool was broken down Into sub samples of 20 smokers, 20 non-smokers and 20 ex-smokers, Since all three smoking status groups were included in the sample some nation could be obtained an the effect of familiarity in determining the visual prominence of the design elements, ft is expected that smokers would be more familiar with the packs than ex-smokers who themselves would be more familiar than non-smokers, 2~ If) Apoaratus: iacsistoscoe~ The tachistoscope consists of a viewing device which has two fields (Figure i) (A mote technical description is given in Appendix i), The first field (A) is an adaptation field used so thatthe subjects can accommodate to the level of illumination on the second field (field Bj which is the stimulus field, The stimulus cigarette pack is placed on Field B, Illumination on both fields is provided by a circular lamp positioned around them, This ensurer constant illumination over the field, A two way mirror is positioned diagonally between the fields~ Whether the subject sees the adaptation field A or the stimulus field B when looking through the view finder is dependent upon which field is illuminated, Illumination of the fields is programmed using the control box shown in Figure 2, From the wiring in the diagram it can be seen that on pressing the start button, timer 1 is triggered, This has the effect of switching off the adaptation field and at the same time switching on the stimulus field for the length of time set on the timer, Yhcn the stimulus field has fired for tbe desired tfme interval, the Q programming switches the adaptation field back on 6 immediately, There are ether ways of proqranrming the 8 198L B.AT IUK. ad ElplnlL~mll~Q Thlr ~pln mull ntle br cplcd ~~ !huwn to unlal~nlnl p~a O~ BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 tachlstoscope: For example, the light to the adaptation field can remain on whilst the stimulus field Is exposed. If comparisons are to be made between experiments, however, then the method of prograr~ning must remain constant, For the studies in this report the tachistoscope was always programmed in the previously described way, The intensity of illumination over the fields can be selected using the Intensity button shown in Figure 2, This level of illumination should be the same for both fields and remain constant since it can affect the amount of time taken to see the design elements (see Experiment 2), This also means that if comparisons are to be made between experiments then it should be ensured that the level of itlurninat~on is constant betreen the experimenls~ Unless otherwise stated, the level of illumination cf stimulus and adaptation fields used in the experiments described in this report is 100 lux (100Pn) giving 5 lux approximately at the subjects eyes. 21 (ii) Method The subjects were familiarised with the tachistoscope and its purpose. Some background was also provided on the reasons for performing experiments on the design of cigarette packs, A pack, which was not being tested, was placed in the tachistoscope so that the subjects were able to have a practice session before being exposed to an actual test pack, T~e 'ascending method of limits' was used to expose the pact to the subjects, This involved presenting the pack for successively increasing intervals of time, One msec time intervals were used and the range was d from 1 · 20 msecs, P O IPlb BA r IVK. Ind EI~KIIL~mll~d Thll rtp~n mull nor b~ ~~prd or Ihuun h,un~urbud p~oonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 After each presentation of the stimulus material the subject was required to describe everything that had been seen, The experirnenter took precise notes on what the subject said and had the relevant cigarette pack available far reference, This was Important because often it was difficult to be absolutely sure from the subjects descriptions which design element was being referred to, The method of scoring involved noting the precise time when the subject mentioned a particular design element, For copy print an the cigarette pack two timings were noted: the first was when the subjects saw the copy and the second was when they were able to read it, There is also a score for recognition of the brand/pack, Recognition Is when the subject correctly identified the brand/?ack, ~f the subject was unfamiliar with the brand/lack then the recognition time corresponds to the time taken to read the brand name, If, however, the subject was familiar with the brandlpack they would recognise it from its design elements, In such situati.ons the subject was requested to attempt to be objective and Indicate when they could actually read the brand name. 2, (lii) Results For each cigarette pack there are four sets of results: the overall scores for all 60 subjects, and the individual scores for smokers, ex-smokers and non·smokers~ Each set of results shows the mean recognition time for the brandlpack, the mean time taken to see each design element, the standard deviations and the number of subjects who saw the design element, There is a close correspondence between mean time taken to see the element and the number of suyeets whd saw it. ihe longer It took far an elemeot to emerge then the fewer the subjects who saw it, O~ Q IPlb BL.~ IO.K, i Elmlhns~ Thll npn mu,l nM b( mllcd a,~*o to unlulhxlud pmonl -·-- --------- BAtCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 14 May 1999 In these results colour is, unless othemise stated, not taken Into consideration. This is because at time intervals of less than 30 msec often the individual is only able to respond to the light energy from the stimulus. Thus, only those cells (rcds) in the retina which register light 'on' or 'off' irrespective of colour Iscotoplc vision) are stimulated, This means that colour is very difficult to determine. Contrast between colours is much more likely to affect whether or not an individual sees any particular element, If there is a good figure ground relationship thigh contrast) between the element and Its background then it will be seen more quickly than if there is not~ (a) Benson & Hedges From Figure 3 it can be seen that the mean time taken to recognise the pack for the total sample was 9.32 msec, Uhen the sample Is broken down Into smokers, ex·smokers and non·smokers (Figures a, 5 and 6) It can be seen that for each group the time taken to recDgnise the pack was in the region of 9 msec. Of the three groups, smokers took slightly longer to recognise the pack than others, However, this difference was negligible. In all cases the first element to emerge was the brand name copy "8enson and Hedges". However, on average it took 9 exposures of increasing duration before the subjects saw anything at all on the pack, the general response at these early stages was that they could see a pack shaped block, The elements on the Benson and Hedges pack, there- fore, do not achieve high visual prominence, ,I 'Ihe scores shown in Figures 3, 4, 5, dnd 6 indiate that, Q on average, the subjects recognised the 8enson and Hedges TU pack immediately after seeing the copy but before being ;d able to read it. Many reported that they had the impression \O O IPBb BA.T IUK ~nP Elp~nl~mll~d Thll r~pon nun not b~ ropi~d or Ih~wn I~ unlulh3nml pmonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ._ __ ·9· j that It was Benson and Hedges because of the plainness of the pack. Seeing the logo on the bottom of the pack confirmed their impression, The time taken to read the brand name was also very similar between the smoking status 9fOUPS, Comparisons between the figures shows that the 1040 "Speelal Filteru was always the last element to emerge, It is quite Interesting to note that a: these short durations Individuals tend to think that all colours are red, This Is because the colour receptors In the eye (cones) ate Pore sensitive to the wavelengths associated with the red part of the colour spectrum. Red, therefore, 13 a very visually prominent colour (Chamberlin and Chamberlin (1)), Since gold has a high red saturation the subjects thought the pack was red, This may have had the effect of masking the red copy on the pack, The order In which the elements emerge Is exactly the same between the groups of subjects, The mean time taken to see them is also remarkably similar between the groups~ This suggests Chat what is being tested using this piece of equipment is an innate perceptual process which is not subject to the effects of familiarity. (b) Marlboro Figure 7 shows the overall results for the Marlboro pack, It can be seen that it took 4.00 Psec for Marlboro to be recognlsed, This Is considerably laster than the recognition time for the Benson and Hedges pack, In fact it took less than half the amount of time for Marlboro to be recognized, Comparing Figures 8, 9, and 10 It can be seen that Marlboro was recognised equally quickly by all the rmoking status grovps. Yhillt It took looronimatoly O 9 msec for any detail to be recognlsed on the Benson and Hedges plct, subjects responded very quickly to the Marlboro O I)I1 LA T (U K u~ Elpnl ~I·d fYI rpn pal adb rPyd· ~,rl * Ill~bn~ paoMIl ~-·e~--_--- BATCa document for legal Services : Haa~h Canada 19 May 1999 -10- pack i,e, at approximately 3 msec, For each set of results It can be seen that between 3 and 4,5 msec the subjects had seen the chevron, the copy for the brand name and had reebgaised the pack, fhe chevron Is a particularly prominent design element, This is due to two factors: (a) It is placed against a white background and since it has a high colour saturation presents a good figure ground relationship; and, (b) As already discussed, red is an extremely visually prominent colour, The copy for Marlboro is also prominent because the potential of the parallel lines is maximised since the eye is programmed to detect edges, The use of black on white is another example of good Hgure ground contrast, It is interesting to note that, unlike other peeks which present their parts from which the subject determines the whole, Marlboro presents itser f as a 'Gestalt', In most cases tne subject sees the majority of detail on the pack (i,e, the chevron and the copy for the brand name) almost simultaneously and consequently find the pack easily recognisable, For smokers and non-smokers land consequently the population as a whole) the chevran emerges before the brand name eopy~ However, for ex·smokers the reverse is true, On close Inspection of the figures It can be seen that the difference In time between the emergence of the two elements is very small (i,e, less than half a msec)l Consequently, It is suggested that any difference between the ordering of these elements may be artefactual. Readability of the brand name is also much faster for this 0 pack than the previous one, Correspondent with this, i ~g more subjects were able to read the brand name. There is W O IPllb a. h.T I 1'K· Ind ElpnlL~mllrd Thll repun murl nd b~ sopltd pr ~~wun to unlulhsnKJ pnonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -11· stole indication that smokers were able to read it quicker than ex-smokers who themselves were faster than non-smokers, This is quite likely to be due to factors other than familiarity, In all but one case the subjects had recagnised the pack and some gray have been more conservative in their estimate of readability than others, After the chevron and the brand name, the crest is the next element to emerge, The time taken to see the crest Is again similar for all three sub·graups. After the crest, the remaining three elements on the pack (red line, 20 class A cigarettes, Filter Cigarettes) emerge differently for each of the three groups, When looking at the time differences it can be seen that the maximum time difference in emergence between any of the three of these elements is approximately 1,5 msec, These elements, therefore, have veri lirnilat prolninence values and rhich one emerges first is quite likely to be related to chance factors, (cJ Rothmans In terms of ease of recognition, Rothmanr lies between Marlboro and Beoscn and Hedges. Upon initial presentation of the pack the subjects can see a dark area in the centre of the pack, Unlike the Marlboro chevron, however, this does not provide a clue to the brand~ Even after seeing the white brand name copy across the area the subjects still need more time to confirm that it is Aothmans. In all cases, Rothmans Is recognised after the brand name Is seen but before it is read, No other elements emerge between seeing the brand name and reading it, Therefore, the sight and style of the brand name does not act as an Immediate trigger as in the ease of Marlboro. A particularly interesting feature of this pack Ir the difference in the visual prominence of "Rothmans" and ~O b 19111 BA.T IUK. md Elml~mltd. Thlr Irpon m~ll nol br rop~d or Ihuwn to unlulh~nml ptrrPnr BATCo document for Legal Senrices : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·12- "I(ing Size". They are both in the same area of the pack and it may be thought that the font (ptint) style for "King Size" is clearer than that for 'Rothmans", However, in all eases "Rothmans" Is the second element to emerge and "King Size" is the last, This Is another example of the effect of contrast. Since Rothmans is scripted in white on a blue background It is highly visible. King Sire, on the other hand, tends to merge in with the background since it is scrlpted in gold, Another interesting finding in relation to this pack is the positioning of the red area containing the copy "filter tipped" within the emergent detail , Given i ts relative size this is a particularly prominent element of the pack design. This is again due to the use of colour and contrast. The emergence of the Crest, gold seal. and copy on the bottom of the pack is inconsistent between the groups of subjects, It appears that whllst the major elements an a pack an fairly consistent in terms of emergent detaili?g, smaller elements are more variable, However, the above mentioned elements all fall clearly into the category of low visual prominence. (d) Silk Cut On average it took r0,78 msec for the subjects to recognise Silk Cut (Figute 15), However, there was some variation between the smoking status groups, Smokers tended to take longer to ~recognise this pack than both non·aokers and en·smoiers (Figures 16, 17, and 18), Correspondi ng to this, fewer smokers were able to recognise the pack compared with ex·smokerr and nan-smokers. These findings C are contrary to a hypothesis Which suggests that familiarity plays a part in recognition of pack desicn elements at ~' these snort exposures. I W 'CrJ O IIBb BI r IU K. md ~lOrHI1L~mlltd fhll r~pon nurl no~ be Eopl~d a lorn to unluthunml pmonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 I __ -13· For all groups of subjects the first element on the pack, I,e, the dark central square is seen very quickly, However, the brand identifier positioned on the square takes much longer to emerge, This, again, is due to the use of the colour gol d, Thi s particular colour placed agai nst the purple background does not provide the Contrast necessary to make the name stand out, The subjects saw and were able to read the logo "lenson and Hedges" much faster than YSilt Cut", Even though "8enson and Hedges" is not centrally positioned and Is written in smaller writing, its contrast with the background makes it more visible than "Silk Cut", The logo "Silk Cut", "l(ing Site" and the crest are all elements which have very similar visual prominence values but the order in which they emerge differs between the smoking status groups, Since the time differences are 50 small, however, this change in ordering is not of any great significance, In all cases UYentilated Filter' is consistently the last element to emerge, This element is disadvantaged because of its relative size, positioning and colouring, (e) Ounhill Ounhill presents itself visually in a very similar fashion some time far the subjects to see any detail at all on i to the Benson and Hedges pack (Figure 9), It takes the pack, This is because the detail is presented In gold and is usually fairly fine, The amount of time taken to recognfse this pack is similar to that for Benson and Hedges, Similar to Bensnn and Hedges, and unli~e many of the a\ " other packs discussed, the detailing on this pack does ~O n,t fall Intp thne categories. Usually, there ii a ~ p i d 111116 B.l.f (UK, md Elpa~lL~Dlltd ~h~l npon mun nM Lr sopid 3r Ihucn lu unlu$uri~cll ptrroor _ ---- BATCo document fcr legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -1Q- highly visually prominent element of the pack design (e,g, the square on Silk Clt or the cfievron on Marlboro) which is seen within the first few presentatlons~ This is followed by less visually prominent elements which emerge after approximately 6 nsecs, latterly, there are those elements which emerge after approximately 12 msec which probably would not have caught the subjects attention if they had not been forced to look for them, In the case of Ounhill and Benson and Hedges there are no elements which achieve high visual prominence, Another feature that Dunhill shares with Bensan and Hedges is the close correspondence between the time it takes to recognise the pack and the first sighting of the ~ brand name, Although the subjects had an Impression of a red colour pack with a gold coloured outline they needed to see the style and positioning of the brand name before being able to recognise the pack, With other packs the subjects often recognise the brand without seeing the name by making inferences from the visible elements, Comparing across the smoking status groups (Figures 20, 21, and 22) it can be seen that the gold coloured frame is the most visible pack design feature, This is generally followed by the impression that the pack Is a red colour, However, for smokers the brand name is reported before the colour, This did not represent a tendency for smokers to see the brand name quicker since all groups tended to see it at approximately 10 msec, The reason that the brand name stood out before the Colour for the smokers was that they were slower than other groups to mention the colour of the pack, This could have been due to response bias on behalf of the subjects as through· out this experiment they were generally looking for O design elements rather than colour, rrN The crest is consistently the fourth element to emerge O IPBb a hT (U K ~nd Erpunllimll~d. Ihll r~pln mull e~~~ 5~ ~oprd or Ibwn to unlul~nml pmonl BA~Co document for legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 __ ·15· on the pack, However, amongst the other lower orde! elements (i.e. those that emerge be~een 13 and 20 msec) the ordering of emergence is variable, This tendency towards variable ordering with the less visually prominent elements of a pack has been noted previously. (~) State Express Medium Mild From Figure 23 it can be seen that this State Express pack is made up of three colours: gold, white and blue, The white acts as a background against which blue stands out very well but provides no contrast with gold, Consequently, the blue parts of the pack design are the first to be seen, Looking at the results of all three smoking status groups it can be Seen that the blue circle, blue chevron and "Medium Mild" are invariably the first three elements to emerge. The blue circle and the blue part of the chevron are seen almost simultaneously, This is true for smokers (Fiqure 24), ex-smokers (Figure 25), and non-smokers (Figure 26) with the greatest difference in time between the emergence of these two elements being only 0,35 msec, This finding probably accounts for the fact that smokers, on average, report seeing the chevron before the circle whereas the converse is true far the other smoking status groups. Given the fact that the subjects saw the major features of the pack design very early in the task it is somewhat suprising that the mean recognition time for this pack Is fairly long at around 8,27 msef, The reason for this Is open to conjecture. It could have been that the subjects who participated in this study were not particularly familiar with this brand, Another plausible explanation is that subjects were aware that this brand o was part of a family and were waiting to see elements which would allow them to positively identify this partleuiar pack. It is felt that ft is mere likely, O IPlb B.A,.T IU.K.~nd ElplnlL~mlltd, thll np~n mull not be cooled or Ib.n lu unluthnl~l plMo~ ~--- --- I BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada i9 May 1999 -16- however, that the very visually prominent elements in this pack are not readily identifiable with the brand as, for example, the Marlboro ehevron is, After the blue elements have emerged, the gold'details on the pack are seen by the subjects. The fluting around the blue circle is the next element to be seen and is consistently followed by "555", It is slightly disturbing to note that the brand identifiers take over IO msec to be seen and are among the last elements to emerge. However, as has been discussed previously with the Silk Cut brand name and with the Rothman's "King Sire", this type of result is not unexpected when gold is used an a darker colour, (g) State Express Filter Kings The total recognition time for this pack was 8.42 msec which was very similar to the medium mild pack (Figure 211, A learning effect was noted in this study with subjects recognising the second State Express pack (regardless of which one it was) more quickly than the first - this was counteracted by completely tandcmlsing the order of presentation of the packs. Comparisons between the subject groups [Figures 28, 29 and 30) show that there were differences in terms of the amount of time taken to recognise this pack, However, with reference to the familiarity hypothesis, these results were not in the expected direction, Non·smokerr were the fastest at recognlsing this pack and ex-smokers were the slowest. Unlike the other packs that have been discussed, there appears to be very little consistency between the subject ru groups in tens of ordering of energent elements, The blue elements of the pack design tend to emerge first, ~t O IPI~ B.A.T IU K. Ind ElponlLmll~d Thll npln mure not b~ copied u Ihorn w unalluriml pnonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -17- The one exception to this is for non-smokers where "Filter Kings" emerges after the fluting around the blue circle. However, in all cases the blue circle and the blue part of the chevron are the first two elements to emerge, Generally, the circle is seen first at approximately 5 msec. Ex·smdkers provide an exception to this general finding, for these subjects there Is a marginal tendency to see the blue part of the chevron before the circle, This could be accounted for by the fact that these two elements are seen almost simultaneously by this group of subjects. The brand identifiers "555" and "State Express" are very slow to emerge on this pack, In all cases they take more than 10 msec, ihis finding confirms previous findings that gold placed against a dark background does not provide the contrast necessary to achieve high visual promi nence~ Apart from the divergence of the elements based on colour (i,e, gold elements being less visually prominent than blue elements) the ordering of emergent elements is highly variable between the smoking status groups. As discussed, this finding is contrary to the results from other pack designs, Also with previous findings it was apparent that, regardless of the order of emergence, for any individual element the time taken to See it was similar between all the smoking status groups~ This tendency, however, was not seen in the data for this pack, The reason for the discrepant findings is open to conjecture, One possible reason is that after the circle and the blue chevron, all the elements have approximately equal, low visual prominence values, Gi yen this, the order In whichthe subjects mention the elements is random, it is interesting to make a direct comparison between the results for this pack and those For State Express 555 Medium Mild, For both packs the design is exactly the same but the colour combinations are different, To confirm the contribution of contrast to visual proninence repatably ~1Plb lli IU.K. ~nd Elpon)~mlld Ihll Irplr~ mull not br ropl~d or du*n IJ unluthon,rd pnonr C: BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -18- from the contribution shape the finding relating to the chevron on these packs is of fmportance, ~n both cases it is the blue pan of the chevran which emerges before the gold part even though the area covered by blue reverses from one pack to the other, An additional finding of interest with respect to the contribution of colour is that on average (Figures 23 and 27), the time taken to see the blue aspects on the pack was nearly 2 wsec faster on the Medium Mild pack than on the Filter Kings pack, This is because blue against white provides better contrast than blue against gold, On the State Express Medium Mild pack the emergence of the gold elements does show some consistency betueen groups, As well as showing consistency in order of emergence, the times Ilaken to see each individual element is very similar beDleen the smoking status groups, It is suggested that the difference in findings beCleen the two packs is related to the fact that In one case the gold is presented mainly on a white background and in the other it is presented on a yellow background, The former, because of better contrast effects, poduces more reliable results than the latter, 2, (iv) Discussion A technique has been described which allows measurement of the visual prominence of the various elements within a cigarette pack using a tachistoscope~ With this piece of equipment it is possible to present cigarette packs to a subject for gradually Increasing short durations of time, When this is done the elements of a pack emerge in order of visual prominence, The packs of seven established brands on the UIK, market were tested using this technique, Under more usual circumstances it would be expected that the C technique would be used to test novel pack designs ~O that were under consideration for a market launch. ~J B IPlb a AT IUK, md E~pJnlL~mll~d thll rtpun mull nol br coped ur ~wm to unslhunld p~oonl BA~Co document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -- - ·19· The purpose here, however, was to establish the feasibility of the technique rather than the feasibility of the packs for the market place, Nooe oi'the findings outlined here are intended to suggest that any changes in the pack designs described would be desirable, Such packs were launched with the benefit of advertising support and as a consequence the prevailing market situation at the time of launch did not demand that visual prominence of the elements be considered as a salient issue in the pack design. Having emphasised this, however, it is still possible to use the findings derived from these packs'to establish some of the ground rules involved in pack design for visual impact of its component elements, It is also important to note that although some comparisons have been made between the packs discussed it is not intended to make any conclusions about the relative visual prominence of one pack to another, The conventional tachistoscopic test is a test of the relative visual prominence of elements within any one pack and should be used solely For this purpose. Other methods are available which allow the comparison of the relative visual impact of packs and they will be described described briefly in the concluding section of this report. Sixty subjects were tested and the sample was broken down into equal numbers of smokers, non-smokers and cs·smokers, Comparisons between the subsamples allow some conrments concerning the likely effects of familiarity in this type of task, it was hypotheslsed that smokers would be more familiar with the packs tested than ex·s~okers who themselves would be more familiar than non-smokers. The results indicate that, in terms of recognition of the packs, there was no evidence to suggest that familiarity with the packs IV had any effect on perfonnance. In fact, it was often the ease that the non·smokers were able to recognise ~O O 1911 a A.f 1U K, ad Elpnl Llm~~d. TC~ r~pln nun no~ b~ ~opl~d or Ibw~n to unlu~huad pnonl --- -- e ~I BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -20- the peeks more quickly than the other smoking status groups, However, this finding concerning familiarity can only be regarded as an initial insight into the phenomena, All the subjects were from the U,K, and all the packs were from the U,K, market. Consequently, the non-smokers tested would have had same degree of contact with the stimulus material and therefore cannot be regarded as naive subjects, Comparisons were also made betwen the subgroups in terms of ordering of emergent detail. Again, it was hypothesised that familiarity with the packs may play a part in determining the order in which the pack detail was described by the subjects. From the results it appears that elements of pack designs tend to be ordered hierarchically in three tiers. There are those elements that are highly visually prominent and are seen almost immediately (at approximatley three msecs) upon presentation of the stimulus material, Slightly less prominent detail is seen at around six msecs and the fine detail on the pack tends to emerge after approximatley twelve msecs, (In the case of the latter, Yle detail would probably never be noticed with a quick glance at the packs on the point of sale gentry and it is therefore important that such detail does not carry any information which is highly relevant to the consumer e,g. brand identifiers), When comparing bet~een smoking status groups the detail falls consistently into one of these three categor~es. Hence, an element which falls into the highly visually prominent category for one group of subjects does the same for another group of subjects, Also, wi thi n any eategory,the time differences between the emergence of elements is often very small indeed. In such cases variability in order of emergence between the groups was noted. The more visually prominent the category, O however, the greater the degree of consistency of ordering between the groups, ~D a 1911 a A.t IU K md Elpunl Ilmllld ~jlll Il~,rt mull IK)I b~ CPPlld Ur 11W.n Y Unlulhlnlh~ ptncnl BATCo document for legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 _ _··· ·_ _ -21- In the case of 555 Filter Kings the above findings tended to break down, Generally, the blue elements of this pack design emerged Hrst and the gbld elements second, Comparisons bet~een the groups, however, indicated that other than the divergence of the elements in terms of colour there was very little consistency between the groups as far as emergent detailing war concerned, It was suggested that the reason for this way have been due to the fact that most of the elements have approximatley equal, low visual prominence values and given this the order in which the subjects mentioned them may be influenced by random factors. The findings relating to the hypothesised effect of familiarity suggest that the technique is testing an innate perceptual process which at these time intervals in not subject to corruption from the effects of familiarity, However, as stressed previously, it is likely that all the subjects tested had some degree of exposure to the packs used in this experiment, The only true test of the effects of familiarity on the perception of pack detail would necessitate a cross cultural study, The design would involve comparing the results of a tachistoscopic test on subjects familiar with the packs used with the results from a population In another market who had not been exposed to these particular packs. Concerning the hierarchically ordered categories of emergence, it was noted that none of the detail on the Benson and Hedges pack or the Dunhill pack falls Into the highly visually prominent category~ It was suggested that this may be the reason why, of the packs tested, these bib brands took the longest P tioe to be recognised. upon initial presentation O\ Q IPlb a h.T (U.K. ~nd ElplnlLmll~d. Thl~ rr~n mull la ~~ :~~lrd or Ibu n w un~ulhunlrd xnonl I~ BATCo document far Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ··I_I· · ·I· ·22- of these packs all the subjects saw was a plain pack shaped block, Even if they had an impression of what the pack may have been they had nothing to substantiate this an. Ilith the Marlboro pack, on the other hand, the chevron is highly visually prominent and as a result of point of sale advertising activity (which is often still allowed In markets with advertising bans) in the U,K, it provides a direct associative link with the brand, In many cases it Is only necessary for the subject to see the chevron and they know the brand is Marlboro, The use of such design detail: to symbolise the product is highly relevant in ban situations where it is not allowed to promote the brand itsel f. Far the pi oy to be effective, however, the symbol used must fall into the highly visually prominent category. The discussion so far has centred around the order of emergent detailing of pack design elements. Clearly, a most important question is what determines whether or not an element achieves high visual prominence? Is it size, positioning on the pack, colour, contrast or shape? The results reported here allow 50me Comment on the relative importance of these factors in determining the visual prominence of the design elements. The overall conclusion must be reached that contrast is the most important factor in determining visual standout. The rule is very simple, if the element has high colour contrast with its background it win stand out, if it does not then it wilt not. The importance of contrast over and above the other variables is highlighted in the following examples: (a) Size : On the 555 filter Kings pack the gold patt of the chevron is larger than the blue part but because the blue provides a better contrast with the gold O~ than the gold does with yellow it stands out better, ·I: Q) 191b 8~ r IU K, md E~punlLmatd Thll rrpn mull npl Sr ropltd ~r tbun to un~u~~unmt pnonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -23- (b) positioning on the Paek : On the Silk Cut pack the brand name is in a central position and is relatively large. However, because the copy "Beoson I`ledqes" is black on white (rather than gold on purple as seen for the brand name) it has more visual prominence despite its less advantageous positioning on the pack, (cJ Colour: Comparing between the Benson and Hedges pack and the Rothmans pack it can be seen that although the red element "Special Filter" on the former is bigger than the red element on the latter, it takes twice as long to be seen, The background on which these elements are placed clearly has an important role to play in determining the effect, (d) Shape: A comparison between the two State Express 555 packs demonsttates the contribution bf'cdntrast to visual prominence over and above the contribution of shape, In both cases it Is the blue part of the chevron which emerges first even though the area covered by blue reverses from one pack to the other, 3, EXPERIMENT 2: THE EFFECT OF CHANGING LEVELS OF ILLUMINATION ON EMERGENT PACK DETAIL When developing any technique the parameters that should be controlled need to be determined. Since the technique described here has been previously unexplored it was decided to replicate Experiment r on all the variables other than level of illumination, As far as the equipment itself is concerned this Is the only variable nhleh can be madpulated, It was felt that it was important to determine the effect of change in level of Illumination to provide guidance on the extent to which the technique should be standardised, a 1911 8.4 T (U K, md Elpni Lmlild. Thlr I~pun mull no~ b~ ;ap;ld pr Ihiivn w unrthunlld monr C~·l BATCo document for Legal Senrices ; Health Canada 19 May 1999 _ -24- Exactly the same procedure was adopted as described previously. However, on this occasion the level of illumination on both the sdnulur field and the adaptltion field wai reduced to 510 lux giving 2,5 lux at the subject's eye. A different group of sixty subjects were tested in the experiment The sample was again drawn from the Charter Research Panel and was made up of 20 smokers, 20 ex-smokers and 20 non-smckers~ The same seven packs as in Experiment 1 were used in this experiment, Note: for the Benson and Hedges and Ounhill packs a pilot study showed that under conditions of lower illumination the 20 msec upper limit on exposure duration set in Experiment 1 resulted in subjects being unable to see many of the pack design elements, It was felt that this would be disheartening for the subjects as they like to feel that they are positively contributing to the experiment. Consequently, an upper limit of 30 msec was set for these tio packs~ However, any emergent detailing after 20 msee was not included in the analysis of the results, The customary limit of 20 msec was used for all other packs included in the study, 3~ (i) Results and Oiscossion Unlike Experiment 1 the group results for smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers are not presented separately, This is because the familiarity hypothesis, as it relates to smoking status, was explored thoroughly in Experiment i, Included in the overall results for all 60 subjects is the mean recognition time for the pack, the mean time taken to see each element, the standard deviations and the number of subjects who saw the element, a,,,,,,r ,e ~ and Elpln)~mlc~d Thll rlp,n mua na~ be ropleJ nr !houn la unlulh~ullht PrlCIII I Cr BATCo document for legal SerJices : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -25· The results of this experiment are shown In figures 31 - 3f, It can be seen that, with the exception of the least visually prominent elements, the effect of reducing the level of illumination considerably Increased the amount of time taken to see each element, For the majority of elements it took over r0 msecs for them to be seen, Tables i to 7 show statistical comparisons between the results from Experiments 1 and 2, The elements are listed in the order in which they emerged in Experiment i, Student's 't' tests Here performed on the means and standard deviations and standard deviations and chi squared tests were used to make comparisons between the number of indi vf duals who saw each element. Q IPllb B,~T IU.K. Ind Etm) Lmlled. Thil rlplrl mull nor be copied or Ihurn to un~ulhxlnl pmon~ BA't~Co document for legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -26- TABLE I BENSON a HEDGES level of CHI Level of El ements t-Yalue Significance i Square ) Significance Benson & Hedges Copy 9.07 P 0,0005 9,40 P ( 0,01 · Benson d Hedges Ident 2.96 P 0,025 46,45 P ( 0.001 Enbossed B d~ H 4,47 P 0,0005 43,18 - P r 0,001 Crest 0,97 NS 32.11 P(0,001 Special Filter Copy 1,28 NS 0,13 NS O 19Lb B.h T IU K. Ind Elpx~l lilatd Ihll r~~m mull noi be ~oplrd or ~brn W un~ul)untrd p~nonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·27- fABLE 2 ~RLBORO level of CHI Level of Oements t-Yalue Significance ) Square i Significance Red Chevron 7,l2 P 010005 4,38 Pt 0.05 Marlboro Copy 9.61 P 0.0005 4,38 P r 0,05 Ident 7.44 P 0.0005 12,r9 P r 0,00l Crest 6,24 P 0,0005 14,93 P(0,001 Red Line 4,30 P 0,0005 26,41 P r O,OOt Copy at Bottom 3.90 P 0,0005 34,48 Pt 0.001 Filter Cigarettes Copy 5.01 P 0,0005 10,97 P r 0,001 O n, W O I~lb B A.~ IO.K, ad ElpPnl lunllld. This trpod aul na k lopl~d or Ihoun to un~ulluJnKJ pmon~ C= BATCo document for Legal Services ; Health Canada 19 Yay 1999 -28- TABLE 3 ROTHMANS level Of QI levet of Elements t-Yalue Significance i Square 1 Significance Blue Shape 7,51 P 0,0005 0,50 NS Rothmans Copy 9,46 P 0.0005 4,38 P r 0.05 Ident 7,56 P 0,0005 12,84 Pr O,OOt Red Shape 6,22 P 0.0005 25,65 P r 0.001 Crest 4.20 P 0.0005 34,48 P ( 0,001 Copy at Bottom 2,68 P 0,0005 j,,, P(0,001 Gold Shape 1,04 NS 1,24 NS King Size Copy 0,63 NS 18,55 P r 0,001 . Ident 2,36 P 0.025 27.78 P ~ 0,001 Q IPlb a ~.t ICK. lid ElpmlL~ml~rd Thll rrpln mull nM be coplrd or Ihuwn to unllunxJ prwn~ ~O -- BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -29- TABLE 4 SILK CUT Level of CHI Level of Elements t·Yalue Significance Square I Significance Purple Square 7.36 P 0,0005 5,17 P ( 0,05 BensDn ~ Hedges Cppy 6,05 P 0,0005 40.95 Pr 0,00l Ident 1,20 NS 48,15 P ~ 0,001 Silk Cu: Copy 3,96 P 0.0005 34,51 P ( 0l001 Ident 2.13 P 0,025 55.19 P ~ 0,001 Cres: 1,52 NS 62.25 P r 0,001 King Sire Copy 1,31 NS 56,28 P ( 0,001 Yentilated Filter Copy 0.87 NS 23,64 Pt 0,001 O [V ~ IPllb a I.T (U.K, md ~~pnl~plad. T$r I~puR mull not k eopir~ or Ihlluo to uau~h3nd pnonr Ch: CC· -----------·------·C BA~Co document for legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -30- TABLE 5 DVNHILL Level of CHI Level of Elements t-Yalue Significance i Sgare I Significance Gold Border 6.60 P 0,0005 3,34 NS Red Pack 7.46 P 0,0005 5l05 P ~ 0,05 Dunhill Copy 5,33 P 0,0005 33,34 Pt 0,001 Ident 5.23 P 0.0005 53,34 P ( 0l001 Crest 1,84 P 0l05 99l81 P ~ 0t00r Copy on Flip Top 0.80 NS 36,95 P ~ 0~001 Copy Under Crest 2.87 P 0.05 10,70 P ( 0.01 King Sire 24,45 P c 0,001 · Copy Under Ounhili 2,30 P 0,05 19l83 P;0,001 Ic ih: lu 3 IPllb B h I IU K, md Elponl~mlad Thll rrpln mull n~H be topl~J oc Ih~un to unlullunlo) ptrrcml BATCo document for legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -31- TABLE 6 555 MEDIUM MILD level of CHI Level of El ement t-YaJue Significance I Square I S~gnificance Blue Cfrcle 15.16 P 0,0005 2,32 NS Blue Chevrbn I·I? P 0,0005 4,38 Pr 0,05 Medium Mild Copy 9,06 P 0.0005 23,08 P ~ O,OQ1 ~dent 0,68 HS Q5t94 P ( 0,001 Ident 1,22 NS 40l43 Pr0,001 F1 uting 2.94 P 0,005 17,34 P ( 0.001 554 Copy 2.72 P 0,005 36,30 P ( 0,001 Ident 2,00 P 0,025 64,61 P ~ 0,001 State Express Copy 1,71 P 0,05 16,92 P ( 0.001 Gold Chevron 0,30 NS 0,10 NS Crest 0.70 NS 24.54 P r 0,001 Q W O IPlb B ~.T (U K. md Elei ~mllld Th I npm inull nbl b~ IOPD4 Jr IhuPn a un,rhmrtJ ptrwnr C3 hi BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ___ ~_ ·32- TABLE 7 555 FILTER KINGS level of CHI level of El ementr t-'iatue Significance I Square I Significance Blue Circle 8l28 P 0.0005 17.5 P ( 0l001 Blue Chevron 6,96 P 0,0005 23.08 P ( 0l001 Filter Kings Copy 5,90 P 0,0005 60.32 P ( 0,001 Ident 0,33 NS 50.14 P ( 0,001 Flu'ring 2l82 P 0.05 38.63 P ( 01001 555 Copy 2,22 P 0,025 61.69 P(0,001 Ident 0,13 NS 51.62 P(0~001 Gold Chevron 0,14 NS 1.82 NS Crest 0,14 NS 24,74 P ( 0.001 State Expres; Copy 0170 NS 37,33 Pt 0,001 Of London Copy O~11 NS O NS O h) 3 1361 B ~ T i U K md ElpnlLmlcd Thll rtpln mull *w k roplrd or Ihuu~n lu unlulh~nml p~nonr BATCo document for legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·33· From the t-values and significance levels given in the tables It can be seen that lowering the level of illumination has a considerable effect on the amount of time it takes for each element to emerge and also on the number of subjects who saw each element, Interestingly, where there are no statistically significant differences in time taken for the elements to emerge, the elements had achieved very low visual prominence values under the higher illumination level, It can be hypothesised, therefore, that the consequence of lowering the level of Illumination is to reduce the constrast effect necessary to see the more visually prominent elements, It can also be seen from the tables that as well as increasing the time takeoto see the elements a reduction In illumination also means that fewer people actually see each element, Contrary to the effect observed with time, it was noted that failure to find statistically significant effect on this measure occured on the more visually prominent items, This is not suprising when consideration is given to the fact that because these elements took much less time to emerge more subjects have time to see them within the given exposure period, The results of this study show quite clearly that level of illumination Is a variable that needs to be controlled very tightly in this type of experiment, Thi s is parti cularty important if the results of one experiment are to be compared with those of another, The level of illumination adopted in Experiment 1 was chosen to represent the approximate level of illumination to the consumer's eye when a pack is placed on a shelf under artificial lighting conditions, Thfs level Is therefore taken as the standard, O IPllb B.A T IV K. and Elputl~mll~d Thlr np~n ~nsl UI bC SOpltd JI Ihu*ll I~ un~ul~unsd pmonl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 Y ~_· ·34· 4, EXPERII?EWT 3: R METH00010GY FOR TESTING R GROUP OF PACKS UITH THE SAHE BRAND NAME The research described so far has been principally concerned with the development of the tachistoscopic technique, A series of different packs taken from the U,K, market have been tested on a one-off basis~ In the case of 555 State Express both the middle and the low to middle tar versions of the pack were tested, It was noted that with these two packs there was a strong learning effect such that, regardless of which pack it was, the subjects were always able to recognise the second pack faster t~an the first pack, This problem was overcame to some extent by completely randomising the order of presentation of the packs between subjects, In the experiments described, this solution to the problem was acceptable since the principal aim of the study was to establish the technique rather than to draw firm conclusions from the results, In many practical applications of tachistoscopic pack testing the problem of dealing with sets of packs with the same brand name will often be encountered, This is because it is often the case that In the pre-launch situation the brand name will have been selected but the actual design of the pack is under test, In this case an accurate reflection of the visual prominence of the brand name in each design is required, Consequently, randomisation of the presentation order Is not a solution to the problem since it doesn't prevent the learning effect occuring, In this experiment, therefore, a methodology is described which allows the learning effect problem to be overcome, A selection of packs from the Swiss market have been used to demonstrate the methodology~ 4, (i) Method One of the ways of overcoming the problem of learning effects is to use aatched groups of subjects. Depending an how many versions of the packs there are to be tested, an appropriate number of groups O Isdb a A T IU K Inil flpunl~mll~d hr r~wn mull ~~N b( copltJ or ~h~un I~ unlmbnml pcnonr L- BA~Co document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·35· of subjects are selected, The individuals across the groups are matched on the basis of a number of variables thought to be fmpartant witb respect to performance on this particular type of task, Each group of individuals are then tested on one version of the pack design and the results are compared across the groups in order to determine which of the packs achieves the design objectives in terms of visual prominence, The success of such a methodology is, of course, dependent on the selection of the appropriate matching variables. In this experiment the Ishihara (2) colour blindness test was used as a screening device, This is obviously an important variable when testing coloured packs. All subjects who passed the screening test subsequently had their eyesight tested using the standard Snellen Chart, The subjects were allowed to wear spectacles to correct their vision for the eyesight tests on condition that they wore them in the main experiment, On the Snellen chart a series of letters are arranged linearly so that the letters get smaller as the subject visually moves down the chart, Each line is allocated a score and this represents the angle at which the letters subtend to the eye when the subject stands twelve feet away from the chart, The left and right eyes are tested individually and the score allocated to each represents the last successful line completed, The third and final test involved measuring the subjects recognition thresholds, This is where a series of words are presented to the subjects tachlstosco~ically and the time taken to read them is recorded, Six words were selected from a word count (3) all of which have approxi~nately the same frequency of iZ1 occurence in written English, The order in which 0~ the words were presented to the subjects was randomised, O Q 1911b B.A.I IUK,lnd ElpOnl~mll~d Tb rcpun mu~ll not LI ropld ~r Ibwn I~ un~urhunlnl prwnl C~ - - ~- --~1`~ BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 c.lCC~ -36- The first word was always taken as a practice trial and its score was not included in the analysis, In this experi~ent the following sets of packs were tested: i, Marocaine Extra (A), Marocaine Super (B), Marocaine t~ild (C) 2. Lrl~ong Double Filter (A), krylong Extra Fine [B), Marylcng Natural (0) 3. ~arlsienneSuper(A), Par~sfenneMild(B), Parisienne Extra (Cj a, Brunette Extra (A), Brunette No 3 [B), Brunette Double Filter (C) 5, Muratti Ambassador MuTtifiltef (A), Muratti 2000 (8), Muratti Ambassador Extra (C) 6, Select No 2 (Ai, Select No 3 (Bj, Select (0) Since there were three packs in each set there were three groups of subjects included in the experlinent, There were twelve individuals in each group and all 36 subjects were selected from GR8DC personnel, The subjects scores on each of the criteria used to select them are shown in Appendix 2~ The full design of the experiment is outlined In Table 8. As a further precaution against possible biasing due to superior performance of aq one group, the presentation of packs from a set was counterbalanced between the groups. The packs in a setwere arbitrarily assigned A, 8, and C and these assignments are shown in the table, Reading across the table then, for Pack i,: Subject i, Group 1 received the A version; Subject 2, Group 2 the 8 version; and Subject 3, Group 3 the C version, Although Subject 7 was also in Group 1 he received the B version of pack i, A full description of the design of the eaperiaent ir given in Rppendix 3~ e IPlb a A.T (U.K. u~d Elpnl~mll~d The rc~kln mull nn(k EOplrd or ~hurn lu un~abliad p~oal BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ~lguC~m~cU*~m~ ~J~~·OUU~(DDUU n~uou~~~omu~~m u 3 4 o anmu~oe~~~~um~ a YI~~II~U~4~~UU ~IUau~~cU~U44· m*OY·~~b~OnO ~~~NNN4m~ OI~(P~UU~~m~UU alUDU~40UdU4C~ ~rmu~~~~mu~om~ u O a~~4mpOu~~ePuu · u 4 M1~~~(~~U~U~~~ n ml2 ~I w r c ~I~U~UI~P~~~m( X #~p~r~Om~~N~ W ~~~kY#NmA UOU~*mum~~~m ·U~~~~IU~Ub~ wb~~m~~U4~~mUU Y a u 1 c LmU·U~~mU~U~~d a (u ·u4um~mu~Um~ ~14~0·UU~4··UU ~9~0d~·U~~~* ~~~~YNNmn U s a c I . L· c. c O II 1L~ ~1 1~ b~lLI~ Ik ly~ r· Ml ~ opl o( ~rl r ·1IYrd tan BATCo document for Legal SeNlees : Health Canada 19 May 1899 - ·38- The procedure adopted in this experiment was the same as described for Experiment 1, Thus, subjects were given one pack to practice on so that they could familiarise with the technique, Using the ascending method of limits, each pack was presented to the subject for a maximum of 20 msec, As with the previous experiments described, this study was not designed to make rec~rmendations concerning the designs of the test packs used. However, since in this study direct comparisons are posssible be~een a number of very similar pack designs some useful comments can be made concerning visual prominence, It is once again stressed that these comments are made purely as an aid to establishing principles for pack design, It is recognised that these products are from a market where the scenario at the time of launch did not demand pack design For visual impact to be considered as a primary factor. Also, when considering the recognition scores for these packs the fact that some of the packs were familiar to many of the subjects tested whils: others were totally unfamiliar must be taken into consideration. a, (ii) Results The results are presented in the standard format where for each pack the following data is given: (a) The overall recognition score for the pack; (b) The mean time taken to see each element and the standard deviation; and, (cJ The number of subjects who saw each element, 8 IPllb a h T I 1.K ,nJ E~plnl~mlsa. ~bi r~pon mat n~l L~ ropild or I$un w ~nlulhond ptoool BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -39· Ihe findings are presented an a pack set basis. In most cases the paints made serve to reiterate those made in the discussion of results from Experiment i. Again, it Rust be emphasised that the findings do not Indicate which of the packs in a set will be more visible on the point of sale gaotry but rather which elements within any single pack will be more visible~ (a) Marocaine Marocaine Mild and Marocaine Super provide an interesting comparison betueen two packs that are very similar in design (Figures 38 and 39), In the case of the former, the reC stripe on the pack runs through the Y#R" of th, brand name, In the case of the latter, it is the UROCAINE' section of the brand name which is embedded in the stripe~ In bath examples this has the effect of splitting the brand name such that the part which is positioned on the white area is considerably easier to see than that part positioned on the red area, This is obviously a contrast effect which is exacerbated by the particular colour combinations used. As stated previously, at very low exposure durations the eye is particularly sensitive to the red wavelengths in the colour spectrum, Gold is a Colour with a high saturation of red. Consequently, the brand name is stimulating the cells responsive to red and, therefore, in the area where It 15 covered by a red stripe (which is also stimulating the red responsive cells) it becomes indistinguishable from the background, The brand name on the Marocaine pack is seen very quickly and read at least five milli· seconds earlier than on the other tYIO packs. This indicates that the above findings were not due to such factors as, for example, Marocaine presenting itself as a difficult name to pronounce (Figure 40), O IPlb a A.~ 1U K ad Elplnl 11Plltl. T$r rtp~n mull na~ bc;oplrd or ~h~un II, unlulhonrrJ pnow L*_: BAT~o document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 I __·_ I· -40· The masking effect of the red background against gold can also be seen with respect to the copy "Maryland Fin", This is featured on all three packs but is con~letely masked on the Marocaine Super pack, (b) Marylonq It is difficult to attempt to make comparisons between the Marylong packs as they present very different designs (Figures 41, 42, and 13), However, it can be seen that the black on white for the brand name on the double filter pack is slightly more effective than the white on red in the natufel pack. The female head on the naturel pack is more visually prominent than on the double filter pack, This is probably due to a combination of effects related to contrast, site and positioning on the pack, (c) Parisienne In comparing the three Parisienne peeks (Figures 44, 45 and 46) there Is some suggestion that a white figure on a dark background is less visually discernable than a dark figure on a light background, Looking at the packs, it can be seen that the highest contrast betreen brand name and background is found on the "extra" pack, It is on this pack that the faster emergence time for brand name is observed, Also, although the brand name on the "super" pack begins to emerge at approximately the same time as on the "mild" pack, it takes longer to be able to read it, However, the difference between the results for these two packs could be accounted for by such factors as the font style and positioning of the brand name on the pack, O IPBb 8.6.T IU K mJ Elpnl Lmllrd. Thll rcyun mull npl 5( Lbplld or )nllwn lu UIIUlblllUI pc~~nr BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ~-c~C·e~ -41- (d) Brunette The findings from the Brunette pac~s (Figutes 47, 48 and 49) suggest that when tn~vldu~s are presented with stimulus material they look for design detail and it is the most visually prominent design detail which stands out first. The brand name on all three packs Is presented in exactly the same colour, font style, position, and on the same colour background, However, on Brunette Extra and Brunette No 3 It Is the background which is seen first but on Brunette Oouble Filter It is the brand name Itself, It Is suggested that the ieasan for this is that the background on the former two packs form part of the design detail which in itself Is more prominent than the brand name. On the Oouble Filter pack, on the other hand, the background Is not a design detail but part of the ovenll eolcur of the pack. (e) Muratti Ambassador A comparison between Muratti Multifilter (Figure 50) and Muratti Extra (Flgure 521 tends to confirm that a dark figure presented on a light background Is more visually prominent than the reverse style of presentation, The brand name on these two packs is exactly the same, the font style is the same and so are the colour combinations used, However, on the "extra" pack the brand name is presented on a light background whilst an the "multlffltern pack It Is presented on a dark background. This has the effect not only of making the brand name on the latter more difficult to see initially but also making it more~dlfficult to read, Orawlng from the results on the Brunette pack, It is suggested that this effect is probably accentuated when the dark background on which the object is placed forms part of the pack detail itself, TurdnS now to the "ZCOo" pack (Figure 51) it O can be seen that the most visually prominent element on N this pdck Is the "2000' ftseif. It fs interesting to d lPeb aLi lur lnd Elp~ La*L T~I ppn *nr id h;grd · ~~~I C Illwbn!d pnll BATCo d6cument for legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 .42- speculate as to the reason for this finding, One possibility is that it is presented in the colour red which, as we have d~se~ssed, is highly visually prominent, Another possibility is that the use of the double edged lettering significantly contributed to the effect. (f) Select The now familiar contrast effect is once again seen to be operating on the Select packs (Figures 53, 5B and 5jj. Although it is not shown in the presentation of the rewlts, the stripe which runs through the brand name had a masking effect which made it much more difficult to read, The difference in findings betreen the Na,2 and the No,3 packs reflects this masking effect, On the latter pack No~3 was seen and read quite quickly but the No, 2, which was placed on the stripe, was much more difficult both to see and to read, 4, (iii) DISCUSSION A methodology has been described where the probla of the learning effect when testing packs with the same brand name is counteracted by using matched groups of subj ects ~ The subjects were screened for colour blindness and then matched on a standard eye · sight test and on recognition threshold scores, As a further precaution against the possibility that the subjects in any one group may perform better than those in another, the presentation of the pacts was counter-balanced across the groups and between the individuals. Six sets of Swiss pack families were used in the study. The results of the study Here reported only in so n, far as they provide further Infcmation towards ;d guidelines Concerning factors which contribute to ~G O IPtb a h T II' K ~nlElpun)limllld Ihl~ llpln mull nn k ~qltd pr ILJun lu unlulhunrrd pmMI BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -43- visual impact of pack design elements. The effect of contrast was reaffirmed and the masking effect of certain colours was highlighted. An additional finding of interest was the superiority, in visual impact terms, of placing a dark figure on a light background as opposed to a light figure on a dark background~ This point is particularly relevant if the dark background on which the figure is placed foms pan of the pack detail itself, 5. EXPERI?1EEIT a: THE EFFECTS OF FAE1I1IARITY ON PERCEPTION11F PACK DESIGN ELEMENTS · A CROSS CULTURAL STVOY The effect of familiarity on perception of pack design elements was briefly discussed in Experiment 1 where the results of smokers, non-smokers and ex·smokers were compared. It was hypothesised that smokers would be more familiar with the packs than ex·smo~ers who themselves would be more familiar than non·smokers~ From the cross comparisons there was no suggestion that familiarity had any effect on either the order in which the elements emerged or on the overall recognifon scores for the packs, In fact, it was often the case that non-smokers were, on average, quicker to recognise some of the packs than smokers, However, it was concluded that since all the packs were from the U,K, market and all the subjects were from the same market that this was not a true test of familiarity, This was because all subjects would have had some degree of exposure to the packs tested. The question of the effect of familiarity obviously assumes a great deal of inportaoce in those situations where it Is desired to compare the visual prominence values of those elements an a new pack design with those on packs already existing In the market. Although it would be rore usual to O use the tachistoscopic test in a situation where several new N pack design options are to be csrr;pared it is often the case ;d b IPllb a Ar (U K. Ind Elponl~rmrd Th~l rrpon mull not be fopid i~r Ihuwn 1~ unlu~brild p~rxlnl - BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·45· For the first 4 packs seventy tro U,K, smokers and thirty Finnish smokers were tested, On the last three packs, however, only 30 U.K, subject; were tested, In the second stage the results of 20 U,K, smokers and 30 Finnish smokers are compared on each of the following packs taken from the U,K, market: 1, Benson g Hedges Middle Tar 21 Silk Cut low Tar 3, Rothmans Middle lar a, Ounhill Middle Tar 5, State Express Filter Kings Middle Tar 6, State Express Medium Mild low to Middle Tar In both stages the research with the Finnish consumers was conrmissioned by Suomen Tupakka Oy to IFH Research Intefnatiandi Oy, The taehiit6scope used by iiX was to the same specification as that described in Appendix 1, The procedure adopted was as described in Experiment 1, One difference be~een the work conducted in Finland and in the U,K, was related to recognition of the Finnish packs, In both the U,K, and Finland the recognition score for the respective unfamiliar packs is actually the time taken to read the brand name, However with respect to the familiar packs, in Finland no distinction is made between being able to read the brand name and recognirf ng i t. In the U,K, study three scores are given for the brand name and they are: i, The time taken for the name to emerge; 2, The time taken to recognise the pack; and 3, The time taken to read the brand name. The latter score represented the time at which the O subjects felt that they could read the brand naree ,N even though they may have recognised the brand irom L~e p~c~ design prpiiouily. ~ O 1Pdb a ~ t (C.K. *d Elpon) L~mll~l. ~hll npun murl no~ be ropl~J s~ Lrn to unu~n~nld ~rwnr ·· · E3ATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -47- Form Similar to tile Belmont pack it on be seen from Figures 58 and 59 that the order of emergence of elements for bath sets of subjects is exactly the same, Another feature that this pack shares with Belm6nt is the ease of readability of the brand name, Again a large majority of the U,K, subjects were able to read this unfamiliar brand name, Although the time taken Ed db this was longer than far Belmont, The brand name on the pack is well positioned as it is the most visually prominent element of the pack design, North State Mild Figures 60 and 61 show the results for North State Mild from Finnish and U~K, nokers respectively. the order in which the elements emerge is the same For both sets of subjects, However, an effect of familiarity can be seen in the results from this pack, In the case of the Finnish subjects the vast majority of individuals are able to recognise this pack as North State, However, the results from the U,K, subjects, where only half were able to read the brand name, suggest that in many cases the Finnisn subjects were able to guess the brand from factors other than being able to read the brand name, The effect of familiarity on thi s pack, therefore, seems to be in relation to the recoqnisability of the brand rather than to the order of emergence of the elements, Kevytsavuke 5 and Ultra Kevyt 1 Kevytsavuke 5 (Figures 62 and 63j and Ultra Kevyt 1 (Figures 64 and 65) are very similar in design, The O main feature of the design is the brand identifer : 5 6; and 1 respectively. ihe use~of numbers to convey the brand name In an advertising ban market like Finland r~ O 198b B.A.T (U.K ~nd Elpw~i ~Mod, hil rr~XI mun M br ropwd or Ibwn to umulbnlnl prdonr BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -49- subjects seeing the gold border Parginally (0,1 osec) faster than the number r, Again the use of a number as the brand identifier sem to be successful in terms of identifying the brand since a high number of U,K, subjects were able to do this, However, the percentage of subjects correctly Identifying the number 1 is lower on this pack for the U,K, subjects than it was on the Ultra Kevyt 1 pack, It is thought that this is due to the differences in shape of the two number i's and to the fact that an the Kevytsavuke pack the figure ground relationship between the 1 and its background is obscured to some extent by the inclusion of the gold border in the background, It is also interesting to compare the visual prominence of the crest on this pack with the one on the Ultra Xevyt pack, Although the two crests are positioned in the same location on the pack, the crest on the Kevytsavuke pack takes much longer to be seen, The explanation for this finding lies in the relative lack of contrast be~een the crest and its background on the Kevytsavuke pack, ~arlborol~ghts The Hay in which the data for the Finnish subjects (Figure 68) and for the U,K, subjects (Figure 69) is presented would suggest that there is one difference bebreen the two groups with respect to order of emergence of the elements, It appears that the copy "lights" emerges faster for the U,K, subjects than for the Finnish subjects. This, however, is due to the slight differences in procedure mentioned earlier, In the case of the Finnish subjects the score given for "Ligi~ts" represents the time taken to read the word, For the U.K, O subjects, however, ~o scares are given: one for the time taken to see the copy "lights" and the other for the time ~T! taken to read it, If the latter score only had been given, 8 lgal IA.T i U K, and ErmlL~mHrd. Thl~ ep3n murl not be roplrd ~r li~sn to unlulh3nKI1 p(nmt · -· -- BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -51· results it can be seen that only two subjects were able to read the brand name, This suggests that the font style and contrast provided by the brand name is not particularly readable, It also tends to suggest that many of the U,K, subjects would never have been able to read the brand name "Benson 8 Hedges" unless they had known that it was Benson and Hedges. A similar result was observed with respect to Silk Cut (Figures 16 and 71) where only one Finnish subject Has able to correctly identify the brand, Again it is noted that the order of emergence of the elements between the two groups of subjects is very similar, However, in this case there is one slight difference be~v~een the results with the crest being seen before the Benson and Hedges copy by the Finnish subjects and vice versa for the U,K, subjects, Comparing the results for the two groups of subjects on the Rothmans pack (Figures 12 and 72) it can be seen that the order of emergence of elements is identical, It is also noted that more Finnish subjects were able to read the copy "RbEhmans" than were able to read "Benson and Hedges" or "Silk Cut", The results for Dunhill IFigures 20 and 73), State Express Filter Kings (Figures 28 and 741 and State Express Medium Mild (Figures 24 and 75) tend to be slightly more conflicting than the results on any ether packs that have been researched, This tendency towards conflicting results was also noted when comparisons an these packs were made between the groups of U,K, subjects in Experiment i, Comparisons between the results of the Finnish and the U,K, consumers suggest that for the more visually prominent elements the order of emergence Is the same, However, as we move down the scale of visual prominence the order ai emergence tends to vary slightly between the two groups, Reasons for this have been suggested G\ In Experiment i, ~C B 198b B.hT IU.K, aP Elplnl bmah. Thl~ rcpon mull not br coplld or Ihu·n ~u unlulbn!~d pmonl ~ BAfCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -53· Overall the results would suggest that, as far as European cultures are concerned, familiarity does not affect the relative visual prominence of pack design elements. Apart from a fen exceptions (usually on Tow prominence elements) the order in which the design elements were seen by Finnish and U,K, subjects was exactly the same on both Finnish and U,K, packs, The one area where familiarity does play a part is on recognit~onlreadahility of the brand name, Although the order in which the copy of the brand name was seen was the same regardless of whether the subjects were familiar with the pack or not, the ability to read it was very dependent on familiarity, Benson L Hedges and Silk Cut are good examples of this type of effect, The ordering of emergence of these brand names was the same for both groups of subjects, However, many more U.K, subjects were able to read the brand names than Finnish subjects, If the U,K, subjects had not known what the brand name was then it is likely that they also would not have been able to read its The cultural independence of perception of emergent detailing indicates that if readability of the brand name is of particular interest to the pack designer then within the westernised context at least it is quite feasible to test the packs in another market, This is because the findings reported here highlight the fact that apart from the readability of the brand name, the results obtained on a tachistoscopic test in one market would be the same as those obtained in another market whether or not the subjects are familiar with the pack design, How far these results are applicable to non westernlsed markets where the reading style is completely different Is a matter for further research, V~ O IPII1 a I.T IUK. ~nd Etpnl limlal. Tbr rrpln mull not be roped Or ~hJvn I~ unlstklnd pmPnl BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -55- which the elements were recalled may correlate highll with visual prominence of pack design elements~ Consequently, as well as noting'whether or not an element was recalled, the order In which the elements were recalled was noted, a (Ii) RESULTS For each cigarette pack a table shows which elements were recalled and how often, the order in which they were recalled (using the average rank scores) and the rank scares according to visual prominence las measured in Experiment i), (a) Marlboro TABLE 1 Average Rank Rank Scores No, of Times Scores According Element Recalled According to visual to Recall Prominence Red Chevron 20 1.00 Marlboro 20 2.05 2 Crest 4 2,75 3 in contrast to the Benson and Hedges pack where all the elements an the pack were recalled by at least some of the subjects, only three elements on the Marlboro pack were ever recalled (Tabt~e IJ, These were the red chevren, the brand name copy Marlboro and the crest, The findings of Experiment 1 indicate that these three elements are also the most visually B 1911 a ~T IV K. ~nd Elponl~mlud th~l apon mun nM k loped or Shown WunlaluKlled pnonr Q BATCo document far Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·57- scores for visual prominence are somewhat displaced relative to those for recall, The first reason for this is that cPtou~ was not measured using the tachistoscbpe, However, if it had been measured it certainly would not have been the first aspect of the pack to be noticed since gold is not a highly visually prominent colour, The reason for this apparent discrepancy between the visual prominence of gold and it's cognitive salience as fat as Benson and Hedges is concerned is most likely due to advertising influence. Cold is the theme of all Benson and Hedges advertisements in the U,K, The second discrepancy in comparing visual and recall order concerns the embossed "B & H" emhlem, visually this has more prominence than it has cognitively. However, it should be noted that although the emblem was mentioned before the crest and "Special Filter" it was actually recalled by fewer subjects, Apart from this, however, of the common elements measured in both experiments the results tend to support the hypothesis that visual prominence is related to recall salience, (c) Rothmans TABLE 3 Average Rant Rank Scores Nc, of Times Scores According Element Recalled According to visual to Recall Prominence Blue Central Area 19 1.00 Rothmans IS 2,20 2 Crest B 2,43 4 B 1916 B.A.t (UK, end Elp~nlLmlld 'TBI ttpo~ mun nnl be copied or !~c~cn a unluthonrht pmon O '~L--------------···· BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 .59. contrary to the tachistoscoplcally produced hierarchy of elements in terms of visual pramlnenee, If it Is hypothesised that the most visually prominent elements are recalled first and more often then, based on the results of Experiment i, it would be expected that "8enson and Hedges" would fare better than USllk Cut", It is suggested that one of the contributing factors to this result may have been due to the use of familiar brands, The more appropriate experimental design would have been to show the subjects hitherto unfamiliar brands for a specified period of time and then to ask them to recall them. In this experiment, however, the subjects were required to recall the brand USilk Cut". This type of task obviously may enhance recall of the brand name over the above small detail such as "8eoson and Hedges", (e) Ounhill TABLE 5 Average Rank Rank Scores No, of Times Scores According Element Recalled Accordi ng to Yi sual to Recall Prominence Red Pack 20 1.10 2 Cold outline 18 1.94 1 Ounhill 18 2.89 3 Crest 2 3,00 4 O h, O IPII B.~ T IU K md ~~snlLimlld Th i rran mull nFI bl ropi~d pr ~huYn * ualu~lwod pnonl O h; -- BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 -61- TABLE 7 Average Rank Rank Scores No, of Times Scores According Element Recalled According to visual to Recall Prominence Oark Circle 7 1,43 1 555 12 1,50 a Yellow Pack 3 2,00 Blue Chevron a 2,25 2 Fluting 4 2.25 3 Gold Chevron 2 2,50 5 State Express B 2.63 6 From Tables 6 and 7 it can be seen that both State Express packs simulate contradictory recall data, For the Medium Mild pack at least half the subjects never recalled any pack detail whatsoever~ One of the reasons for this may have been due to lack of familiarity since this pack had been withdrawn from the U.K. market for at least six months by the time this experiment was conducted, Of those subjects who did remember some design aspects of the State Express 555 pack (Table 6) it can be seen that the blue chevron was recalled more often than any other element with a tendency for it to be recalled first~ However, apart from this fairly consistent result the other elements were not only recalled just a few times but the order In which they were recalled was highly variable, O 0\ O d IPlb B.A.T IU.K.~nd Elpun)~mll~d fhlr ~ran mull m~l be sopird or Ikwn 13 unelbnrr~l pcnonl C~J BATCo document for Legal services : Health Canada 19 Nlay 1999 -62· The lack of consistency in the recall results is also apparent in the data for the 555 filter kings pack. Although tfie dark circle tends to be'recalled first, "555" was recalled mote often, However, as indicated far the Silk Cut pack, it is open to conjecture whether the relatively high recall of this element was stimulated by the type of task. ihis coimnent is also relevant to the relatively high recall rate seen for the logo 'State Express", Apart from these three elements the recall rate was comparatively low for the design elements on the pack~ Additionally, it can be seen from the average rank scores that the order in which the elements were recalled was highly variable between subjects. As well as a failure to find consistency in order of recall of the design elements from these packs it was noted in Experiment i that comparisons be~een the experimental sub-groups (Smckers, Ex- smokers, and Non-smokers) revealed that there was little consistency in terms of their ordering in visual prominence terms. It was suggested that this result may be related to the fact that many of the elements on these Packs are all of equal, low visual prominence, It is possible that corresponding to this the elements all have equal, tow cognitive salience and it is for this reason that order of recall is highly discrepant between subjects, 6, (ili) OISCVSSION This experiment represents a preliminary enquiry into the relationship between visual prominence and cognitive salience. The underlying theme of this type of investigation Is to address the question as C to whether or not tne achievement of high visual prominence of particular important elements within O IPllb B.~.f IV.K. ~n~ ElpnlLlmli~d lhil rcpon mull not br copied or Ihurn ~~ un~uthunlrd p~nont h BATCo document for legal Senrices : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·63- a pack design will be associated with the consolidation of that information (whether it be a symbol, brand name, corporate crest etc.) by an individual, The experiment reported here can only be regarded as a preliminary investigation because pi the ad-hoc manner in which it was designed, The U.K. packs used in the tachistoscopic Experiment 1 were tested on a number of U,K, Smokersl There are several confounding variables which may cause pit·falls in this type of approach where subjects are tested on already existing brands from the market place, The first uncontrollable variable is due to the effect of familiarity, Some of the subjects tested may be more famitiar with the brands than others, It was suggested, for example, that the results relating to "55j Medium Mild" may be related to the'fact that this brand had been withdrawn from the market at least 6 months before this particular experiment was conducted, In the situation where the subjects are tested an novel pack designs (i~e, inodeTling a new launch situation) the confounding effects of familiarity would be negated and a more accurate reflection of the relationship between visual prominence and recall salience would be gained thereby, One further finding which may have been due to the effect of familiarity was related to the recall of crests, Invariably a crest was recalled by at least one individual for each pack, It is suggested that this may have been due to a minority of individuals believing (puite rightly) that all cigarette packs in the O,K~ feature a crest rather than actual recall of any particular crest, Q IPlb BA.T IV K. md El~unlLlmllrd. Thlr Icp,n mull n~c~l b~ ro~rd ~r rhJwn lu unlullwnld pmonr BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 ·65- It is also interesting to note that the greatest inconsistencies betreen the subjects in terms of order of recall were found on those packs where there had been difficulty in obtaining consistency in terms of rank ordering of visual prominence of the elements between the sub·groups In Experiment i, Additionally, on these packs (State Express 555 filter Kings and State Express 553 Medium Mild) although a large number of elements were recalled in total each element was actually recalled by very few subjects. This finding is contrary to the results of other packs where a small number of highly visually prominent elements were recalled by a large number of subjects. It was suggested that the reason for the above finding may be that low visual prominence elements correspondingly achieve low cognitive salience, 7, SUMMARY MD CONCIUStDNS One of the growing problems facing the tobacco industry In developed markets is the increasing restrictions on advertising. This is exacerbated in the context of a gradual move on behalf of the industry to develop innovative products, On this basis it is perhaps more important than ever that communication with the consumer is maintained~ Given the above scenario the cigarette pack itself assumes a great deal of importance since this istikely to be the last means of communicating with the consumer to be affected. As far as pack design itself Is concerned, there are two aspects which are important and they ate brand imagery and visual impact. Vith the luxury of advertising most of our effort in pack design has been on the side of Imagery. Thus, the imagery created using the advertisng media is carried right through to the pack design itself. Brand imagery has now been developed to such an extent that as O~ 0 IPBb a b.T IU K md Elpunl l;milrl. Thil rrpln mull not b~ roplrd or rh3wn Il,una~hun'rrd pmoa C3 BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 19 May 1999 The aim of the research described in the report has been to develop the methodology involved in tachistoscopic testing, However, the results have been used to establish some of the principles involved in the design of cigarette packs in order to achieve visual prominence of the elements. In the first experiment the precise methodology involved in tachistoscopic testing was outlined, Sixty UIK, subjects were tested an seven U,K, packs. The subject sample us broken down into three groups of twenty smokers, non-smokers and ex·smokers, The sub division of the samples allowed a cursory look at the effects of familiarity in this type of task. It was hypothesised that smokers would be more familiar with the packs than ex-smokers who themselves would be more familiar than non-smokers, It was predicted that if familiarity did affect performance it would take one of two forms. Firstly, it was felt that if consumers recognised a pack they would describe the elements of the pack design as they recall them rather than as they saw them, Secondly, it was predicted that familiarity would enhance the recognition scares on these packs, The results were discussed in terms of the familiarity effect and of the factors which contribute to the visual prominence of the design elements, As far as familiarity was concerned it was concluded that in this sample there appeared to be no effect at all, Comparisons be~een the subgroups presented no evidence to suggest that the more familiar subjects saw the pack design elements any df fferently than the less familiar subjects. The order of emergence of the elements between the groups was very similar, Basically, the design elements an the packs tended to fall into three categories. There were the highly visually prominent elements that emerged after approximately three