How We Use AI to Perfect Creative Work
The design of any label in the highly competitive alcohol industry takes time to achieve perfection. Studies have repeatedly shown that the vast majority of consumer buy the first bottle that grabs their eye in retail, regardless of how many other bottles they end up looking at. They also have found that the longer a consumer looks at a bottle, the more likely they are to purchase it. That’s a clear indicator that the importance of an eye-catching label is not negligible, but how does an independent alcohol brand even begin to think about testing this?
Enter Visual Attention Software (VAS), an AI model that analyzes what consumers see visually and in what order. There are a number of VAS software options on the market, some of which have been around for almost a 15 years. You can have it analyze a photo of your own bottle, and you can see what parts of your brand or packaging are the most eye-catching, which can mean you’re able to focus your marketing efforts on the parts that your consumers are actually drawn to. VAS will play a critical role in marketing and branding, aiding craft liquor brands and distilleries in creating labels that capture attention and create brand recognition while simultaneously cutting down the rounds of revisions needed with designers and creative partners.
There are two specific scenarios where you would want to use VAS, which we’ll break down below:
Goal 1: Get undecided consumers to buy your bottle over your competitor’s
Research has shown that a majority of the time, consumers buy the first bottle they see and look at the longest, full stop. So, how do you capture those undecided consumers who are making decisions based on the type of alcohol and pure aesthetics?
Understanding VAS Technology
VAS can aid in label design by pinpointing the spots on the label that will attract the most consumer attention. VAS, in this respect, gives data on fixation points — the inertia of a viewer’s glance — and gaze duration — how long it stays there. This information is instrumental in testing and optimizing label designs, and previously took organizing visual eye test focus groups that were costly and time-consuming. With VAS, you can get your answer instantly and iterate quickly. For example, if you want consumers to see your brand name first, you can use VAS to test (like a visual spell-check) your labels and confirm that your message is coming across clearly and that your goal of brand recognition is being achieved. If it isn’t the first (or even second) place a consumer looks at on your bottle, then you can adjust the layout design in several ways to make sure your brand stands out.
Comparing Your Label to Competitors
To make your label stand out on a retail shelf or bar, you must compare it with samples from your competitors’ labels using VAS. Here, you will be running a comparative analysis using VAS to test some of the significant metrics, like fixation count and gaze duration. These metrics give you cold, hard numbers to indicate how your label objectively performs on the shelf or bar with regard to grabbing attention compared to others. It’s best to use images of competitor bottles that are usually found next to yours on a shelf or bar. You can also walk into any retail store or bar your product is in and take a photo of your bottle and a few competitors next to it to get quick metrics and results.
Note that it doesn’t matter if your bottle is in the center, on the left, or right. VAS looks for anomalies, or any time there’s a disruption to the visual pattern.
Eye-Catching Labels in On & Off-premise
Success can be reflected in brand recognition and consumer engagement, which can help to drive revenue. For example, a craft brewery employed VAS to revisit the design of their beer labels. At first, their labels didn’t really stand out, and blended into the vast ocean of competition. Then they took the insights from VAS and started redoing their can design, focusing on contrasting colors and striking typography to create an anomaly when placed next to their competitors. This new label gained far more attention from consumers, hence higher brand recall and even increased sales. By this example, you can measure the success of VAS by brand recognition (or recall) and the increase in sales revenue.
Bringing Improvements to Life with VAS Findings
Considering the VAS data, in order to enhance label readability, brands could do any of the following:
Apply high color contrast between elements on your label to stand out.
Minimize text: Use text only when needed; when you do, ensure it is easily readable and legible.
Bring out major elements — primarily your brand name and brand logo.
Avoid clutter: Utilizing white space is more powerful than you can imagine and improves general processing fluency.
Goal 2: Minimize brand guesswork in marketing efforts
VAS also identifies which elements on a bottle capture the human gaze the most. Often, these would be bright colors, unusual shapes, icons, and appealing photos. Still, sometimes you can be surprised by the results, thinking that perhaps a detailed historical illustration was the most exciting brand element to a consumer when it could actually be a collection of different colored waxes each bottle is dipped in. Knowing what your consumers are most attracted to ensures that the key brand elements across marketing materials are highlighted and consistently brought out.
Using VAS Insights in Marketing
Once key brand features have been identified, brands should incorporate them in every visual communication, from ads to social media posts to packaging. This consistent visual branding supports brand recognition and works to remind consumers of a brand at the moment of purchase.
Building Brand Recognition
One premium vodka brand utilized VAS to discover that its frosted glass bottle and minimalist logo were the real winners in consumers’ eyes. The brand further concentrated on marketing these features, gaining significant lifts in brand awareness and consumer recall. This consistent focus across all channels drove more brand loyalty and repeat purchases while minimizing marketing design guesswork and, ultimately, costs.
Best Practices for Using VAS in Brand & Marketing
Here are the best practices for getting the most out of VAS:
Consistent branding: Check that the desirable characteristics that VAS pinpoints are present within all marketing materials. This increases brand recognition.
Multi-platform integration: Use insights from VAS over multiple media platforms like social media and advertising to ensure brand consistency.
Test before printing: Use VAS to test all of your label and marketing materials before printing or posting. This ensures your efforts and budgets don’t go to waste.
Keep updating: Continue using VAS to test and develop marketing strategies as consumer preferences change.
Conclusion
Visual Attention Software provides a low-cost and efficient way for independent spirits brands looking to grow their brand. Embracing time-tested AI-driven tools like VAS is not a trend but a strategic move toward those long-sought goals in this competitive alcohol industry. After all, you wouldn’t print a book without spell-checking, would you?