With over 30 years of experience, REAL Insight has led projects across a variety of industries that successfully identified consumer behavior and expectations, helping CPG companies, retailers, and other clients understand how consumers act in a variety of contexts.
We've recently seen major CPG companies, including Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Nestlé USA, and J.M. Smucker, commit to eliminating artificial dyes from their foods and beverages. This move is certainly exciting for consumers, and for the world, but it also presents significant risks for these brands. Initiatives like this often highlight a considerable say-do gap…
One of the most common things we hear from new clients is, “We have all the data, but we still don’t understand why things are performing the way they are.” Why is the "why" important? It brings confidence and opportunity. We often see an over-reliance on quantitative research, with the assumption that a large sample…
As someone who was in middle school in the mid-1990s, Dre and Snoop were as cool as you could get. Granted, I knew the radio-edited versions of their hits more than the actual albums... It’s with this context that we present this month’s shelf standout: Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop. Seen The strong…
Have you ever returned home from a shopping trip and realized you bought way more than you had planned? The Gruen Effect might be to blame. The podcast 99% Invisible broke down the phenomenon. The Gruen Effect occurs when you are so distracted by a store’s lights, colors, and beautiful product display that you lose track…
The Say-Do Gap is real. I used to think it was all about whether people were being honest about their behavior—but now I realize it’s more about how unaware we actually are of what we do. And that gap gets even wider when we try to predict what we would do in the future. More…
Introduction Every package—sustainable or not—needs to nail three key functions to be effective: When considering sustainable packaging, if the design doesn’t meet these goals, it doesn’t matter how sustainable the offering is: it’s missed the point entirely. Protect The most sustainable packaging is the one that actually keeps a product intact until it is used. When products…
Back to Nature Redesigns that represent a major departure are always a watch-out for us, but the true risk is completely related to who the brand is and what the objectives are for the redesign. If you are a strong brand with specific equities that mean something to shoppers, you will want to tread carefully.…
Watching video footage of panel-recruited respondents “shopping” in a recent conference presentation reminded me of the unfortunate truth that for all the benefits of operational efficiency, there is a significant cost of respondent re-use: data validity. I could tell the behavior shown wasn’t “real”, even though it was captured in a real store. A few…
In my non-profit board work, I have been learning a lot about fundraising best practices and the need to build strong, long-term relationships. In sales training, I have been learning the same. Relationships make life better, but the challenge is that, as humans, our capacity—and willingness—to nurture them is limited. This fact is super relevant…
Our industry thinks a lot about qualitative vs. quantitative, but is that the right focus? More often, it is more important to focus on the quality of the methods. Quality that reflects validity should be table stakes in our industry, but it isn’t. Moving quickly in the wrong direction doesn’t build brands or unlock growth. …