Activate It Early

Testing Process

• Monadic concept test to understand the growth potential of early concepts
• Use a comprehensive set of KPIs to understand concept performance — including concept classification based on Trial and Breakthrough Potential. Tailored to industry specifics.
• A sample size of 200 broad category users. This will unlock a broad and targeted sample to assess the overall opportunity (according to brand growth principles).
• Analysis can be done via side-by-side testing or using robust benchmarking analysis
• Includes rich open ended feedback and diagnostics like auto-coded theming for likes & dislikes, heatmaps, attributes, emotional assessment through system 1 emojis

Set-up

• Stimuli guidlines
• Questionnaire flow

Making Decisions with Activate It Early

• Key measures
• Utilizing a relevant benchmark
• Understanding the Concept Classification Framework
• Understanding your Concept Performance Indicators
• Understanding potential with Profiles
• AI-Powered Concept Optimization
• AI Quick Reports

Set Up

Stimuli Guidelines

In Activate It Early, concept should have 4 key elements:

1. A product / pack / feature visualization - it can be a rough design or sketch.
2. A brand name and logo, which are an important context that influences decision making. 
3. Bite-sized description, reflective of how people consume information and is more engaging than traditional long-form concepts. Focus on what’s important and describe in a conversational manner. Include a benefit statement and emotional and rational justification. 
4. Product specifications. Information about flavors, variants, features, sizes/servings (including weight or volume), ingredients, where the it can be purchased, and price. 

For priced concepts, price exposure is introduced later in the survey and  it shouldn’t be included as part of the stimuli. For unpriced concepts, respondents are asked about concept premiumness.

Questionnaire Flow

Concept testing can look different from organization to organization, especially from industry to industry. We have three standard Activate It Early offerings for: 1) Fast moving consumer goods companies and 2) Restaurants. The high level questionnaire flow is linked below.

View the Methodology Guide here.

Making Decisions with Activate It Early

Key Measures

• Trial (scaled Purchase Likelihood )
• Breakthrough (average of Distinctiveness & Advantage)
• Priced concept purchase likelihood or Premiumness
• Concept diagnostics

Utilizing a relevant benchmark

Choose from three benchmarking approaches to assess your concept’s ability to outpace the competition.

• Normative benchmarks - category and country norms provide a broad view of how consumers rate your concepts in relation to a wide range of products within your category; a minimum of 20 concepts is required for a normative benchmark.
• User defined (tagged) benchmarks - a closely related group of concepts provide a precise view of how consumers rate your concepts in relation to close-in competitors and/or other products in your portfolio; a minimum of 5 concepts is recommended for a user defined benchmark. 
• Direct benchmarks -  when two or more concepts are tested together, statistical significance testing can be used to directly compare performance metrics between or across concepts.

Understanding the Concept Classification Framework

Strong potential with Early Adopters: Concepts listed as having "Strong Potential with Early Adopters" resonate with consumers that exhibit behaviors linked with early adoption. These concepts are listed by their Total Audience classification below. Early Adopters are consumers who try a new product or service when it first becomes available and in a shorter period of time than the average person. By understanding whether a new idea is appealing to Early Adopters, you can potentially identify breakthrough innovation, and no longer risk leaving strong ideas on the cutting room floor.

All concepts are classified into five "buckets," based on their performance across two key measures, Trial Potential and Breakthrough Potential:

• Scale and sustain

  These concepts have strong potential for scale amongst category consumers and should be prioritized. Develop full articulation and research to understand final commercial viability.

  If concepts are Scale and sustain with strong potential with Early Adopters, they should be prioritized and exploited quickly before the opportunity to be a pioneer with this concept is lost.

• Short term trial

  These concepts have high competitive trial potential but aren't considered innovative enough in a category context to maintain excitement for long. Develop further and understand the short-term revenue opportunities where trial is needed but longer term potential is not essential.

  If concepts are Short term trial with strong potential with Early Adopters, then Early Adopters see these concepts as being more breakthrough than category consumers. Develop further, considering how to highlight the breakthrough potential with a wider audience.

• Seed and grow

  These concepts have breakthrough potential but more modest trial. Consider moving forwards with slower/alternative approaches to growth such as different routes to market, limited distribution or a test-and-learn approach.

  If concepts are Seed and grow with strong potential with Early Adopters, they have had their strong breakthrough potential confirmed by Early Adopters. Capitalize on the opportunity swiftly at smaller scale through alternative routes to market, limited distribution or a test-and-learn approach.

• Emergent

  These concepts have a strong ability to drive distinction and advantage perceptions but low trial potential, suggesting a trend for breakthrough innovation. Consider monitoring and re-assess in the near future.

  If concepts are Emergent with strong potential with Early Adopters, they have on-trend potential amongst Early Adopters, suggesting a trend for breakthrough innovation. Consider developing at smaller scale to explore the opportunity.

• Rework

  These concepts have moderate-to-low breakthrough and trial potential amongst total audience category consumers. Either investigate potential amongst Audience Profiles, analyze, rework and retest, or deprioritize.

  If concepts are Rework with strong potential with Early Adopters, then consider exploring further potential amongst Early Adopters to confirm trend and progress with a "seed and grow" perspective if confirmed.

More details on how the quadrant chart works here.

Understanding your key Concept Performance Indicators

Key Concept Performance Indicator chart shows "Top 2 Box" calculations

Each of these measures corresponds to a different question in the survey (summarized below). Use the configuration sidebar on the chart page to configure the scale measure display, profile/subgroup, and chart display type.

• Purchase Likelihood - unpriced concept: ...how likely would you be to buy [product] if it were available at a reasonable price? For QSR we ask about Order Likelihood.
• Purchase Likelihood - priced concept: The price for this product is [price]. Knowing this price, how likely would you be to buy [product]? We ask purchase likelihood for both unpriced and priced concept to give a clean read on the power of the concept itself, and the impact of pricing. For unpriced concepts we ask about Premiumness (worth paying more for).
• Distinctiveness: ...how similar or different is [product]? (assessed on a scale from very similar to very different)
• Advantage: ...agree or disagree with the following statement: [product/item/offering] is better than other products currently available
• We also report on other relevant measures such as Relevance, Overall Emotion, Clarity, and Brand Believability

Understanding potential with Profiles

You can use Profiles to define and create norms for your subgroups, then get a clear read on concept potential among them in your reports.

Powerful Diagnostics

Activate It Early offers a wide range of powerful diagnostics that help you optimize your concept:

• AI-powered concept optimization based on consumer feedback
• Auto-coded likes & dislikes for easy understanding of key themes
• Heatmaps of your concept image & test, for both likes and dislikes
• Emotional reaction to your concept, using a system 1 intuitive measurement with emojis as a universal language
• Attributes assessment