Eyetrack & Cultures
Case Studies
Does culture really matter? -- JMR studies 3 cultures to find out
How culture affects relative prominence of brand vs. corporate package elements
by Richard May
Experienced marketers have a general sense that one size does not fit all when it comes to marketing across cultures. Based on JMR's multi-country eye tracking studies, this case shows how consumers from three different cultures look at consumer packages differently -- in fact, even "see" differently. Subjects from Japan, China and Western countries were tested. Eye-tracking technology was used to quantify and understand differences in how consumers from various cultures actually "see" products, in particular the corporate logos, and brand logos on the packages. Westerners were found to spend the greater part of their time viewing brand logo parts, while Chinese subjects noticed corporate ads (the name of the manufacturer or corporate group) more often than Westerners. Japanese spent by far the greatest time viewing corporate logo images, the most of the 3 groups.
Eye tracking results of 3 groups viewing the same shampoo package
Example: for Japanese subjects -- percent time fixated on corporate ID:was 19.2% consisting of fixations on L'Oreal name top (5.1% of available viewing time) plus bottom corp. logo (14.1%), . While time on brand logo -- middle (Vive) 20.9% plus name "Vive" on left-side 5.0% = total 25.9%. Compare Western subjects: percentage of time on corp logo was only 5.2% (0.4 + 4.0) and for brand logo 52.5% (43.3 + 9.2). Both groups spent the greatest part of the allocated time on the brand logo but Japanese viewers spent much more time fixated on the corporate ID logo than did Western or Chinese subjects.
Background: Cultural psychology
Neuropsychological R.E. Nisbett (The Geography of Thought, 2005) recounts experiments in which subjects were shown images with foreground and background objects. He found a cultural correlation between the parts of the scene given the most visual attention, the parts best remembered by subjects and the home country of the subjects in the study. JMR's Eye-tracking system collected empirical data to address questions raised by Nisbett's research. The JMR study considers whether there are cultural differences in the way Chinese, Japanese, and Westerners see and evaluate advertisements in the media. Shown the same set of ads, viewed as if paging through a magazines, would viewers of consumer ads really "see" the same thing? JMR would later use the findings to suggest to consumer package goods makers new ways to adapt their multinational ad programs to culturally different audiences.
Process: Eye tracking map generation for consumer ads
For widely advertised consumer products, subjects spent most of the allotted time for viewing looking at the brand logo information, either the brand name, images etc. or the logo mark of the company or manufacture. Subjects were only told to gaze at the products that would appear on a computer screen (the eye tracking measurement system). Clear patterns along cultural lines where observed in the allocation of time subjects spent viewing brand logos versus corporate logos. The "heat map" examples presented here show the average viewing patterns for all subjects within each of the 3 culture groups tested viewing a common shampoo product. The eye tracking software notes the exact x and y location coordinates of where subjects are looking along with time interval in microsecond at all coordinates in the scene. The software then sums times and averages this data for the most viewed areas of the ad scene. This is then present to researchers as an overlap on the ad scene with time intervals shown color variations on the " heat map." Dark areas where indicate the lowest or nil viewing time by subjects. The data mapping process allows researchers can tell a product maker and its ad agency very specifically which areas of the ad received the most attention and for how many microseconds within brief viewing time frame.
Experiment results
All subjects spent more time fixated on brand logos compared to corporate ID logo areas of the package. Westerners spent the greater part of their time viewing brand logo parts of ads, and paid much less attention to corporate information, a mere 6% of the available viewing time.
Japanese, on the other hand, spent 20% of their time on corporate images, the most of the 3 groups.
Chinese readers of the ads noticed corporate information twice as frequently as Westerners, but paid less attention to the maker's logo than did Japanese ad viewers.
Viewing time in seconds on Package elements (30 sec. total)
seconds on brand logo seconds on corporate ID logo
Notes on Research Method
The purpose of the study was to determine whether differences in the pattern of viewing ads could be observed and whether those patterns were significantly related to a subject's cultural background and place of early and middle level education. JMR's Eye-Tracking system was used to measure 24 subjects' eye-track movements to a series of brand name products known to consumers in Japan, China, and Western countries. The L'Oreal product images included in this note was one of over 20 different products shown to subjects in the eye-tracking sessions. Other products include Sony, Toyota, Honda, Kirin, and other internationally-known brands.
Eye-tracking sessions were followed by verbal debriefing sessions with the total process for each subject taking about 40 minutes. The subjects were screened to represent a balanced male/female sample: 8 subjects each from Japanese, Chinese, and Western (4 German, 4 American) cultures. Only native born and home-country educated, original language dominant subjects were selected. Eye-tracking session instructions (which only take a minute or so) were given in the subject's native language.
Small sample sizes for eye tracking studies
Marketing research about consumers' values and opinions often use 100, 1,000 or more in the sample. This is when what is measured are conditions of the consumer's conscious mind, that is, abstract concepts of opinions and attitudes. However eye tracking measures physical events -- the eye fixations and the rapid eye movements (saccades). Thus the thing measured has far less variation across a population that abstract concepts held by consumers. The retina of the eye -- the object measured in eye tracking -- has well-known biometric characteristics. Biometric characteristics -- unlike consumers' opinions -- exhibit universality and permanence among other biometric features. This makes it possible to use 30s and smaller sample groups, assuming subjects have been prescreened for standard vision.
