What shoppers actually notice, and how little of it is your advert

Point-of-sale research is the least glamorous thing we do and the most consistently useful. It also produces a finding that clients find hard to hear, which is that the decision is usually made in a few seconds, in front of a shelf, by someone who is not thinking about your campaign at all.

The gap between the plan and the aisle

A brand plan describes a considered journey: awareness, interest, preference, purchase. In a supermarket aisle, most of that has already happened or never happened, and what is left is a physical question about which pack is visible, which one is at the height of a hand, and which one has a price that can be read without bending down.

None of that is a criticism of brand building. It is an argument for checking that the last two metres have been paid the same attention as the first campaign.

What to send someone to look at

You do not need a research budget to learn most of this. Send someone who does not work on the brand into ten outlets with a short list:

• Is the product where the trade agreement says it is? Not "in the store": on the shelf and section that was agreed and paid for.
• Can the price be read from standing height, and is it the price you think it is?
• What is immediately beside it, and what does that neighbour do to it?
• Is any of the point-of-sale material from the current campaign present, and is it intact?
• What does the person behind the counter say if you ask them to recommend something in the category?

That last question is the one that surprises people. In a large share of visits, the recommendation is not driven by the brand that has spent the most.

Why this matters before a campaign, not after

Advertising a product that a buyer cannot find at the moment they want it is worse than not advertising it, because you have paid to create an intention and then handed it to whatever is on the shelf instead.

The order that works is: fix the shelf, then buy the attention. It is less exciting than the reverse, and it is the reason some campaigns look like they worked and others look like they did not, when the creative was much the same.