In crowded CPG markets, small product decisions often matter more than big campaigns. In an interview with Communicate, Pierre Chandon, Professor of Marketing and The L’Oréal Chaired Professor of Marketing – Innovation and Creativity, explains how packaging, habits, and behavioral science shape real consumer choices and long-term brand growth. Excerpts:
Your research shows that small, almost invisible changes in how products are presented, packaging, defaults, or framing can have a bigger impact on behavior than big brand messages. For CPG brands operating in crowded, promotion-heavy markets like the GCC, what’s one overlooked behavioral lever that could drive growth and better consumer outcomes, but is still largely overlooked?
Packaging is often overlooked, which is crazy given its importance at the time of purchase and at the time of consumption. All the elements of packaging matter. First and foremost, its size. Although price and quantity are the two basic degrees of freedom in all markets, marketers think about price all the time and don’t think about whether their product is available in the right quantity, whether the packaging is visible enough, whether it communicates the brand’s value proposition, or is properly branded (can’t marketers find a better name than “mini” for their smaller packs)?
CPG marketers in the GCC talk about a “new consumer”, those who are more price-sensitive, less loyal, yet very value-driven. From a behavioral science perspective, what are brands most misreading about how people in these markets actually make everyday purchase decisions?
Everyone underestimates the importance of habits. Rather than thinking about how we get the first purchase (a rare, deliberate choice), we need to think more about how we create habits, which often hinges on short-term rewards and reducing friction long enough that a habit is formed.
Retail media is one of the fastest-growing CPG investments globally and in the GCC, but it’s usually discussed as a performance or data story. How should brands think about retail media through the lens of choice architecture and behavioral influence, rather than just efficiency?
Retail media isn’t just a data or performance play, but a brand-building tool. The danger, as with any measurable lever, is, in fact, to focus too much on metrics and lose the big picture that every action must consider both what customers want and whether it’s a good fit for the brand.
Many CMOs today say creativity isn’t the problem but scrutiny is. Budgets are tighter, ROI is demanded, and “nice ads” are harder to justify. How should CPG brands rethink creativity if the goal is not attention, but real behavior change?
Brand building, when done well, is actually a way to multiply the effectiveness of marketing actions. But it’s not as easy to show in the long term. Marketers need to relentlessly drive the message within the organization, creating trust with the CEO and CFO.
You’ve spent much of your career studying how brands can grow while supporting consumer health and wellbeing. In fast-growing CPG markets like the GCC, where lifestyle and health are increasingly part of public conversation, what role can behavioral science realistically play in shaping better consumer outcomes without limiting business growth?
Behavioral science helps identify areas of win-win. For example, the research that I’ve conducted at INSEAD shows that food marketers should talk more about the sensory experience and less about value for money. Pleasure-based marketing is good for health because it’s a better way to promote healthy food and drink than focusing on nutrition (which only appeals to a small segment of the population).
It also reminds customers that pleasure in food doesn’t increase with quantity but with savoring. Hence, we showed that focusing on pleasure makes customers willing to pay more for the more moderate portions of food, which deliver more pleasure than supersized ones.
(For more insightful interviews and articles, read the special The FMCG Crisis Playbook issue of Communicate in full here)
