Brand development that increases sales velocity, guaranteed.

Eliminate guesswork in positioning, packaging design, and messaging with contextual consumer testing that predicts market performance.

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Our Methodology.

SmashBrand’s testing methodology simulates the critical 3 to 13-second consumer decision-making window at the retail and digital shelf.

We replicate real-world buying scenarios to identify winning packaging designs, product innovations, and positioning strategies before you invest in production. By testing in authentic shopping contexts, we capture genuine consumer behavior and the specific purchase drivers that influence category decisions.

This data-driven approach eliminates subjective guesswork and costly redesigns, allowing you to iterate through creative development with confidence and maximize your brand’s market potential from launch.

Testing Services include:

  • Product Idea Screen

  • Usage & Attitudes

  • Purchase Intent

  • Brand Stretch

  • Category Baseline

  • Price Optimizer

  • Product Naming

  • Messaging & Claims

  • Product Positioning

  • Design Diagnostic

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The rapid testing and design together are critical. We can't mess up our biggest brands. We needed this.

VP Insights, Walmart
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Testing drives better business outcomes across every stage of brand development.

Consumer decision-making happens in seconds, but those moments determine your brand’s market performance. That’s why consumer testing isn’t just a step in the SmashBrand process, it’s the foundation for building successful CPG brands. Our data-driven approach integrates testing throughout every phase of brand development to minimize risk and maximize ROI.

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1
Innovation

We validate concepts and identify new white space opportunities for brands through iterative consumer qualiquant testing.

2
Positioning

We leverage iterative testing to refine messaging and claims that resonate with your target audience and change buying behavior.

3
Design

We use contextual visual testing to ensure your packaging stands out on shelf, communicates effectively, and drives purchase.

This comprehensive, test-and-learn methodology minimizes risk and maximizes
your product’s potential for market success.

Design Testing

We combine quantitative and qualitative testing to optimize packaging performance before production, eliminating costly redesigns and failed launches. By testing creative concepts with category consumers early and often, we identify what drives purchase decisions and refine designs accordingly. This iterative, data-driven process ensures your packaging stands out on shelf and converts browsers into buyers from day one.

Design Testing

Category Baseline Test

Know exactly what to change, what to keep, and why before creative begins. The Category Baseline Test evaluates your packaging and key competitors with thousands of category consumers to identify and rank the most critical purchase drivers that influence buying decisions and how each design performs against them. This comprehensive analysis provides a definitive opportunity blueprint for packaging success by revealing exactly what elements must change and why, eliminating subjective guesswork and saving hundreds of initial creative hours.

  • Measures and benchmarks your brand and competitors against key category purchase drivers, identified through behavioral analysis of thousands of shoppers.
  • Reveals critical white space opportunities by clearly mapping category purchase drivers against competitive positioning and packaging design.
  • Establishes precise, quantitative baselines for shelf visibility, shopper engagement, and purchase preference, ensuring clear metrics to gauge future improvements.
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Design Testing

Pack Words Claims Test

Know exactly which words drive purchase and which create confusion before your packaging goes to print. The Pack Words Test isolates and tests front-of-pack messaging with thousands of category consumers to identify which words drive purchase decisions and which create barriers, determining the optimal messaging hierarchy that converts browsers into buyers.

  • Isolates front-of-pack messaging from visual elements to reveal how consumers actually process and prioritize written information.
  • Maps messaging to the consumer decision journey, ensuring critical purchase drivers receive proper emphasis and placement.
  • Validates claims credibility and resonance while identifying optimal copy volume, hierarchy, and panel placement strategy.
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Design Testing

Package Design Diagnostic Test

Identify winning design directions early to focus creative resources on concepts with the highest potential. Our diagnostic test evaluates early packaging concepts with thousands of category consumers to pinpoint which creative directions show strongest potential and which should be eliminated, guiding optimization before major creative investment.

  • Efficiently identifies design directions with highest purchase driver strength while eliminating weak concepts early.
  • Reveals specific design patterns that strengthen key purchase drivers and those that create consumer confusion.
  • Provides comprehensive performance rankings and element-level feedback to guide creative team focus and iteration.
  • Maps visual attention patterns to optimize hierarchy and ensure critical elements capture consumer focus.
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Design Testing

Purchase Intent Test

Validate your packaging will drive sales before production with 94% predictive accuracy. Our Purchase Intent Test simulates real shopping conditions to provide final confirmation your design will perform, giving you confidence to move forward or identifying critical issues before launch investment.

  • Predicts in-market performance with 94% accuracy through realistic competitive shopping simulations.
  • Measures purchase intent lift versus current packaging and key competitors in authentic retail shelf sets.
  • Delivers statistically robust validation using 150+ target consumers per concept with advanced modeling techniques.
  • Provides definitive go/no-go data for production decisions and compelling metrics for buyer presentations.
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Positioning Testing

We test positioning strategies and messaging with category consumers to identify what drives preference for your brand over competitors. By evaluating how consumers respond to different value propositions in realistic shopping contexts, we pinpoint the positioning that maximizes purchase intent and justifies your price point. This ensures your brand’s core message resonates with target shoppers and translates into measurable shelf performance.

Positioning Testing

Usage and Attitudes (U&A) Study

Understand exactly what drives category decisions and where opportunities exist before developing positioning strategy. Our U&A study maps consumer decision-making patterns and unmet needs within your category, providing the strategic foundation for positioning that resonates with real shopping behavior.

  • Maps consumer decision-making patterns, pain points, and unmet needs to reveal authentic positioning opportunities.
  • Identifies purchase triggers and barriers through behavioral analysis of thousands of category shoppers.
  • Reveals white space opportunities and competitive vulnerabilities to inform strategic differentiation.
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Positioning Testing

Product Positioning Test

Test positioning strategies to identify what drives preference for your brand over competitors before finalizing messaging. By evaluating how consumers respond to different value propositions in realistic shopping contexts, we pinpoint the positioning that maximizes purchase intent and justifies your price point.

  • Tests positioning strategies in realistic shelf scenarios to measure which messaging drives strongest purchase preference.
  • Quantifies competitive advantage and emotional resonance against category benchmarks to identify winning positioning elements.
  • Validates messaging hierarchy and claims credibility to ensure positioning translates into measurable shelf performance.
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Innovation Testing

We test product concepts and extensions before significant R&D investment, dramatically reducing the risk of failed launches. By evaluating new product ideas with category consumers in realistic shopping scenarios, we identify which innovations will drive incremental revenue and which will cannibalize existing sales. This validation process accelerates time to market while ensuring your innovation pipeline focuses only on concepts with proven consumer appeal.

Innovation Testing

Product Idea Screener Test

Screen innovation concepts early to focus R&D investment on ideas with proven consumer appeal before significant development costs. Our screener test evaluates new product concepts with thousands of category consumers to identify which innovations will drive incremental revenue and which should be eliminated from your pipeline.

  • Rapidly identifies concepts with highest market potential while eliminating weak ideas before costly development investment.
  • Measures consumer interest, uniqueness perception, and purchase intent to predict market viability.
  • Provides clear concept rankings to prioritize innovation resources on the most promising opportunities.
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Innovation Testing

Brand Stretch Test

Validate your brand can successfully extend into new categories before investing in product development. Our Brand Stretch Test measures how well your brand equity transfers to new product areas, identifying where you have the strongest competitive advantage and lowest risk of failure.

  • Quantifies brand equity transfer to new categories, revealing where your brand has natural extension opportunities.
  • Measures consumer acceptance and credibility of your brand in new product areas against category expectations.
  • Identifies extension risks and competitive vulnerabilities to guide innovation strategy toward validated opportunities.
  • Provides data-driven confidence for innovation investments by validating brand-category fit before development.
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Innovation Testing

Purchase Intent Test for Innovation

Validate new product concepts will drive sales before launch investment. This comprehensive test simulates real competitive scenarios to predict market performance and provide final go/no-go validation for innovation launches.

  • Predicts innovation market performance through realistic competitive shopping simulations.
  • Evaluates multiple innovation concepts simultaneously to identify winners and prioritize launch sequence.
  • Measures shelf impact, purchase drivers, and price sensitivity to optimize concept positioning before launch..
  • Delivers definitive market viability data to support innovation business cases and secure organizational buy-in.
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Our Results.

Explore Data-Driven
Success Stories.

We lead all our clients toward objective wins across every category.

See all results

Positioning, Design, Testing

Brand positioning and packaging drive 2x sales in 3 months.

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Positioning, Design, Testing

30% sales lift after packaging refresh for Yucatan.

A 34% increase in purchase preference drove the sales boost, attracting younger consumers and expanding market share.

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Design, Testing

7pt purchase intent lift for the leader in bloody mary mixes.

A packaging refresh revitalized the brand, boosting market share across its cocktail mixer and Ready-to-Drink lines.

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Talk to us

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  2. If needed, we’ll sign an NDA to keep the highest level of privacy.
  3. We'll schedule a discovery call to discuss your specific job to be done and how we can help drive your brand's growth.