Skippy Product Research
The Challenge
Despite being a major global brand, Skippy had a relatively limited presence and low marketing support in the UK market. Internally, there was a strong belief that Skippy was superior to its key competitors, particularly in terms of taste and texture. However, this belief needed robust, independent validation.
The challenge was to understand how Skippy performed when tasted directly against leading competitors, and to identify which sensory attributes truly drove consumer preference, providing evidence to support future business, brand and marketing decisions in the UK.
Research Objectives
The research was designed to validate Skippy’s perceived product superiority and uncover the drivers of preference within the peanut butter category. The key objectives were to:
- Compare Skippy directly against its principal competitors in controlled taste tests
- Measure performance across a range of taste and texture attributes
- Identify overall preference and relative product rankings
- Understand which sensory attributes most strongly influenced choice
- Provide robust evidence to support internal beliefs about product superiority
Together, these objectives aimed to separate assumption from reality and identify clear, defensible product strengths.
Research Approach
Vision One conducted a large-scale, quantitative product taste test across four UK locations. The approach included:
- Recruitment of 300 peanut butter consumers aged 16–35
- Use of paired comparison testing to enable direct product evaluation
- Two distinct sets of paired comparisons to ensure robustness
- Blind tasting to remove brand bias and isolate sensory performance
- Structured rating of products across taste and texture attributes
This design ensured results reflected genuine sensory preference rather than brand familiarity or expectation.
Findings
The research clearly demonstrated that Skippy outperformed its primary competitors on both overall preference and individual product ratings. While Skippy showed demonstrable superiority on texture attributes, the analysis revealed that taste, rather than texture, was the principal driver of preference within the category.
These findings validated the client’s belief in Skippy’s product advantage, while also refining understanding of what truly mattered to consumers. The results highlighted that Skippy’s strengths became most apparent when products were evaluated side-by-side in direct comparative situations.
Action & Recommendations
The findings showed that Skippy’s competitive advantage emerged most strongly through direct product trial. This highlighted the importance of driving sampling and comparative tasting opportunities within marketing and activation strategies.
The research provided Skippy with clear, actionable evidence to shape UK business and marketing plans, enabling the brand to focus investment on experiences that allow consumers to taste the difference and convert belief into preference.
