Case Study: Bob’s Bourbon boosts sales and market penetration with Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience

Creating Breakthrough Concepts in a Commodity Market

Bob’s Bourbon faced fierce competition in a fragmented, commoditized market and wanted to take its regional bourbon brand national while keeping premium pricing. To guide a TV advertising campaign, the company worked with Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience to identify which messages would resonate with consumers and support brand positioning.

Using EEG-based neuroscience tools, Nielsen tested ad concepts and phrases such as “strong flavor,” “smooth and full,” and “finest” to measure emotional engagement and nonconscious brand perceptions. The winning concepts helped Bob’s Bourbon produce an ad that drove an 11.0% increase in dollar sales, a 0.3 point increase in market share, and a 1.5 point increase in market penetration, and the ad also won a prestigious award for excellence in market research.