Shopping Cart Psychology

If you get excited about Chef Boyardee or Healthy Choice, it's because ConAgra Foods has gotten inside your head.

Forbes, August 19, 2009 — Not long ago ConAgra Foods assembled a group of 20 marketers and outside agency folks to figure out why sales of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn had gone stale. They spent nine months studying popcorn eaters, observing families in their homes and instructing them to keep weekly diaries of how they felt about various snacks. "That's when we uncovered the insight," recalls Stan E. Jacot, a ConAgra vice president. It seems that the essence of popcorn is that it is a "facilitator of interaction."