What do the industries of animal agriculture, sustainability and cognitive psychology have in common? Today we dive into how producers can connect with their consumers beyond providing quality products. We explore how best to communicate with consumers to add perceived value to their purchase choices. 

Dr. Jessica Meisinger is the Senior Account Manager for Sustainability at Merck Animal Health. With an initial interest in meat science Dr. Meisinger acquired her PhD and went on to work as Director of Communications at the National Renderers Association. She describes her objective as “sharing a story that might be as pretty as some of the other stories that we have to share.” This piqued her interest in why customers think what they think and what implications that might have and she brought that curiosity to Merck Animal Health.

“Serving data that you get when you survey consumers and then what consumers actually do are two totally different things.” - Dr. Jessica Meisinger

Infographics represent a “real world example of how people can learn about a new conceptual domain.” A study was created to determine the efficacy of this marketing technique on people’s processing of this food technology information in this way. Dr. Meisinger explains that when a consumer buys meat they are buying it “taste untasted” that incorporates observations about animal welfare, marbling and brand loyalty among others. Potential controversial topics such as antibiotic and hormone use in the food supply system were specifically targeted in this study. To explore the impact of infographics further, Merck teamed up with Dr. Tyler Davis, an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University in the area of Cognitive Psychology.

“I think what we’ve seen so far is great evidence that (infographics) are working and that people are engaging in these specific reasons to maybe not be so fearful of these technologies.” - Dr. Tyler Davis

“It got people thinking,” says Dr. Meisinger. It's exciting that people were more open to discussion after these methods of communication. She suggests maintaining the perspective of someone who has no experience in agriculture when creating the infographics. If you don’t address concerns of the consumer and “explain the process to them and explain why they shouldn’t be scared. They’re just going to either make up a story themselves for why they should be scared of it or they’re going to look for the information and they’re going to go with what the other people are saying,” shares Dr. Davis. 

“Don’t avoid the controversial topics.... People were willing to think about them. They were at least willing to spend some time pondering the idea and so there’s room for improvement on those things that shouldn’t be ignored. There not being ignored on the other side of those controversial topics.” - Dr Jessica Meisinger

This Week’s Podcast:

• Meet Dr. Tyler Davis and Dr. Jessica Meisinger as they share the effects of infographics on consumer education
• Explore the studies that support the impact infographics can have
• Learn how to better engage your customer with their tips and tricks