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Validation of SpAM for product packaging: a comparative analysis with PRaM

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Koki Amano¹ (a21.npkw@g.chuo-u.ac.jp), Ken Kumakura¹, Ippeita Dan¹; ¹Chuo University

Similarity is considered fundamental to basic cognitive processes such as classification and generalization in object recognition. In marketing, perceived similarity influences categorization memory and consumer decision making, supporting market segmentation and competitive positioning. The Pairwise Rating Method (PRaM) measures similarity by presenting two items side-by-side for Likert-scale evaluation, producing precise data but becoming increasingly time-consuming as the number of stimuli increases. This study evaluates whether the Spatial Arrangement Method (SpAM) can be effectively applied in marketing research, where it presents all stimuli simultaneously and captures perceived similarity from participants’ spatial arrangements. This approach is expected to reduce task duration and participant fatigue while still generating valid similarity data for marketing‐relevant insights. Sixteen green tea package images will be used, standardized in size and background. In PRaM, image pairs will be shown in random order and rated for similarity (1 = very different, 7 = very similar). In SpAM, free spatial arrangement will be recorded and inter-item distances will be converted to dissimilarity values. Similarity data from both methods will be analyzed using two-dimensional Multidimensional Scaling (MDS). Procrustes analysis will quantify the correspondence between the two spatial configurations, and permutation testing will evaluate the statistical significance of the disparity metric. We expect small Procrustes disparity and the emergence of similar clusters related to product features such as brand or package color. If confirmed, these results would indicate that SpAM offers a more efficient yet valid alternative to traditional pairwise similarity assessment methods in marketing research.

Topic Area: METHODS: Other