Derek E. Roberts - The Taste Signature Revealed: The Power of Emotions Behind Taste of Food & Drink Brands

The Power of Emotions behind

Taste of Food & Drink Brands

Derek E. Roberts & Thornton D. Mustard

The Taste Signature Revealed

The Power of Emotions behind Taste of Food & Drink Brands

First published in 2012 by

Ecademy Press 48 St Vincent Drive, St Albans, Herts, AL1 5SJ

www.ecademy-press.com

Printed and bound by Lightning Source in the UK and USA

Designed and artworked by Neil Coe

Printed on acid-free paper from managed forests. This book is printed on demand, so no copies will be remaindered or pulped.

ISBN 978-1-907722-91-2

The right of Derek E. Roberts and Thornton D. Mustard to be identified as the authors of this work has been inserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the Copyright holders written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers.

This book is available online and all good bookstores.

Copyright 2011 Derek E. Roberts and Thornton D. Mustard

This book is an update and a revision of the Taste Signature published by QEP Marketing Clinics founder, Thornton Mustard, in 2003. It incorporates new information, analysis and insights gained from the last decades experience, particularly in major global markets, to provide further value.

The aim of this book is to examine and demonstrate the various inter-related aspects of taste and the psychological impact and emotional meaning they have for consumers and how this can translate into competitive advantage for food and beverage brand owning companies and their senior management, particularly marketing personnel, plus all those interested in food and drink! It is not a technical or scientific study or paper as there is plenty of other material which has covered such aspects of taste in scientific detail. However, to our knowledge there is only minimal material which links emotions to taste scientific or otherwise.

Examples and case studies quoted are based on our general work in the field. No client information is quoted due to confidentiality, only that which is in the public domain, usually as submissions for winning marketing awards.

The information in this book is derived from qualitative research over the last 25+ years conducted by QEP Marketing Clinic using our proprietary methodology and systems.

These insights are drawn from over 6,000 groups, each run on average for two hours in duration, amongst a total of well over 30,000 research respondents covering more than 4,000 different food and beverage existing brands, products or new product development concepts.

This experience has provided the authors with a wealth of practical insight and knowledge into understanding the emotions behind taste and delivering consumer preference from that understanding.

Finally, for more information and updated chapters, please visit the books website www.thetastesignature.com which is hopefully a useful information resource.

Thanks to Julie, our extremely patient PA who tells us what we should be doing. Also the other members of the QEP Marketing Clinic team, both employees and associated helpers.

Thanks to the individuals who are existing clients and retired clients who reviewed drafts of the book. Most were unable to give testimonials due to their companys policy but we appreciate them for their helpful and constructive comments.

Thanks to all our clients, for without their support we could not have gained the knowledge and experience required to write this book.

Thanks to the individuals who contributed the most to our knowledge, the 30,000+ consumers who attended our research groups from Birmingham to Beijing, without whose input and the subsequent insight gained there would have been no book.

Above all, thanks to our respective spouses, Carlette and Reth for putting up with, supporting and encouraging our obsessive behavior!

Derek started his long and active career in FMCG marketing as a graduate trainee with Cadbury Schweppes. After a number of promotions he progressed to an international marketing role in Smith Kline Beecham (the precursor to GSK).

He then became NPD Director for Bass brewers, the UKs largest brewer. In this senior marketing role he led a team which originated, developed and launched several brands such as Eisberg non-alcoholic wine and Caffreys Ale, Carling Range Extensions and Staropramen premium lager multimillion pound brands which have stood the test of time to this day.

In this latter role he became personally aware of the Marketing Clinic and recognized and actively used its unique methodology on several projects with success as a client.

By his mid-thirties Thornton was Managing Director of Wrigley Chewing Gum in the UK. Previously he had been Head of New Products for Avon Cosmetics, Europe and Group Marketing Director of Cussons Imperial Leather. Encouraged by Unilever he founded The Marketing Clinic in 1984, the first market research consultancy to specialize exclusively in Understanding the basis of flavor and fragrance preference.

He continuously created, developed and improved many unique interconnected research methodologies to understand, predict and provide taste guidance to many global food and drink brands.

Inspired by Coca-Cola and Mars, Thornton wrote the first book on the direct connection between emotions triggered by taste and food preference. The Taste Signature which was extensively reviewed by The Financial Times in October 2003 has started a revolution in the way taste and flavor is evaluated and applied today.

Based in the US and UK we are a food and drink market research company that helps large global brand owners to gain competitive advantage by understanding why and how consumers make their taste choices through emotional preference.

Our company has over 25 years experience researching over 6,000 food and drink products, helping to gain consumer preference for companies globally such as Kraft, Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, PepsiCo, Mars and Diageo amongst others.

Consumer preference is constantly moving as the palate and belief/value structure change in relation to food and drink. By using proprietary qualitative and quantitative tools and methodology we are able to understand the positive and negative emotions in a products taste and texture to deliver competitive advantage in existing and new brands.

For more information visit

www.qepmarketingclinic.com

www.thetastesignature.com

www.derekeroberts.com

QEP Marketing Clinic is the branded trademark of QEP Research Inc. and QEP Research Ltd.