Six projects, told from start to finish

Aligning the same product across five plants

The challenge. An industrial bakery company produced the same product at five plants in the same country. With identical branding and packaging, the taste varied depending on which factory it came from.

What we did. We ran a Sensory Analysis of the five products, one per factory.

After the comparative study, our consultants proposed corrective measures to harmonise production.

What happened next. The client learned exactly how the sensory attributes differed between factories, which made uniform production and greater manufacturing flexibility possible.

Product relaunch with reformulation

The challenge. A brewing company had sidelined the product of one of its brands and put too few marketing resources behind it. It came to Sensory Value for consultancy support on the relaunch, with the aim of reviving the brand.

What we did. We ran a Product Test combined with Sensory Analysis to translate consumer perceptions accurately for the company’s Marketing and R&D departments.

We selected beers with different organoleptic properties to understand the category, and tested them with consumers.

What happened next. The company relaunched the beer following our recommendations, with a new formulation, and also decided to carry out a rebranding. Both were amplified by a marketing campaign focused on communicating the brand change.

Quality, image and price vs private label

The challenge. A company that had traditionally been the undisputed leader of its category wanted to know where one of its flagship products stood against a private label, so it could sharpen its competitive offer and stop losing sales and consumers to it.

What we did. We proposed a Mix Value Test, an ad hoc methodology developed by Sensory Value, whose purpose is to quantify the value equation of the client’s proposition against that of its competitor.

What happened next. The study showed that the flagship product was almost level with the private-label one on acceptance and preference, brand image and price.

Following our recommendations, the company reformulated the product and slightly repositioned the price.

A portfolio for entering a new market

The challenge. A European premium chocolate company wanted to enter the United States market. Its products had been relegated to the ethnic-food shelf, with low distribution and sales, and it did not know the market there.

What we did. We ran a SensoConsumer™ study in the United States to identify the preference drivers of the chocolate category.

With that, the Marketing department was able to map out a product strategy and design ideal products for each cluster, covering demand right across its target audience.

What happened next. The company designed, produced and marketed a product in the country, adapted to the tastes and needs of local consumers.

The ideal attributes in a mature category

The challenge. Sliced bread is a very mature segment in Spain. One of the market leaders wanted to produce the ideal sliced bread for the Spanish market by identifying which sensory attributes drive consumer preference.

What we did. We proposed a SensoConsumer™ study to understand which sensory attributes matter to the Spanish consumer in this category.

Our consultants ran a screening of more than 50 sliced breads from Spain, Germany, Italy and France, to widen the spectrum of products tested and cover the full sensory range of the market.

What happened next. One of the benchmark products was a sliced bread the client already had on the market under another brand. Because of its specific sensory notes, it turned out to be the consumers’ favourite in the Product Test.

We recommended that it replace what had until then been the brand’s flagship product.

The ideal product for a new category

The challenge. A well-known soft-drinks brand wanted to diversify sales and broaden its portfolio by moving into a category where it was not yet present, with a genuinely new product.

What we did. We recommended a Product Test and a Sensory Analysis in order to interpret consumer perceptions correctly.

In an initial phase we ran a sensory screening of its product and others in the same category, analysing soft drinks spanning a broad spectrum of sensory qualities, to decide which ones to take into the Product Test with consumers.

What happened next. On that basis the company developed a winning product, which also received the Product of the Year award.