SSP Conference Oral Presentation, showcasing on Thursday, October 3, 2024, 1:50 PM – 2:10 PM CDT; Part of Technical Session F - The Power of Emotion: Measuring Its Influence on Consumer and Product Interaction
Presented by Malori Comer (Curion), in collaboration with Michael Nestrud, PhD. (Curion), and co-authored by TJ Martin, VP Research (Abstrax), Kevin Koby, Chief Science Officer (Abstrax), and Avery Gilbert, President (Synesthetics).
What Are Terpenes and Why Do They Matter?
Terpenes are organic hydrocarbons found in the essential oils of plants and more. The smell of terpenes can affect your mood and introspective experience of your body. For example, the smell of peppermint is awakening and uplifting, while linalool is calming and soothing. This effect is leveraged by everyone from food manufacturers to spa environments and perfumers to create a synergistic mood + aroma + experience for patrons or consumers. In almost all practical applications, terpenes are delivered in a matrix with other aromatics.
Abstrax, Synesthetics, and Curion Team Up
Abstrax, Synesthetics, and Curion partnered together to investigate the relationship between terpenes and emotion in a complex non-alcoholic beer matrix to answer the question, will terpenes delivered through beverage matrices create measurable emotional experiences in consumers? Three terpene blends were created by Abstrax to investigate if they could invoke various mood states in the categories of energized, peaceful, and relaxed.
Testing the Blends: How We Measured Emotional Responses
To evaluate their performance, a 1-day central location test was conducted at Curion’s facility in Redwood City, California. Four beer samples were presented to consumers and evaluated in a randomized complete block design with a 10-minute wait between samples. The survey included a self-report emotion measurement method at 3 different time points: Baseline, Immediate, and 10-minute post consumption. Eighty-one category consumers of lager and non-alcoholic beer acceptors were recruited.
The Emotional Impact of Terpenes
Results show that the control condition created Bored emotional responses, indicating the baseline activity impacted an arousal dimension. Controlling for the Boredom emotion, test blend B (Peaceful) elicited directionally fewer Alert emotional responses 10-minutes after consumption lending itself towards a Peaceful formulation. Results for the other terpene blends show various emotions elicited to varying degrees with potential fits in many emotional spaces.
What This Means for the Future
From this study we can conclude that the terpene blends in this complex environment were successful at eliciting changes in mood states after 10-minutes and some blends elicited emotions both directionally (90%) and significantly (95%-99%). Learnings will lead to future optimizations in experimental design, pilot evaluation, and focus on reducing boredom as a control state.
Curion specializes in delivering impactful insights to the world’s top CPG companies, helping them develop winning, repeatedly purchased products. Curion’s deep data-driven product insights, sensory expertise, and state-of-the-art consumer centers enable them to uncover responses to critical client objectives. With over five decades of experience in the product testing industry, Curion is dedicated to guiding clients with their proprietary XP Xperience Performance platform, connecting brands to consumers at every step.
An innovator in the industry, Curion recently developed a groundbreaking benchmarking product testing method, the Curion Score™, which has become a trusted and sought after tool within the industry. As one of the largest product and consumer insights companies in the U.S., Curion has built a reputation for excellence and trust among the world’s leading consumer brands. Curion’s commitment to innovation and expertise, coupled with a passion for delivering actionable insights, makes Curion a valuable partner for companies looking to develop and launch successful products.
