Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development

Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development

 
Concepts are critical for the development and marketing of products and services. They constitute the blueprint for these products and services, albeit at the level of consumers rather than at the technical level. A good product concept can help make the product a success by guiding developers and advertising in the right direction. Yet, there is a dearth of both practical and scientific information about how to create and evaluate concepts. There has been little or no focus on establishing knowledge bases for concepts. Concept development is too often relegated to the so-called “fuzzy front end.”

Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development remedies this inattention to product concepts by providing a unique treatment of concepts for the business professional as well as for research scientists. The book begins with simple principles of concepts, moves forward to methods for testing concepts, and then on to more substantive areas such as establishing validity, testing internationally and with children, creating databases, and selling in new methods for concept testing. The book combines a “how to” business book with a detailed treatment of the different facets of concept research. As such, the book represents a unique contribution to business applications in food, and consumer research methods. The book is positioned specifically for foods, to maintain a focus on a coherent set of topics.
Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development appeals to a wide variety of audiences: R&D, marketing, sensory analysts, and universities alike. Corporate R&D professionals will learn how to create strong concepts. Marketers will recognize how concepts are at the heart of their business. Sensory analysts will find the book a natural extension of their interest in product features. University students will understand how concept research is a critical part of the “consumer-connection.” Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development is the definitive, innovative text in describing how to create, analyze, and capitalize upon new product concepts.

Table of Contents

1. The Business Environment and the Role of Concept Research in that Environment.
Part I: Nuts & Bolts, Raw Materials & Ratings.
2. Single Benefits Screening (promise testing) and more Complex Concept Testing.
3. Ideation Strategies & Their Deployment in Concept Development.
4. From Questions and Scales to Respondents and Field Execution.
Part II: Experimental Designs, Graphics, Segments and Markets.
5. Systematic Variation of Concept Elements and the Conjoint Analysis Approach.
6. Concepts as a Combination of Graphics.
7. Segmentation Results and the Differential Importance of Categories.
8. International Research and Transnational Segmentation (Chapter written by Bert Krieger).
Part III : Advanced Analytics.
9. Believing the Results: Reliability and Validity.
10. Response time as a Dependent Variable in Concept Research.
11. Children Compared with Adults.
12. Pricing Issues in Early-stage Concept Research.
13. Analyzing a Study: Casual-dining Restaurant.
14. Creating Products from Concepts and Vice Versa.
15. Exploratory Modeling and Mapping, Simulating New Combinations, Data Mining.
Part IV: Putting the Approaches to Work.
16. Developing from the Ground up: Self-authoring Systems for Text and Package Concepts (Chapter written by Alex Gofman).
17. Deconstruction and competitive intelligence.
18. Bottom-up Innovation: Creating Product Concepts from First Principles (Chapter written by Roberto Cappuccio).
19. Creating a Cyberspace Innovation Machine (Chapter written by Laurent Flores and Andrea Maier).
Part V: Databasing.
20. Creating an Integrated Database from Concept Research – The It! Studies (Chapter written by Hollis Ashman and Jacqueline Beckley).
21. Highlights and insights from The It! Studies: Crave It! and Eurocrave (Chapter written by Tracy Luckow).
22. Highlights and Insights from the Drink It!® Study (Chapter written by Angus Hughson).
23. Understanding Brand Names in Concepts.
24. Emotion in concepts (Chapter written with the help of Hollis Ashman).
Part VI: The Grand Overview.
25. Concept Development and the Consumer-insights Business (Chapter with the help of Jeffrey Ewald).
26. Scientific & Business Realpolitik: Insights from selling new ideas for Concept Research.
27. Two Views of the future: Structured Informatics and Research.
Index