Sensory Science

Can you answer these questions?

• Which of your product's sensory attributes have the biggest impact on your brand experience?
• How might you physically embed desired brand equities into your product?
• Are you benefiting from a sensory signature? If not, what could it look like?

If not, you've probably got lots to gain from integrating Sensory Science into your pack or product development process.  

Consumers experience brands on a variety of levels, and not all of it is conscious.

A great deal of your 'brand effect' will be non-conscious. Specific sensory attributes deployed across your pack and product will be generating deeper, more meaningful levels of engagement. Given this reality, it's a good idea to understand exactly what's going on - finding out which sensory attributes trigger particular associations, and whether there are opportunities to create more desirable emotional outcomes.

A decision to go beyond liking on your next development project could be the start of your quest to fully realize your brand's sensory power...

• Responding better to System 1 decisions in store
• Operating more holistically - with pack and product perfectly aligned at the non-conscious level
• Exhibiting an ownable sensory signature that elicits a desired emotional response

For too long, pack and product research has focused on mainly conscious sensory measures - with failure the most likely outcome. With almost 30 years experience working with the World's leading FMCG companies, we believe that brands have so much potential to engage - with sensory meaning holding the key.

What brands want to know
Curious? Here are some recent requests from some of our commercial partners...

Where the magic happens

MMR is proud to offer dedicated Sensory Science hubs across the globe, with purpose built sensory booths in the UK, USA, China and Singapore. Each delivers high quality sensory evaluation and optimization to fit with your exacting needs. Each centre runs on the expertise of highly trained sensory panels, ensuring high levels of sensory acuity and articulacy, and managed by our teams of experienced sensory professionals. Our panelists undergo training on a continual basis, and work across a variety of categories to provide breadth and context of experience.

Because we're able to calibrate panelists across different regions, we are increasingly running cross-regional studies without the need to ship sample product halfway across the world - saving time, money and possible complications at customs! More recently, we've been applying our expertise to the management of client owned panels.

We offer a full range of sensory solutions that can be tailored to meet budgets, timings and data sensitivity needs.
No two projects are the same, with each one benefiting from a bespoke design.  

Our solutions operate across product screening, sensory evaluation and sensory mapping, alongside several profiling and temporal approaches.

Specific products include:

• Discrimination Testing – for example, to check if formulations are perceived to be different
• Sorting Methods – to understand the sensory landscape of your category
• MMR Descriptive Analysis - detailed understanding of sensory differences between product
• Rapid Profiling – agile descriptive solutions when time or budget is limited
• Temporal Methods – assessing a sensory experience over time
• Senso-Hedonic Optimization – identifying sensory drivers of liking to inform change
• NEW: HERMES - sensory capture with 'real life' context (outside the lab)
• NEW: Pack Descriptive Analysis – sensory interpretation of user experience with different pack options

Not only, but also...
MMR is proud to offer sensory consultancy and training to help brand-owners get more from sensory data. 
We've even helped optimize some of our clients own sensory panels.

Sensory powered Qualitative research
Qualitative research with a sensory lens delivers more.

For example, it can help illuminate the link between specific sensory attributes across your pack and product, and the emotional and functional associations that are triggered. More to the point, it can help you do better. Sensory Qual from MMR provides highly articulate and engaged consumer participation. This often astounds our commercial partners who might have previously doubted the value of qualitative approaches.

Take our flagship EROS (Early Rules of Success) approach, for example. Our clients are able to benefit from participants who have been rigorously screened to ensure excellent sensory acuity, but more than this who also have the ability to correctly articulate what they are experiencing. EROS has a proven track record of informing pack and product briefs in such detail, that clients report saving time and money down the line.

EROS will change the way you perceive qualitative research in the early stages of pack and product development. It’s finely tuned to tease out the sensory attributes that support your quest for a more meaningful connection with your consumer. You can learn more about EROS by visiting our Method Focus page.

Further qualitative solutions include:

• Sensory Individual Depth Interviews – for example, capturing detailed product experiences with sensorial acute or specialist respondents e.g. Chefs
• Sensory Enhanced Groups – offering dynamic exploration with highly screened consumers
• Sensory Deep Dives - 3-4 hour workshops that deliver comprehensive outputs, such as highly informed product brief
• NEW: RETREATS – our most agile approach yet, mapping a proposition from idea to execution through a series of flexible and iterative exploration modules

The best way to experience MMR Sensory Science is to put us to the test. 
Why not brief us with your next challenge to see how a sensory led approach could give you edge?