We have carried out several research studies over the years to understand the complexities of biscuits. (I’ve written biscuits here because I am English – if you are American, I mean cookies.) I love working on biscuits. Apart from the fact that I enjoy eating some of the samples, they are a fascinating topic.
If I asked you to name ten things that you get excited about, biscuits would probably not be on your list. If, however, you ask a group of people to each answer the question, “If you could only have one type of biscuit for the rest of your life, which would you choose?”, the conversation will soon hot up. And you might be surprised by some of the choices!
Typically, biscuits are crunchy and crumbly at first and then the crumbs – and the chocolate or cream if they have some – melt in the mouth. This means they are energizing and awakening first and then comforting, relaxing, and reassuring. This, in turn, has a significant effect on the way in which they are regarded by the consumer and the types of occasions on which they are eaten.
But if each of these stages – crispy and crumbly and then the melt – is important to the consumer reaction (and they are), then what happens when the biscuit is dunked into a hot drink? The consumption experience has now been completely changed. The biscuit enters the mouth wet and soggy. You bypass the crispy, crumbly stage altogether and just have the melt.
If you focus on the consumption journey, dunking a biscuit creates quite a different experience from eating it without dunking. Sensorially, a biscuit dunked in a cup of tea is a very different experience to a biscuit without a drink.
However, if you focus on the consumer’s emotional journey, you can see it in another way. Without dunking, the crispy, crumbly experience in the first phase of biscuit consumption awakens and stimulates the consumer, while the melt calms, relaxes, and them. When dunking a biscuit, attention is required. Dunking requires the consumer’s full concentration, or it ends in disaster. Thus, the consumer is distracted from whatever else they are doing. Their attention is focused on the dunking; they are awakened and excited. The dunked biscuit then melts in the mouth – the consumer is soothed, relaxed, reassured. The same emotional journey has been achieved in a different way.
So, the complexity of the experience and the way in which the brain sequences the physiological experience is important in the emotional response that it evokes. This is what the Shape of Taste depicts and explains. When brand owners focus on the emotional journey of their products and on the Shape of Taste rather than the taste itself, they can think differently about product and communications developments.
You can order my new book, The Shape of Taste, here:
Chris Lukehurst is a Consumer Psychologist and a Director at The Marketing Clinic:
Providing Clarity on the Psychological relationships between consumers and brands
