BLIND TASTE TEST

INTRODUCTION

Purpose of the activity:

To find out that whether consumers are blindly loyal to a brand or is it a product itself

that does matter.

Participants will be required to taste test the products and fill out the required

questionnaires at the beginning and end of the experiment. The data collected will be

used for the evaluation of brand awareness and product taste analysis for the final project

of Marketing Research.

Activity Details:

Date: 26th Feb. 2010.

Timings: 9:00am – 11:00am

Duration: 2 hours.

Venue: Cafeteria lawn, KC

Stock refill: 10:00am.

Questionnaires used:

Two types of questionnaires were used.

1. Pre-test questionnaire; comprising 4 of questions.

2. Post-test questionnaire; comprising 6 of questions

Description of the products:

Product type Product name Brand

Plain Sweet biscuits Bakeri LU (CBL)

Plain Sweet biscuits Sooper Peek Freans (EBM)

Plain Sweet biscuits Treat Bisconni

ABOUT THE PRODUCTS AND BRANDS

BAKERI:

Product name Brand

Bakeri LU (CBL)

SOOPER:

Bakeri has emerged as a flagship brand in the plain biscuit

category. With its soft bite and taste reminiscent of the

bakery biscuits that are preferred by the local taste buds.

The brand enjoys a large consumer-base.

Bakeri’s recent communication has been given a creative spin, which has resulted in

the new and successful campaign “Bakeri ki Bekarari”.

TREAT:

TREAT is a product made by BISCONNI. Bisconni has

successfully catered to the diverse needs of a large

clientele, with a wide range of food products.

The biscuits we choose were plain sweet biscuits. The questionnaire was designed in a way that responses should be given about sweet biscuits and not of salty one.

OUR GROUP BRAND PORTFOLIO

Sooper is a Danish style cookie with home made

appeal. Its natural and special kind of recipe

makes sooper in its real sense. Sooper is soft

cookies with crispy bite and has a delicious

natural milk and egg taste in mouth with melt in

the mouth texture.

Brand name:

BISCUIT BITE was considered as our brand name.

Theme:

The theme comprised of color scheme and design. The colors chosen were red and off-

white; for its affiliation with the baked flour color.

Logo:

Logo comprised of the theme colors. The font comprised of a capital ‘B’ and brand name

written in it. The ‘B’ had a background of a square biscuit.

Right hand corner of the logo was cut in the shape of a biscuit, and three small chunks

were placed to highlight the effect of a bite in the biscuit.

Posters:

Three posters were designed with punch lines;

Biscuit bite to test your mind.

Discover the secret behind your taste buds.

Know your favorite biscuit brand…? Check your taste buds!

Neutralizer

We used WATER as a neutralizer

Campaign

We started our campaign on Tuesday, 23rd Feb. 2010, by posting teasers in the college

corridors and trees near the main entrances.

The teasers wore the brand name, i.e. Biscuit Bite and the text ‘Coming Soon!’

Activity Stall details:

Decorations:

The posters were displayed on the grill background.

A background for snapshot was setup.

Balloons and crape paper strips were used to enhance the decorations.

A bouquet of flowers was placed on the table runner to beautify the table settings.

Stall setting:

Separate stalls were setup, with a pair of tables and four chairs.

‘Biscuit bite’ stall was located in front of the enclosed cafeteria’s main door.

The three biscuit brands were placed in the pair of three separate disposable plates. The

plates were numbered 1, 2, and 3 for differentiation and identification. The brands were

not indicated to respondents.

Two respondent data gathering points were made, i.e. at a time two respondents would

fill in two separate questionnaires, from three separate sample brand products. This was

done to reduce time wastage, increase rate of response, and also reduce waiting time of

respondents.

The activity:

The activity started at 9:00am.

Student form the entire college participated, by filling the questionnaires and tasting the

products.

Participants started off the activity by filling out the pretest questionnaire. Then they

tasted the products one-by-one, using water as a neutralizer. After tasting the three

brands, post-test questionnaire were filled.

An extra incentive for respondents was given in the form of a ‘Biscuit Bite-snapshot!’,

i.e. A picture of the respondent was taken after the completion of the activity. Pictures

were taken by getting consent from the respondent and pictures were sent to the

respective e-mail addresses of respondents.

Event Results:

A total of 64 questionnaires were filled by individual respondents.

Objectives

To determine consumers’ preferences for the different biscuits brands.

To determine the types of biscuits bought by consumers.

To determine factors related to the selection of biscuits.

To determine whether consumers are really brand loyal?

PRE-TASTE STATISTICAL

ANALYSIS

Table 1 Shows program participants’ age.

AgeNo. Of

respondents

15 3

16 10

17 25

18 15

19 6

20 1

21 2

22 1

25 1

total 64

All the participants were female students studying at Kinnaird College for women

except one male. The age of girls was between 15 and 25. Most of the girls were of age

17 or 18. The reason might be that major proportion of participation was by girls of F.A

or F.Sc.

Table 2 Shows program participants’ class in which they study

 Class

 No. of

respondentsFA 49

Bachelors 12

MBA 2

MPhill 1

total 64

Majority of the girls participated in blind taste test were from intermediate. The

reason is that Kinnaird is a girls college and majority of the students studying at Kinnaird

are enrolled in intermediate. Students from other programs also participated i.e.

bachelors, MBA n M.Phill but their number was not as high as of intermediate students.

Chart 1: Illustration of class in which respondents study

77%

19%3% 2%

The prportion of participants from different programs

FABachelorsMBAMPhill

This is a pictorial form of data depicting to which class participants belong to. Major

chunk of pie is of intermediate students.

Table 3 shows the responses to question “When you think of biscuits which

biscuits’ do come to your mind?”

Biscuits

No. Of

responses

Gala 8

Sooper 6

Bakeri 6

Candi 6

Peanut Pik 5

Tuc 5

Candi 5

Rio 4

Chocolate Chip 4

Milco lu 3

Prince 2

Zeera plus 2

Jam hearts 2

Tiger 1

Rio 1

Café 1

Innovative 1

Party 1

treat 1

Total no. Of

responses 64

The biscuits we took were Bakeri, Sooper and Treat. When respondents were asked

which biscuits come to their minds when they think of biscuits (plain sweet biscuits), the

highest recall value was of Gala. Our sample consisted of Bakeri, Sooper and Treat but

respondents did not know about it. 9.3% Bakeri, 9.3% Sooper and 1.5% recalled treat.

Bakeri and Sooper had same recall value among the 64 respondents and Treat had

lowest.

Table 4 shows the responses to question “which biscuits are your favorite one?”

Biscuits

No. Of

responses  percentage

Sooper 18 28.125

Gala 16 25

bakeri 10 15.625

Peanut Pik 7 10.9375

Milco lu 5 7.8125

Café 4 6.25

Prince 3 4.6875

Tiger 1 1.5625

total no. of responses 64 100

When respondents were asked that “which are your favorite biscuits among the plain

sweet biscuits”, the highest likeness was found for Sooper biscuits. 18 out of 64

respondents told Sooper. 2nd most liked biscuits were Gala. 16 out of 64 wrote gala as

their favorite biscuit. Bakeri was 3rd one. 10 respondents told Bakeri as their favorite

brand. No one wrote TREAT as her favorite biscuit.

Table 4 shows the responses to question “can you recognize your favorite biscuit?”

Responses No. Of

responses

yes 62

no 2

total 64

When respondents were asked that can they recognize their favorite biscuits if

they are not told about the name of biscuit, respondents were too much sure about the

recognition of the brand.

Chart 2: Illustration of question “can you recognize your favorite biscuit?”

97%

3%

Can you recognize your favourite biscuits???

yes no

The ability to recognize the favorite biscuit is over assumed by participants. 97% said

YES which is a BIG percentage.

Table 5 shows the responses to question “what do you like about your favorite

biscuit?”

 Feature  No. Of  percentage

respondents

sweetness 34 53%

texture 14 22%

aroma 13 20%

others 3 5%

 total 64 100%

Chart 3 Illustration of question “what do you like about your favorite biscuit?”

53%

22%

20% 5%

Best thing about the favourite biscuitsweetness texture aroma others

The respondents were asked to tell the best thing about their favorite biscuit.

53% liked the Sweetness, 22% liked the Texture, 20% liked the Aroma, 5% liked others

which included taste and overall preference for the biscuit. So, we conclude that most of

the people like the sweetness of the biscuit they eat frequently.

POST-TASTE

STATISTICAL

ANALYSIS

Table 6 shows the correct placement of biscuits

Plate no. biscuit

Plate 1 Sooper

Plate 2 Bakeri

Plate 3 Treat

Respondents did not know the name of the biscuits and also that in which order they

were placed. The correct placement was

Plate 1: sooper

Plate 2: bakeri

Plate 3: treat

Table 7 Shows the percentage and no. of correct responses

 Plate

no.  biscuit  percentage

 No. Of

respondents

Plate 1 sooper 72% 46

Plate 2 bakeri 62% 39

Plate 3 treat 60% 38

Chart 4: Illustration of correct responses.

sooper

bakeri

treat

Plat

e 1

Plat

e 2

Plat

e 3

55% 57% 59% 61% 63% 65% 67% 69% 71% 73%Plate 1 sooper Plate 2 bakeri Plate 3 treat

Series1 0.72 0.62 0.6

Percentage of correct responses

The respondents were given samples and were asked to recognize the biscuits in 3

different plates. Among them 72% recognized the biscuits (Sooper) in plate 1, 62%

recognized the biscuits (Bakeri) in plate 2 and 60% recognized the biscuit (Treat) in plate

3. So we conclude that top most recognition was of Sooper

Table 8 shows the percentage and no. of responses of difficulty faced in recognizing

the biscuits in plate1, palte2 and plate 3

 Difficulty

in

recognizin

g the

biscuits

 percent

age

 respon

ses

faced no

difficulty 58% 38

faced

difficulty 42% 26

total 100% 64

Chart 5: Illustration of “Difficulty in recognizing the biscuits”

58%

42%

Percentage of difficulty faced in recognizing the biscuits

faced no difficulty faced difficulty

The respondents were given samples and were asked to recognize the biscuits.58%

faced no difficulty in recognizing the biscuit while 42% faced difficulty. So, we can say

that most of the people faced no difficulty in recognizing the biscuit.

Table 9 shows the percentage and no. of responses of question “what do you like in

plate 1?”

Plate 1  percentage

 No. Of

responses

aroma 3% 2

texture 34% 22

sweetness 57% 36

others 6% 4

 total 100% 64

Chart 6: Illustration of “question “what do you like in plate 1?”

3%

34%

57%

6%

what respondents like in plate 1 (sooper biscuits)

aroma texture sweetness others

57% liked the Sweetness, 34% liked the Texture, 6% liked others which included

responses like taste and overall preference and 3% liked the Aroma. So, we can say thet

people like sweetness in sooper.

Table 10 shows the percentage and no. of responses of question “what do you like in

plate 2?”

Plate

2

 percent

age

 No. Of

respon

ses

aroma 19% 12

texture 30% 19

sweetnes

s 40% 26

others 11% 7

 total 100% 64

Chart 7: Illustration of question “what do you like in plate 2?”

19%

30%40%

11%

what respondents like in plate 2 (bakeri biscuits)

aroma texture sweetness others

The respondents were given samples and were asked to recognize the biscuits in

plate 2. 40% liked the sweetness, 30% liked the texture, 19% liked Aroma and 11% liked

the others. In bakeri biscuits people also like its sweetness.

Table 11 Shows the percentage and no. of responses of question “what do you like in

plate 3?”

Plate 1  percentage  No. Of

responses

aroma 31% 19

texture 33% 22

sweetness 20% 13

others 16% 10

 total 100% 64

Chart 8: Illustration of question “what do you like in plate 3?”

31%

33%

20%

16%

what respondents like in plate 3 (treat biscuits)

aroma texture sweetness others

The respondents were given samples and were asked to recognize the biscuits in

plate 3. 33% liked the Texture, 31% liked the Aroma, 20% liked its Sweetness and 16%

liked others. So, we can say that most of the people like treat biscuit because of its

Texture.

Table 12 shows the percentage and no. of responses of question “which biscuits you

liked most?”

Plate 1 sooper 64% 41

Plate 2 bakeri 27% 17

Plate 3 treat 9% 6

total 100% 64

Chart 9: Illustration of question “which biscuits you liked most?”

sooper

bakeri

treat

Plat

e 1

Plat

e 2

Plat

e 3

5% 15% 25% 35% 45% 55% 65%Plate 1 sooper Plate 2 bakeri Plate 3 treat

Series1 0.64 0.27 0.09

Biscuits liked by respondents

The respondents were given samples and were asked to like the biscuits in 3 different

plates. Among them 64% liked the biscuits (Sooper), 27% liked the biscuits (Bakeri) and

9% liked the biscuit (Treat). So, we conclude that most of the respondents prefer Sooper

Table 13 shows the percentage and no. of responses of correctly recognizing the

biscuits.

 Difficulty in

recognizing the

biscuits

No. of

response

s 

percentag

e

recognized brand

correctly 35 55%

did not recognized

brand correctly 29 45%

 total 64 100%

Chart 10: Illustration of correctly recognizing the biscuits.

55%

45%

Recognizing brand correctly

recognized brand correctlydid not recognized brand correctly

55% of the Respondent easily Recognized Brand and 45% Respondent Did Not

Recognize Brand Correctly. So, we conclude that people have knowledge about different

brands. And they can differentiate them easily.

FINDINGS

Findings

57% of respondents liked sweetness in Sooper.

In Bakeri it was also sweetness which respondents liked but only 40% of

respondents.

For treat responses were mixed.

Respondents liked Sooper (64%) most then Bakeri (27%) and Treat (9%) was

liked by just few respondents.

People exaggerate when they are asked that can they identify their favorite biscuit

brand. 97% said that they can identify it correctly but in the end only 55% were

able to identify the products in the same order. Though Sooper was recognized

easily by 76% of respondents.

In pretest questionnaire, respondents were asked that what they liked most about

their favorite biscuits. 53% told that it’s “sweetness” and in posttest questionnaire

57% told that they liked sweetness in biscuits which were in plate 1 consisted of

Sooper biscuits. It means that consumers don’t go after brad name (in case of

consumption of biscuits); it’s actually the characteristics of the biscuits that attract

consumers.

CONCLUSION

Are Consumers Blindly Loyal?

Conclusion

We conclude that our results are significant and pre taste responses are somewhat

aligned with post taste. Our test shows that when considering taste alone, Sooper is

superior to the generic equivalent in price Bakeri and Treat biscuits. This causes one to

ask the question, “Why is it that the majority of people would rather have a pack of

Sooper, than a bag of other biscuits?” The answer to this probably lies in the fact that

people are not brand name consumers when it comes to sweet biscuits; people will buy

Sooper for its taste, texture and most of all unique taste combined with its aroma.

Our results illustrated exactly this, for in Question 4 of post taste questionnaire which

was “which biscuits you liked most?” about 64% of respondents responded that they

liked biscuits which were placed in plate 1 i.e Sooper biscuits.

It’s a common conception that marketing and advertising can “make or break” a

product. Sooper and Bekeri is doing same sort of advertising and occupies same shelf

space in stores but we found that 28% of respondents responded that they like Sooper and

15% said Bakeri when they were asked “which are your favorite biscuits among plain

sweet biscuits?” It’s interesting to note here that none of the respondents answered

TREAT as their favorite biscuits. TREAT has very low recall value and respondents

present at that time didn’t answered TREAT as their favorite biscuit. It should be in kept

in mind that respondents were not given any options; their responses are based on their

memory and recall power.

During the experiment participants often mentioned that they could easily tell the

difference in the biscuits despite the fact that all three biscuits i.e. Sooper, Bakeri and

Treat have same look. Just by tasting the product most of the responses were correct.

Recognition of Sooper was great. 76% of respondents recognized Sooper correctly. The

only confusion was found between Bakeri and Treat biscuits. Respondents confused

Bakeri with Treat biscuits.

In short, it’s actually the product which matters in consumption of biscuits. People

don’t go after the brand name of biscuits or greatly influenced by the advertising.

Advertising does matter but if the product itself is not good sales are going to get low.

LIMITATIONS

LIMITATIONS

There were some confounding variables in the experiment. Often times there were

a number of participants taste testing at one time. The participants were

commenting out loud about their preferences. This may have influenced other

participants in their decision making.

Secondly, although there was counterbalancing, some participants did not follow

the directions and ate the biscuits in the wrong order.

Other participants either did not drink water in between each cookie, or they did

not drink water before the taste test to clear their palate.

Finally, because the participants were forced to choose a favorite, middle, and

least favorite cookie, guessing may have been involved since it appeared to be

difficult for many participants to taste a difference in the biscuits. These

confounding variables should be accounted for in any further studies of this

nature.

RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The time available to us was not enough to conduct the blind taste test. In order to

have accurate results there should be appropriate time allocated for this type of

activity so that full involvement of participants is ensured.

The space provided for stall should be vast enough. This will help participants to

fill the questionnaires with full concentration by avoiding hustle bustle.

The use of neutralizer by participants should be strictly ensured.

In our study only girls were taken as sample except one male. Males and females

should both be participants so that we can study that are there any differences in

taste preference between both genders.

Appendix: questionnairesBLIND TASTE TEST

PRE TEST QUESTIONNAIRE

Name AgeGenderProfession

1. When you think of biscuits which biscuits’ do come to your mind?a) _______________b) _______________c) _______________d) _______________

2. Please write down your favorite brands of biscuits? Biscuits should be plain sweet biscuits.

a) _______________b) _______________c) _______________d) _______________

3. Can you differentiate your favorite brand of biscuit from other brands?a) Yesb) No

4. What is the best thing you like about your favorite biscuits?a. sweetnessb. Texturec. Aromad. Others (please specify)____________

POSTEST QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Which of the following brands are in plate1, plate 2, plate 3?

a) Sooperb) Treatc) Bakeri

2. Have you felt any difficulty while recognizing the brands of the biscuit? a. yes b. no

3. What is the best thing you find in

Sample 1

a) sweetnessb) Texturec) Aromad) Others (please specify)____________

Sample 2e) sweetnessf) Textureg) Aromah) Others (please specify)____________

Sample 3a) sweetnessb) Texturec) Aromad) Others (please specify)____________

4. Which buiscuit do you prefer? The one presented in

a) Plate 1b) Plate 2c) Plate 3

5. Have you enjoyed the activity?a) Yesb) No

6. Any comments?