The 13th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium is taking place this year from 28 July to to the 1st of August in Edinburgh, under the theme “Engage with the Future”. Repères will be at the event to present two innovative approaches.

Immersive sensory booths to capture consumers’ perception of desserts according to the context.

Recent studies have shown that immersing consumers in test conditions as close as possible to reality (immersive rooms, virtual reality…) makes it possible to bring more discrimination in product perceptions and descriptions. Based on this observation, Repères has set up an experimental test on dessert products in individual cabins equipped with sensory devicess (image, sounds, smells, sensations). Three test environments were recreated: a “lunch break in the company” context and a “cocooning at home evening” context versus an atmosphere without sensory effects.

This protocol validated and enriched several hypotheses on the possible effects of immersion in sensory cabins. Anne-Charlotte Brasset, Quantitative Research Director at Repères, will highlight the important learnings of this study during this intervention, particularly concerning the differences in perceptions that have been identified between the different immersion contexts.

July 31, 2019, 14:10 – 16:10, Room: Pentland

In parallel, a poster will be presented on “measuring consumers’ emotional feelings to detect and prioritize the most promising trends: helping R&D teams to innovate more effectively”.