Understanding a concept and how it appeals to consumers is part of a co-ordinated approach to developing successful products. The concept sets up the expectation for the product or service. It is not just the product idea, but contains the idea written or presented in a way which appeals to a specific group of consumers. If our main interest is in the reaction of consumers to the product or service, why is it important? Why does it matter to us?
There is a traditional view of sensory testing which says that you just present the product to your consumer with very little description and see how he or she reacts. If you do this, the reactions and scores tend to be conservative and even negative. If consumers are not given the context and environment under which this product will be used, they find it hard to decide when or how it would be used. Relevance to their lifestyle is just as important as the actual sensory qualities of the product.
If you give a consumer a carbonated beverage without telling them that it is designed as a lightly flavoured mixer to go with spirits, how are they to judge it? It was not developed as a stand-alone drink, but to blend in with alcohol and other flavours. The consumer is assessing the product out of context and with no idea how it would fit into their own lifestyle. Reactions are unlikely to give the manufacturer a sense of how the product would sell in the marketplace given appropriate marketing as a mixer drink.
The concept gives the product “clothes”, it helps the consumer put the new product into their own lifestyle and product repertoire. Within that context, we get a much more realistic “read” of likely success in the marketplace.
Brilliant Reflections/Consumer Research Specialists 