Vanilla research is consumer-driven

Givaudan has undertaken significant investment and global research into what’s next’ for one of the world’s favourite flavours.

Building upon a strong heritage in vanilla flavours, Givaudan’s consumer-driven TasteEssentials vanilla programme pushes the boundaries of traditional vanilla flavour.
The flavour design approach brings together leading global consumer understanding and sensory knowledge. Consumer and market exploration spanning over 4,000 consumers, 20 countries and 75 of the world’s most popular vanilla ice creams resulted in insights into consumers’ emotional vanilla connections and preferences which drove and guided Givaudan’s ingredient, flavour and concept innovation.
Scott May, global head of Givaudan’s sweet goods & dairy division, said: “The launch of Givaudan’s Vanilla TasteEssentials programme marks a significant breakthrough in discovering how consumers in different parts of the world enjoy, think and feel about vanilla. With Givaudan’s new vanilla ingredients, consumer insights and creation expertise, food manufacturers can now come closer than ever before to achieving truly distinctive, consumer-winning vanilla flavourings that have been extensively tested and validated.”
The research inspired the creation of more than 500 unique vanilla concepts of which nearly 150 were tested with global consumers to identify an exclusive range of vanilla flavours. As Givaudan flavourist Dave Bratton commented: “Our aim was to push the boundaries of vanilla flavours. Seeing the consumers’ reactions to our prototypes made us realize that the universe of what is acceptable and indeed desirable for vanilla is far larger than we had previously thought.”