The Shape of Taste: Why the whole Emotional Journey matters, not just the Emotional Destination
When we talk about Emotional Journeys ?it’s the whole journey that is important, not just the end point. Every brand owner and marketer that I speak with enthusiastically tells me about how their product makes people feel, but they are nearly always talking about the end point, the end of the journey. All too rarely have they any understanding of the journey itself, of how and why their product moved the consumer to the way they feel at the finish.
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Often the end point is a category benefit – all sodas are refreshing. It is the journey to the end point that differentiates a brand from its competitors.
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Imagine yourself at a fairground, waiting for a roller coaster ride. When you climb into the car you are not thinking about your destination. In fact, your destination is probably a matter of feet from where you are when you begin, and it looks very much like your current position. But when you get out of your seat and disembark, you will probably be feeling very differently from how you feel right now, before your ride.
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Were I, or anyone else, to interview you as you climb out of the car onto the firmer ground of the platform, we would be likely to observe that you are in a heightened emotional state. You may be quite excited, exhilarated, or maybe you are feeling frightened, even a little sick – maybe all of these at the same time.
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If I then asked you why you feel like this, you would immediately start to talk about the sudden drop that turned your stomach, how you thought that the car would leave the track and send you plummeting to your death, about how the loop-the-loop or the corkscrew left your heart in your mouth, about how the sensation of speed and lack of control left you breathless.
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While this is all true and gives us an image of how you experienced the ride, these are just snippets, highlights of your experience. If I am to really understand your experience, I need to understand your whole journey – both the physical, sensory journey and the emotional journey that it generated within you.
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At the start of your journey there is a feeling of anticipation, maybe apprehension. The roller coaster then starts its ascend up the first incline. Your anticipation increases. You hear a loud clicking sound, the car jerks a bit as it approaches the top, and your apprehension increases: Is the mechanism about to fail? Are you about to fall backwards and crash back to the start at the bottom?
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As the car reaches the top and begins its first descent, instead of being unnerved by the drop and acceleration, you are relieved that you didn’t fall backwards. The roller coaster is not broken after all. It will be OK. After the increasing apprehension of the first ascent, this ride is turning out to be less frightening than you had thought. You relax a little. Then your car suddenly jerks round to the left – you are caught completely by surprise. Did it leave the rails, are you crashing? Before you have recovered your wits the car drops again – faster this time. Your stomach is left behind…
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And so the ride goes on. There will be gentle, calming parts where you enjoy the view across the theme park and out to sea, and sudden twists, turns, and drops, some of which you anticipate or see coming and some of which catch you unawares.
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But while the height and speed of the drops and the sharpness of the twists and turns are important, so is the emotional state that you are in as you enter each event. If you anticipated it or saw it coming, it is less disturbing than if you were caught off guard. If you were in a heightened state of nervousness as you hit that sudden bend or drop it will have a much greater effect on you.
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While theme parks around the world compete for the highest, fastest, the most loop-the- loops, the roller coasters manage the riders’ journeys the best and give the best experience. These are the rides that build your anticipation before lulling you into a false sense of security, before dropping you over the edge.
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It is the same with food and drink. It is not just about the flavors and the textures. It is about the journey that those flavors and textures take you on. While the key emotions of that journey are important, the subtleties in how it delivers those emotions are also critical. It is about how it moves you from each part of the experience to the next – the highs and lows of the experience, the sudden twists and turns, and your emotional preparedness for each of these transitions.
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It is about the whole Shape of Taste.
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Understanding ?how and why you respond to certain aromas, Tastes, and textures can be enlightening as to why you make some of the choices that you do and why you feel as you do about certain foods and drinks.
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Understanding the Shape of Taste for whole groups or even populations can be vital for food manufacturers and for brand owners trying to develop and promote their food and drink brands across the world.
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Chris Lukehurst is a Consumer Psychologist and a Director at The Marketing Clinic:
Providing Clarity on the Psychological relationships between consumers and brands
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