REVISTA DYNA MANAGEMENT

Key words:

Mapas proyectivos, Marketing sensorial, bebidas de café, atributos sensoriales, análisis multivariado, Napping®

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

RESEARCH ARTICLES

ABSTRACT:
In the context of Marketing, sensory analysis are powerful tools for investigating the “voice of customer” in a systematic and structured way. They allow us to demonstrate that products show up in the market with the attributes desired by customers. Sensory analysis objectively characterize foods and beverages, through the analysis of information perceived by the human senses, while also principles of nutrition, physiology, psychology and statistics, are considered. Projective mapping (PM) are a type of sensory analysis, whose main feature is to give to judges complete freedom for expressing on their own terms, the perceived sensations. The PM are a convenient alternative to traditional hedonic scales, which limit the evaluator to a fixed (arbitrary) number of attributes.
Here a case of PM application for investigating commercial brands of coffee is presented. During a unique session, 29 judges assessed 12 different coffee beverages. Results allow us to identify those attributes, which are preferred by customers. Three groups (segments) of coffee brands are proposed. We demonstrate that men capture different sensations than women.
This work contributes to the use of PM for investigating coffee beverages in the Latin-American context. Hence its nature is more illustrative than prescriptive. PM techniques have been used for investigating wines, juices, snacks, chocolates, etc. The existence of documented cases for investigating coffee beverages is very limited. This article makes an original contribution in this matter.

Keywords: Projective mapping, sensory marketing, coffee beverages, sensory attributes, multivariate analysis.