An experiement done on Potato Chips and if people could tell the difference between brands.

1. POTATO CHIPS

3. About Our Experiment
Four brands of chips

Blind and non-blind

taste tests

4. Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1 – Consumers' taste ratings

for the same potato chips will differ when
the product brand is made apparent and
when not.
Hypothesis 2 – The majority of consumers

will not be able to distinguish the difference
between
brands purely
through a taste
test.

5. Variables
Independent Dependant
 Flavor  Taste Preference
 Brand  Brand Preference
 Packaging  Characteristic
Preference
 Texture/Structure of
Chip

6. Procedure
Experimentation set-up: Samples were

placed on numbered paper plates
(numbers 1 to 4) in order from left to
right.
 Pre-experiment debriefing:
Participants in groups of 4 or 5. Experiment
done.
 Experiment execution: After concluding
the second tasting, surveyors were asked
to complete the final form.

7. Surveys

8. Survey #1
1) How would you rate the aroma of the chip?
Very Bad
Very Good
Chip 1: 1 2 3 4 5
Chip 2: 1 2 3 4 5
Chip 3: 1 2 3 4 5
Chip 4: 1 2 3 4 5
2) How would you rate the thickness of the chip?
Don’t Care
Chip 1: Too thin Just Right Too Thick
Don’t Care
Chip 2: Too thin Just Right Too Thick
Don’t Care
Chip 3: Too thin Just Right Too Thick
Don’t Care
Chip 4: Too thin Just Right Too Thick

9. Survey #2
What brand of chips do you usually purchase? Why?
Lays
Old Dutch
Tim’s
No Name
Other, Please specify: __________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Rank the top 3 factors that would influence your purchase:
 Physical Appearance of the Chip Variety of Flavors
 Thickness Packaging
 Crispiness
Convenience
 Taste
Pricing
 Sound
Nutrition Levels
 Smell
Others, Please Specify

10. Results
Results without seeing brand
Generally high scores

Scores are scattered

Difficult to distinguish

preference

Results with seeing brand
Scores are closer to each

other
Change in aroma and

thickness
scores

Pattern in the scores


11. Purchase Intention
Purchase Intention Chip 1 Purchase Intention Chip 4 (No-
(Lays) name)
5 5
4.5 4.5
4 4
3.28
3.19
3.5 3.5
2.96
3 3
Rating
Rating
2.50
2.5 2.5
Blind Test Blind Test
2 2
Non-Blind Test Non-Blind Test
1.5 1.5
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
Purchase intention scores are based on survey questions 6 & 9
 Scores from the blind and non-blind test are compared
 Slight increases in purchase intention for the Lays brand
 Similar results for other branded chips such as Old Dutch
 Intention decreases for generic branded chips
 Respondents are less likely to purchase generic branded chips

12. Brand Identification
Brand Identification
(Of consumer-indicated favorites included in survey)
38%
Incorrectly
Identified
62%

13. Limitations
Population:

Sample size

 Population uniform
Participants:

Hypothesis guessing

 Un-isolated participants
Experiment set-up:

Variety of Brands

 Tasting order
 Flavor variety

14. Experiment Recap
Results Inferences
Increasing purchase Consumer preference is
 
intentions for heavily reliant on the brand
Lays, decreasing purchase
intentions for Tim’s and no-
name
Consumers can’t

Participants could not distinguish chip brands by

identify their preferred taste alone
brand when blindfolded

15. Managerial Implications

16. Thanks for Listening!