Givaudan and Canvas8 unveil food report that identifies five key consumer trends

26-09-23 / 2 min read

Flavours and fragrances specialist Givaudan and behavioural insights firm Canvas8 have teamed up to produce FlavourVision®, a trends report which identifies and maps five key food experience trends. The report aims to understand and navigate the ever changing consumers’ taste preferences and wellbeing interests, and to provide insights into future planning.

The report delves into the shifts in consumers’ likes and identifies five macro trends currently influencing global taste preferences, which, according to the companies are “on an unprecedented scale and have given rise to over 20 micro-expressions, representing tangible indicators of cultural and behavioural shifts.”

The five overarching consumer macro trends identified for Givaudan are:

Green for me: Consumers are increasingly embracing eco-actions that resonate on a deeply personal level.
Restorative care: There is a growing shift towards adopting intuitive, restorative approaches to health.
Stable connections: Consumers are seeking stability and continuity, leaning towards hyper-local and self-centric mindsets.
Sensorial renaissance: A yearning for heightened sensory experiences that goes beyond conventional tastes and flavours.
Augmented assistance: A quest for proactive and personalised digital tools to better understand and improve everyday’s life.

Canvas8 utilised a number of methodologies throughout the 25-week project, including Driver Mapping, Future Mapping, STEEPLE Analysis, Signal Scanning, and Expert Insights and translated the data into the FlavourVision® trend book using Thematic Clustering, an algorithm which groups together data according to its thematic similarities.

A panel of cyborg anthropologists, design strategists and philosophy professors and provided perspectives and future-proofed insights.

Thomas Ullram, Global Marketing Director at Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing, said: “We are really excited to share the new FlavourVision® with our customers. The depth of insight in this new update is remarkable and provides such valuable knowledge that will really help in co-creating innovative food experiences. A culmination of extensive global research, data analysis, and vast expertise, FlavourVision® acts as a guiding light for partners and customers, empowering them to transform confusion and disruption into certainty and opportunity in line with consumer needs and desires.

“For industry leaders and innovators, aligning product development with long-lasting consumer trends and behaviours is critical to their future success,” added Nick Morris, CEO of Canvas8. “We’re proud to have partnered with the Givaudan team and are looking forward to seeing how international teams integrate FlavourVision into their launches.”