Case study: Scoring food trends to identify promising innovations for tomorrow

Our client's requirements

In a context of rapid changes in consumption, our client wanted to anticipate growth drivers by identifying truly promising food trends.

Among all the ideas/trends detected during its internal monitoring, our client's objectives were:  

• To rank trends according to their potential, while avoiding biases linked to declarative responses or fashion effects.
• Not to get lost in the profusion of weak signals and passing trends, but also not to miss emerging trends that could become tomorrow's growth drivers.

Our client therefore wanted to test a large number of ideas/trends with consumers to identify those that will make a difference tomorrow from those that will remain marginal.

Repères solution 

Repères proposed a hybrid approach that went beyond traditional declarative statements, incorporating a more implicit and predictive measure:

• A broad overview of trends: 26 food trends selected by our client, covering five major areas (culinary pleasure, health/naturalness, responsible consumption, protein choices, new forms of meals), presented in the form of a simple descriptive board
• An agile testing protocol: an online survey of a representative sample of 1,300 French people, in which each respondent evaluated six trends in random order
• An ultra‑simple questionnaire based on two measures:
  • Declarative: Positioning with regard to each trend (already practiced / interested / not for me), in order to assess its maturity on the market. 
  • Emotional/implicit: 3 spontaneous words to measure emotional intensity and therefore the potential of the trend using the R3M Score®.

Dynamic positioning to assess potential and maturity 

By positioning trends according to the emotional intensity they elicit in two sub‑populations (based on how quickly they adopt food innovations), we were able to identify their potential and maturity according to four quadrants:  

• Trends to be deployed (which are highly activating) and emerging trends (which are only activating the most forward‑thinking consumers for the moment)
• Trends to be reworked, which are not very promising but could be optimised to improve consumer acceptance (levers identified via detailed spontaneous reactions), or which are not innovative enough (attracting few forward‑thinking consumers)

A highly accurate measure for understanding and optimising each trend

This analysis, based on spontaneous consumer reactions, provides a detailed understanding of the emotional strenghts and levers to be pushed for each trend, as well as the obstacles to be optimised in order to remove any doubts, misunderstandings or rejection. 

It is also possible to test different hooks/formulations for the same trend in order to measure the impact of the message and identify the one that will best resonate with consumers.

Insights

Three key learning for our client:

1. Pleasure remains the main driver: even for responsible trends, emotional activation is stronger when they are associated with taste and sensory experience.
2. Responsibility appeals but divides: certain trends (flexitarianism, animal alternatives) can be perceived as elitist or guilt‑inducing, generating rejection.
3. A brand messaging challenge: to remain inclusive, brands must avoid extremism or dogmatism and favour sincere, transparent and accessible narratives.

Added value for the client

Thanks to this tool, our client now has:

• A clear dashboard to prioritise their investments in innovation and communication.
• A nuanced view of trends: those that appeal all targets, those that fuel innovation, and those that need to be reworked.
• Concrete strategic recommendations for balancing responsibility and pleasure, avoiding exclusionary discourse, and building brands that are both committed and unifying.

👉 With this trend scoring, our client has been able to secure their strategic choices, invest in the most promising trends, and strengthen the consistency of their brand messaging across all consumers.

Contact us if you too are looking to prioritise your innovations for tomorrow!