In Sweden, the energy drink market has exploded in recent years. In the early days, Red Bull was a clear market leader with only one product. Today, over 20 brands are competing with a multitude of flavours each.

Innovation and creating new tastes at a rapid pace have become the key to driving sales and gaining market share. But the taste is subjective and varies over different markets and market segments.

Hence, finding a robust way to test new tastes variants before launching is the key. For one of the leading brands in the Swedish energy drink market, we created a test program of sensory tests to evaluate new flavours on an ongoing basis.

Respondents have been handpicked, recruited, screened, and invited to the AskSwedens test facility in central Stockholm.

The drinks served were chilled and randomized to mitigate potential respondent bias.

For each drink, taste impressions, likability and purchase intent were measured as overall questions on usage/attitudes in the category, brand awareness and preference.

We summarized the data in a clear, actionable report, giving the product development team indications of brand health and what flavours to prioritize. Using Key Driver Analysis, we identified what taste elements to change/improve to increase likability and purchase intent.