Influence of brand information on consumers' expectations and liking of powdered drinks in central location tests

The aim of the present work was to study the influence of brand on consumers' expectations and liking of orange-flavoured powdered drinks. Ten samples of orange-flavoured powdered drinks were evaluated by 108 consumers who scored their expected liking (looking at the pack only) and the overall liking under blind and informed-testing conditions (tasting the products). Consumers were also asked to answer a check-all-that-apply question with eight statements related to some products' characteristics and usage occasions. Results showed that brand and package information had a large impact on consumers' liking scores only for well-recognized brands. Hierarchical multiple factor analysis performed on liking scores for the three evaluation conditions showed that informed liking scores were closer to expected liking scores than to blind liking scores, suggesting that brand information was more important than hedonic reaction to the sensory characteristics in determining consumers' liking scores for the samples on the informed condition. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.