Analysis and validation of the Ideal Profile Method: Application to a skin cream study

The Ideal Profile Method (IPM) is a descriptive analysis in which consumers are asked to rate products on both their perceived and ideal intensities on a list of attributes. In addition, overall liking is asked. At the end of the test, each consumer provides a sensory profile of the products, hedonic ratings and their ideal profile. From a theoretical point of view this information is of utmost importance as it is used to formulate an ideal product. Still a lot of questions are asked to the consumers and the information is fragile. Does such methodology work in practice? Eight skin creams were created varying in four main factors: the quantity of co-emulsifier MF and VE, and the quantity and nature of the vegetal oil used. 72 women tested them according to the IPM, and rated the products on 13 attributes. After performing the Ideal Profile Analysis (IPA) consisting in checking for the consistency of the ideal data and guide on product improvement, two ideal products were estimated and created. These two newly developed creams were tested with six of the eight original products using the same methodology. This second test showed that the optimization procedure worked well since the two newly developed products were rated higher on liking than the original products. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.