Symrise Establishes Subdivision Devoted to Social Media

Initial Symrise studies on the subjects of citrus and healthy eating have already shown that the information drawn from a strategic analysis of peer-to-peer communication is far more meaningful for qualitative consumer research than information yielded by previous methods.

3 Aug 2009 Flavour company Symrise places a great deal of importance on consumer research: the aim of the company’s Market & Consumer Research division, for instance, is to identify trends, develop new product concepts and review existing concepts. The company has now established an innovative new subdivision devoted solely to social media.

“You can’t study today’s consumers using yesterday’s methods,” says Dr. Dag Piper, Global Director Sensory & Consumer Sciences at the fragrance and flavorings manufacturer Symrise. In Dr. Piper’s philosophy, “yesterday’s methods” refer to techniques such as traditional surveys of classic focus groups - a company asks the questions and the consumer answers. The results that this method yields are frequently lacking in creativity and fail to reflect all relevant consumer demands.

The internet’s social media paint a very different picture, however: twitter, facebook, studiVZ, myspace and countless other online communities allow users to exchange ideas with each other freely, directly and with no hierarchy. New topics are introduced extremely fast; users make comments on, ponder and forward these new topics just as quickly. Companies can anticipate authentic, emotional responses from consumers to their rational questions. Initial Symrise studies on the subjects of citrus and healthy eating have already shown that the information drawn from a strategic analysis of peer-to-peer communication is far more meaningful for qualitative consumer research than information yielded by previous methods.

Symrise is now integrating these new methods and media as a fixed component of the company’s existing market and consumer research infrastructure. “The classical methods are still justified for addressing specific issues, of course,” Dr. Piper admits. “But the earlier and more direct our efforts to investigate consumer demands, motivations, perceptions and needs, the better. We can’t ignore new media and media formats when conducting consumer research. They offer us authentic, unfiltered consumer feedback – the potential here is simply immense.”