LINDA ETTINGER LIEBERMAN, NADYA LIVSHITS, DVORA CHAIET, HOWARD R. MOSKOWITZ*
*Corresponding authorMoskowitz Jacobs Inc.1025 Westchester Avenue, Suite 400, White Plains, New York 10604, USA

Abstract

This paper describes experimental design for understanding people’s feelings about bathing products. It shows drivers for selecting products. Respondents evaluated how concepts fit an end use. The test stimuli were divided into silos. The study generated data from 161 respondents who identify which elements in a bathing concept fit a specific end use. Two respondent segments emerge from the study. Using a consumer typing tool uncovers two mind-set segments, providing suggestions of what to promote and avoid when marketing to these groups.

INTRODUCTION – HISTORY OF BODY BATHING PRODUCTS

Although no one knows exactly when body bathing products were first created, cuneiform tablets from over 5,000 years ago show that Sumerians boiled ashes with fats to make a slurry they used for cleaning. Similarly, Egyptian papyri dating to circa 1500 B.C.E. show recipes for soap made from alkaline salts mixed with oils (1). Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder credited the invention of soap to Gallic and Germanic tribes in his Historia Naturalis in 600 B.C.E. (2, 3). Wherever types of baths were fashioned and showers discovered, humans felt the need to cleanse their utensils and clothing, and also their bodies. The latest body bathing products were created in response to changes in hygiene habits. As the need to use both time and water judiciously increased, other body bathing products, e.g., body wash, moisturizing wash, and shower gel started appearing next to bar soap in stores (4).

Chemosensory research
For centuries, chemosensory researchers investigated how people perceive chemicals and how these substances exert short-term effects on humans. Lab scientists and physicians devote ...