The aspect of neuroendocrinology we are specialized in at DervalResearch studies the influence of hormones on human behaviour and sensory perception.

It all began with a cup of coffee.

When we started working with Patricia Hartley, vice president Single Serve, at Sara Lee, [the company's] leading coffee brand was facing some criticism: The popular brand should make stronger Senseo coffee, a bit like Nespresso [from competitor Nestlé], just booming at that time.

We analyzed the sensory profile of Sara Lee target consumers and found out that they were mainly medium to super tasters—sensitive to bitterness.

Sara Lee's 100 per cent Arabica coffee - with its mild roasting process and pod structure that only lets the best of the coffee go through - were therefore the right sensory mix for their mainstream consumers.

The negative feedback was actually coming from people with fewer taste buds, not really in the target for Senseo. Sara Lee did the right strategical move: [In the] past decade, Nespresso sold 8 million single-serve machines and Senseo 27 million!

The answer to very critical questions for our client were actually on the tip of consumers' tongues.

Sure. We just presented at the Association for Research on Vision and Ophthalmology's annual meeting in Singapore our findings that colour preferences are linked to visual acuity: Far-sighted people consider a colour like red relaxing, whereas it is an exciting colour for near-sighted people.

The science behind this is that, according to the laws of physics, each colour has a different refraction. Blue and violet—for instance—will hit the front of our eyeball whereas red and yellow will hit the back of our eyeball. F is the focal point of the eye, where all colour waves meet after passing the lens. The exact location of the focal point varies between individuals and determines their relaxing and exciting colours:

• Near-sighted people focus light in front of the retina. Watching blue colour is for them effortless. To perceive red colour, they have to tense the ocular muscles.
• Far-sighted people have a shorter eyeball and the F point is beyond the retina. Watching red colour is for them effortless. To perceive blue colour, they have to tense the ocular muscles.

For the Chinese market, for instance, Innvo Labs decided to manufacture the new Pleo in blue. Excellent decision as China counts the biggest population of near-sighted people in the world, with 400 million individuals concerned, which represents 33 per cent of the population but over 60 per cent of the youth. So brands targeting young Chinese shoppers can use blue as a relaxing colour and red as an exciting one.

When targeting Australians, who are in the vast majority far-sighted, it is the contrary: Blue will be an exciting colour and red a relaxing one.

So, depending on the target consumers, effective brands have to adapt the colour palette they use for their product, packaging, advertising and overall consumer experience. People who are not far-sighted or near-sighted will have more options but will tend to prefer colours like green and blue.

In preliminary research, where we asked people to auto-evaluate their visual acuity, we found a stronger correlation between vision and favorite colours in women. In the following research conducted with Patrick Jansen, chairman of the Carl Zeiss Academy Belgium and owner of New Optics, where we were able to assess the visual acuity professionally, we found the same strong correlation in men and women. The distribution of violet, green and red cones might be involved in the disliking of certain colours as well. We should be able to tell you more about that in the coming months.

Biology, and especially prenatal hormones, influence indeed consumers' behaviour, traits and sensory perception. So that shoppers with the same Hormonal Quotient® (HQ—see definition below) show very similar preferences in terms of colours, but also smell, taste, touch and sound. For instance, most women influenced by prenatal testosterone, like the persona "Marcia" (see illustration), are more likely to be near-sighted and to be attracted by short-wave colours, like blue and violet.

The Hormonal Quotient®(HQ) is the first biological segmentation tool. Based on thousands of measurements, we identified eight Hormonal Quotient®(HQ) depending on individuals' gender and the influence of prenatal hormones. We documented the Hormonal Quotient®(HQ) of over 50 target marketing groups including top executives, housewives, entrepreneurs, purchasing managers and opinion leaders.

So far, we [have] helped brands like Mattel, Philips, Sara Lee, Danone, Sofitel or LVMH not only understand their target clients but predict their behaviour and product preferences. The applications include evaluating the opportunity of a new market or geographical area, finding consumers with the best-suited sensory profile for an existing product, generating consumer insights based on reliable biological facts, adapting a global brand locally, or designing new products with the right sensory mix.

A biological segmentation tool like the Hormonal Quotient® (HQ) can help brands deliver the right sensory mix to their target consumers and significantly improve their marketing effort.

Rocky af Ekenstam Brennicke, marketing director at Björn Borg—fashion underwear brand successfully developed by the legendary tennis champion—confirms that "underpants are also a seduction tool and more than 50 per cent of the sales are gifting." Knowing the shopper at the biological level—in this example, knowing that "Marcia" is near-sighted—can help propose the right in-store colour (in this case, purple and blue), assortment or promotion.

We regularly give seminars and workshops on the subject. Companies can learn more by visiting www.derval-research.com, and find many tools and business cases in the book—The Right Sensory Mix: Targeting Consumer Product Development Scientifically—I just authored on the topic and published by Springer in October 2010.