Candles are a great way to shape your environment. They add a decorative touch and enhance the mood of the space with a delightful aroma. We're inundated with a variety of candle options, but how do we know which "Sunshine Escape" smells the most like an actual escape? Product developers are often tasked with creating products based on (or at least inspired by) real life models. But how similar or different are those products to their inspiration? Our Fidelity to Concept rating measures just that – how accurately does the aroma/flavor of your product match to your name or concept. The scores are supplemented with qualitative descriptors to help you understand exactly how the aroma is coming across, and how the combination of notes might be similar to, or stray from, your concept.
To go back to our candle example, we might translate a candle called "Sunshine Escape" to smelling like tropical fruit and muguet. Let's look at a real-life example with lavender scented candles.
The Process
We had our Spectrum Aroma Panel evaluate two products Neat (before they are burned) and Lit (from 6 feet away after being lit for 20 minutes) and we compared both products to fresh and dried lavender.
The Samples
We selected two candles to evaluate: DW Home – Relaxing Lavender and Voluspa – French Cade Lavender.
The References
As references for a true lavender aroma (to compare the candles against for Fidelity), we purchased fresh lavender from our local garden center and dried lavender from a grocery store.
The Results
The Takeaway
Sensory Fidelity Ratings are a fast and effective way to provide guidance on how to better match your product or prototype to design briefs or concepts. Results are available within a few days and pricing starting at less than $500 dollars per pair of samples. This is a great option to screen through prototypes.