Raghunathan invited a group of diners to sample a selection of Indian food and drink. A 2006 experiment led by Raj Raghunathan, a professor at McCombs School of Business, suggests these might be counterproductive. But there’s one area where the results are more counterintuitive, and that concerns messages about healthiness. So far, these findings might not surprise you. In each case, boosting expectations creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Wansink’s study isn’t a one-off, further research shows that a multitude of factors can help boost diners’ expectations – from the price to the colour. And, remember, the brownies were identical any difference in rating was due the serving style. The brownies served on a napkin were rated as OK, those on a paper plate as good and those on china as excellent. When the participants rated the brownies the difference in taste was stark.

Making your copy more concrete will boost ad recall The twist was that the customers received their food in one of three different serving styles: either on pristine china, a paper plate or a napkin. Each one the same size and from the same recipe. This ancient insight is supported by a number of more evidence-based studies: if a brand can create a prior assumption that it will be tasty, the probability that it will be is boosted.įor example, in 2006, Brian Wansink, a professor at Cornell University, gave out 175 brownie samples at a cafe in Urbana, Illinois. Much of our experience is set by our expectations. Nearly 2,000 years ago the Roman gourmet, Apicius, famously stated, “We eat first with our eyes.” He was one of the first people to realise that the appeal of a dish is not just a matter of what goes into our mouth.

Healthy food that tastes good