Category buyers & heavy users
Households screened on category purchase and usage frequency, including the frequent users who account for much of the volume.
A Russell specialization
CPG Research for Product and Brand Decisions
Russell runs concept screens, in-home usage tests, taste tests, packaging and claims studies, segmentation, and tracking for food, beverage, QSR, and consumer-product teams.
Category Buyers, Product Testers, and Diners
A sauce taste test and a QSR menu study require different screens. Purchase frequency, household context, and usage occasion determine who qualifies.
In-home product testers
Participants recruited and managed through shipping, product use, diaries, follow-up questions, and comparative testing.
QSR & foodservice customers
Customers screened by daypart, occasion, and the restaurants they visit for menu, experience, and value research.
Product Questions Before and After Launch
The evidence changes as a product moves from screening to trial, shelf or menu choice, and launch.
01
Concept, product & pack
Which concepts deserve a trial, how the product performs at home, and what needs to change before production.
02
Claims & messaging
Which claims and package messages shoppers notice, understand, and believe.
03
Portfolio & growth
Whether the associations that make a brand credible in its current category carry into a proposed extension, and which purchase priorities differ in the new category.
A Taste Test and a Dairy Segmentation
The two published cases cover a BBQ sauce flavor decision and a needs-based dairy study.
The taste test behind a BBQ sauce flavor change
A two-cell in-home taste test compared a new BBQ sauce flavor with the original. The client launched the preferred flavor and later reported higher annual sales and market share.
Read the case studyA needs-based segmentation that reframed dairy
Qualitative work supplied the inputs for an online dairy segmentation. The study organized needs into elemental, physiological, and emotional groups and produced a typing tool for later research.
Read the case studyWhat Does the Team Need to Learn Next?
The useful starting point is the category, product stage, audience, and next decision date.
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