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This study explores technological factors influencing the development of functional food products. The specific aim was to investigate if the concept of a dominant design holds true for functional foods. By using consumer acceptance as the measure of product dominance, it is postulated that market pressure inherent to functional foods becomes established by the perceived value to consumers. This value is due to the inherent and documented health advantages, taste, user convenience and competitive price. Switching costs, which create barriers to entry, for functional foods are due to the establishment of a technological solution, patenting, meeting regulatory approval and brand assets in connection to marketing. It is also postulated that in the development of functional foods, a product innovation phase leads into process innovation alternatives. These alternatives arise from different precursors of dominant designs.

The purpose of this paper is to gather stakeholder tacit knowledge to design new product concepts with optimal product attributes for new health promoting food products for the ageing population.

This research employed a qualitative research method. A total of 16 in-depth interviews were carried out to identify key product design attributes. These attributes were used to design health promoting foods for the ageing population.

Age-related conditions affect and alter the design of health promoting foods targeted at the ageing population. Providing the ageing consumer segment with access to health promoting foods facilitates positive ageing intervention. The integration of affordability and convenience elements into ageing food design attributes is important for product acceptance. The multi-level demands and heterogeneity of ageing consumers result in the need for a variety of nutritionally tailored food formats. A dairy-based beverage was considered to be the optimal product concept for the ageing population.

The inclusion of stakeholders from the food industry could result in levels of food industry bias. The sample size of stakeholders was limited to 16 participants. One interview guide was used throughout all interviews to ensure consistency levels. A more flexible instrument may have captured more specific stakeholder information.

During the early stages of the new product development process, a market-oriented research methodology can help to optimise product design in terms of product attributes that drive consumer acceptance.

This paper provides important insights into the significance of stakeholder tacit knowledge generation throughout the need identification stage of the NPD process. Specifically this paper provides stakeholder tacit knowledge on the optimal design of health promoting foods for the ageing population. This knowledge has the ability to provide market-oriented information on health promoting food concepts which can be valuable for food manufacturers to maximise NPD performance, create value and develop competitive advantage within their marketplace. Finally, design templates of health promoting foods for the ageing population are of high strategic importance to food manufacturers, governments, health professionals and medical professionals.

Food retailers invest heavily in design expertise to create exciting packaging to entice customers to buy premium food products, and to strengthen their competitive edge. The process by which food retailers manage food packaging design has not been documented and this is an oversight in the design management and retailing literatures that this paper addresses. An in‐depth case study of one of the top four UK retailers is presented and their approach pack design management is analysed and discussed. The process outlined here was in place in 1997 at a time when the retailer had just moved from number three in the market place to number two and was aiming to be number one. The process documented is that of a dynamic growing food retailer working on improving its brand image through packaging design.

Advertising is one of the most important components of food marketing. However, there is uncertainty over the optimal means of convincing consumers to buy a product. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of advertising content comprising text (sensory, functional and symbolic messages) and pictures (product image) on food product evaluation.

Two online experiments investigating strawberry advertisements were performed. Study 1 incorporated only text, whereas study 2 investigated combinations of text and pictures. Analyses of variance were conducted to determine any significant differences among the three texts (sensory, functional and symbolic) and among the combinations of text and pictures.

Study 1 revealed no significant differences. All three texts were well received, which shows the relevance of all the product benefits – sensory, functional and symbolic – for food products. In contrast, study 2 identified significant differences. The data analysis indicated that advertising effectiveness increases with the complementarity of the text and picture. Notably, the combination of the product picture and symbolic text was scored the highest for effectiveness.

The findings provide new insights into advertising design that food firms can use to enhance consumer product evaluations in terms of expected taste, perceived experience and quality, overall attitude and purchase intention. Further, the results contribute to the research stream of food product benefits by highlighting the relevance of sensory, functional and symbolic design elements.

Technology influences market growth and productivity, and the food industry has seen major technological and productivity method changes in recent years. The debate on genetically modified (GM) food, in particular, has been led on multiple levels in both Europe and North America. Studies to date have described the structural differences between the North American and European regulatory agencies as reasons for differing attitudes towards GM foods. The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual framework that puts forward a systemic view on the interconnections between corporate marketing strategies (i.e. tool makers), public policies (i.e. rule makers), and science (i.e. fact makers) when a dominant design emerges in the food industry.

This paper begins by describing the fundamental elements of the dominant design concept and the actor‐network theory (ANT). This is followed by the presentation of levers that permit the emerging agrifood dominant design to be successful. Third, these theories are applied to the appearance of GM foods in both North American and European markets. Finally,a framework is presented outlining actors' tasks associated with the emergence of an agrifood dominant design.

This research uncovered the reality that technology developers, policy makers, and research protagonists all have the capacity to change the outcome of a dominant design in the food industry. All operate under a strict set of values and objectives and may influence the adoption process. The model in this paper presents a macro perspective of the institutional dynamics of a dominant design in the food industry when it appears in any given market around the world.

This study is one of the first to systemically examine the development of technological change as a dominant design within the unique reality of the food industry. As such it makes a number of contributions which should be the subject of further study.

Although the increase in point-of-purchase decisions heightens the communication potential of food product packaging, empirical research on understanding how visual packaging affects consumers' subsequent product and brand evaluations and perceptions is scant. This study seeks to develop a theoretical model to show the effects of consumer attitudes toward visual food packaging on perceived product quality, product value, and brand preference.

A self-administered questionnaire developed from the literature was conducted, and 315 undergraduate students participated in the study.

The empirical results show that attitudes toward visual packaging directly influence consumer-perceived food product quality and brand preference. Perceived food product quality also directly and indirectly (through product value) affects brand preference.

This paper offers directions for understanding the effects of visual packaging on positive consumer product and brand evaluations. Based on the study findings, food firms should emphasize the visual packaging design factors such as color, typeface, logo, graphics, and size to form consumers' positive perceptions and brand preference.

Insects can be sustainably produced and are nutrient rich. However, adoption of insects in western culture, including New Zealand (NZ) is slow. The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer attitudes, drivers and barriers towards entomophagy and uncover consumer expectations surrounding what their ideal insect product attributes are.

In total, 32 participants took part in three product design workshops. This involved two sections. First, focus groups discussion took place surrounding consumer acceptance. Second, following adapted consumer idealised design, groups of three or four designed their ideal liquid and solid product incorporating extracted insect protein. Designs included the ideal product, place, price and promotional attributes.

Participants were both disgusted and intrigued about entomophagy, with common barriers including; culture, food neophobia, disgust sensitivity, lack of necessity and knowledge. Motivational drivers were novelty, health, sustainability and/or nutrition. Most of the liquid and solid food products were designed as a premium priced sweet snack, drink or breakfast option, as opposed to a meat substitute. The convenience, health and sustainability benefits of certain products were promoted towards health and fitness oriented consumers. Whereas, other designs promoted the novelty of insects to kids or the general population, in order to introduce the idea of entomophagy to consumers.

The study is the first attempt at uncovering what insect products NZ consumers are accepting of; therefore, contributing to both limited research and product development opportunities for industry.

This study investigates the effects of sustainable design on food policy, literacy, and socialisation to gauge consumers' satisfaction with the general design of food well-being (FWB).

Using data from an online survey with 382 respondents, an empirical study applying composite-based structural equation modelling was conducted. Sustainable design for food socialisation was hypothesised to directly influence consumers' satisfaction with the general design of FWB, whereas food policy was assumed to have an emergent effect on food literacy. Gender was a control variable used to identify the heterogeneity of the effects.

The results demonstrated that sustainable design for food policy and food literacy positively influence food socialisation and affect consumers' satisfaction with the sustainable design for FWB. Additionally, women exhibited higher application of food knowledge and skills but less experience in FWB than men.

To the best of the authors knowledge, this study is the first to examine the emergent influence of food policy from a design perspective, with implications for industrial practitioners, policymakers, and academic research. This study also provides possible avenues for future sustainability and food product design research.

Packaging represents an essential issue for marketers in terms of effectively communicating the product’s benefits, especially in the case of organic food products. Because of logistical advantages, rectangular packaging is frequently used for organic food products. However, the question arises whether packaging alignment may significantly influence consumers’ decision-making at the point of sale. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the effects of rectangular packaging alignment (vertical vs horizontal) on consumer perception in the context of organic food products.

On the basis of the empirical results of a pilot study, a between-subjects online experiment with a sample size of 699 participants and two conditions (vertical vs horizontal packaging alignment) was performed. Analyses of covariance and PROCESS mediation analysis were used for data analysis.

The results of two empirical studies confirm the relevance of differences in consumers’ horizontal and vertical information processing for the research context of organic food and provide evidence for the assumed relevance of packaging alignment by ultimately showing a change in packaging alignment affects consumers’ willingness to pay. Importantly, this effect is mediated by utilitarian value perception.

This paper importantly contributes to research on packaging design of organic food products. Specifically, the relevance of an efficient utilitarian value perception for the consumer’s willingness to pay is highlighted in this context. Potential implications of these results for companies, consumers and public health are discussed.

Literature from across design studies and innovation management, as well as food marketing research evidence, is examined to highlight the interdisciplinary and experiential research approaches to food consumption and well-being. This conceptual paper aims to address the need to expand the food industry’s goals by considering its contributions to the consumer’s overall food well-being. Food experience design (FED) seeks to understand how food professionals can design healthy and pleasurable food experiences aimed at enhancing people’s food well-being. FED does so by proposing a holistic and integrative framework.

This approach examines design thinking by conducting an analysis of the multidisciplinary literature. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by advancing the theoretical and empirical understanding of food design thinking through the lenses of experiential theory and consumer well-being.

This review paper clarifies the scope of FED scholarship and offers a call for collective efforts to establish a focused body of knowledge that leads food marketing professionals and scholars to adopt an experiential perspective to food consumption and production focused on experiential pleasure of food as a driving force for consumer’s well-being.

The review paper addresses the need to expand the food industry’s goals by considering its contributions to the consumer’s overall food well-being. FED seeks to understand how food professionals can design healthy and pleasurable food experiences aimed at enhancing people’s food well-being. FED does so by proposing a holistic and integrative framework.

This research provides designers with the operative tools to create innovative food experiences and increase the food well-being of consumers. Toward that end, designers need to extend their skills and evolve their language and competencies to create valuable dialogues with other stakeholders involved. Collaboration requires many other premises. This paper contributes to the discussion by identifying and clarifying them.

This research highlights the imperative to take multidisciplinary, transformative and experiential approaches to researching food innovation strategies from a consumer’s well-being perspective.