Many theories and research studies have been written regarding consumers’ behaviors related to food. Although several authors have focused their attention on the impact that Descriptive food names have on food evaluations and sales, the literature lacks evidence about the impact that names have on ice-cream taste, quality, associations, recommendation rate and sales. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap by investigating the impact of ice-cream flavor names. As analyzed in the first part of this thesis, the majority of the literature reviewed agrees that giving a Descriptive name to a food allows to enhance sensory evaluations, as well as increasing consumers’ satisfaction and food sales. Five research hypotheses are formulated starting from some literature findings and transferring them to the ice-cream context. To test these hypotheses, a 2-weeks in-store experiment was conducted in RivaReno, one of the major Milanese ice-cream parlors. The experiment took place in September 2016 and the main objective was to analyze the effects on ice-cream evaluations after the manipulation of the wording used in labels. During the two weeks of experiment, a survey was administrated to consumers who chose one of the observed flavors, either labelled with Descriptive or Basic name. Finally, at the end of the two weeks the analysis consisted in the evaluation and interpretation of data gathered both through the survey, and through the sales monitoring, by comparing the results obtained for each flavor when presented with Descriptive and Basic names. The experiment allowed to confirm all the research hypotheses, thus suggesting that naming an ice-cream flavor with a Descriptive name have a positive impact on ice-cream evaluations and sales. Finally, this thesis provides some suggestions to managers operating in the ice-cream industry, in a way that it will be possible for them to benefit from this research, maximizing their products’ evaluations and sales by leveraging the name variable.

1. TASTING A NAME:
THE IMPACT OF FLAVOR NAMES ON ICE CREAM EVALUATIONS,
AN IN-STORE EXPERIMENT AT RIVARENO
Francesca Pelizzola
Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi
MSc in Marketing Management
December 2016

2. THE POWER OF WORDS
“Menu labels are a source of expectations” (Cardello, 1994).
“Words create a mood and help to create an image of what
is to come” (Lesesne, 2000).
“Customers tend to react positively to foods that are
appealingly described, and negatively to those that are not”
(Dittmer, 2003).
“Descriptive names prompt the consumer to think about food
in a less utilitarian and more hedonic way” (Chandon,
Wansink and Laurent, 2000).
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Bread
Homemade baked bread

3. WHAT IS NEW IN THIS THESIS?
So far, research and studies have analyzed the impact of Descriptive names on food and
on consumption patterns only regarding restaurants. But consumption in these places differs
from consumption in ice cream parlors:
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Source of difference Restaurants/Cafés Ice cream parlors
Decision Making Longer Shorter
Menu More variegated One product category
Kind of consumption Less impulsive Indulgence
Monetary impact Higer Lower
Consumers’ attitude More reflexive More impulsive
The literature lacks evidence about the impact of ice cream names on ice cream
evaluation and this thesis aims at filling this gap.

4. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
H1: Changing the ice cream name, from Basic to Descriptive, can have an important
impact on taste and quality post-consumption evaluations.
H2: If both quality and taste for Descriptive names are rated at a higher level, also
satisfaction for ice cream labeled with a Descriptive name will be higher.
H3: The willingness to recommend an ice cream labeled with a Descriptive name will be
higher compared to the willingness to recommend an ice cream labeled with a Basic
name.
H4: Giving the ice cream a Descriptive name would create more appealing, favorable
and emotional associations.
H5: Sales of an ice cream labeled with e Descriptive name will be higher than sales of
the same ice cream labeled with a Basic name.
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5. SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
Descriptive labels will positively affect taste and quality post-consumption evaluations
(H1), thus increasing consumers’ satisfaction (H2) and their Net Promoter Score (H3).
Besides, Descriptive names are supposed to generate a greater number of positive general
evaluative comments (H4) and to increase sales volume (H5).
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6. AN EMPIRIC APPROACH: IN-STORE EXPERIMENT
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First week (5-11 Sept. 2016)
Descriptive Names
Second week (12-18 Sept. 2016)
Basic Names

7. 70 respondents
in the first week
70 respondents
in the second week
THE SAMPLE
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Looking at Pearson Chi-Square, the
P-values (p = .865; p = .808) are
higher than the significance level
threshold (p = 0.05): thus, the two
groups are independent according to
age and gender.
The analysis is reliable and not
affected by gender and age of the
respondents composing the two
groups.

8. H1 IS CONFIRMED
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Quality: the mean of quality ratings given
to Descriptive names is statistically
significantly higher than the mean of
quality ratings given to Basic names.
Taste: respondents rated much more
favorably the taste of Descriptive names
compared to the taste of Basic names.
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ANOVA_Taste N Mean Std. Deviation
Descriptive Names 70 8.64 1.425
Basic Names 70 7.67 1.462
Total 140 8.16 1.519
ANOVA_Quality N Mean Std. Deviation
Descriptive Names 70 8.87 1.350
Basic Names 70 7.89 1.291
Total 140 8.38 1.406
F(1,138) = 19.479, p = .000
F(1,138) = 15.853 , p = .000

9. H2 IS CONFIRMED
Satisfaction: the level of satisfaction is
statistically significantly higher for
respondents exposed to Descriptive
labels than the level of satisfaction of
respondents exposed to Basic names.
Taste and quality statistically significantly
predict satisfaction, and the impact of
taste is much higher that the impact of
quality.
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ANOVA_Satisfaction N Mean Std. Deviation
Descriptive Names 70 8.67 1.411
Basic Names 70 7.43 1.602
Total 140 8.05 1.629
F(1,138) = 23.716, p = .000
Linear Regression B Sig. VIF
Taste .815 .000 3.961*
Quality .193 .021 3.961*
Dependent Variable: Satisfaction
Independent Variables: Taste, Quality
F(2,137) = 322.916, p = .000
*a certain level of Multicollinearity was detected but it was not too high, according to the ‘rule of thumb’ (VIF<10).

10. H3 IS CONFIRMED
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Net Promoter Score: the total NPS for
Descriptive names is much higher than the
NPS for Basic names.
This is also statistically confirmed.
Name Type Promoters Detractors NPS
Descriptive Names 60% 7% 53
Basic Names 30% 30% 0
ANOVA_NPS N Mean Std. Deviation
Descriptive Names 70 .53 .631
Basic Names 70 .00 .780
Total 140 .26 .755
F(1,138) = 19.432, p = .000

11. H4 IS CONFIRMED
11Name associations: Soave Fragola del Trentino vs Fragola

12. H4 IS CONFIRMED
12Name associations: Limone Giallo di Sicilia vs Limone

13. H4 IS CONFIRMED
13Name associations: Pesca Tardiva Vellutata vs Pesca

14. H4 IS CONFIRMED
14Name associations: Dolci Fichi Settembrini vs Fico

15. Sales: during the first week of experiment the total sales were 16% higher than the
second week: the sales of all the other flavors were 3.85% lower and the sales of the four
fruit flavors examined were 32.06% higher. Thus, the sales increase of the flavors
manipulated, was, in percentage, much higher than the overall sales increase.
H5 IS CONFIRMED
No statistically significant linear dependence of the
mean of the daily temperature on sales value. Kg produced

16. TO SUM UP...
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Managers operating in the ice cream context can benefit from the use of Descriptive
names, increasing consumers’ evaluations and attitudes about their product, thus fostering
a positive word-of-mouth and increasing sales. But, to avoid undesired results, special
consideration must be paid to the nature, relevance and length of the descriptions used
and to the actual quality of the ice cream offered.

17. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
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If you have any questions or
curiosities please contact me at:
francesca.pelizzola@gmail.com