Dados do Trabalho

Título

The value of co-creation for developing healthy dairy products for and with adolescents

Introdução

Co-creation is recognized as a collaborative activity in which potential stakeholders or consumers play an active role in selecting or creating new products to be commercialized in the market. Co-creation with adolescents may result in healthy dairy products.

Material e Métodos

This study evaluated the co-creation process through exploring, prototyping, refining, and validation stages for developing a healthy dairy product for and with adolescents. A total of 28 adolescents participated in three co-creation sections, while the other 65 participated only in the validation section.

Resultados e Discussão

In the first section, the adolescents prototyped a healthy dairy product, tasted it, and noted possible improvements. The ingredient selection was based on four factors: sensory properties, hedonic, novelty, and health impact. The adolescents designed a post (concept prototype) in the second section to communicate their products. The post design was based on seven factors: definition of product name, poster visual design, ingredients, promotional image, sensory properties, health claims/health compounds, and marketing purposes. The third section validated the posts and refined products for acceptance and perceptions. Healthy dairy products were accepted despite using healthy and novel ingredients and reducing sugar by adolescents involved or not in the co-creation process. Furthermore, based on the post's perception, the products were perceived as nutritious, healthy, with suitable texture, and tasty. The adolescents participating in the co-creation sections were not biased towards more positive perceptions of the posts or higher acceptance scores than general adolescents.

Conclusão

Our results demonstrate the potential to involve adolescents in product co-creation and provide insightful information for its implementation.