I was eating breakfast this morning, and it illustrated a concept that really resonated with me at the conference I just attended. Pam Henderson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Henderson) gave a great talk about maximizing your impact as a sensory scientist. First off- I loved her. Someone commented that she could do stand up, and they were right. I will definitely read her book. She said that you must have a point of view, and you must advocate for it.

How does this relate to breakfast, you may be wondering? Well, I conducted a little taste test this morning. I was trying out a new product- Thomas’ Pumpkin Spice English Muffins. Yes, I am firmly aboard the Pumpkin Spice bandwagon. I was an early adopter. If you see Pumpkin Spice Oreos, please give me a holler.

Anyway, first I tried half with LOL butter. It was okay. Then I tried half with LOL Cinnamon Butter, and it was amazing- like eating an ooey gooey cinnamon roll. I was reminded of when I was developing this product. The buzzwords at the time were enhancer and transformer. Everyone in marketing thought than Cinnamon Butter was only an enhancer- meaning it complimented the flavors of your food. Our next product Saute Express was going to be a transformer- meaning it would elevate your ingredients into an even better dish. I, on the other hand, thought that we already had a transformer with our current product. The way Cinnamon Butter melts into a warm bread item, I believe truly transforms the eating experience. I even wrote that in one of my reports. But I didn’t advocate for that belief, so it never went anywhere. If I had the confidence and conviction in my findings, I might have been able to change the course of marketing of the item. Who knows maybe it would be a bigger seller today.

So go out and have a point of view and advocate for it, and try LOL Cinnamon Butter on a Pumpkin Spice English Muffin!