The CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) is the federal government agency for scientific research in Australia.

It has always conducted interesting research over the decades, and continues to reveal fascinating findings.

In 2015 it conducted a survey to reveal The CSIRO Healthy Diet Score  – a scientifically validated survey that assesses a person’s diet against Australia’s healthy eating guidelines, providing a single dietary quality score on a 100-point scale.

AUSTRALIANS SCORE 59 OUT OF 100

More than 86,000 people participated in the survey.

And in September 2016, they released the report, giving Australians a rather disappointing C, and a score of 59 out of 100. 

PERSONALITY PROFILING

However, in 2016 & 17 they have been conducting Australia’s largest-ever diet and personality survey, to discover Australia’s biggest diet downfalls and what type of “diet personalities” Australians typically fall into.

You can take the quiz here

It has revealed five different diet personality types:

  1. The Thinker (37 per cent of the population) – The most common diet type. Thinkers tend to over-analyse their progress and have unrealistic expectations. This can result in a sense of failure and derail a diet.
  2. The Craver (26 per cent) – One in four respondents is a Craver and finds it hard to resist temptation. More than half of all Cravers (58 per cent) are obese.
  3. The Socialiser (17 per cent) – Food and alcohol play a big role in the Socialiser’s active social life, so flexibility is key to maintaining a healthy diet.
  4. The Foodie (16 per cent) – Foodies are most likely to be a normal weight. Passionate about food, this type has the healthier diet with a high variety of vegetables in their diet. Alcohol makes up one-third of their discretionary food and beverage intake.
  5. The Freewheeler (4 per cent) – Spontaneous and impulsive eaters, Freewheelers have the poorest quality diet. With a higher proportion of men in this group, Freewheelers avoid planning meals and over half (55 per cent) are obese.

What I love about it, is that it taps into people’s emotion. Rather than being a boring functional segmentation, the CSIRO have positioned it as food = mood.

Not a new concept, but as the world gets more and more functional with technology taking over, it’s always a great reminder that an emotional connection is far stronger than a rational or functional one.

Marketers – are you unearthing emotional and attitudinal insights to drive behavioural change with your consumers and customers?