Title	HEAR THE TASTE WITH STEVEN LIU
Brand	FINNAIR
Product/Service	FLIGHTS
Category	A02. Applied Innovation
Entrant	MIRUM AGENCY Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation	MIRUM AGENCY Helsinki, FINLAND
Production	KLOK HELSINKI Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 2	ULTRA NORDIC Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 3	TOAST POST PRODUCTION Helsinki, FINLAND

Name	Company	Position
Juuso Kalliala	Mirum	Creative & Copywriter
Paavo Järvilehto	Mirum	Creative Director
Joppe Varsanpää	Mirum	Art Director
Noora Raitisto	Mirum	Account Director
Tuija Torikka	Mirum	Developer
Joel Wiren	Mirum	Developer
Anu Hopia	University of Turku	Professor Food Development
Jaakko Tepponen	Mirum	Tech Lead
Antti Suomalainen	Ultra Nordic	Client Services Director
Karri Knuuttila	Ultra Nordic	Sound Designer
Aki Päivärinne	Ultra Nordic	Sound Designer

Why is this work relevant for Innovation?

Food is less tasty on an airplane than on the ground. Together with Finnair’s Chinese signature chef Steven Liu and Finnish molecular gastronomy professor Anu Hopia, we created scientific soundscapes to improve the taste of food on Finnair flights from China to Europe. We also built a WeChat mini program where you can take a picture of any kind of food, and the AI-powered advanced image recognition software interprets the picture and offers you a customized Nordic soundtrack to enhance flavours of any recognizable food.

Background

Finnair wants to serve the best meals in the aviation world and tasked China’s MasterChef Steven Liu to create a signature menu for Finnair’s Asian flights. That was not enough. Finnair was looking for something even more special to take dining to the next level. Research indicates that the Chinese customers are interested in the possibilities of technology and that they place high value on Nordic nature. We wanted to help Finnair utilize all senses to create an in-flight experience based on those insights.

Describe the idea

Our goal was to craft unique, custom soundscapes for each individual Steven Liu dish served on-board Finnair, combining technology and unique Nordic elements with Steven Liu’s culinary masterpieces, to improve the taste of the food. To craft our soundscapes, we recorded sounds from nature in Lapland and used knowledge of cross-modal correspondences between sound and taste guided by Anu Hopia, a professor of molecular biology and leading researcher on molecular gastronomy. She provided scientific guidance to ensure the rigor of the sound design. In addition to the in-flight experience, we wanted to use technology to take the experience even further. So, we also created a WeChat miniprogram for our Chinese audience. You can take a picture of any kind of food, and the AI-powered advanced image recognition software makes very detailed analysis of the food picture, recognizing the main ingredients and offering you a customized soundtrack.

What were the key dates in the development process?

August 2017 – Sound recording tour in Finland’s and Norway’s Lapland gathering the library of pure Nordic nature sounds. January 2018 – Scientific soundscapes ready February 2018 – Launching the WeChat miniprogram May 2018 – Launching the in-flight soundscapes on a route opening flight from Helsinki to Nanjing

Describe the innovation/technology

The logic behind the technology is quite simple; low frequencies boost bitter and umami flavours, while dampening salty and sweet flavours. And vice versa, high frequencies boost sweet and salty flavours and dampens bitter and umami. In addition, also the textures of food play a role here. For example, certain high-pitched sounds can enhance the crispiness of the food. Our goal was to create soundscapes to balance and enrich the taste and enhance the textures. People love taking pictures of their food and sharing them with peers, and while eating they tend have some extra time to play around with their smartphones. By combining features of the user’s smartphone camera, online image recognition technology, our program’s logic on pairing ingredients with flavours and our scientific soundscapes, we created a new and fun experience for the WeChat crowd. The WeChat miniprogram can make very detailed analysis of the food picture, recognizing the main ingredients. A complex algorithm then assigns the correct soundtrack. We created multiple soundscapes and additional sounds to create a plethora of variations for the AI to match with different taste combinations.

Describe the expectations/outcome

Paired with the unique WeChat program, we provided the Chinese customers a chance to experience Finnair’s unique Nordic flavour through sound, even on the ground. Last year’s brand actions resulted 51% brand awareness and the improving in-flight consumer experience supports the target of increased brand preference. Hear the Taste concept also helps to position Finnair as a very innovative airline. It is estimated that over 250,000 Finnair’s Chinese passengers will be able to enjoy Hear the Taste in-flight soundscapes during 2018. Steven Liu’s dishes were designed for China in mind, but signature chef menus and soundscapes can be created for every Finnair market. We have now scaled Hear the Taste concept to Japan and Korea markets and Europe will follow.