esomarny2006_ brandmatterspaper

�Copyright © ESOMAR 2006

BRANDMATTERS 2006

POwERful BRANDSLearning from the greeks

Andrea Wilson Roz Calder

INTRODuCTION

this paper discusses the role market research can play in understanding, measuring and applying emotion to the brand management process. Broadly the paper is divided into three sections:

�. emotion – the engine behind human behaviour and driver of consumer choice; 2. researching emotion – tools for effective measurement; and 3. output and application – using emotion to build stronger brands.

EMOTION

what consumers do much has been said about what consumers do – they build relationships with brands, they become committed, they become loyal, they create brand repertoires, they switch brands, they love brands and so on. But very simply what consumers do is actually about choice – consumers make choices. the issue is how they make their choices.

faced with two brands of orange juice that appear identical in every way, the consumer has a difficult choice. his first thought may be to find out if there’s a price difference – is one better value than the other? or a product difference – are they both �00% pure juice? Does one contain preservatives and the other not? Perhaps he has to actually taste them both to experience the flavour, the texture and so on. But even after all these questions are answered, it’s possible he feels these two juices offer him exactly

the same thing – as products they may be identical. (see figure �.)

fIguRE 1 PRODuCT fEATuRES AlONE MAkE CONSuMER ChOICE DIffICulT

Provided only with functional information about the juices the choice is not easy. going a little deeper, and understanding who drinks with juice may help – but still the choice could be a very difficult one. here’s where brands help the consumer. (see figure 2.)

fIguRE 2 COlOuRS AND SyMBOlISM MAkE EMOTION PART Of ThE EquATION

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2Copyright © ESOMAR 2006

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how much easier is the choice between these two packs which manage to say different things about themselves just through colours and symbols. add brand names and they say even more.

as well as getting easier, the nature of the choice changes – no longer is the consumer engaging rational thought and employing a logical decision process that weighs up price against ingredients and so on. now he’s operating at a much more instinctive level – whether we say “his head’s ruling his heart” or he just has a “gut reaction” to one of the designs, we must accept that emotion is now part of the equation.

rather than despair at logic taking such a back seat, marketers should see this as an opportunity. While functional benefits can be easily replicated, long term brand equity can be created using the language of symbolism to develop an emotive attachment with the consumer.

this is not a 2�st century concept. generations of marketers and advertisers have made similar observations, recognising in different ways that there is a complex relationship between the rational and emotive side of consumer choice.

“Reason and emotion are not opposites. They are partners who occasionally disagree but who depend on one another for success.” Gerald Zaltman, How Customers Think

“The consumer does not behave as he says, he does not say what he thinks and he does not think what he feels.” David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man

“The consumer market buys products and services to satisfy a variety of needs – physiological, social, psychological and spiritual.” Philip Kotler, Marketing Management – Analysis, planning and control

and with this comes the recognition that marketers and advertisers must actively engage far more than the rational consumer.

“Products in search of a sustained market share will need to burrow deep, not into consumers’ pockets, but into their hearts.” Kevin Roberts, Lovemarks; the Future Beyond Brands

“Brands have practical, rational values, but what makes them distinctive and unique are their symbolic values. advertising operates more effectively at the symbolic, intuitive level of consciousness.” Judie Lannon and Peter Cooper, humanistic advertising

there are many categories which have already embraced this thinking and abound with examples of brands built on a strong emotive platform. for example, none of these perfumes (see the images on left, figure 3) has anything rational to say about the product itself, but through symbolism they leave us in no doubt as to the sort of women for whom they’re intended. and they even manage to convey to us whether each will smell light, sweet, strong, musky, raw or refined.

fIguRE 3 ADvERTISINg IMAgES

Perfume advertisers ignore product features and tap into powerful emotion (images on left). Even traditionally functional markets such as finance now recognise the power of emotion (images on right).

in contrast, there are categories that on the surface feel more rational but are also successfully building brands that give consumers emotive choices. financial institutions, for instance, recognise that with product offerings essentially at parity, the way to differentiate is via the personality and symbolic meaning of the brand, as shown in the right hand images of figure 3.


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With emotion now recognised as a powerful driver of brand choice, the debate has moved from a marketing and advertising one to a market research debate – how can we best measure emotion. the words “market research” and “emotion” don’t even sit comfortably in the same sentence. Quantitative research competence lies in rigorously measuring behaviour and opinions, so we need to borrow from other disciplines as we learn how to research the emotional drivers of human behaviour.

Can the greeks help? here we return to the title of the paper – Learning from the Greeks. the greeks were definitely better philosophers than they were market researchers, but their civilisation did provide us with a powerful understanding of core human behaviours. for an insight into this, we can look to greek mythology. traditional tales based around gods and goddesses were created by the greeks to help explain their world and to guide their people through the physical and emotional dangers of everyday life. What’s of interest to modern day researchers of human behaviour is that perhaps deliberately, perhaps unwittingly, each god epitomises a core truth evident in human behaviour – not behaviour unique to the greeks, not behaviour unique to the 6th century BC, but simply human behaviour.

aphrodite, the greek goddess of love and beauty, can compel anyone she wishes to desire her. isn’t there a little aphrodite emotion in every one of us, convinced of our own powers of seduction – some more willing than others to put it to the test?

ares, god of War, is single-minded in his obsession with fighting – to the extent that even his parents don’t like him. Don’t we all play this role just a little sometimes – when our emotions run high and we’re belligerent and ready to fight?

and there are many more – Zeus, apollo, hera and so on – each one seeming to express a core personality or emotion. But the greeks do not have the monopoly on gods. they were soon followed by

the romans who created an almost parallel line-up – Venus playing aphrodite, mars taking ares’ role and Jupiter, like the greek Zeus, was king of the gods. the similarities here aren’t surprising given the proximity of these two cultures both historically and geographically. But look further afield and we find exactly the same story repeated – kartikeya, tyr, onuris, Camaxtli, she, itkinike are the gods of war from indian, nordic, egyptian, aztec, african and native american cultures. kama, freyia, hathor and so on – these are the goddesses of love, with surprisingly similar traits in each culture. these mythical characters passed down to us from all of these cultures repeatedly represent exactly the same personalities and emotions.

here in the 2�st century we may feel such beliefs fail to address the real problems of contemporary life. as such we have rationalised all such mythical creatures out of existence. or have we?

millions of cinemagoers still connect with the “mythology” of Darth Vader, Luke and han solo in george Lucas’ Star Wars, or the adventures of saruman, Boromir and gandalf in tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. if creatures of fantasy aren’t your taste, movie characters such as James Bond, the terminator, forest gump, Bridget Jones and many more are modern day expressions of the same core personalities portrayed by early civilisations.

how can we explain this phenomenon that culture after culture, wherever they exist in time and space, anchor their worlds and belief systems in the same fundamental personalities and emotions? this is more than co-incidence and surely relevant as we try to better understand 2�st century human behaviour in a consumer context.

A collective unconscious Carl Jung explained this in the early 20th century with his concept of a “collective unconscious”. this recognises that as human beings we are united by common, universally shared hopes, dreams and needs that are the blueprint for our psychology and,


BRANDMATTERS 2006

as such, underpin all our behaviour. Jung called them archetypes. as enlightened individuals of the 2�st century, hell-bent on individualism, we may resist the concept that our psychology conforms to a pre-determined template in much the same way that our physiology does. But the evidence is mounting in favour of a pre-determined psychological template that we all share; in the same way we share a physical template which pre-determines that we each have two arms, two legs and so on.

rather than feel constrained by this, as market researchers we can take advantage of it – though we certainly wouldn’t be the first discipline to do so. Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious and his archetypal theory has already extended far beyond clinical and academic psychology.

• anthony stevens has successfully integrated archetypal theory into modern neuro-science and evolutionary psychology. • Business disciplines such as hr have successfully applied this Jungian psychology, i.e. myers-Briggs personality model. • Psychologist Joseph Campbell has identified Jungian archetypes within popular culture, most famously star Wars.

Closer to home, the advertising industry has recognised the power of archetypes in telling brand stories, i.e. hero and the outlaw and Building Brands and Believers. the former, mark and Pearson’s work, has been heralded as new thinking but it is actually a continuation of the thinking of one of advertising’s greats, who once said this:

“Human nature hasn’t changed for a million years. It won’t even change in the next million years. Only the superficial things have changed. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with the unchanging man – what compulsions drive him, what instincts dominate his every action, even though his language too often camouflages what really motivates him.” Bill Bernbach

as Bill Bernbach observed it is the unchanging truths which will deliver the real opportunities to advertisers and thereby to marketers. Jung before him recognised that we are united by a collective unconscious, preprogrammed to experience certain emotional needs. Coincidentally every civilisation before that has unwittingly identified these core emotions for us. if our task is to research emotion, some of the work is already done for us. the next section looks at what progress market research has made in building on this to develop our own specialised tools.

RESEARChINg EMOTION

what has market research done to understand emotion? talk of emotion in the context of market research and the first thing that comes to mind is probably qualitative research. it’s in this field that we have seen the greatest developments in tools designed to help understand emotion and to access the subconscious.

Without tracking every step in the development of qualitative research, we can at least trace the industry’s first use of projective techniques back to the �9�0s. it was in the United states that europeans such as herzog, Lazarsfeld and of course Dichter brought such tools from psychoanalysis to their qualitative work in advertising agencies. sadly the techniques were soon adopted by unskilled practitioners who ultimately brought this whole genre of research under suspicion, and did serious damage to the reputation of qualitative research – in particular motivational research – in the United states. however, this was definitely the forerunner to the full range of enabling techniques used in current qualitative research to get beyond the conscious layer. Wendy gordon helped legitimise such tools with this pragmatic explanation in her �988 qualitative research text:

“As human beings, we withhold thoughts and feelings from others and we also hide them successfully


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from ourselves – particularly deeper desires, wishes, fears and emotions that we believe are in some way unacceptable to others. … In the context of qualitative market research projective techniques are designed to enable the individual or group to express these feelings through light-hearted and safe exercises which reveal insight both to the individuals themselves and to the researcher.” Wendy gordon

While such tools, applied well, have undoubtedly been successful in accessing the emotive layer of consumer needs and brand image, they do have shortfalls.

• typically there is no systematic structure to the application or interpretation of projective qualitative tools. therefore neither accuracy nor consistency can be guaranteed. • similarly, these approaches are often reliant on a particular researcher who has the personal skills required to elicit emotive responses from consumers. this level of empathy and intuition is hard to find and harder still to replicate. • Qualitative research is by definition based on small numbers – what it gains in depth it loses in breadth. the emotive insights that emerge from qualitative research can never be truly representative of a consumer population.

no matter how good qualitative research is at understanding emotion, we can’t expect marketers to base multi-million dollar decisions on research that fails to measure anything. Quantitative researchers have approached this by attempting to measure emotion in various ways.

the values and lifestyle studies that became part of mainstream research from the early �980s certainly took marketers one stage closer to understanding the consumer in more than rational terms. these studies (such as VaLs, risC, etc.) are founded on the work of researchers and social scientists such as mitchell, rokeach and kahle who identified patterns of values and belief in society that helped us understand some of the non-rational aspects of human behaviour.

a range of analytical frameworks underpins these research approaches, for example, maslow and the basic psychological tenets identified by freud and Jung that humans are inner or outer directed and have community vs. individual tendencies. however marketers soon realised that whilst understanding a person’s beliefs, values and attitudes was helpful in getting a more rounded view of the consumer it didn’t seem to explain brand choice. frequently it was found that the brand choices made by the different value groups were identical, thus leaving marketers with a deeper understanding of their consumers but without the information to help them influence brand choice.

from a brand management perspective there are two very notable flaws in the value and lifestyle approaches to understanding consumer choice:

• typically these studies are generic, putting each consumer in one segment which is then applied across different categories. While this can be useful to explain why some consumers are interested in a particular category and some are not, or to measure and explain cultural differences between countries or within populations, it is too blunt a tool to explain emotive drivers of brand choice within a category. not only can an individual be driven by very different emotions in different categories, but even within a category one consumer can respond to different emotive drivers on different occasions. • furthermore these approaches rely on direct questions – the traditional tool of all quantitative research. asking someone direct questions about brand choices and expecting them to reveal their emotions is as flawed as expecting emotional honesty when you ask someone why they love their girl or boyfriend. the answers can only ever be rationalisations that reveal very little – sometimes because they aren’t consciously aware of their emotions, and sometimes because they aren’t prepared to share those emotions with you.


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other groups of researchers have aimed to tackle the problems associated with quantifying emotions through the use of photo sorts and other visual aides in the measurement process. these tools have proven valuable in the world of communications in understanding consumer reactions to advertising and concepts. much of the visual stimuli are derived from qualitative tools and are useful as elicitation tools but, lacking a validated connection to any theories of consumer behaviour, are not tools to systematically define consumer needs and measure emotions. at present they have limited application in the marketer’s challenge to deconstruct consumer needs and emotions in a category and then to determine the steps to be taken to build a strong brand that better meets consumer needs.

if market research can learn anything from the greeks, we can learn to be precise about measurement. from Pythagoras we learned how to accurately measure the hypotenuse of a triangle. from euclid we learned of the mathematical elements, and from archimedes the finer points of geometry. in all these cases, the greek mathematicians applied new approaches to the task of measurement – if market research is to be serious about measuring emotion, we too must rethink how we do things. and we need specific tools to help us do this.

�. We need a theoretical basis that provides the principles for what we measure.

2. We need a framework for emotions, i.e. what are they, how they can be defined.

3. We need quantitative projective techniques – to elicit and measure emotive responses.

the needscope system, originating in the early �990s, is a fully developed and validated research approach which provides these tools. the remainder of this paper looks at its theory, framework, techniques and application in the marketing context.

A theoretical basis two concepts in this paper form the theoretical basis of needscope – a marketing model and an archetypal framework.

marketing uses brands to satisfy consumer needs – this model (see figure �) describes how brands and needs, as two sides of this equation, should fit together. strong brands satisfy consumer needs at all three layers.

the outer, easily accessible, layer of consumer needs is rational and is satisfied by functional product features. the next layer of needs is driven by our sociology – this is the need to identify with particular groups in society. the social values of a brand must be engineered to meet these needs – whether it’s an upscale brand, a brand for younger people, and so on. finally the inner layer of emotive needs, which is the least accessible to researchers, is driven by our psychology. these emotive needs are the real drivers of brand choice, and are satisfied by the brand symbolism.

at the emotive level, consumer needs take two different forms – gratification and expressive. gratification needs are satisfied by a feeling, a change in mood – a brand may make you feel safe and secure or invigorated and charged. expressive needs are about satisfying a personality aspiration – here a brand helps you project a certain personality, letting you be bold and confident or warm and easy-going.

fIguRE 4 NEEDSCOPE MARkETINg MODEl Of CONSuMER NEEDS AND BRAND IMAgE


BRANDMATTERS 2006

While the construct is simple, and has been presented in various forms over decades, its strength lies in its application to every stage of the needscope research process. Qualitative tools are tailored to access these different layers, quantitative attributes are rigorously developed to express each of the different layers and the data is then analysed at each of the three layers. it is even possible to quantify the degree of fit between needs and brand separately at each of these layers, identifying for instance that the emotive brand fit is strong but that this is not supported by the functional offering.

this marketing model is the first key platform for needscope. the second is an archetypal framework.

The NeedScope archetypal framework archetypal theory gives us a sound basis for the measurement of emotive needs. this theory already has some traction in the marketing and advertising world but for it to tangibly help marketers build stronger brands it must function in a pragmatic, disciplined way. the needscope archetypal model is the framework that provides this pragmatism and discipline. (see figure �.)

fIguRE 5 TwO AxES fORM ThE fRAMEwORk Of ThE NEEDSCOPE ARChETyPAl MODEl

two axes are the fundamental anchors of this framework and so form the skeleton of the needscope model. the left side of the primary horizontal axis is about the need for affiliation and receptivity – a fundamental sense of belonging. the opposite of this, on the right hand side, is the drive for individualism and assertion. this is the drive to stand out from others rather than be part of the group.

the second dimension runs vertically and divides the model into extroverted and introverted poles. Jungian psychologist edward Whitmont first described this dimension as Dynamic and static in his book the symbolic Quest. however it is labelled, at the top of this axis energy is expressed outwardly whereas at the bottom the energy is inward – more contained and therefore less visible. While there are clearly polar opposites on the needscope model, there is no positive-negative axis. Unlike the freudian models, every position on the needscope archetypal model can be positive for a brand.

this space can be dissected in many different ways, but in its most basic form we can identify six core archetypes – which readily link back to the greek gods and goddesses. (see figure 6.)

fIguRE 6 SIx CORE ARChETyPES DEfINE ThE NEEDSCOPE MODEl

equally our modern day “gods and goddesses” could replace these ancient gods – the terminator playing the god of war ares, James Bond as the cool apollo, and goldie hawn in almost any role she ever played as the goddess of love. these archetypes translate readily to the consumer world - the two communications below could hardly be better representations of the greek gods ares and aphrodite – the Dior woman looks like a warrior through and through while the Lancôme women is pure aphrodisiac!


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the marketer’s language of emotion is symbolism, expressed in these communications through colour, shape, form and so on. Physical aspects of the brand, such as the shape of the perfume bottle, provide another tool to access emotive needs. stripped of colour and branding, these perfume bottles each access different archetypes. (see figure �.)

fIguRE 7 MARkETERS ACCESS ARChETyPAl NEEDS ThROugh COlOuR, IMAgES AND PhySICAl ASPECTS Of ThE BRAND, E.g. BOTTlE ShAPE

similarly brand logos can speak an emotive language with colours and shapes. even without any other knowledge of these competing credit cards, the consumer is likely to react differently to each at an emotive level. masterCard with its intersecting circles and warm colours taps into the affiliative archetype, while american express with its cooler blue and strong structured design is assertive and powerful. (see figure 8.)

fIguRE 8 lOgOS SPEAk ThE lANguAgE Of ARChETyPES wITh COlOuRS AND ShAPES

Before you try and put yourself on this model, it’s important to recognise that all of these archetypes exist within each of us. they are essentially different sides to our personality which can be expressed in different contexts and, in fact, brand choices are

one way we can express those different sides to our personality on different occasions.

this framework provides a skeleton – research must put flesh on these bones before it can contribute to the marketing effort within a specific category. in the finance market, for instance, aphrodite’s sensuality and indulgence is tamed and expressed more as the freedom to spend money. furthermore applied to a market that is largely driven by gratification emotive needs the archetypes will be expressed as feelings, whilst in a market driven more by expressive needs they will be expressed as personalities.

Whether all the brands shown here have tapped into an archetypal need through systematic analysis or by happy accident we don’t know. Certainly being able to interpret elements of the marketing mix within the archetypal model demonstrates the value of having such a framework. But the real power comes from being able to use this framework as a research tool to understand and measure emotion and all the layers of consumer needs in a particular category. the next section looks at the specific research techniques needed to apply this framework, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Projective techniques as discussed earlier in the paper, the benefits of most projective techniques used to access the emotive layer are outweighed by their weaknesses. Qualitatively they lack rigour and consistency, and quantitatively the tools to date have been relatively weak. needscope addresses these issues with highly developed and validated tools at both stages of the research process.

Qualitative needscope photosets represent the archetypal structure, each photoset validated to ensure it expresses the appropriate core archetypes. applying this universal structure ensures a level of consistency across regional and even global qualitative research that can’t otherwise be achieved. (see figure 9.)


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fIguRE 9 quAlITATIvE PhOTOSETS REPRESENT ThE ARChETyPAl MODEl, E.g. hISPANIC fEMAlE AND AfRICAN MAlE PhOTOSETS

additional qualitative tools using symbolism (animals, nature, fairytales, etc.) have been developed to access different layers of the marketing model.

While these tools bring a degree of rigour to needscope qualitative, quantitative research is required to answer key client questions:

• What size is each of the archetype-based need states in my category? • to what extent is my brand tapping into the various archetypes? • What about competitors? • are there unmet needs and opportunities to make stronger connections with consumers?

Past attempts at applying projection quantitatively have failed for two fundamental reasons:

• reliance on verbal rather than visual cues, e.g. “imagine the kind of person who would drive a ford?” or “imagine Chevrolet was an animal, what kind of animal it would be?” Language immediately pushes the respondent into a rational mode, which in turn prohibits access to the emotive – and sub-conscious – layers. tns and nsi have conducted research-on-research which demonstrates the loss of emotional depth whenever direct questioning or verbal projective techniques are adopted. see ingrams (�999) for published results. the latest as yet unpublished tests took place in 200� in the United kingdom, germany, india and the United states. • non-validated projective tools – if projective tools i.e. photosets are to take the leap into quantitative research,

a different level of rigour is required. rather than just being “probing tools” to help open respondents up and encourage free and frank discussion, in quantitative research they are as influential on the results as question order, randomised showcards, scales and so on. therefore they need to be validated to ensure they measure at the archetypal level and are unambiguous in their archetypal expression.

needscope’s answer to these issues is the use of collages that operate in much the same way as photosets do in qualitative. each collage shows between four and eight faces. as well as portraying a personality, the collage also captures a feeling ensuring both expressive and gratification needs are measured. (see figure �0.)

fIguRE 10 NEEDSCOPE COllAgES ARE A vAlIDATED quANTITATIvE TOOl TO MEASuRE EMOTION

male and female collages have been developed and validated for use across nine different cultural regions. needscope collages are developed to represent each archetype and refined qualitatively. a thorough quantitative validation process then includes both verbal and non-verbal testing:

• in a symbolic (non-verbal) similarity test, collages must represent the dimensions of the archetypal model • overall personality and gratification associations (verbal) with each collage must match the archetypal model definition

needscope collages have now been used either face to face or on-line on all five continents.

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While there are obvious benefits to having collages tailored to particular cultures, there are equal benefits in using “global” collages. Clearly this is open to the same kind of debate that circles around global branding but ongoing needscope research has proven their validity. over the past four years a global needscope client has measured the market using global needscope collages in 2� countries – including Caucasian, asian, african and Latin american countries. While minor “translations” were made in some markets, the images on each were fundamentally the same.

at the core emotive level (gratification and expressive) consumers responded remarkably consistently to the global collages. the data below is drawn from the global database which combines all countries measured as at the beginning of 200�. these correlation scores compare responses to each collage at an individual country level with the response to the same collage across the rest of the world. for example there is a .92 correlation between australia’s response to Collage 3 and the rest of the world’s response to that collage. these overall high correlations not only reinforce the universal nature of the needscope archetypes but demonstrate that a global projective tool can be used to measure them. (see figure ��.)

fIguRE 11 RESPONSES TO COllAgES AT INDIvIDuAl COuNTRy lEvEl CORRElATE hIghly wITh glOBAl RESPONSE TO ThE SAME COllAgE

We have so far looked at the various components of needscope and how they apply to measuring emotion:

• a marketing model – this defines the layers of brand image and consumer needs and in turn shapes how the data is collected and analysed. • the needscope archetypal model – based on universal drivers of human behaviour and giving us a framework for defining and measuring emotion in a specific category. • Qualitative and Quantitative Projective tools – developed to reflect the two underlying models, rigorously validated and proven to consistently reach the emotive level.

these tools have been designed to overcome the problems preventing traditional research from accessing and measuring emotion. But the ultimate test is how they are applied to real marketing issues. in the final section of this paper we look at how one client was able to use an emotive, needs-based view of their category to help re-focus their brand values to create a stronger connection with customers and to increase both brand preference and company profit.

OuTPuT AND APPlICATION

it will not be surprising to learn that the majority of research in the world of measuring emotions has taken place in the traditional mega-brand battleground of fmCg. this paper has sought to demonstrate that the archetypes – emotive needs that are key drivers of the choices we make – are evident in all of us at all times. thus exploring and measuring how the archetypes manifest themselves in a particular market or category can help us understand how to influence behaviour in almost all marketing circumstances.

as trading conditions in the mature markets become ever more competitive and people are presented with ever more choices, reason more and more gives way to emotion as the primary way a consumer can make a decision. Companies in markets such as healthcare,

��Copyright © ESOMAR 2006

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it and construction have used needscope to measure the power of emotion to help them secure a long term, profitable position.

the following demonstrates how understanding and measuring emotive drivers of choice helped one bank focus its staff, service delivery, communication and training to deliver financial and service success.

Taking the emotional leap forward our client is the leader in a deregulated banking market. the bank was grappling with the same issue experienced by banks all over the world. the competitive environment was one where the players were competing largely on the basis of products, services and price, and customers had difficulty differentiating the brands on this basis.

the research set out to not only understand the more emotive drivers of brand choice, but to quantitatively measure emotive needs and their connection to the more intangible aspects of brand imagery. the brand in the banking world is a largely intangible entity. shifting emphasis from products and services required a degree of courage and a belief in the brand’s ability to positively impact the bottom line.

the research provided a catalyst for a major paradigm shift in terms of how the bank viewed its customers, and directly led to measurable performance improvements.

The starting point the initial qualitative research explored the archetypal dynamics – the gratification and expressive emotions – operating in the world of finance. this investigation also gave us the language for the three layers of needs evident in the category (layers illustrated earlier in figure �).

once the framework for the needs and brand positions is established, measurement can take place online or face-to-face. the same projective tools are used to measure brand image and consumer need. in this category six segments of varying size and value

(defined by the total value of lending and investments) were identified through measurement.

although each segment is detailed at all layers of need, we employ a range of communication methods to help everyone in the client organisation come to a mutual understanding of the driving emotions as well as the product details behind consumer needs. images are frequently a stronger communication tool than words in uniting understanding across an organisation and these were used extensively in communicating with staff and suppliers to the bank. (see figure �2.)

fIguRE 12 IMAgES ARE uSED TO CONvEy EMOTION uNDERlyINg EACh ARChETyPAl SEgMENT

the archetypes are clearly evident when the emotive needs of each segment are reviewed in a little more detail. for the Leaders (on the assertive, individual side of the model), money is all about power and ambition; it is the ultimate symbol of success. money means staying one step ahead of everyone else they know. Leaders exude confidence and control and want a bank that reflects and enhances these emotions. for optimists (where energy intersects with affiliation on the model) money is all about opportunities for indulgence and to have fun. money is there to let them enjoy the good life; to give them a sense of freedom and possibility. their ideal bank needs to be friendly, flexible and informal. these two consumer groups are both looking for services such as competitive mortgages, credit cards and personal loans but are unlikely to find satisfaction in the same bank.


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even the names of these segments signal a very different way of looking at the customer and have clear links to the archetypal structure.

the segmentation dispelled a strongly held perception that attitudes to money and banking were linked to demographics such as age and wealth. the archetypal-based needs cut across gender, age and life-stage. for example, starting full time employment for the first time would mean quite different things for optimists and Leaders in terms of their relationship to money and their banking demands. Understanding consumer needs in this more emotionally anchored framework was the key paradigm shift for the bank. (see figure �3.)

fIguRE 13 lIfE-STAgES ARE EvIDENT wIThIN EACh NEED SEgMENT

measuring brand positions projectively allowed us to pull apart the bank imagery in a way that classic brand association had not been able to do. We were able to go beyond the rational statements people readily associate with almost all major banks – such as trustworthy, secure, reliable, established, innovative – and explore emotional values. evaluating brands at this depth uncovered unexpected differences between the banks.

results not only destroyed a myth that the bank lacked a clear position, they revealed that the bank’s position had huge latent potential:

• the bank’s position was relatively uncontested. • the other mainstream banks were operating in a crowded space, competing for the same segments. • the client bank had elements that clearly differentiated it from the other main banks.

fIguRE 14 BRAND POSITIONS ARE PROjECTED INTO ThE ARChETyPAl MAP

measuring brand image and consumer needs within the same framework allows us to overlay a brand’s position and consumer needs for the category on one map (see figure ��). this map acts as a short-hand, or a guide, for planning across the business. it simplifies thinking about how to reach a consumer and acts as a sieve for marketing ideas – even before any additional research is started.

“When it came to re-designing credit cards, for the first time there was management agreement to launch the recommended new designs with little debate. The research framework showed that the designs supported the brand strategy, so we could launch with confidence.” marketing manager, Credit Cards

Setting a strategy a disciplined analysis process led to a strategy based on two of the segments. this involved:

�. Understanding the needs of each segment, and how the bank met these needs; 2. estimating the value represented by the target segments; 3. assessing the risk of targeting two segments; �. exploring the strengths and weaknesses of competitor banks – focusing on how the bank could exploit those weaknesses.

Correlation scores provide a powerful way of measuring how well brands actually meet needs. the correlations show how much each segment’s image of the brands actually fits with their own needs.


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this analysis gave a clear indication of where the bank’s strengths and potential lay – and an immediate overview of the competitive landscape. (see figure ��.)

fIguRE 15 CORRElATIONS BETwEEN NEED AND BRAND IMAgE ENABlE AN ASSESSMENT Of ThE STRATEgIC OPPORTuNITIES IN ThE MARkET

at first glance the Providers segment looked attractive: they accounted for 28% of value in the market and the bank had some potential to deliver what Providers wanted from a financial institution. however, Provider needs were largely at odds with the bank’s current position, and other mainstream banks were strongly contesting this segment.

Leaders and managers represented another key opportunity:

• a big prize – 38% customers, �9% value; • their needs corresponded with a position relatively uncontested by other mainstream banks.

Clearly this attractive part of the market had not been completely neglected by the banking world. in fact a great deal of effort had been put into the development of financial planning tools and investment products that were seen to be important to these people. But despite the plethora of options at the functional level, none of the leading banks in the market were able to deliver to the emotional needs of these customers. as a result there remained an opportunity for growth despite the maturity of the market.

analysis of Leader and manager needs showed they had enough in common for the bank to target them as one:

• they shared attitudes to money and planning. • they wanted to feel the same when dealing with their bank. • their ideal bank brand image had much in common. (see figure �6.)

fIguRE 16 COMPARINg ThE NEEDS Of lEADERS AND MANAgERS AT ThE EMOTIvE AND SOCIAl IDENTITy lEvElS

further analysis allowed us to determine what the bank was doing well for each of the segments and should reinforce to enhance their position against the target customers. it also identified what Leaders and managers felt the bank needed to develop if it was to make a stronger connection with them. the level of detail collected enabled us to produce a brand blueprint that encompassed all aspects of product specification and service delivery as well as the overarching emotive tone essential for communications strategy – a blueprint across the three layers of need.

Implementing the strategy Developing core brand values the development of the strategy involved distilling customer needs and the desired brand image to three core emotive brand values which had relevance both externally and internally; each of these was


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further defined within the organisation to ensure relevance to each employee’s area of responsibility.

• Leadership: - Driving the development of product, service and processes; - reflecting leadership in both internal and external communications. • empowerment: - staff living the brand and bringing it to life; - Customers experiencing an empowered culture. • Performance: - recognising and celebrating success – both internally and externally; - financial performance; - service delivery.

the bank and its creative agencies worked together to create a range of images to support the brand values. some images were specifically chosen for internal communication purposes and were used on all documents talking about service delivery, bank initiatives and brand matters.

“If it’s not about Leadership, Empowerment and Performance then it’s not about the Bank.” managing Director

Getting staff on board for the re-positioning to be effective, the staff had to fully embrace the brand values and learn to deliver them in their day-to-day customer contact. the bank’s management recognised this fact from the start of the process and staff members were involved at all stages of the research project. there was an extensive program of personal staff briefings at the end of the project and audio-visual material to support the strategy – particularly for use with new recruits. the brand value images were widely distributed throughout the branches and always appeared in internal communication.

an internal staff survey by the bank reported:

• over 90% of staff recall all three brand values unaided; • �8% describe at least one way they can ‘bring the brand to life’ in their role; • 92% rate brand communications to staff ‘good’ or higher.

Bringing branches in line with the strategy Branches are a key brand touch-point for customers – a physical manifestation of the brand. there was a recognition that the existing look and feel of the branches was not in line with a Leaders’/managers’ strategy. the bank determined to reconfigure the network. the space design agency was briefed about the emotive needs of Leaders and managers and asked to develop plans to encapsulate the essence and core brand values. the ideas for layout, furniture and colour schemes were evaluated in the context of the framework. research confirmed high customer appeal for the designs once they were implemented. the new designs gave the bank a more modern, progressive and professional finish – more in line with the assertive, impressive archetypes of Leaders and managers.

The results Performance improvements for the bank have been impressive:

• Brand preference lifted significantly, and at the expense of key competitors. But this is far more than a research result – it also results in long term financial benefits. • the bank recorded a 0.�% rise in their home loans market share. Whilst this may not seem substantial at first glance, the bank calculates the net present value of the new revenue streams to be in the multi-millions. (see figure ��.)


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fIguRE 17 IMPRESSIvE RESulTS gAINED fROM A STRATEgy Of fOCuSINg ON CONSuMERS’ EMOTIvE NEEDS

“Overall, implementation of the brand strategy is building momentum and generating extremely positive business results for the bank.” head of Communications and Brand

the bank took a bold step by moving away from traditional methods of understanding what its customers wanted and focusing everything it did on the values that encapsulated their customers’ core emotional needs. further testament to the merit of focusing on delivering to customers’ emotive needs as much as functional needs came from an industry wide survey into bank customer satisfaction. the bank not only reversed a trend of declining satisfaction in this study, it was the only bank to record an improvement in customer satisfaction. this data further supported the strategy of differentiating the bank at the emotive level.

“Our staff could relate to the NeedScope segments. They usually knew one of the segments very well because they had a personal affinity with it. They could also see how customers, friends or family fell into the various segments. Consequently their buy-in to the research was very high and there has been very high acceptance of the conclusions.” research manager

Whilst the services and systems of banking in the 2�st century would be alien to the greeks, it seems likely they would be able to see aspects of impressive Zeus in our Leaders and a bit of playful aphrodite

in our optimists. What we do with money and how we access it might change but at a fundamental, emotional level there is continuity between the greeks and ourselves in our relationship to money.

Concluding remarks marketing is all about meeting consumer needs – at a profit. Whilst marketers have long recognised that emotional needs are key to understanding consumer choices they have not been able to accurately measure emotions operating in their categories and have had to work with their intuition and qualitative research to take decisions about tapping into consumer emotion.

We have argued that measuring emotion sufficiently precisely for marketers to take action requires a theory, framework and new measurement techniques. over the past decade researchers in tns and nsi have built upon the work of social scientists and psychologists to refine a suite of research methods which measure the different layers of human need – including emotion. We are now able to help marketers plan to satisfy consumer needs in a way they could not before.


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References Campbell, Joseph. (1949). the hero with a thousand faces. Usa: Princeton University Press.

Gordon, Wendy. (1988). Qualitative market research; a Practitioner’s and Buyer’s guide. europe; gower Publishing.

Ingram, Colin. (1999). Unmasking the truth – resisting the seduction of numbers. mrs nZ Conference.

Jung, Carl. (1959). archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. europe, Bollingen series XX.

Kotler, Philip. (1980). marketing management; analysis, Planning and Control. Usa: Prentice hall.

Lannon, Judie and Cooper, Peter. (1983). humanistic advertising. international Journal of advertising, 2.

Mark, Margaret and Pearson, Carol. (2001). the hero and the outlaw. Usa; mcgraw hill.

Ogilvy, David. (1963). Confessions of an advertising man. Usa: atheneum.

Roberts, Kevin. (2004). Lovemarks: the future Beyond Brands. Usa: Powerhouse Cultural entertainment Books.

Stevens, Anthony. (1982). a natural history of the self.

Wertime, Kent. (2002). Building brands and believers. asia, John Wiley & sons.

Whitmont, Edward. (1969). the symbolic Quest, Basics Concepts of analytical Psychology. Usa; Princeton University Press.

Zaltman, Gerald. (2003). how Customers think; essential insights into the mind of the market. Usa: harvard Business school Press.

The Authors Roz Calder is Director, NeedScope International, New Zealand.

Andrea Wilson is Global Director Motivational Research, TNS, United Kingdom.

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