Quick or Clean Social Media Research:

A side by side analysis of conversations about Adidas

Conversition

October 2012

Social media research by researchers, for researchers

Compare conclusions drawn from a clean set and a quick set of Adidas data.

Research Objective

1

1. Adidas Clean – Carefully collected, cleaned, categorized, and calibrated

• N>160 000

2. Adidas Quick – Quickly collected with no attention paid to cleaning, correct categorization, or calibration

• N>600 000

• Measures

• Monthly volume of chatter

• Sentiment towards the brand

• Key correlates, strengths, and weaknesses

Collect

Clean

Categorize

Calibrate

• Clean out spam and non-relevant chatter (e.g., fun engagement conversations on Facebook)

• Scour the internet for thousands of messages related to the brand

• Categorize the verbatims into relevant content areas, e.g., pricing, recommendations, commercials, celebrities

• Calibrate the sentiment into 5-point Likert scale buckets specific to the brand and category

Adidas – “Cool” athletic shoes and apparel

2

Subculture and high fashion products are prime targets for spammers who want to prey on the vulnerabilities of people who desperately want to be fashionable and part of the in-crowd.

Step 1: Eliminate the spam

3

Sometimes, spam is obvious. These lists of keywords and codes are meant to distract readers but they also misdirect research results.

• Angry Bird--> [[166456416741199]] Shin Chan --> [[196431117116365]] Doraemon --> [[155393057897143]] Spongebob --> [[334954663181745]] Domo --> [[250128751720149]] Sonic --> [[120219704713360]] Pooh --> [[123363421035031]] Piglet --> [[132045620187428]] Ultraman --> [[147290738648754]] Bleach --> [[40134995667]] Justin Bieber --> [[199705483893]] Adidas --> [[111751548879681]] BoBoiBoy --> [[110056482412380]] Mickey Mouse --> [[297035248728]] Greyson Chance --> [[239842169376590]]

• verona market 2moro morning FREE PARKING in blanchardstown shopping center the market is directly behind the libary and leisure plex at blanchardstown shopping center from 11 am till 6 pm every sunday top mens womens an kids fashion jewllery toys home appliances shoes runners work wear and hardwear top brands on my stall such as river island nike addidas topman topshop dorrethy perkins H&M burton jack & jones ect top quiltey kids toys for the christmas aswell so come along for for great bargins

• any 1 after new trainers addidas baby blue trains cost 25 will take 15 in box un rockport shose in box wont 20 for them both size 9 bran new not worn un got moble phones sonyericson walkman phone w810i black un locked all nets working with charger gud con un no box 20 quid un a sony erricson cybershot c510 black dont no wot netwok on workin mint con with charger un no box 20 quid un nokia 7373 gud con un think open all net pink phone 15quid send mess on era or post on wall

• HE QUIC BROWN OX UMP OVER HE Z OG punya ane begini gan :C nitip lapak ane gan monggo di liat2 gan Spoiler for butuh uang cepat : [Murah] Original Adidas Jacket Training [Limited Stock] [Murah] Original Ellesse Jacket Training [Limited Stock] [LIMITED STOCK] Kaos Adidas Tees Long Sleeve Giordano Tees Long Sleeve XL dan L (limited stock) [Limited Stocks] Kaos Astro Boys Editions Tees Long Sleeve [LIMITED STOCK] Kaos Import Mantap kaos Tees Long Sleeve [limited stock] rompi puma

Step 2: Eliminate the ads

4

Ads catch the attention of readers but not their mindspace. They misdirect research results and don’t reflect what consumers are actually talking about.

• adidas Originals by Jeremy Scott '12 F/W Collection • Best Rated adidas Originals... http://t.co/UniqueWebLink • Best adidas Originals Men's... http://t.co/UniqueWebLink • Best Deal on adidas Originals... http://t.co/UniqueWebLink • adidas Originals Men's Highrise... http://t.co/UniqueWebLink • Adidas Originals BLUE Collection 2012 http://t.co/UniqueWebLink • adidas Originals by Jeremy Scott 2012 Fall/Winter Lookbook • adidas Originals Men Forum Mid Sneakerhttp://ping.fm/p1cTn • #Adidas #Men's #Running #Walking #Athletic #Sneaker #Shoes Size 9 on #Sale http://t.co/0br492Zu #ebay

#deals #bargains #discounts #newyears • #deal adidas Ladies Gym TShirt, Black at Very. Adidas Ladies Gym TshirtIn lightweight fabric this Adi...

http://t.co/JwPNYwQ2 • #EBAY #SALE #DEALS | ADIDAS TOP TEN | US 10 | MY Y3 | NEW! | RARE | BUY IT NOW 4 FREE SHIP!

http://t.co/moQquAnT | #FOLLOW > @HCP520 • Great #Deals Today: Only 19.99 (67% Off) Adidas Women\'s Swimming Costume. Buy Now:

http://t.co/HvNm606H • adidas Little Kid/Big Kid High Flyer Basketball Sneaker: No Description http://t.co/IFRBRZUF #deals

Step 3: Don’t score the brand names

5

Product descriptions aren’t product sentiment. Adidas data shouldn’t apply negative scoring to “predator” and “rivalry” nor positive scores to “original” and “superstars.”

• “I hate how Adidas Originals look”

• “The adidas predators are so awesome”

• “Here’s a pic of the adidas rivalry sneakers”

• “The Adidas shock absorbers are totally cool”

• “Are the Adidas Superstars available in any other colors?”

… Imagine if you had to measure a video game that incorporated language like violence, blood, stabbing, shooting, slaughtering, murdering, and killing

Step 4: Only collect relevant data

6

Adidas is a great brand name because it can only refer to athletic products. Other brands, like Gap, Target, and Apple, aren’t so lucky.

What happens when…

7

Spam Ads Sentiment

Erroneous volume spikes disappear

8

Quick and dirty data would have you believe something major happened in June. Something did happen, but we know it was simply an overdose of spam and irrelevant data.

0

50000

100000

150000

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Clean Quick

Invalid adverse events disappear

9

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Clean Quick

The spike in volume in June was accompanied by a severe decline in brand sentiment. But the clean data did not register the severity of this false effect.

What was the adverse event?

10

People having fun sharing quirky facts and taglines on Twitter and Facebook

Thousands of tweets and Facebook shares were generated for each of these messages

“The creators of Adidas and Puma were

brothers.. and Nazis”

True Life = Adidas + Nike "Impossible is nothing"

so "Just Do It"

Purchase becomes more positive

11

When incorrectly scored and irrelevant data are removed, the percentage of positive messages related to purchasing increases from 53% to 60%.

Clean Quick

B2B 8% 7%

Neutral 32% 40%

T2B 60% 53%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Sentiment Towards Purchasing

Recommendations become more positive

12

When incorrectly scored and irrelevant data are removed, the percentage of positive recommendations increases from 46% to 61%. And, there are far fewer neutral opinions.

Clean Quick

B2B 8% 6%

Neutral 31% 48%

T2B 61% 46%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Sentiment Towards Recommendations

Consumers are more interested in sales

13

When incorrectly scored and irrelevant data are removed, the percentage of positive opinions towards price decreases increases from 47% to 51%.

Clean Quick

B2B 11% 9%

Neutral 38% 44%

T2B 51% 47%

0%

20%

40%

60%

Sentiment Towards Price Decreases

Color preferences change

43%

43% 41% 44% 48% 21% 44% 37%

42% 41% 42% 35% 44% 28% 38%

44%

42%

39%

Colour preferences are key for developing successful products.

But the correct rank order of preferences necessitates quality data collection.

42%

37%

Top 2 Box scores for each color

15

Consumers mention Derrick Rose, less so David Beckham

• woooow go adidas derrick rose shoese are aosme

• The adidas derrick rose commercial is so sweeeet. I love it.

• Derrick Rose Adidas Rose 3's coming out. I know my next bball shoes

• adidas | David Beckham pops up at the #takethestage photobooth

• adidas Officially Launches ClimaCool Ride With David Beckham TV Spot

• adidas Originals by Originals James Bond for David Beckham

Quick data would have you believe that Adidas consumers are quite interested in David Beckham. But clean data shows that consumers care about him less than originally thought.

Consumers focus on quality, not repairs

16

Where clean data focuses on satisfaction with quality, styling, and how things fit, the quick data focuses on satisfaction with buying American, repairs, and finding products.

Quality Styling How Things Fit Buy American Repairs Finding

Clean 69% 66% 49% 29% 19% 15%

Quick 52% 49% 34% 40% 28% 22%

0%

25%

50%

75%

Consumers prefer EA Sports and Kohl’s

17

Quick data would have you believe Adidas consumers prefer Kmart, Target, and Walmart. But EA Sports and Kohl’s are actually preferred.

EA Sports Kmart Kohl's Online Retailers Target Walmart

Clean 65% 38% 57% 57% 46% 43%

Quick 41% 80% 42% 35% 77% 73%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Positive Retailer Mentions

Conclusions

Without taking the care to carefully clean and properly score social media data, conclusions drawn can be misleading and outright incorrect.

Clean Data – Spam and ads eliminated, sentiment is fine-tuned for the brand

• Conversation and sentiment were even over the entire year

• Purchasing = 60% positive

• Recommendations = 61% positive

• Sales = 51% positive

• Consumers like pink, yellow, and green

• Derrick Rose is popular

• Consumers care about quality

• Consumers like EA Sports

Quick Data – Spam and ads remain, sentiment is not brand specific

• Conversation volumes spiked in July when an adverse event occurred

• Purchasing = 53% positive

• Recommendations = 46% positive

• Sales = 47% positive

• Consumers like pink, white, and green

• David Beckham is popular

• Consumers care about repairs

• Consumers like Kmart

Thank you

19

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