recent trends in research a presentation to a publication house by: pqr - imrb june, 2002
TRANSCRIPT
Ground Realities Today
Dynamic marketsCluttered brandsNew media – multiple resourcesReduced differentiators
Dynamic consumersNew emerging consumers for existing brands
• Widening middle class• More accessible, better connected rural• Increasing literacy
New values emerging• Loyalty being inched out by flirtation, rotation• Greater astuteness in evaluating VFM, gain & loss
Focus of Marketer: Remaining Linked with Shifting Ground Realities
Focus Today: Trends in Market Research Techniques
To Nurture and Grow Key BrandsTo Guide Product ImprovementTo Plan Strategies Today for Tomorrow To Develop Product Mixes for Dynamic Media For Rapidly Changing AudiencesTo Deepen Understanding of Consumers across Brands, CategoriesTo Shrink the Gap Between Brand Management Teams and ConsumersTo Generate New Ideas, New Ventures
To Nurture and Grow Key Brands
How does a brand stack up in the context of rapidly changing markets• Changes in context: who consumes, how much is consumed, where and how, in what situations, what mind-frame• transforming competitive set – changing consumption patterns, multiple brands coexist in the larder, increased accessibility of goods and services
Need To Know:
• How are Consumer Expectations and Benchmarks Transforming
• Tracking how your brand delivers vis-à-vis competition
To Guide Product Improvement, Development
Eg. A Publication • Flagging market shares• Needed to reinventNeeds:What Needs to Change; What Competitive Need Gaps to Plug; How to Be Distinctive
Product Clinics
Capturing product interactionCentral Location Tests; In Home Experiences, not perceptionsIdentifying parameters which matterComparative strengths and weaknesses brought aliveSubliminal differentiators….. “I just like it…. But can’t tell you why…..” can be discovered
Deprivation Research
‘What is Missed’ studiesParticipative deprivation
habit product replaced by competitive productsustained deprivation
Amplifyingthe loss of deprivationthe gain of substitution…… real strengths and weaknesses of our product over competition
Sequential Recycling Panels
Panel of consumers – current and competition usersSequential placement of test productsFeedback used to improvise / alter the productPlacement of new product prototype
To Plan Strategies Today for Tomorrow
Equity Studies: taking stock today for what needs to be done tomorrow
Segmentation Studies: sharply positioning multiple offerings to distinct consumer mindsets
BrandID Model: Example : a declining market leader brand
Core:Old brandGood quality
Supports:Presence in the marketGood media presence
Peripherals:A mnemonic gone staleHumour in advertising
Detractors:Premium pricePoor servicing among usersAbsence in an important segment
Absentee Values:Distinctive Product FeaturesSuperior quality cues Premium Imagery
Ethnography Research
Example: The ‘Tweaks’ Based on Regional Differences
Content, Emphasis to Stay Connected
Understanding differences between audiences
To uncover qualitative nuances that classifies & separates different groups by ...
Studying the cultural communities in terms of their Geographies, Lifestyle and Psychographics.
The Approach
PERSON
His interactions with is family
His approach to life, his career, his
goals
His interaction with the product
category
His interactionwith society
Consumer IDConcern: A brand is positioned for youth today Yet:
Consumers are heterogeneousNeeds are complex… multi-tiered Brands have to satisfy multiple needs….functional and emotional
Segmentation… from demographic to psychographic variables
Using DI’s Describing Distinct Types of Consumers
Who are theyHow do I recognize themHow do I talk with them
How do they feel about….My categoryMy brandMy competitionMy strategies – content, advertising, USP
How far is my Actual TG from the Intended TG?
Identify Distinct Personas
How Does Each Persona Relate
With My Brand
Brand Depth Model
A combination of QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE Approach
Laddering Interviews to elicit important attributes, benefits & values
Association Pattern Technique
Means-End Maps
Understanding of key linkages
Identification of market segments
Attribute - Benefit Matrix (Product specific) & Benefit - Value Matrix
(Consumer specific)
Conjoint Study to identify the strength of each of the key linkages and
lay down guidelines towards the development of an optimum product
Vox Pop!
Finger on the pulse of the consumerlatest trends, issues, concerns, dress codes consumer speak : language,what’s in what’s out
Constant interaction with consumers frequent intervals in their natural surroundings informal and open forum of interaction
For a Youth Study, observations to assess their :SurroundingActivitiesCompanionsLiving quarters i.e.Room SurveyAppearances throughout the dayConsumer Lingo
The Environment Audit
‘Live’ Studies
Observational data
Multiple tools
Candid cameras
Wallpaper researchers maintaining diaries
Participative respondents with cameras, audio recorders,
diaries
Meeting ‘real’ consumers…..
Natural surroundings
Real time
LEP Studies Leisure, Entertainment & Pastime
By Target Grtoups : Proportion of time involvement with different activitiesClassification of Key Activities by Leisure / Entertainment / Pastime ActivitiesAssess involvement levels of key activities
“At Home” & “Outside Home”
Media Routine / Normal Routine
Quarter Hour Media Consumption
Bio-Clock
Daily Activities by HOUR
Cultural ImprintFocussed towards the consumer rather than the product
Aims to understand how consumers think and feel rather than only track the product
Cognitive / RationalCognitive / Rational Emotional / Emotional / ExperientialExperiential
Bridges the two dimensions
Imprint refers to the collection of associations and emotions that are unconsciously linked with a word, concept, or experienceImprinting is always associated with emotion; the stronger the emotion, the stronger the imprint.
Reality Bites for Clients
Consumer Peepsin home visitsfocus: observing youkey issues on my mind
Soap BoxClient:• multiple stakeholders - brand managers,
advertising agency, R&D • multiple questions, hypothesis, points of view
Free wheeling group discussion with consumersParticipative questioning by Clients with respondents
Positioning Generating Options
The need for SponsorshipHigh Product ClutterLoud Media Clutter - key brand positions occupiedConsumers bewildered - low differentiationConsumers also seeking novelty
What is the vacant opportunity for sponsorship ideas
GOPO
The Process Lateral Thinking Exercise
Generation of a huge bundle of ideas /impulses
Conventional Unconventional Impulsive Whacky
Brainstorming
• Developing constructs out of those ideas
• Creating marketing-friendly options/routes for sponsorships
GOPO
Clear and different sponsorship optionsOutput
Focus Groups for fit with Consumers
Brand Stretch
Assessing Fit of Alternative Sponsorship Strategies with Brand
How much can the equity of the current brand be stretched
Fit of alternative sponsorship options with Brand Image of the Times Group; New Brand
What does the brand stand to gain from the current equity
How does the current equity impact expectations from the sponsorship
Technology powered research
Internet:LizardContent Analysis of chatsFGD’s / DI’s on-line
Telephonic interviewsE-mail Surveys
In Sum: The Key Trends In Market Research Today
Continuous, on-going research programmes
Experiential Contact - not Cognitive Contact
The Macro Perspective over Micro
Product Development - with Consumer Voice
Enhanced presence of technology