Consumer Insights

Why we need them.Meeting 2

Sweet Spot Section 1

• Consumer insight + brand insight = ss• Marketers who are satisfied with surface

insights and don’t use brand insights miss the ss.

• Use the 5th P: People/personalization• We need to know who are customers are

and how they look at life.

Consumer Insights

• What four things should a marketer should know about you? Why?

• What are you thinking about now?• How do your thoughts differ from

marketing objectives?

For each client or brand:

1. Define your customers the way they think about themselves.

2. Look at life from their point of view.3. Think about the best ways to bring your

products and services to consumers.

EXERCISE: How will you do the above with parents buying video games for their kids?

Make a connection

• Describe an advertising message that made a connection to you.

• What action did you take after the connection was made?

• Do advertising messages always lead to behavioral changes?

Persuasion and persuading

• What person have you tried to persuade recently?

• What were you trying to accomplish?• What was the outcome?• What insight did you use for success?• What insight did you miss for failure?

Consumer’s shoes

• How would you put yourself in the shoes of a consumer 65+ with an active lifestyle whom you wanted to persuade to buy Rockport walking shoes?

• How would you put yourself in the shoes of a teenage consumer whom you wanted to persuade to drink milk?

Insight research

Don’t conduct consumer research if:

• Research isn’t necessary in this instance.• Previous research answered your questions

appropriately.

Why research fails

The wrong questions are asked• Researchers anticipate answers and guide

resultsQuestions are asked incorrectly• Just asking changes the situation• No such thing as scientific objectivity

Why research fails

Experiments are conducted• People are not animals in labs• Relationships are created outside traditional

facilities• Natural habitats are the best settings for

informal group discussions

Why research fails

Researchers interrogate• Disclosure rather than discussion is

desirable• Terms and assumptions must be explainedPeople don’t mean what they say• Pleasing the moderator (halo effect)

Why research fails

The ‘gap’ between what people say and do is not recognized

Numbers don’t inspire creativityPeople interpret research differently• Moderator notices body language• Observer draws different conclusionsResearchers stick to old rules• Creativity means thinking out of the box

Research AssumptionsQualitative methods• Ask reasons why; seek

meaning• Use natural setting• Rely on subjectivity• Pose a research

question• Find multiple truths

Quantitative methods• Record how many,

how often, when• Use standardized

forms and spaces• Seek objectivity• Test a hypothesis• Find a single truth

Qualitative Researchers

• Want to know the categories of meaning consumers use in everyday life

• Use observation and unstructured interviews to probe meanings

• Allow concepts to emerge from the data• Collect and interpret narrative data • Analyze data using codes and categories• Establish relationships with consumers

Meaning is key to understanding

• What is your favorite possession?• How did you acquire it?• What story can you tell about what it means

to you?• How can this insight help to understand

how to sell you a brand?