Recent Trends in Research

A Presentation to A Publication HouseBy: PQR - IMRB

June, 2002

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

To Deepen Understanding of Consumers across Brands,

Categories

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.

To Shrink the Gap Between Brand Management Teams and

Consumers

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

To Generate New Ideas, New Ventures

Eg. Sponsorship Planning

Eg. Internet Banking

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

In Sum:Impact of these trends

From providing ‘one-time’ information to ‘remaining connected’From focussing on ‘today’ to being ‘predictive for tomorrow’From being ‘descriptive’ to being ‘diagnostic’From restricting learning to ‘end-consumers’ to widening the scope to ‘all stakeholders’