Market Research | Branding Breakthroughs

Are You Using an A.C.E. Moderator?

Posted by Branding Breakthroughs / Brand, Brand Equity, brand positioning, Brand Strategy, Branding, Communications, Experience, Focus Group, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Research, Messaging, Moderating, Moderator, Qualitative Research

Over the course of my 20+ year marketing career, first as a client, then as an agency planner, I have participated in hundreds of focus groups, brainstorms and interviews from both sides of the glass. Throughout these years, I have learned that you can train someone to be a good moderator, but that the skills required to become an A.C.E. moderator are innate … they are hard-wired into who the person is at their very core.

Selecting the right moderator is the first, and most important, step in truly understanding what customers think and feel. A great moderator is the foundation of a great strategy.

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Authentic. Curious. Empathetic.
Three words used to describe Sue Northey’s moderating style.

Sue has spent over 20 years uncovering unexpected insights which inspire communications and build brand affinity. She is a skilled communicator, having moderated over 750 interviews, focus groups and workshops in order to brainstorm new ideas, understand consumer motivations, evaluate new products, assess brand equity and evaluate communications. One of Sue’s specialties is leading branding workshops with multidisciplinary teams, working collaboratively to understand and reposition brands.

Sue has spearheaded efforts for well over 100 consumer, business-to-business and nonprofit brands. Her work experience encompasses the client, agency, academic and entrepreneurial sides of business. Her previous leadership roles at a major CPG company, a notable advertising agency and a D1 university all prepared her to launch her own consulting firm, Branding Breakthroughs, in 2015.

15
Jul

An Obituary Can Help Your Brand Come Alive

Posted by Branding Breakthroughs / Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Research, Qualitative Research

Obituaries Make Us Sad

The word ‘obituary‘ likely conjures up images of lilies, funeral homes and heartbreak. It’s generally not a happy thought … no matter how it is served up.

But perhaps it’s the context in which we think of obituaries.

Consumer-Written Obituaries Add Fresh Insight

A consumer-written obituary can be immensely helpful when it comes to the health of your brand. It can point out vulnerabilities before they become reality and help you understand why your brand is revered by its loyalists.

Doing an obituary exercise in a focus group or as preparation for a brainstorm can be very insightful. Split the group in two and have half write an obituary for your brand and half write one for a key competitor. Ask them to read their obituaries out loud and use their comments as fodder for a group discussion.

Ask These Questions

So, what’s in a good obituary?

An Obituary Can Breathe Life Into Your Brand

Sometimes, asking consumers to write an obituary can breathe life into your brand before it becomes a mere epitaph.

Associative Techniques Brand Obituary Fill in the blank Focus groups Obituary Obituary Exercise Projective techniques

26
May

Little Golden Books Illustrate Why Visual Storytelling Is So Powerful

Posted by Branding Breakthroughs / Brand, Brand Equity, Brand Personality, Brand Strategy, Branding, Communications, Consistency, Consumers, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Research, Messaging, Passion

I want you to go back in time to your childhood days and remember one of your favorite books.

Got it?

Now put yourself back into the body of that five year old and snuggle in to listen to your favorite story.

You may recall being tucked in bed with mom or dad perched next to you, sitting on grandma’s cozy lap which was just right for your little body or curling up on the floor next to classmates as your kindergarten teacher picked up that book. As each read to you, they held the book up, showing you all the colorful and wonderfully imaginative pictures. Some may have brought the story to life even more with animated facial expressions and voices that imitated the characters they were reading.

Now I want you to envision that story being read to you once again … but this time I want you to imagine listening to the story with your eyes closed.

The story loses a bit of its punch, doesn’t it?

Why? Because the visuals – both from the book and from the person reading – were such an integral part of the storytelling process.

Perhaps without those pictures. you wouldn’t have been able to envision just how saggy the Saggy Baggy Elephant was.

Or how adorably cute The Poky Little Puppy was … even if he did get in a lot of trouble.

It is the visuals that truly animate the story, bringing it to life in a way that many of us could not do on our own. Without visuals, each of these stories may have faded from our memories over time. The creative pictures and illustrations that Little Golden Books provided to so many of us as children help us better understand why visual storytelling is so effective, particularly when inundated by a virtual sea of communications.

Research has shown that 65% of individuals are visual thinkers and the mind processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text (GT Ignite). We bring moments back to life much more rapidly through the images we collect and store in our brains.

So, is it really that surprising that visual mediums are the fastest growing of all social media channels? The following chart from Tech Crunch identifies the top three fastest growing social media platforms as Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. You can’t read a post lately without some mention of the power of visuals. Twitter is rife with posts on how visuals increase engagement with your tweets and LinkedIn recently launched a publishing platform that includes an image as an integral part of the post.

So, in this day of storytelling, remember that visuals can help bring your brand to life far more effectively than words alone.

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20
Apr

How To Tap Into Consumer Emotions In Qualitative

Posted by Branding Breakthroughs / Brand, Brand Equity, Brand Personality, brand positioning, Brand Strategy, Branding, Communications, Consumers, Market Research, Marketing Research, Messaging, Passion, Qualitative Research

“The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.” Dr. Michael Bernstein, Stanford University

Dr. Bernstein could not be more accurate – the quality of information obtained in qualitative research is only as good as the dialogue that occurs between the moderator and the people in the room.

So what questions should be asked to truly understand a consumer and the journey they take when making a purchase decision?

We all know that if you ask a consumer a direct question, you typically get the first answer that pops into their mind … and often that answer is very rational.

Moderator: What’s most important to you when buying a new car?

Consumer: Price is always #1.

If we believed that price was the single most important criterion when purchasing a car, we might surmise that this consumer would buy a nissan versa or a Chevy Spark because they are two of the cheapest new cars on the market today. But, of course, we know there are many other factors that weigh into their buying decision. We also know that most people will not buy a car they happen to think is ugly.

When faced with a direct question, consumers often respond quickly and habitually. Quite often, they are not even aware they are providing a faulty answer.

So, how do we tap into the deeply held emotional triggers that consumers often do not even realize have a profound effect on their buying decisions?

The answer is to ask for their opinion over and over and over again, but instead of asking direct questions, to use associative and projective techniques to evoke visceral and emotional reactions. These types of responses occur so spontaneously that consumers do not have time to filter them through the logical side of their brain.

Let me share a few favorite techniques with you.

Associative Techniques

Unaided Association

Why? This is a wonderful place to start because it allows consumers to clear their mind of everything they immediately associate with the brand.

How? Ask the question: What are all the thoughts and images that immediately come to mind when I say X? Anything else?

Picture Sort

Why? Many assume that people prefer to communicate through language, but in fact 65% are visual thinkers. (Prime/Neil Fleming)

How? Create a library of royalty-free images that reflect different people, emotions, situations, objects, etc. Print these images on card stock or photo paper. For each project, pick a sample of 20-30 images to show to consumers, asking them to spontaneously select those that most fit the brand being discussed.

Word Sort

Why? While most individuals are visual learners, a number still process best by reading. This is where words come into play.

How? Create a comprehensive list of words that describe people and their emotions. Print each word on card stock. Select 20-30 words for each project and follow the same guidelines described in the Picture Sort.

Color Sort

What? Each color has a unique meaning and each evokes different emotional responses.

How? Create color cards in a similar format to the images created for the Picture Sort. The colors of the rainbow are a great starting point. Additional colors to consider are white, black, grey and brown. This can either be done as a group exercise or a stack of color cards can be given to each individual. This YouTube video illustrates how colors were used in research to explore emotional reactions to the Apple watch.

Projective Techniques

Brand Personification

Why? This is an excellent technique to humanize your brand and to better understand its personality and voice.

How? Challenge consumers to think of your brand as a person and ask them a number of questions about that person. Is it a man or woman? What kind of car do they drive? Do they live in the city, suburb or country? What kind of music do they listen to? If you met them at a party, what would they be like?

A Trip to Corporate Headquarters

Why? This is a very simple way to understand how consumers perceive the company behind the brand.

How? Ask consumers to take a virtual trip with you in their mind to the corporate headquarters of Brand X. As you are going on this journey, ask them questions. What kind of cars are in the parking lot? What does the building look like? Can they walk right in the door or is there a security guard? Once inside, how are people dressed? Do they welcome you as you enter, ignore you or ask you what you are doing there? Can you get in to see the president unannounced?

Obituary Exercise

Why? This exercise can often provide the Achilles Heal for your brand or a competitor’s brand. It is also a great way to hear from some of your quieter group members.

How? Each individual is asked to write an obituary for your brand or a competitive brand. In this obituary, they are asked to include the following: cause of death, who came to the funeral, what was said in the eulogy and who will most miss the brand. Obituaries can be read out loud or read privately after the groups.

About the Author

Sue Northey offers a wealth of strategic brand and communications moderating experience acquired through a robust career spanning a multi-billion dollar packaged goods company, national advertising agency and public relations & social media firm. Her expertise centers on creating intuitive target profiles, compelling brand positionings, single-minded messages and meaningful communications strategies that connect with customers and drive business revenues. Her career has spanned the client, agency and academic sides of branding and communications and she has had the pleasure of working on an extensive portfolio of consumer, business-to-business and nonprofit brands.

If you are interested in obtaining a moderator bid, please initiate a Request for Proposal on the Quirks website or email Sue directly at Sue@BrandingBreakthroughs.com.

Category: Market Research