A key question for Asian retailers is the degree to which 'soft factors', such as shopper reactions to branding or in-store experiences, impacts satisfaction and shopper spend. In Indonesia, answering this question is complicated by the respondent's tendency towards 'top-box bias' in rating stores. We examine the impact of the shopper's underlying emotional reaction to a convenience store visit on key outcome measures (e.g. spending, products bought, chain preference). Combining results from a quantitative survey with unique facial-imaging based measurement of shopper reaction, clarifies the interaction between stated reaction to the visit and visit outcomes. We show that Indonesian retailers can derive real benefit from improved chain imagery and that mobile facial imaging provides unique shopper insight.
In 2013, DEKA Marketing Research, in collaboration with Gordon & McCallum undertook a series of research studies designed to better understand the growth in use of this channel, and provide in-depth insight into the way customer engage with such stores. The research combined qualitative quantitative survey and mobile based "neuro-research" (facial imaging) phase. As a result researchers were able to obtain a wide range of inputs to understand convenience store shoppers.
It is increasingly recognised that emotional reactions drive advertising effectiveness. Yet, in Asia, use of scientific measurement techniques to assess such reactions has been limited. We report on a study of TV ads across 5 Asian markets utilising 3D Facial Imaging technology. This method directly records human emotions from facial expressions and can be applied to better measure response to marketing stimuli in a manner that enhances traditional surveys. Focusing on Vietnam, but with comparisons to other Asian markets, the presentation relates emotional response to intended purchase and recommendation, demonstrating that facial imaging methods provide unique insights into how Asians are reacting to current TV advertising.
Facial expressions are a strong visual method to convey emotions. 3D Facial Imaging directly records human emotions from facial expressions to better measure consumer response to marketing stimuli (e.g. advertising, packaging, retail displays). This presentation shows how an automated, artificial intelligence based system of facial imaging can be integrated into an online panel in a manner complementing traditional survey based approaches. This produces new insight on both how people answer conventional questions and how to exploit more efficient ways of gathering accurate responses to complex marketing questions.
This paper confronts the commonly held view that building long-term brand equity is basically a matter of brand 'imagery' and 'positioning' and that where global brands have succeeded in Asia, it is chiefly because they have well developed 'global' brand images. Utilising ACNielsen's Winning Brands brand health database (in particular its data on 1,700+ FMCG brands), the paper examines the actual drivers of brand equity. In particular it investigates how 'brand associations' relate to other elements of brand equity, and how brand differentiation is actually driven. It is argued that the differences between the performance of local and international brands implies that brand building involves more than simply 'positioning' the brand correctly in relation to competitors. The finding that awareness and consideration of brands plays a crucial role in differentiating between brands, perhaps independently of brand imagery, is in line with recent work on consumer decision-making that points out the importance in consumer decisions of simple heuristics like 'familiarity'. The author also contends that the findings provide clues to why global brands have not always succeeded in displacing local brands in this region.