At this time of recession, it is more common to hear of reductions than of expansion in company research departments. It seemed an appropriate time to conduct a quantitative study among major European companies to discover whether this is a general pattern, and if so how serious it is. In interviewing 300 of the largest European companies, we found that almost half of them now rely on outside agencies for their research and that a third of those with research departments have considered closing them: reasons were almost entirely to do with cost, and it was stated bluntly that the research department was the first to go. A silver lining did emerge: where the research department provided input to strategic planning which proved valuable to the marketing department and which could not so readily be obtained elsewhere, it was likely to be seen as indispensable and to remain secure. If all that was provided was information, however well interpreted and presented, there was a risk that outsiders could perform the function equally well. To secure its survival, the company research department has always had to offer expertise on top of that available from outside suppliers. Now, however, it seems that this expertise must be more comprehensive than ever before, ranging from highly sophisticated modeling and forecasting to discovery of new, possibly niche, markets through a diversity of approaches to consumer segmentation. But most crucial of all, the information gathered and analyzed must be distilled into clear, precise recommendations, and eventually into numbers in marketing strategy documents. It was our conclusion that managers in today's research departments may need a much broader skills base than in the past and perhaps a different academic background, more akin to that of the marketing staff they report to.
A great deal has been written about the challenge of trying to "globalise" advertising in terms of its impact on consumers in different cultures and different parts of the world. More recently, the ability to reach consumers in fifty countries at once by satellite or computer has opened up amazing media possibilities. Less publicity is given, at least in research circles, to the practical barriers which inhibit multi-country advertising and other forms of commercial communication. In considering the global picture, we tend to forget that Europe - arguably the most complex conglomerate of nations ever to try to unite together - faces a communication problem more challenging both practically and psychologically, after a thousand years of different languages, customs and laws, than many of the new ideas whose challenges are mainly technical.
This research programme was carried out with a marketing, not a technical, objective. In a situation where multinational throngs of travellers mill around together in the duty-free environment, it was imperative to find ways of directing products at a small number of segments rather than to each of a large number of national groups. Identical studies were therefore carried out among travellers from each of the major markets, to establish how their behaviour and attitudes to duty-free compared. We were surprised to find how far business travellers from Eastern and Western countries had come together in their attitudes and we felt that our experience might be of use to others directing their efforts towards business people across countries and continents. It is likely that some of the similarities of attitude we found would apply also in areas such as, for instance, hotel accommodation and car hire. The paper is divided into two sections: the marketing needs and the solutions found; and the technical considerations and conclusions. From a marketing point of view, useful insights were obtained into how to approach different types of business traveller, be they Japanese or French, and the research led to the development of specific products and promotions for the segments which emerged.
Johnnie Walker is the world's largest scotch brand and has enjoyed historicially a dominant position in many markets. However, in recent years the brand has come under some strong competition in many of its leading markets. As a consequence of this its rate of growth had slowed in some of these markets and, in a few, had even begun to decline. In 1987 the owners of Johnnie Walker, United Distillers, established the revitalisation of Johnnie Walker as one of their highest priority tasks. A full review of existing information was carried out by the Central Strategic Unit, as a result of which it was concluded that the problem did not lie in either distribution or pricing, and must therefore have its roots in consumer perceptions of the brand. The decision was taken that before any changes were made to the brand, there must be clear confirmation from consumers that they were necessary, and that the direction of chanoe proposed would be beneficial. The consumer was to be consulted about every aspect of brand performance: product, pack, advertising, and brand image. Since the brand already had an international reputation, any new development of its personality based on research conclusions must be acceptable in all major markets, and a single packaging design must be adopted worldwide. It was vital, however, to establish to what extent the form of the advertising communication could and should also be standardised, and if not, which aspects should be emphasised in each of the major markets. The two Johnnie Walker brands, Black Label and Red Label, were examined and reshaped at the same time. However, for reasons of space this paper concentrates on the stages of the revitalisation process for Johnnie Walker Black Label.
A striking new advertising campaign was produced for Benson & Hedges in France. Seven advertisements were prepared, and research was needed to establish, first, whether this campaign projected the image desired for the brand, and if so whether it was indeed viewed as a coherent campaign; and second, which of the seven advertisements would be most appropriate for the campaign. A secondary, but very important, question was whether it would be possible to advertise both the mainstream and the low tar products within this particular campaign. Since the research questions covered both smoker motivation and visual effectiveness, it was decided to use a number of qualitative research techniques, in conjunction with semiotic analysis of the advertisements. The paper discusses details of the methodology, and the areas in which each research process was found most valuable.
A striking new advertising campaign was produced for Benson & Hedges in France. Seven advertisements were prepared, and research was needed to establish, first, whether this campaign projected the image desired for the brand, and if so whether it was indeed viewed as a coherent campaign; and second, which of the seven advertisements would be most appropriate for the campaign. A secondary, but very important, question was whether it would be possible to advertise both the mainstream and the low tar products within this particular campaign. Since the research questions covered both smoker motivation and visual effectiveness, it was decided to use a number of qualitative research techniques, in conjunction with semiotic analysis of the advertisements. The paper discusses details of the methodology, and the areas in which each research process was found most valuable.
In this paper we argue that for many product fields, if a company wants to have truly international influence, it has to find a way of communicating in recognisably the same terms to all its consumers, and the question is not whether this should happen, but how it can be done in the most effective way. We give examples of two case studies, of companies operating in very different product fields, one a market leader and the other a young innovative company, but both with the determination to find the best strategy to increase their brand share across Europe, and beyond. The two companies were Gillette (for razors) and Apple Computers.
The brief for this research project came from the Brussels based product manager responsible for commercial stationery products. A new commercial product had been launched with great success in the USA in 1980 and then gradually released to Europe, country by country, during the following two years. In the United States a retail consumer range of products of a related kind has now been introduced, and an overall objective of the research was to judge whether any country in Europe was ready to take the step into the retail market.
We have attempted to address in an approach to measurement we have called 'Brand Diagnosis'. Our objectives in doing so were to combine the 'divergence' of a qualitative research methodology with a method of analysis which would simulate the 'convergence' of normal quantitative methods. Our aim was therefore to find an approach to brand image measurement which would preserve the capability of providing insight - typical of qualitative research - and at the same time provide the sort of structured findings that the decision-orientated environment of a marketing company usually requires.