Our industry has now eagerly embraced the term 'Brand Buzz' but is this really a new concept at all, or just a re-branding of traditional brand health measures? In this paper, the authors examine the notion of Brand Buzz to provide robustness around defining and operationalising Brand Buzz and present a case study involving over fifty brands and twelve thousand consumers to help reveal some intriguing and exciting insights about what Brand Buzz really is and how it can be generated and meaningfully measured.
Digital culture has an increasingly visible impact on culture in general. Despite this, no vetted process exists for understanding digital culture or applying it to the development of marketing assets. For the past two years, the authors experimented with different techniques: social media monitoring, crowdsourcing and ethnographic methods to answer the question 'How do we best uncover digital-culture insights?' This paper describes the results of this initiative (based on the analysis of over 6,000 pieces of digital content), and the process of interpretation.
Dear research buyers: How much time do you spend on each project to write the brief, read proposals, pick a supplier and get them up to speed on your business issues? Don't know or don't even want to think about it? In the Weihenstephan Research Platform, six agencies collaborate with each other and the client team, redefining the usual market research relationships and work-flows. Together, they interact with a branded consumer community in a 'House of Research' to conduct innovative studies and co-creation projects. This new mindset requires a shared ambition to exchange ideas, as well as the courage to collaborate in a normally competitive environment. Exciting new opportunities arise to consult, communicate, and combine traditional and experimental research.
What does the new age of listening mean in different parts of the world? This paper will contextualise market research online communities (MROCs) within local cultures of social media and research and seek to highlight best practice and potential risks and tips for success. Drawing on first-hand market knowledge, the authors will discuss case studies from different parts of the world, highlighting lessons based on their commonalities and contrasts, and how these can (and have been) applied in the running of MROCs. They will further examine Diageo's use of and experiences with an MROC. Readers will gain an increased awareness of the differences between MROCs around the globe and an understanding of how recognising and embracing these differences can help increase their value.
Insights generated from interviews with hard to pin down stakeholders (ex. C-suite executives from customers in the B2B arena) can provide a benefit for planning corporate strategy. Online bulletin boards provide a powerful and flexible way to interact with senior audiences, generating high engagement and rich data for analysis and interpretation. This paper includes case study detail from an evolving program of studies with key international stakeholders for Philips, leveraging online bulletin boards to generate insights which drive critical brand strategy decisions. Weakening the distinction between corporate client and isolated research respondent brings both challenges and opportunities.
Segmentation can be a very powerful tool for aiming marketing to special groups. But is it always the right thing to do? What are its limitations? What is its future? What, if anything, lies beyond segmentation? The aim of this paper is to challenge current thinking about segmentation and to offer alternatives. The author will show that value-based segmentation models will not be the answer to the declining value and predictability of segments. To the contrary, the simplification of these models may only make things worse. Collecting data from marketing experts, corporate research managers, scientists, media buyers, consultants and heads of research companies, the data provides a framework to understand when and under what conditions segmentation models can and can't work, and an insight into what is possible beyond segmentation.
At the 2002 ESOMAR Congress, a paper entitled The Future of Simulated Test Markets (by Joseph Willke, ACNielsen BASES) made predictions about what life would be like in 2010 and the implications for STM models. 2010 is here, and it is the perfect time to re-visit the predictions of 2002 and to develop new ones. The 2010 paper will identify which predictions came true, which did not, and which were missed, along with the reasons why. The current paper will explore new forecasting needs that have emerged based on interviews with market researchers at leading CPG companies and then make predictions about how forecasting will evolve over the next five years.
This paper describes a radical new approach to tracking research. As an industry, we need a paradigm shift and a change in expectations of the client in particular. This approach entails: shorter, more focused questionnaires (part of a fully modular tracking program which integrates multiple (including non-survey) data sources; planning and action workshops; and maximising action.
This paper is based on a study led by Dr. Barbie Clarke, Family Kids and Youth, with the support of Andrew Harrison, CEO, The Carphone Warehouse, and Marc Goodchild, Head of Interactive and On-Demand, BBC Children's. The authors will present the main findings, illustrating the ways in which children are using digital technology, in particular how it is used to communicate emotionally. They will outline steps that organisations might take to meet the needs of their young audiences (while ensuring their safety and protection). Included are implications for researchers and opportunities for future research.
This paper defines the concept of 'the collective' and through a case study, illustrates the leading companies that are implementing it, highlights the implications to research firms and offers strategies for competing in this new landscape. The author explores the ways in which software such as Marketing Resource Management (MRM) and Cross-Channel Campaign Management (CCCM) are changing the face of marketing and are poised to re-organize the market research industry, and suggests how research companies can compete.
Much discussion about the future of qualitative research has been concerned with our ability to immerse ourselves in the world of the individual, understanding the stories and narratives that underlie beliefs and attitudes. This paper argues for the importance of going beyond individual narratives to focus on the communities through which individuals find meaning and identity. In the post economic crisis world it is increasingly important to understand the dynamic way in which people make use of their communities of reference to develop attitudes and perspectives, particularly on the most difficult or contested social issues.
What is the biggest threat to the future of market research? This paper argues that deep, permanent changes in the competitive dynamics of market research are behind its growing commoditization and that of other trends like 'DIY' research. The driving force behind these trends is 'dis-integration' or modularization of the value chain. This results in the migration of profit pools from large integrated agencies to smaller 'subsystem' providers. Survival in the face of this change will require new market research business models and this paper will outline what those models will look like.