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.
This paper describes the application of qualitative research in a project to investigate the existing market and the potential for gold jewellery in the Middle East. The first section sets outs the background to the project and the objectives. Then the choice of methodology and the reasons for the choice are given, together with a description of the special considerations and adaptations required for conducting research in the Middle East countries, taking into account the religious, social and cultural conditions compared to Western Europe. Key results from the research project are sat out in the following, in which the behaviour of women in acquiring gold jewellery is described, together with their attitudes towards possessing and wearing it. The final section of the paper demonstrates the need for advertisers to understand and take into account women's attitudes towards gold jewellery, whilst at the same time respecting the religious and cultural background of Middle East society.
This paper reviews some features of the current state of qualitative research in the UK. The concept of the New Qualitative Research is defined in terms of a combination of volume, status and theoretical orientation. The authors fervently hope that success will not breed self-destruction. The paper is based upon the authors' joint experience, and also upon discussions with leading practitioners and users of qualitative research. Focusing primarily on the UK scene, it is intended to provoke discussion on whether similar trends are evident in other countries, and what the implications of such trends might be.
This paper discusses the contribution of qualitative research methodology to producing advertising that is both effective and creative. The argument links three main areas: 1) Changes in the models of how advertising works: away from transportation models and mechanistic measurements towards more holistic models and more dynamic methodologies. These latter are better suited to describing the ways in which people experience advertising and are therefore more relevant and useful to marketing companies and their agencies in improving the quality of strategic and executional decisions. 2) The exploration by practitioners working with agencies, of a wider range of more explicitly described qualitative interpretive frameworks and methodologies: drawn from a wider range of sources - humanistic psychology, social anthropology, neuroanatomy, computer science. Finally, and perhaps most significantly and relevantly, a more sophisticated understanding of how organisations use research; in particular the establishment of the Account Planning organisational structure in advertising agencies which is translating these ideas and philosophies into practice.
This paper sets out to illustrate the application of N.L.P. to qualitative research and in particular to communication. It was born a year ago from a number of factors: first and foremost the growing difficulty in learning, even by means of the strict application of traditional methodologies, consumer attitudes toward a communicated element, be it a name, packaging or advertising communication. NLP is a new discipline that permits profound readings of the response behavior to a stimulus that has been received. It was created in California during the '70s as a result of studies on the structure of language and elaboration of in formation applied to communication, conducted by a linguist, John Grinder, and a mathematician, Richard Handler, interested in communication problems. It may be considered point of arrival of the currents of humanistic psychology (Maslow, Rogers, Peris and Berne) enriched by the studies of Bateson and Watzlawikz on communication and by the contributions of Milton Erickson and the currents of communication pragmatics.
In cooperation with Geillustreerde Pers, one of the operating companies of Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen, one of the largest Dutch publishing companies, we have developed a specific research approach for qualitative media research. This involves a certain form of perception research. On the one hand there are the needs which the reader would like the publication to satisfy and on the other features offered by the publication. The way in which the target group individuals perceive the publication does not only reveal the functions which a publication should fulfil but also whether it does so (adequately). In this paper the various elements of the research approach will be explained and illustrated by examples. So far we have used this approach for women's weeklies (Margriet, Viva), glossy monthly magazines (Cosmopolitan, Avenue), special interest magazines (Steek, Elektuur, Ouders van Nu), daily papers (NRC Handelsblad), current affairs magazines (Haagse Post, De Tijd).
This paper outlines the most frequent and crucial problems, difficulties and misunderstandings encountered by both clients and research agencies in numerous international qualitative projects. Our point is that, while national stereotypes prevailing in each country on qualitative research and researchers are gradually being solved by sound international experience, improvements are still needed for achieving optimal problem definitions and objectives, and realistic methodological approaches.
The paper describes a qualitative research project on sugar which was carried out in Italy in 1982. In the years immediately prior to the survey overall sugar sales in Italy had begun to decline slightly while the product had been acquiring negative implications. The goals of the survey were the following: a) a determination of the real factors giving rise to attitudes of suspicion and even fear of sugar; b) the identification of the "reasons-why" that would prove effective in reversing the negative image that sugar had acquired. The research was conducted using various methods: a) traditional clinical interviews b) specialised interviews c) psychodrama groups d) interviews using semi-structured questionnaires. The data obtained included a broad range of materials useful to the Association of Sugar Producers in building up a communicational campaign. The results of this campaign were then evaluated in a further research effort that was carried out in two separate phases.
A series of studies over a number of years has demonstrated convincingly that accurate measurement of cross-cultural attitudes and perceptions is possible. The success of the studies amongst a diversity of language and cultural groups was largely attributable to the contribution of qualitative research at all stages in the design and execution of the surveys.
The first part of the paper puts the case for undertaking qualitative research within a comprehensive model of consumer dynamics that cover the basics of product and brand use and choice. It discusses the role of qualitative research in going beyond simple cognitive exploration, and using a 'psychoscopic' approach to collect cognitive, or emotional material. The questions of interpretation and validity are addressed. The second part presents four case histories, covering a range of different problems and product fields, and seeks to demonstrate how a greater detail and richness of data was achieved using the approaches described in part one.
Marketing is a misleading concept. It is derived from "market", but marketing is not dealing with the "market", it is dealing with really existing people. Marketing needs above all information on potential clients and on what makes them move. This information has to be concrete instead of abstract, specific instead of general. Most frequently there is a considerable disequilibrium in the contribution that marketing research offers to meet these requirements: The marketing researchers present hard figures to show problems, but they only present weak recommendations to solve the problems. This gap frequently excludes marketing researchers from final decision making. Experimental detailing is an opportunity to bring the marketing researcher much closer to the front of face-to- face contacts with clients.
For reasons of clarity I limit the illustrations in this paper to culturally and linguistically different groups. The emphasis is on the comparison between the autocton Dutch and the Mediterranean group. Within the last population a distinction can be made between Islamic (Turks, Moroccans) and non-Islamic (Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese) minorities. In this paper the possibilities and pitfalls involved in surveying ethnic minorities will be illustrated.