Abstract:

Market research has its roots in psychological theory and method, but there is a growing gap between psychological understanding and market research practice. Marketers today often rely on implicit or naïve explanations rather than formal theories of behavior, and these implicit explanations guide the design of research and interpretation of findings. This paper compares implicit approaches to branding and segmentation with approaches that are grounded in theories of learning and motivation, offering a case study to demonstrate the value of putting psychology back into both market research and marketing.