Welcome to the second and final day of ESOMAR’s Qualitative Research 2012 conference. This morning we’ll be looking at methodology in the Fuel to Inspire fast track, and this afternoon moving onto social media before a presentation and discussion session on the Unilever Qualitative Research Accreditation programme, but before all that:
Big Data Karaoke Feedback Session
Sven Arn, Happy Thinking People
In the last session of yesterday afternoon the delegates at this year’s Qualitative Research conference placed themselves in groups to try and address big data and ask whether we can apply qualitative techniques to the address the challenges faced. In this first morning session Sven Arn introduced the slides produced by each team, with each team getting 1 minute and 3 seconds to explain their slide. The session slides are seen below and we’ll try and have the recording of the session up shortly.
Jessica Salmon BT, UK and Robert Cook, Firefish, UK
In the first session of the methodological fast track thread, Fuel to Inspire Action, Jessica and Bob were here to talk through a recent study Firefish had conducted with BT in preparing the marketing insights for a role-out of BT’s new broadband product. Bob started by talking about the importance of context. A flame is burning gas or vapour but in context it can be terrifying, dangerous but it can also be comforting or warming. BT was preparing to role-out a new fibre optic broadband, they needed to know how best to position the marketing campaign, in a market where most advertising concept are based on highlighting the speed of the connection. In initial studies they found that large part of the possible target demographic for BT had no real idea about broadband speed only vague notions that one may be faster than the other. In order to understand how broadband really impacts on home lives Firefish started a project that would record users of broadband in a home setting. Using a video, text and image blog methodology allowed Firefish to see the reality of the broadband experience, and by giving the project an extended time span they were able to see how that relationship develops over time.
They found during the study the new broadband connection created a happier and harmonised family life. This insight was translated directly into the final marketing concept. Firefish and BT found the use of video in the study essential, allowing to really bring the customer reality home, and allow all the product stakeholders to see how the product is used in real life. Allowing innovation to position itself in a the real world context.
Creative Lab
Henrike Reinhardt, Danone Medical Nutrition and Eva Kulla, SKIM
To follow in this fast track session we looked at a case study where Danone, with the help of SKIM, used qualitative research to increase sales of their medical nutrition portfolio. Business success often requires a good balance between a global strategy but taking into account and respecting local specification. Danone needed to discover a strong communication route that served global strategic needs and local executive needs. SKIM used an integrated approach based in focus groups but with on-going refinement sessions in-between the focus groups so that concepts were being continuously directed, this allowed SKIM to detect weaknesses in the concept and allowed them to discover if an insight was actually an insight. The team also worked in a cross-functional team with marketing teams on global and local levels.
By working in this way they managed to create a multi-touch point campaign with a consistently spread message that let to huge increases in sales and product awareness. This collaborated and continuously evolving technique not only led to a really engaged team at the agency and client but also increased product value sales by 31%
Kees van Duyn
Mint Innovations: a refreshing European and sensorial qualitative experience
Symrise & Lb Qualitative Research
This session offered a deep-dive into the emotional and sensory experience of mints and gum from the perspective of consumers.
First the facts: a dual online-offline approach was devised to get a broad perspective on the mint category, as opposed to a more restrictive view of the gum segment. Specifically Symrise & Lb started out with an online insight community which consisted of twelve participants, who performed five tasks or ‘challenges’ over a period of ten days. The online approach was interspersed with offline tasks to match consumers’ lives, including a first sensory exploration of a number of types of gum. Participants felt engaged and involved throughout the process, which pushed up the quality for the output. The second step was an offline sensory workshop with chewing gum users, including product trial of different types of gum. To get a first-hand view of behaviour the workshop was preceded by a pre-task to explore user habits.
The rationale for adopting a dual online-offline approach was that online-only methods are not (yet) suitable for sensory research – offline interrogation is still needed to get a complete and sufficiently in-depth picture.
What we see here is another example of Qualitative 2.0 in action. That is, the use of a combination of online and offline techniques. This is based on the believe that a combination of on- and offline methods creates the most in-depth and complete understanding of the issues at hand. Interestingly, after yesterday’s creative debate, the presenters used Prezi, which ‘visually guided’ the audience through the story that was being told.
Kees van Duyn
Loading Qualitative 2.0
Firefly Indi, L’Oreal
One theme that runs like a red line through this conference is that, if we are to truly understand consumer behaviour, we need understand the context of people’s lives. This presentation opened with a video that illustrates that there is a LOT of change going on in consumers’ world – new, rapidly changing technologies, evolving shopping patterns, decreasing discretionary time and much much more.
This has serious implications for products and services, and for how we market these. It also has implications for how we conduct research. In research situations respondents start out fresh and energetic, but then they tire. This affects their responses, which become less verbal, less reflective and more shallow. How do we address this challenge?
According to the presenters we need to have a close look at how we currently go about our business, how we set up and run qualitative studies. We tend to funnel, storm, norm and perform – is this the right thing to do?
Firefly and L’Oreal devised an experiment where a ‘traditional’ group discussion was pitted against a method that ‘immersed’ participants in new product ideas for a short period of time: Sense Mersion, exploring new experience ideas in five minute sessions.
The fast-and-furious immersion sessions helped the researchers break through people’s natural defence mechanisms and rational responses. Particularly in relation to sensory descriptors of the new concepts participants generated a vocabulary which was far richer than what we tend to get from traditional methods.
The presenters argue that a lot of future innovation is not going to happen in labs but in real life, by real people living real lives, and that qualitative research is able to build a bridge between the labs and the real world.
Kees van Duyn
Lights, camera, research, action!
CNBC & Engage Research
CNBC and Engage Research brought TV viewer research into the heart of the business. In 2007 they transformed a London studio to an open-plan research space. Why? First of all this – senior executives of financial companies and institutional investors – was a very difficult audience to reach and engage. So the approach needed to be different and more interesting than conventional methods.
So CNBC and Engage set out to create a program of interaction between viewers and the business, with the objective to explore the relevance of content and collect new ideas.
Eight participants were recruited from CNBC’s viewer panel to partake in a group discussion in the studio. Viewers were invited into the studio early to make them feel at ease, and the researcher got to know them before the session by phone and email to ensure a bond had been created prior to the research. Participants had TV make-up put on and were then whisked into the studio for the discussion. In addition each participant was interviewed by a senior news anchor.
The CNBC Viewer-connect program generated a large range of ideas for improvement of the format and content, and gave direction to what CNBC could be going forward. It did so by positioning customers and research right in the heart of business.
So what could we learn from this? Conducting research in a TV facility highlighted the ‘dullness’ of qualitative research settings as-we-know-them. More importantly, it highlighted the ‘experiential emptiness’ of traditional facilities. We should think more carefully about where we conduct our research and – where possible – abandon sterile facilities. For example we could conduct research in stores or other relevant environments. Alternatively, to add a sense of context, we could ‘dress up’ conventional facilities in a way that is relevant to the topic that is being explored.
