Market Research: Head and the Heart in Concept Optimization
Marketers already know 90% of what’s reported in marketing research studies. We focus on the 10% they don’t know. It’s the 10% that leads to deeper insights and bigger opportunities. We call that the 90/10 rule. And it’s why we focus 90% of our efforts on what the 10% our clients don’t already know.
Our client, a packaged goods manufacturer, already knew from quantitative research that it had several product claims that could generate purchase intent. But they didn’t know why some claims mattered more than others, or how best to articulate these claims in advertising. We set out to understand the meanings, importance and clarity of these claims in the context of several, alternative concepts.
Narrative Concept Analysis. A series of one-on-one interviews with an approach rooted in the following assumptions.
- People Think in Stories – We want to know what story the concept tells.
- People Negotiate Meaning – Meaning emerges at the intersection of creative elements and people’s thoughts, feelings, experiences and memories. We want to know what the concept makes people think about.
- People Filter – We want to know what they see and process, and what they don’t. The concept that matters is the one in their heads.
- People Feel, Then Think (and sometimes they just feel) – We want to understand the concept’s emotional communication.
What were thought to be informational claims that people processed rationally were actually highly emotive visual elements. They delivered some of the most powerful emotional communication of the concepts. What’s more, the specific claims used on concepts mattered less than how the claims were treated graphically. Certain graphic treatments conveyed a sense of authority and credibility and evoked feelings of trust and certainty, regardless of the claim itself.
