Qualitative 2010

Foresight on moods and thoughts

Barcelona / 16 - 18 November

Everything’s global, nothing’s really global!

Webinar 02.12.2010

Global brands expanded…

Global assumptions on local consumers

Today the consumer is different

He/she doesn’t just listen anymore tothe brand and welcome the stories it has to tell

He/she has/wants to play an active role

He/she interprets the brandwants to be a partner of the brand itself,

in changing its shape and substance

How can the new consumer relate to global brand needs?

The case: situation

Italian spirits market is showing a slight drop overall in the last 2/3 years

Aperitifs, vodkas and rums are the only growing categories, mainly thanks to an increasing trend of mixable drinks

Brand X market keeps on decreasing year after year and “Brand X” is one of the few brands that still over performs, although it is showing slight dropping signals in the last year

“Brand X” has a strong brand image, a good spontaneous brand awareness and a well distinctive positioning

However it seems to face a recruiting problem maybe linked to a loss of relevance and appeal to its core users 18-34 y.o, which in the short/medium term can start hindering the growth path

What of the 5 global core values at local level

The state of the art of the local relationship

The main research objective…

“Brand X” has a strong brand

image but a lack of relevance?

Spirit market is gaining volumes, but is the

specific segment of the brand failing?

The core target of the brand is becoming the weakest one?

what we immediately understood

Too linear approach could have risked not to catch the real issues behind

What the Client specifically asked

A mix of qual/quant approach

Web interaction

Creativity and Innovation

Our objectives

meeting at the same time the need to…

“few moves” to build a “research

system” capable of diving into the

local consumer, his own life, language

and the way he interprets the brand

itself.

Our objectives

meeting at the same time the need to…

to give the global team keys and findings,

comparable throughout all the countries involved,

nevertheless very peculiar, detailed and

definitively consistent with the local market

reality, thinking and specific values

identify the stereotypes of the “globalized” view of the

brand, to move forward and deeper

helping the target to escape the “iron bars” of those

stereotypes …

…leading them to emit signals, mainly the weak

ones, less conscious, caged but emotionally stronger

IN THE END..

So our keywords:

immersion

behaviours and use of the language inspired us

more than answers to questions

no trade-offs

qual & quant; quick & deep; offline & online

Research Hypothesis

Hypothesis1: if we understand which of our values people have, we can ride them communicating our brand values

Understand local values, their hierarchy,

local expressions

Assess brand perceptions

Portion of values to be covered by the brand locally Hypothesis2: if we understand how global brand values are

interpreted and the brand “grids”, we can leverage on it

Understand how brand values are

locally interpreted and relevance

Understand reported brand image

Local brand values to locally activate

+

from..

…to

?

We becamefriends by:

-Open Listening

-Spending timetogether

-Dialoging

Open Listening

T@LK, a proprietary tool of quantilitative technique: to a sample of

300 respondents we asked open ended questions using qualitative

projectives via CAWI interviews.

Using validated qualitative projective we let the consumer speak

about their feelings on the brand and the product, their

experiences, the typical target by using recalls, stories and

images.

Verbatims were analyzed with Statistical analysis of texts and

qualitative interpretation: people language and the semantic

segments emerged, allowed to understand the “hidden content”,

beyond the needs, perception and evaluation explicitly expressed

The words are the most important in identifying clusters (chi-squared)

22%

11%

67%

A sunsetLandscape bar sit sunset

A calm place to stayFireplace sofa fire fun cigar warm place beverage company sip

Brand/category iconsBottle bung waiting make_oldadvertising scene years pull wood old winery firm grassland desert

212%

213%

214%

212%

223%215%

212%

ResoluteResolute strong determined personality taste beautiful

Fun seekerFun new people night life moment ready want intense accompany dynamic easy nice

Open balancedParticular calm different reflective taste chat determined nice

Rough guyStrong beard wild robust taste flavor

Enjoy the lifeLife older prefer quality young chat usually sit company discotheque reflexive watching living

The gentlemanGlass_in_hand years man not fat northin consumer distinctive drinker mix

CoinesseurIce neat drunk rock alcoholic drink normal tough coinesseur taste discotequeCocktail elegant real_men

The words are the most important in identifying clusters (chi-squared)

Upper side of the map identifies local brand interpretations, far

from brand image (below)

Spending time together

to understand how the brand and its

competitors lived the experienced and

perception during the evenings of the

interviewed people.

Ethnographic

observations

pure observation and follow-up

conversations put at disposal

rich insights and allowed to

gather motivations behind

what we observed.

Dialoging

To generate local marketing activities

and branded events, with a direct

involvement of brand lovers and

“simple” consumers.

Discussion

groups

Longwave online diaries, thanks

to which the consumers were able to

supply multimedia material (photos,

movie clips, music) that describe their

way of expressing the brand at its best.

Hi all! In this discussion we’ll speak of

independency […] how would you describe the

independency of ‘BrandX’?

Results

RudeMasculineRoughSelf-confidentDeterminedResponsibleConsciousA self-made manLeaderArrivedRobust, against every stormKnows how to do thingsAlways the sameCares of its rootsHonest/Doesn’t tell you liesAuthenticOf substanceSincereWithin usIntimate sharingWell knownWell considered/someone which others askOutstandingUniqueDifferentExcellenceOf qualityRelaxedSmooth

GL

OB

AL

VA

LU

E1

GL

OB

AL

VA

LU

E2

GL

OB

AL

VA

LU

3

GL

OB

AL

VA

LU

E4

GL

OB

AL

VA

LU

E5

OT

HE

R V

AL

UE

S

Any possible route of those brand

interpretations for a new engagement?

Co-generation

A huge number of brand interpretations emerged, which were then classified into the 5 core values plus others

Client’s actions after the research

Key Learning: no real

engagement between

the category and the

younger target, mainly

due to the focus on

product, its origin vs

consumer needs and

lives

MKTG said : “More

than before we need

to transcend the

category in all

activities and

communication being

«Brand X» more than

a spirit”

Client’s actions after the research

Key Learning: The Brand is a respected brand but perceived as too ‘ego-referred’/ distant for a lot of target people

MKTG said: we need to inject warmth and a contemporary state to the brand•Key role of BTL activities and Radio/digital in media mix•Values like irony and fraternity to be leveraged for engagement

ConclusionsT@lk and ethnographics had quickly

and effectively given us back the

measure and the form of the

engagement of the consumer

t@lk the collection and the

measurement of the areas of

engagement + mind cages of the global

brand image

ethnographics the brand in the

context of the occasion, competition

consumer life The groups’ interaction had dived

deeply into the world of values of

the local consumers, where they

meet the global brand values for

generating marketing options.

how the consumer gives back his own

“interior feelings” of the brand and the

product, through the way he speaks and

lives it

Conclusions

The consumer is no longer as easy to understand, catch and track as he used to be

research necessarily needs to move forward.

One possible direction: moving toward the consumer himself, trying to

take out insights from his real life, behaviors and way of interpreting global brands.

Using technology

Mashing qual and quant

Observing more than asking

Cogenerating

Is the brand still the actor?

It’s maybe more the stage-setor the scene designer!

Is the researcher still super-partes?

Why don’t we try to engage

respondents? Why not be a friend?