Module 8 Flashcards
Qualitative Research Techniques often identify
possible brand associations and sources of brand equity.
Qualitative Research Techniques contain Relatively unstructured
measurement approaches that permit a range of
possible consumer responses.
Qualitative Research Techniques is a useful first step in exploring
consumer brand and product perception.
Effective brand management requires a thorough understanding of the customer
Requires a simple insight into how consumers think of or use products and brands in the category
Use “brand audits” to conduct exhaustive research
Some questions to ask to understand consumer behavior:
Who buys our product or service?
Who makes the decision to buy the product?
How is the decision made?
Who assumes what role?
What does consumer buy?
What needs are satisfied?
Why a particular brand?
When do they buy? Are there seasonality factors?
What are customers’ attitudes toward our products?
What social factors might influence their decisions?
How is our product perceived by customers?
Qualitative Research Techniques
I. Free Association
What do you like best about the brand? What are its positive aspects?
What do you dislike? What are its disadvantages?
What do you find unique about the brand? How is it different from other brands? How is it similar?
Ernest Dichter helped pioneer these Free Association techniques in the 1930s in a
study for Plymouth automobiles.
Revealed the important, but previously overlooked role that women play in automobile purchase decisions He also developed Exxon’s successful “Tiger in the Tank” campaign.
Answers to free association questions help marketers clarify
the range of possible associations and assemble a brand profile
Free Association Attributes and Benefits
Attributes
- Product-Related
- User Imagery
- Usage Imagery
- Brand Personality
Benefits
- Functional
- Experiential
- Symbolic
Archetype:
a fundamental psychological association shared by members of a culture, with a given cultural object.
Initial exposure to an element creates an
“imprinting moment,” often during childhood.
Archetype research can be used to elicit deeply held consumer attitudes and feelings.
Who uses the brand? What kind of person?
When and where do they use the brand? What situations?
Why do people use the brand? What do they get out of it?
How do they use the brand? What do they use it for?
Qualitative Research Techniques
II. Projective Techniques
Diagnostic tools to uncover the true opinions and feelings of consumers when they are unwilling or unable to express themselves on these matters
(eg: Rorschach inkblot tests).
When are Projective Techniques used?
When consumers might feel that it would be socially
unacceptable to express their true feelings.
Projective techniques are diagnostic tools to
uncover the true opinions and feelings of consumers.
II. Projective Techniques
Completion & Interpretation Tasks
Use incomplete or ambiguous stimuli to elicit consumer thoughts and feelings.
Eg: “bubble exercises” – consumers fill in dialog bubbles,
as in cartoons and picture interpretations.
II. Projective Techniques
B. Comparison Tasks
Consumers are asked to convey their impressions by comparing brands to people, countries, animals, activities, cars, vegetables, etc.
Eg: “If Dannon yogurt were a car which car would it be?”
During the 2004 U.S. president election,
a random sample of undecided voters offered the following comparisons of the Republican candidate, President George W. Bush and the Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, to various popular brands.
Qualitative Research Techniques
III. Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET)
ZMET is “a technique for eliciting interconnected constructs that influence thought and behavior.”
Based on the idea that “most social communication is nonverbal” and as a result approximately two-thirds of all stimuli received by the brain are visual.
ZMET study overview:
Begin with a group of participants who bring 12 images of the research topic beforehand.
Conduct one-on-one, 2-hour interviews, or “guided conversations” through a series of steps:
Story telling Missed images Sorting task Construct elicitation The most representative picture Opposite images Sensory images Mental map Summary image Vignette
Use a computer program to create an image collage that describes the group’s thoughts & feelings about the topic – generate key themes and consensus maps.
About a week prior to ZMET interviews, each participant is asked to gather
8-10 pictures that reflect their thoughts and feelings about the research topic.
Most participants devote several hrs to selecting pictures and thinking about the assignment.
ZMET participants are asked to explain their thoughts and feelings about
the research topic, using the pictures as visual cues. Interviewers explore whatever metaphors are elicited and probe – but don’t prompt – for deeper meanings.
Using techniques adapted from psychotherapy, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, sociology, semiotics, art therapy, etc. ZMET interviewers take participants through a series of
exercises designed to reveal the fundamental feelings and beliefs that drive their actions.
At the conclusion of the ZMET interview, an associate trained in digital imagery helps participants to create a
single collage-like computer image that summarizes their thoughts and feelings about the subject.
Brand personality refers to
the human characteristics or traits that can be attributed to a brand.
‘Aaker Brand Personality Scale’ has been developed based on
extensive data collection of ratings of 114 personality traits on 37 brands by 600 respondents.
The Big Five in Brand Personality
Sincerity (down-to-earth, wholesome, and cheerful)
Excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, and up-to-date)
Competence (reliable, intelligent, and successful)
Sophistication (upper class and charming)
Ruggedness (outdoorsy and tough)
By tapping more directly into their actual home, work, or shopping behaviors, researchers might be able to elicit more
meaningful responses from consumers.
Advocates of the experiential approach have sent researchers to consumers’ homes in the morning to see
how they approach their days, have given business travelers Polaroid cameras and diaries to capture their feelings when in hotel rooms, and conducted “beeper studies” in which participants are instructed to write down what they’re doing when they are paged.
