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Category Archives: Trends
Finding the Hole in the Social Media Donut Metaphor
A market research team at Three Ships Media inadvertently spread a viral sensation following an internal discussion of social media.
The group used donuts to explain current social media. Once Three Ships’ creative director Nuno Gomes had hammered out the list on their whiteboard, a colleague snapped an image of it and then shot it into the world it attempted to make sense of. Hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets later, the donut just might be the new standard against which social media are measured.
We think the list works. Here are our additional fields for the database:
It’s a shame that Three Ships’ list tops out at a mere nine donuts – three short of a dozen – though it seems inevitable that at least as many new social media sites will debut sooner than we’re likely to see decent new donut varieties. It’s hard enough for us to keep track of the differences between all of these, let alone explain them to parents, spouses or friends. Laminating a small but high-res print of this image would provide a handy wallet card.
How are companies learning about you?
Antonio Bolfo/Reportage for The New York Times
Check out this article from The New York Times about what companies like Target may know about you and how they’re turning that information into profits.
Short on time? This video provides a short but interesting overview of the article.
Underestimate Emotion at Own Risk
In this interview, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings concludes that his mistake reflected “arrogance” and “underestimating the emotional attachment to Netflix” among Netflix customers. His answer highlights two important points relative to MindSight®. Emotion is critical to brand building and business decisions, such as price increases, are fraught with emotion. Companies like Netflix ignore this at their peril. “Arrogance” is not an option. The good news is that MindSight® can identify the emotional intensity and explain the motivations driving customers to brands like Netflix – and can do so quickly, cost effectively and with thousands of globally dispersed respondents. It’s not that customers won’t expect or ever accept price increases. They do and will if it’s handled correctly. MindSight®can help companies correctly understand the emotional attachments customers have to their brand, providing guidance about how to better manage rollouts like the Netflix one and avoid fiascos.
Mobile Marketing in the Modern World
With the rise of smartphone usage among adults in the U.S. providing instant access to all types of media, marketing researchers are realizing the potential for gauging consumer opinions directly before, during, or after a purchase. In contrast, traditional online surveys rely on respondents’ memories of using or purchasing a product/service; depending on how long ago that purchase was made, the accuracy of responses can decline as memories fade. For example, if respondents are asked to think about the last time that they purchased toothpaste and it was over a week ago, they probably won’t remember where it was purchased, why it was purchased, or how much they spent on it. However, if respondents are asked this on their smartphones immediately after purchasing toothpaste, they should be able to answer survey questions more accurately since the purchase is still fresh in their minds. The prospect of gaining more accurate survey data “in the moment” is thus very compelling.
However, with this new way of reaching respondents, a new set of challenges have arisen such as privacy laws, data/texting charges, and system compatibility issues with the numerous types of smartphones. How to make sense of it all?
That’s where the Mobile Marketing Research Association (MMRA) comes in. In January of 2012, the MMRA launched with the mission to “unite and serve the industry in developing best practices, professional standards and ethics regarding the use of mobile devices for marketing research.” One way in which the MMRA practices this goal is by hosting the Market Research in the Mobile World conference, which unites market research professionals around the globe in order to share new insights and technologies related to mobile marketing, in addition to building best practices and a vision for the future. This year’s conference is being held on April 18th and 19th in Amsterdam. If you plan to attend, check out David Forbes’ session entitled “Developing a mobile platform tool for assessing consumer emotional states in target lifestyle moments,” where he’ll discuss applying MindSight technology to smartphones as a way of determining consumer emotions right at the point of purchase.
To learn more about the Market Research in the Mobile World conference, check out http://www.mrmw.net/.
Be sure to check out the recent launch of MindSight Mobile.
Building Brands with Emotional Advertising
Even big tech companies are deciding emotional advertising is the best way to create a connection with their consumers. Check out this ad from Google’s emotion based campaign. MindSight can help you access there emotions in your clients as well.
Learn more about Mindsight
SNL + Focus Group = Research Nightmare
Often, when conducting qualitative research, marketers may try to recruit respondents who are already loyal to the brand in hopes that the respondent will provide more in-depth feedback.
Melissa McCarthy on Saturday Night Live
However, sometimes brand loyalists can be a bit too enthusiastic, just like Melissa McCarthy’s character in this hilarious Saturday Night Live skit shown below. Has this ever happened to you?
Facing the “Global” Challenge in Research
Business today is a global enterprise, and “global marketing” and “global research” is an integral part of any successful business lexicon. And rightfully so given the globalization of the world economy, and the precipitous growth of world trade volume and value.
- The World Trade Organization puts the annual global trade of goods and services at an estimated $15 trillion.
- Based on United Nations’ estimates, the world population will grow to 8.9 billion by 2050, and most of this growth will be in countries with average daily earning of less than $2. Asia will account for two-thirds of the world population by 2050.
- And according to the World Bank, 25% of the world GDP will come from China by 2025.
In this ever-growing “borderless global marketplace” where established, emergent and developing economies compete side-by-side, marketers are constantly looking for an edge that will catapult their product or brand above the competition. With this also comes the recognition that markets are less about the products, and more about the people. You may have a global product or brand, but there is no such thing as a “global consumer.” Success for a product will often depend on the marketers’ ability to exploit similarities and differences in consumer motivations. And global research provides the understanding that marketers need to make informed decisions around the world.
Global research, however, is not easy. Challenges confronted in any one region of the world are often quite different and unique to that geography. Working with our clients across a range of product categories and countries, we at Forbes have developed a set of guidelines to successfully execute global research initiatives. Here are some guidelines that should be taken into consideration when conducting global research:
- UNDERSTAND THE CULTURE – it is well-known that cultural idiosyncrasies influence how consumers think and act. The better one understands these issues, the better one is equipped to design the research. At Forbes, we have “Cultural Partners” in all leading international markets that provide background context on the consumers in general, as well as in how they relate to the research product category in particular.
- “TRANSCREATE,” DON’T TRANSLATE – transcreation ensures the true meaning and feeling of the text is not lost across cultures and languages. Transcreation recreates the original English concept in another language by capturing the intent and meaning (connotation), as opposed to merely translating literal meaning (denotation). For instance, informal phrases or sayings should not necessarily be translated, but substituted with more culturally appropriate ones.
- KNOW THE SAMPLING CHALLENGE – knowledge of sampling issues and implications related to use of online, in-person, or telephone data collection will ensure that the study sample is an unbiased representation of your target population.
- TAKE RESPONSE STYLE INTO ACCOUNT – cultural norms can influence the way respondents in some countries respond to survey questions, and especially those involving scales. Use of scale neutral responses should be considered in such cases. At Forbes, we have developed techniques that successfully overcome such scale biases.
These are a small sampling of the many considerations to plan for in successfully conducting your next global research project.
Tweeting at the Theater, Really?
By Jessica Azoulay, Managing Director
Here’s an interesting article about the surge in popularity of tweeting at live theater performances. Makes me think of that commercial, the one that comes up in some movie theaters before the show, the one that basically says “Shush…!” Really, this is about more than noise prevention. Shouldn’t there be places where tapping on a phone is not permitted? Isn’t the whole point of attending a live performance to be completely engaged? It may be true that these venues are less relevant to younger generations…but I say it’s up to them, the performers, to make their performances more engaging…so much that the idea of tweeting is not even a thought.
MindSight and the Movies
Ever see a movie trailer and feel: “I have to see that film.” New MindSight research using film trailers from the 2012 Sundance film festival tells you why. It identifies what makes a compelling trailer and rates the effectiveness of several Sundance trailers.
