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Tag Archives: brand
Research ON Research: Importance of Brand Photos
The Effects of Brand Photos on Attitudes & Usage Measures
BACKGROUND: Including digital images of branded products or brand logos has become a common practice in web-based questionnaires on the implicit theory that these images will improve the accuracy of aided recall measures of awareness and usage. One hypothesis is that these images serve to jog respondent memories of brands seen or used that might otherwise have been forgotten, and thus raise levels of stated awareness and usage. A competing hypothesis is that these images lower levels of stated awareness and usage by deflating the incidence of “phantom awareness” (false positive claims of awareness and usage) by providing cross-validating information.
RESEARCH METHOD: A total of 1,250 surveys (625 with brand pictures, 625 without) were conducted about sports drinks, using a demographically representative online panel, with a standard security screening and a requirement that respondents be partly responsible for household shopping decisions. Each option shown to the respondent was selected at random and chosen to ensure an equal distribution of each option.
FINDINGS: The study showed that reported usage for several brands used in past 6 months was significantly higher when NO picture was shown, and significantly lower when a picture was shown.
CONCLUSION: Preliminary evidence suggests that the use of brand images helps to reduce the prevalence of “phantom usage,” i.e., overstated usage, presumably because brand images provide additional cues that improve respondent recall. Although further research is needed, it appears that brand images improve the accuracy of usage recall and should be incorporated when possible.
Ask Sig: Hot Dogs are Serious Business
We make a popular line of hot dog brands and have done so for decades. Our company is doing ok, but we have seen better times. All management levels agree that we need to grow, but there is some debate over how – expand distribution, partner for recipe inclusion, extend beyond hot dogs, etc. Our company board is partial to extending to hot dog buns. How
do I determine what is best for the brands?Sincerely,
Down in the Dogs
A. A very tricky situation, indeed. I have faced a similar dilemma when I was at the University of Vienna and asked to work on a rather unfruitful search for proof that was never to be found. Professor Karl Claus asked me to study the life cycle of eels. After four weeks at the zoological research station where I dissected hundreds of eels, and starting seeing many of them swimming in my dreams, I was still not able to prove or disprove the presence of male reproductive organs in eels. Professor Claus was determined – he suggested we look again at only baby eels. I suggested we take a step back.
Ask Sig: Noogies Over Nougat
Sig,
It is difficult to market a snack food that, while delicious, is not particularly healthy. I’m fighting significant trends; there simply aren’t enough people open to a product of this sort. What’s an appropriate product benefit when today’s parents won’t give their kids this sort of thing?
Thanks for reading,
Getting Noogies Over Nougat
Dear Getting Noogies Over Nougat,
Ah, reader. Your letter reminds me of my grandmother’s marzipan, which she pressed into large pans to let cool on the window sills of her farmhouse in Pribor. The aroma was so wonderful it made the Yellowhamers sing! One can only hope that your product is a lovely marzipan?
But your question is also important! Consider for a moment my neighbor at #17 Bergasse, Otto, who is somewhat portly. He enjoys ale and a good Kaisersemmel roll, and even if he gets them at Franziskanerplatz Kleine Café around the corner, he prefers to take a carriage than to walk. Otto is not what one would call spry.
