Chapter 4: Fact finding

1
Chapter 4 Fact finding

• The Basis for effective creative work

2
Four steps to finding insight

1. State your questions
2. Dig through secondary sources
3. Conduct primary research
4. Interpret the data

3
Step 1 Questions INDUSTRY

• Who is the brand leader?
• How long have they held that position?
• What are the trends in the industry?
• Does your brand set the trends or follow them?
• A pending issues (for example, legislation or
  mergers) that may affect brands future
• Does nations economic/diplomatic climate affect
  sales?
• Any emerging industries that may affect sales in
  the future?

4
Step 1 Questions COMPANY

• How long has the company been in business?
• What are the high/low points in companys
  history?
• What is the corporate philosophy?
• How has the media covered the company?
• How is the company involved in the community?
• Is the company known for its product innovations?
• Who are the key personnel/ managers?
• Which employees have direct contact with
  customers?
• How many brands does your company offer?
• How important is your brand to the company?

5
Step 1 Questions BRAND

• What do current customers feel about your brand?
• To what extent does your brand match up with
  consumers needs, wants, problems, and interests?
  
• In what ways does your brand exceed consumer
  expectations?

6
Step 1 Questions Consumer Analysis

• Demographics/ Geographics/ Psychographics of
  current customers? Competitive customers?
  Prospects?
• When, how and how often do consumers use/buy the
  product/ service?
• How do they make the buying decisions?
• What information is most important?
• Where do they get their information?
• Who are your best customers?

7
Step 1 Questions Competition

• What are the competitors doing for the same
  service/ product?
• How can we do it better?
• What do competitors previous advertising
  campaigns look like?
• What worked? What didnt?
• How do consumers perceive the current campaigns?

8
Step 2 Secondary sources

• Information that already exists
• Company records
• Trade associations
• Library reference materials

9
Step 2 Secondary sources

• Company Records
• Annual reports
• Customer profile
• Public relation files
• Technical reports
• Web site

10
Step 2 Secondary sources

• Library/ Periodicals
• (Guidebooks such as Business Information Sources,
  Handbook of Business Information, Marketing
  Information A Professional Reference Guide)
  Business Periodicals Index (Includes Advertising
  Age, Adweek, American Demographics, Journal of
  Advertising Research, Marketing Communications,
  Sales and Marketing Management, Wall Street
  Journal), Business Week Forbes, Fortune, Media
  Life

11
Step 2 Secondary sources

• Syndicated market data
• Editor and Publisher Market Guide
• Information Resources
• Lifestyle Market Analyst
• MediaMark Research
• Nielsen National Marketing Survey
• Prizm, Survey of Buying Power
• Scarborough Research
• Simmons Study of Media and Markets (SMRB)

12
Step 2 Secondary sources

• Computer databases and online services
• ABI-Inform
• Business Periodicals
• Compact Disclosure
• InfoTrac Business Index
• Lexis-Nexis
• Newspaper Abstracts Wall Street Journal, New
  York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe,
  Atlanta Constitution/ Journal, Chicago tribune,
  Christian Science Monitor, USA Today.

13
Step 2 Secondary sources

• Web sites
• Advertising Research Foundation
• Business Researchers Interests
• BusinessWire
• Census Bureau
• CNN Money
• Guerilla Marketing Online
• Hoovers Online
• Stat-USA
• World Advertising Research Center

14
Warranty cards supply information
15
Simmons National Consumer Survey

• Provides information on consumer usage
  behavior for
• All major media
• More than 450 product categories
• More than 8,000 brands
• Plus in-depth demographics, psychographics and
  lifestyle descriptors of the U.S. population

16
Simmons National Consumer Survey

• Example of demographics of consumers who
  purchase three different brands of candy

17
An index of 100 is average usage.
Snickers over-indexes among age 18-34 at 114.
This means people age 18-34 are 14 more likely
to consume Snickers.
Hersheys Almond 3 Musketeers do better with
those 55 and older.
18
African American consumers over-index on all
three brands, especially Snickers and Hersheys
Almond.
White consumers under-index on Snickers and
Hersheys Almond, consume about national average
of 3 Musketeers.
Asian sample size is too small to be
statistically useful here.
19
Step 3 Primary research

• Information that you uncover
• Firsthand experience (try the product) Two scoops
  of raisins in a box of Kelloggs Raisin Bran
• Observation (see how the product is sold in a
  store)
• Surveys
• Keep survey short
• Use simple language
• Include complete instructions
• Put easy-to-answer questions first
• Ask general questions before detailed ones
• Save potentially embarrassing questions, such as
  about income, for the end

20
Step 3 Primary research

• Focus groups - Hanes tagless T-shirt
• Interviews - Soda pop or milk, Chunky soup
• Ethnography (observe consumers in natural
  environment)
• Projective techniques (consumers tell stories,
  create collages, draw images of brand)
• Experiments
• Online Research
• Using Multiple Research Methods

21
Step 4 Interpret the data

• Dig further if there are inconsistencies among
  the data collected
• Determine if information is relevant to the
  consumer and the brand (Talbots was seen as not
  trendy, but when the store brought in new trends,
  sales dropped, because customers wanted classics,
  not trends)

22
Common mistakes in research

• Asking the wrong questions
• Believing everything people tell you
• Not testing to see if the data are relevant to
  your clients problem
• Biasing the results (Interviewer bias, sample
  bias (not a good representation)
• Not studying someone typical of your target