From Consumer insight to Human insight: The importance of Brand E.Q.

Being a Qualitative Researcher, I get my kicks from understanding consumers scratch that, people, their eccentricities, and how they vary across cultures. Why people do what they do and what influences their behaviour.

The most striking quality of successful brands is their E.Q. (Emotional Quotient) Their ability to emotionally connect with people in a manner that make them Feel something! Excited, Motivated, Strong, Safe, Attractive, Nostalgic, Respected. These are just some of the positive emotions people associate with brands that make them feel good.

Back in 2009, I consulted a national paint brand in Chicago, Valspar, in developing their marketing strategy. What was particularly distinctive about Valspar, was that they had a deep understanding of the different emotional states people go through when they were looking to paint their homes. The key issue discussed in the board room was not about selling more paint cans to more people, it was about identifying human pain points in the customer journey and discovering ways to resolve the same.

As an example, research found the two biggest obstacles to people painting their homes were concerns about the amount of work involved and lack of confidence that they'd get the color right. Valspar addressed this by rolling out digital tools where online color consultants would talk to customers through issues live on their mobile devices as they apply shades to photos of rooms. Most importantly, Valspar became the first paint brand to offer refunds on paint even after it's been applied to walls at home, therefore, going above and beyond customer expectations. (http://bit.ly/18mc4h1)

In 2011, we were commissioned to develop the brand positioning of Amari Hotels & Resorts as well as upcoming projects (at the time) in Thailand: OZO & Saffron Hotels. The hotel I found particularly interesting was OZO hotels (http://www.ozohotels.com/hotels.aspx) in Thailand. What was unique about the OZO brand was that they wanted to develop their positioning around providing a great sleep experience - an uncharted territory in this market, at the time.

We developed hallmarks to bring this positioning to life which particularly meant paying attention to small things. Hotel rooms were not just rooms, they were 'Snooze zones' where hotel staff ensured a noise-free environment, high quality beds designed for optimum comfort, sleeping kits that customers can choose from which may comprise a pillow spray, scented candle, lavender oil or other amenities designed to help you sleep better, whether you have returned from a party or jet-lagged from a flight.

Customers could visit the 'Ozone' in the hotel for a selection of chamomile tea, hot chocolate and night cap drinks for the evening. All of the above ideas originated out of the key finding that customers who visit Ozo hotels were looking to relax during their time there and often that was something as simple as making sure they get the right amount of sleep.

The importance of local cultural nuances cannot be emphasized enough when it comes to developing successful brands. Just for Men is a hair colouring product for men and they were looking at increasing their market share in the Middle East (UAE & Saudi Arabia being key markets). Our research uncovered that Arab men place a lot of importance in their outward appearance. In fact, the grooming of their beard took precedence over hair as this was typically covered with a traditional headpiece. Their beard was a mark of their masculinity and pride.

While in other markets, men did not have any qualms talking about colouring their hair, a key cultural insight for the Middle East was that hair colouring was a taboo topic of discussion. Arab men considered it an extremely personal topic and not something you discuss with your mates or family.

This had obvious implications for marketing Just for Men in the middle east. In a category where colouring your hair is a sensitive subject, Just for men had to engage with its target audience using discreet channels where men felt comfortable in their own skin (For example: Trial & placement in designated areas exclusively for men, TV program selection with a strong male skew, content creation & partnerships with trusted partners operating in the Men's lifestyle & grooming sites etc.)

The above are just a few examples of how these brands were able to build stronger E.Q. Go beyond just the surface level, to dig deeper, to arrive at key human insights in order to create stronger brand connections that emotionally resonated with people.

As marketing continues to evolve, it is perhaps best we do away with words like 'customer insight' and 'target audience' and focus on gaining a deeper understanding of the human behind the customer. What are his/her needs, how is his/her behaviour impacted by their culture, their upbringing. It is this human insight that ties people & brands together and manifests itself in different ways depending on a person's social surroundings.

Unlocking Cooking Attitudes across Cultures

I came across this really interesting study on Cooking Attitudes across 22 countries, conducted by a global research firm. What was interesting about the study was that they took into account 3 criteria that could potentially influence a country's attitude towards cooking:

1. Knowledge about Food & Cooking: How knowledgeable are you when it comes to things like the best time of the year to pick tomatoes, flavour/spice compatibility, the right cut for your meat?
2. Passion for Food & Cooking: How passionate are you about the Cooking Process? Do you get excited about it? Do you cook because you LOVE cooking or do you see it as a necessity?
3. Reported hours spent cooking per week: How many hours per week (approximately) are you cooking?

The following infographic highlights attitudinal differences regarding cooking between Men & Women. Understandably, women score higher points across all the 3 criteria as gender roles continue to remain traditional, when you look at all of these countries holistically.

Another infographic demonstrates the results from the Survey conducted across 23 Countries:

Interesting to note that the Overall Figure is led by only 5 countries: India, Ukraine, South Africa, Indonesia and Italy. However, we see reported differences across all the 3 criteria.

While South Africa leads in terms of knowledge related to Cooking, people in India reportedly spend the maximum amount of hours per week cooking.

In India, home-cooked food is seen as more nutritious and healthy in comparison to Street food. In traditional Indian homes, a mother prepares home-cooked meals for her family and this is just one of the many ways in which she demonstrates the depth of her love for the family.

Italians are most passionate about cooking - where their key driver for Cooking is the pursuit of enjoyment. Cooking in Italy is associated with pleasure and discovery, compared to some other countries where Cooking is seen as a necessity.

South Korea are at the bottom of the list for feeling passionate about cooking. This is possibly driven by the fact that the street food culture is very strong in South Korea, which makes Cooking at home seen as an unnecessary burden.

Another interesting finding was that the knowledge & experience one has of cooking need not positively correlate with a passion for Cooking. For example, Turkey claimed the 3rd place for cooking knowledge, however fell to 7th place (like the US) with regard to passion for cooking.

The lowest ranking countries were: Poland, Sweden, Belgium and Russia where relatively lower scores for both Passion and Knowledge for Cooking, led to lesser amount of time being spent in the Kitchen.

An important point to keep in mind is that, just because these countries are not big on cooking, it would be wrong to assume that they are not big on food in general.

Take Belgium for example, Food is an extremely important part of Belgian life and Belgians reportedly spend considerably more money on food than the Average American, devoting a lot more time and energy discussing about it, shopping for it and ultimately consuming it.

On that note, Bon Appétit, Buon Appetito,Selamat Makan*

*Enjoy your meal in French, Italian & Indonesian

Sources: gfK Research, Global Gourmet

The Quest for Creativity in Research

I am a firm believer in getting your hands dirty when it comes to discovering Human Insights through 'Consumer Research'.

I was recently consulted to propose a research technique to understand why people use Instagram in Australia. Mainly, What a day in their life looks like, how Instagram plays a role, key triggers/motivations for usage, and how other brands are really engaging with people in this platform.

Past studies conducted on Instagram showed that women were more active on this platform and the content posted varied by format: For example, Photos were more about personal experiences, and Videos were about sharing bite-sized engaging content. What was interesting though, was that, there were also differences seen by region. You had more foodies in a city vs self-proclaimed Narcissists in the other city.

While a Qualitative approach was ideal for what we wanted to achieve this study, we did not want to only go in for run-of-the-mill, traditional techniques like Focus Groups. Instead, we recommended 2 studies to get an in-depth understanding of consumer motivations and drivers with regard to their Instagram usage.

1. Mini-groups with a Twist: 6-8 respondents are gathered in a comfortable setting (a cafe, beach) to discuss their attitudes about Social Media (particularly Instagram) among other things

Participants would keep a log of their Instagram usage prior to this discussion (over the past 7 days) This log is discussed in the group. Not only this, we would include Projective techniques where participants are asked to take a break for about 15 minutes, go out, do what they normally do with their phones/cameras, click photos/videos, whatever, and then come back to discuss what they did. This will make our participants more conscious about their usage patterns.

Our mini-groups would yield initial psychographic segments (For example, The Creative Artists, The Selfie Takers, The Foodies) from which respondents will be handpicked for the next exercise.

2. Instagram Diary: Shortlisted participants from the previous exercise go through their regular routine (using Instagram) as they would normally do. End of the week/weekend we have an indepth interview to discuss their usage behaviour and variations in usage according to the time of day, context etc. The idea behind this is to encourage spontaneity as much as possible, with least amount of bias.

The biggest benefit of taking the above route is that we gain diverse perspectives on how consumers interact with social media, while being as close as possible to their most natural, spontaneous behaviour to get to true 'human insights' that we can then use to guide our brand strategy to connect with people in a manner that is emotionally relevant to them.