Consumer Intimacy

16th Market Research Works seminar provided excellent insights on how effectively market research can be used to identify consumer needs, developing marketing mix & building customer loyalty by innovating on existing research models & theories. Seminar, organized by Market Research Society of India delved deeply into different marketing problems & situations with case studies presented by many of its speakers during different sessions.

-- Session 1 – Identifying Consumer Needs --

Exploring emerging niches in traditional landscape- The paper helps in understanding & comparing the purchase dynamics of decision-making in home delivery format other than the regular retail environment. In recent times, the retail landscape has seen growth of modern trade hence we see increased spending to improve in shop visibility making physical shopping space cornerstone of strategy to reach consumers which indeed is a departure from what is happening globally where consumers are trusting and using virtual shopping place more.

Understanding Consumer Needs- Jewellary as a category is well entrenched in Indian market but diamonds have very low acquisition rates primarily due the perception that they are extremely desirable but expensive & out of reach. Hence, a market research was performed for DTC so as to identify key triggers, which will convert desirability into acquisition also to segment the market & identify need gap so as to help drive the category growth. It was learnt that diamond jewellary purchase is not a rational purchase hence a need to understand unexpressed needs for which existing research models are ineffective & hence implicit research used.

How cultural notions of safety and risk influence attitudes to Financial products- Indian decision-making is highly unpredictable & finding answers to these contradictions will propel transformational growth. This research tries to understand the psychological triggers to safety seeking & risk taking behavior. Outcome of research will be helpful not only in financial category but also other business wherein propositions are managing risk or marketing safety.

-- Session 2 – Developing Market Mix --

Ad pre test with a difference- Ad pre testing is controversial area of Market Research particularly when the campaign is in conceptual stage. In this particular case, research was designed to replicate the manner in which Hoodibaba campaign would be broken to public in reality for client Bajaj Caliber. There was creative use of stimulus & analysis that placed high emphasis on body language & tonal excitement levels apart from verbal articulations. This resulted in giving extremely accurate estimate of how public would receive the campaign.

Greeting Card Design Evaluation- Research in Greeting card category is a unique challenge, primarily due to very low brand impact, product involvement restricted to purchase situation, heavy clutter & occasion specific nature. Due to all these considerations a mock shop was setup and total analysis was made on various objective & subjective parameters as well as pick up & final conversion were also recorded, which ultimately helped the client in increasing its range of cards as well as become the number 2 player in category.

Developing a Mix– Communication- ‘Boost’ was a highly advertised brand with well-defined positioning. For its re-launch positioning was not to change and hence within the current brand canvas communication had to be developed which had enhanced impact & stronger viewer connect. Thus a key challenge here was dimensionalizing emotional spaces so as to capture discontinuous emotions, which can be key to any communication. Thus study used metaphors to recreate children’s emotional world of sports. This helped in encapsulating insights into how different emotions are actually experienced by the consumer.

-- Session 3 – Cutting Edge Research --

Guiding Pricing decisions for Repertoire Markets- In case of Repertoire markets, where consumers necessarily don’t buy single product or brand regular pricing techniques seem inadequate hence a model was developed by extensive research for 3 product categories & research also helped in establishing the efficacy of the proposed pricing model in measuring the price sensitivity.
Cultural understanding of South India- Southern India happens to be huge market for most of the brand in India, but advertising always have had a dismal performance down south, primarily because the advertising fraternity worked on the premise that citizens who pledge single identity must also be consumer with single insight, which is not the case. Hence to understand this culture a different kind of methodology was undertaken wherein experts on culture, literature, cinema, media, communication & marketing were interviewed & also the kind of media South Indians consumed was analyzed. Above research revealed insights into the psyche of South Indian consumer wherein it was understood that they are extra cautious, risk averse, resistant to quick change, paid extra attention to details & also they are very sensitive to concept of caste.

Trance– Forming Research- All researches, however scientifically modeled are distant from the real consumer as there as aspects of his life which, either he is unwilling to share & some aspect he is unable to share as they are either repressed or forgotten. This paper delved into the modalities of using hypnosis as a tool to create conducive setting for consumers to express their innermost thoughts thereby revealing their sub-conscious motives, drivers & influences. This research was extremely useful in terms of quality of information & in process of eliciting this information.

-- Session 4– Reaching Out --

Are News consumers Culture Vultures?- Star News wanted to launch a Bengali news channel & wanted it to be positioned distinctly. For this purpose understanding & identifying cultural links was critical. A 2-phased research was conceptualized wherein cultural nuance were studied & validated by the viewer interviews. In the process it was revealed that viewers were not getting what they wanted to see and hence suggestions of content, tonality & look & feel of channel were suggested to Star News.

-- Session 5– Building Customer loyalty --

How customized Equity model helped launch a successful variant- Brand Equity Model (BEM) was effectively customized for cigarette category, which measured strengths & weaknesses of brands. Research revealed competition’s pull amongst brand ‘A’ smokers was high due to taste & strength difference. Thus the declining sales of brand ‘A’ were improved after suggestions of changing the product perceptions by changing look & feel of brand were incorporated.

Consumer Intimacy– How does research help- EBAY India wanted to segment sellers & also understand inflection points for successful sellers so as to tailor their marketing activities to the stage at which seller is. For this 2-pronged approach was adopted, which included analysis of transactional data, primary research. Analysis of transactional data revealed segments based upon product usage & selling behavior. These segments were then researched thru primary research to understand their attitudes & motives, which helped in customizing the marketing plan.

Research to provide cues for enhancing Sales performance- Motorola’s C131 offered with telecom service was under performing in comparison to Nokia’s 2280. Research was undertaken to understand triggers & barriers of purchase & role played by retailer in the whole process. To get complete picture modular approach was adopted, as it was critical to understand consumer & retailer segment. Analysis revealed TG bought mobiles for 2 reasons Functional & Status. Also analysis of purchase process revealed C131 buyers looked for cheapest mobile & N2280 buyers had a budget of 3–3.5 K. Thus it was suggested that C131 establishes some differentiating parameters for itself by increasing the price differential. The suggestion implemented, sales increased 3–4 times.