Chapter 6:

Strategic Research

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Questions to Explore

 How do brand communicators use research?

 What are the most common research

methods used in advertising?

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How Do We Use Research?

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The uses of research
As markets have become more fragmented
and saturated, and as consumers have
become more demanding, the need for
research in advertising planning has
increased.

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The uses of research
How is research used in marketing communication
planning?

1. Market information
2. Consumer insight research
3. Brand information
4. Media research
5. Message development research
6. Advertising or IMC plan
7. Evaluation research

Let’s take a look at some of these…..

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The uses of research
Market information
 Marketing research includes:

◦ surveys
◦ in-depth interviews
◦ observation
◦ focus groups

……to use in developing a marketing plan and

ultimately, a brand communication plan.

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The uses of research
Market information
 Market information includes consumer perceptions
of the brand, product category, and competitors’
brands.

 Brand information assesses the brand’s role and

performance in the marketplace—leader, follower, or
challenger.

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The uses of research
Market information
How do we gather information about a brand and
the marketplace?

 The brand experience

 Competitive analysis
 Marketing communication audit
 Content analysis

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The uses of research
Consumer insight
 Both the creative team and media planners need
to know as much as they can about the people
they are trying to reach.

 Researchers try to find out what motivates

people to buy a product or become involved in a
brand relationship.

 The goal is to find a key consumer insight that

will move the target audience to respond.

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The DDB agency found
that a barrier to
purchasing cheese
was the lack of good
recipe ideas using cheese
products.

The American Dairy

Association responded
by getting more recipes
distributed through
advertising and its
website.

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The uses of research
Media information
 Media planners, account planners decide which
media formats will accomplish the objectives.

 Media research gathers information about all the

possible media and marketing communication
tools that might be used to deliver a message.

 Researchers then match that information to what

is known about the target audience.

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The uses of research
Message development and diagnostics
 Planners, account managers, media researchers,
and the creative team conduct their own informal
and formal research.

 Concept testing is used during the creative process

to evaluate the relative power of various creative
ideas.

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The uses of research
Message development and diagnostics
Writers and art directors often conduct their own
informal research.

They may:

 visit stores
 talk to salespeople
 watch buyers
 look at client’s past advertising
 Look at competitors’ past advertising

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The uses of research
Evaluation
Evaluates an ad for effectiveness after it has been
developed and produced; before and after it runs
as part of a campaign.

Pretesting is research on a finished ad before it runs

in the media.

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The uses of research
Evaluation research
 Evaluative research, also called copytesting, is
done during and after a campaign.

 Memory can be measured using:

◦ Aided recognition (or recall)
◦ Unaided recognition (or recall)

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 What are the Most
Common Research Methods?

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Ways of contact:
quantitative methods
Survey Research
A quantitative method using structured
interviews to ask a large number of people the
same question
For accuracy, researchers select a random
sample to represent the entire group
(population).
Collection methods include telephone, door to
door, the Internet, mail.

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Ways of contact:
quantitative methods

Phone surveys are commonly used. Often they come from commercial
call centers where many people hired by a research company staff a
bank of phones.

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Ways of contact:
quantitative methods
Sampling and Data Collection
 With sampling, people interviewed are a subset of

the population that is representative of the entire

population.

 In a random sample, each person in the population

has an equal chance of being selected.

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Ways of contact:
qualitative methods
In-depth interviews
 A qualitative method using one-on-one

interviews asking open-ended questions.

 Interviews are more flexible and

unstructured.

 Use smaller sample sizes so results cannot

be generalized to the population.

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Ways of contact:
qualitative methods

In-depth interviews are conducted one on one with open-ended

questions that permit the interviewee to give thoughtful responses.

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Ways of contact:
qualitative methods
Focus Groups
 A qualitative method where a small group of

users or potential users gather to discuss a

product, brand, or advertising.

 Directed by a moderator, observed by client

and agency personnel.

 Includes friendship panels.

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Ways of contact:
qualitative methods
 Suggestions and comments
 Panels
 Observation research
 Ethnographic research
 Diaries

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Ways of contact:
qualitative methods
Other Qualitative Methods

 Word association
 Fill in the blanks
 Sentence completion
 Purpose-driven games
 Theater techniques
 Story elicitation
 Artifact creation
 Photo elicitation
 Photo sorts

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How do you choose
a research method?
 Validity means the research actually measures
what it says it measures. Poorly worded
questions and samples that don’t represent the
population hurt validity.

 Reliability means you can run the same test

again and get the same answer.

 Quantitative methods are better at gathering

data, and qualitative methods are better at
uncovering reasons and motives.

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Research trends and challenges
 Sampling challenges
With the increasing use of new media and the Internet,
research experts are struggling to find ways to find samples
that are representative.

 Global issues
The challenge is how to arrive at an intended message
without cultural distortions or insensitivities.

 IMC research challenges

IMC planning requires research into many stakeholder
groups and contact points.

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Research trends and challenges

This metaphoric ad equating

Evian sparkling water with a
mermaid tries to add a touch of
originality, as well as meaning,
to the Evian brand image.

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