12
Jul

The W5 Guide to Knowing Your Audience

Posted by: Brennan Mullin in: Blog , infographics , knowledge , links , market research No Comments on The W5 Guide to Knowing Your Audience

Creating a profile of your audience means going deep with your customers to understand who they are, how they think, and what they need.

Audience profiling helps you understand the behaviors and attitudes that drive how people engage with your brand, products, and services. By understanding the values that drive them, you’ll have the insight to deliver and ideal experience or product.

Knowledge is power.
It’s simple: When you know exactly who your ideal customer is, you’ll serve them better. W5’s profiling methods encourage empathic thinking to understand customers motivations, psychographics, needs in an easy-to-understand manner leading to smarter products and services that resonate with their lifestyle and inspire loyalty.

Check out these resources to see how primary research can help you better identify, profile, and get to know you target audience:

– W5 White Paper: Segmentation
– W5 White Paper: Ethnography
– W5 Case Study: Shopper A&U
– W5 White Paper: Personas

Ready to get started and create a deeper understanding of your audience? Book an exploratory call today!

06
Jul

SPOTLIGHT: CUSTOM RESEARCH TO INFORM BRANDING DECISIONS AND PRODUCT LINE OPTIMIZATION

Posted by: Andrew Willard in: Blog , market research , marketing , product innovation , Spotlight No Comments on SPOTLIGHT: CUSTOM RESEARCH TO INFORM BRANDING DECISIONS AND PRODUCT LINE OPTIMIZATION

Companies typically apply a long-term strategic perspective when developing their brands and positioning. However, to remain competitive, it becomes necessary to take a fresh look at a brand to ensure it continues to meet consumer needs. Custom research plays a key role in this process.

For example, W5 recently crafted a custom, dual-methodology research study to explore a health-focused lifestyle client’s unique brand architecture and customer relationship with a goal of assessing a potential strategic change in branding that could have had challenging implications.

Case Study: Branded Product Line Optimization

A successful health lifestyle company that develops several lines of nutrition products planned to streamline offerings under one brand identity. To inform operational marketing decision making, the client needed to explore customer preferences across product lines and understand implications of discontinuing an older branded product line.

APPROACH

W5 first conducted a series of virtual one-on-one qualitative discussions with hand-picked established and loyal customers who provided valuable knowledge and consumer language to inform development of a strategically customized quantitative survey.

The survey was distributed to several thousand highly engaged customers, assessing their relationship and behaviors with the client’s company, brands, and products by choice-modeling their preferences and tradeoffs between products in different, branded lines. The survey leveraged dynamic exercises featuring product imagery, descriptions, and pricing to garner customer feedback that was analyzed overall, by product line, and by specific product.

RESULTS

W5 confirmed the client could successfully discontinue the older brand and related product line and continue its rebranding strategy without significant customer attrition. In addition to gaining valuable insights around interest and engagement, the research validated the new master brand strategy and identified optimal means of communicating changes and updates in product offerings.

W5 understands that exploring the needs of every consumer is crucial. Our insights help you go deeper. Interested in learning more about what your audience wants from your brand? Set up a call with our team.

29
Jun

Big Winners and Key Themes from the 2021 Cannes Lions Festival

Posted by: Brennan Mullin in: Blog , Conference , creativity , culture , internet , links , marketing , Press 1 Comment on Big Winners and Key Themes from the 2021 Cannes Lions Festival

Each year, the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity honors the top campaigns in marketing and advertising for the year. At W5, we love seeing brands flex their creative muscles and connect with audiences through whimsical and insightful marketing concepts. The best campaigns evoke emotion and pique customer curiosity- these ads do both masterfully. By highlighting the most impactful creative campaigns, Cannes Lions spotlights key trends and takeaways about the future of advertising.

Fandom Reigns Supreme

Gamers are used to seeing advertisements in their favorite video games, but brands at Cannes made one thing perfectly clear; more immersive marketing is the future. When brands collaborate with existing fandoms, powerful partnerships are created. Brands are collaborating with existing fandoms to promote their products. Just ask Burger King and 2K Sports.

Burger King created a virtual experience in the massive online basketball video game by challenging players to make shots from points on the field marked by popular menu items from the game. To sweeten the deal, players could win actual meals from Burger King for scoring well. With other interactive virtual campaigns like this one and Fortnite’s Travis Scott concert, this type of immersive advertising here to stay.

Sustainability Matters

With global temperatures on the rise and the general public becoming more cognizant of sustainability measures, brands are taking notice as well. Fast fashion brand H&M teamed up with models, celebrities, and fans to create their H&M Conscious campaign. Highlighting recyclable clothing efforts, the campaign invites shoppers to recycle their clothes through various touchpoints, including in H&M stores.

By bringing their stylish and unique voice, H&M is going above and beyond with a clothes recycling initiative. Their statement reads, “Drop your bag of unwanted clothing in the recycling box at your local store. All textiles are welcome – any brand, any condition – even odd socks, worn-out T-shirts and old sheets. The textiles are then sent to the nearest recycling plant, where they’re sorted by hand. For every bag of textiles you drop off, you’ll receive a discount card for 15% off your next in-store purchase.“

Comedy Brings Us Together

Every bag of Cheetos comes with a special feature… orange fingers. Cheetos partnered with Goodby Silverstein and Partners to create this award-winning ad featuring MC Hammer’s iconic “U Can’t Touch This” as a Cheetos fan avoids lending a helping hand because his fingers are covered in cheese-flavored dust.

The ad, featuring a few humorous appearances by MC Hammer, won the Creative Strategy Grand Prix at this year’s awards, masterfully demonstrating how humor, celebrity cameos, and key observations about the customer experience (even if it involves orange fingers) make for a memorable ad campaign.

Purpose-Driven Concepts Connect

The Womb Stories campaign, launched by feminine hygiene companies Libresse and Bodyform, won 4 Grand Prix awards at this year’s ceremony. It’s not surprising to see why, considering how beautifully and powerfully it executes its concept.

SPOILER WARNING: This ad might make you cry.

Created by AMV BBDO, the ad spotlights the myriads of options in women’s healthcare represented by an eclectic mix of different art styles representing the different ways women navigate period cramps, menopause, the miracle of birth, and so much more.

Togetherness During COVID

2020 was a difficult year for us all- but was even harder on people disabilities. In fact, disabled people are 50% less likely to have a job and over 1 million disables people struggle to find work in the UK. The numbers are even higher in the states.

Beco is a British wellness company and social enterprise that employs a workforce of 80% visually-impaired, disabled, or disadvantaged. In their Grand Prix winning campaign, Beco invites other companies to hire disabled or impaired people by putting their CVs onto the soap, increasing the visibility tenfold. With the tagline “We made the invisible hard to miss” and a 1500% increase in their web traffic, Beco is onto something big.

Want to check out other Cannes Lions winners? Check out the full list here.

25
Jun

Identity, Generations, and Vocabulary to Grapple with the Modern World

Posted by: Martin Molloy in: Blog , creativity , culture , market research , study , technology No Comments on Identity, Generations, and Vocabulary to Grapple with the Modern World

A few months ago, I unearthed an old article in which Douglas Coupland, author of the book Generation X, came up with some terms for the near future. It was interesting to see how, years later, they played out. I recently tripped across an interview with him in The Guardian where he talks about generation trashing, not wanting to be the spokesperson for his generation, and delivers some new terms supporting current events.

Coupland discusses how generations used to be defined by sentimental markers (his example: The Brady Bunch) rather than when they were born. Now, however, generational definitions are becoming increasingly defined by a combination of tech exposure and global financial cycles.

Coupland’s new terms, however, are an interesting (and in my opinion, accurate) reflection of much of the public discourse happening today. My favorites include:

  • Autophobia: The fear of being an individual―a nice explanation for a lot of the groupthink so prevalent today
  • The Democracy Plateau: Wanting one’s way so badly that if you don’t get it nobody gets their way
  • The Hurt Wars: As he puts it, the emotional equivalent of Diet Coke―being outraged by everything without being remotely outraged at all.

We’ve been looking at generational cohorts for a while here at W5 and it’s interesting to see how brands try to address generations in their messaging and product placement. I was thinking about how stores in the 70s and 80s seemed to market to three groups: kids, older people, and everyone else. It made life simpler for the consumer and honestly, as a Gen Xer, a lot easier to find things I wanted to buy.

It’s interesting to me how brands target younger generations with less disposable income yet ignore Gen X who outspend both their Millennial and Baby Boomer counterparts. Also interesting is many psychologists see Gen X as making the quickest comeback from the effects of the lockdown despite potentially suffering the most through it.

As he sums it up, generation trashing is an eternal cycle. I’m sure Gen Z will consider it all cheugy.

17
Jun

Generations: Keeping Us Together or Pulling Us Apart?

Posted by: Brennan Mullin in: culture , Gen Z , infographics , marketing , Uncategorized 1 Comment on Generations: Keeping Us Together or Pulling Us Apart?

How Gen Z Harnessed the Internet and Destroyed the Generation Wars
Millennials are About to Get Screwed Once Again
Gen X Participants Are Even More Sandwiched After COVID-19
Study Finds Baby Boomers Are More Sensitive Than Millennials

Those four news headlines listed above are obvious media examples of generational studies. It’s a tradition as American as apple pie―as one generation comes of age, sociological studies, both formal and informal, try to categorize and label the newcomers. (Almost every generation has been labeled “lazy” by the media, FYI. What gives?)

For cultural anthropologists, comparing generational divides puts people into neat groups to study and gives researchers metrics to talk about.

If you’ve engaged with the “chuegy” discourse this year, you’re all too familiar with entry-level generational research. It gets clicks. It’s something everyone can relate to. But does generational research really give us a better understanding of the people around us? How does generation research account for the wide range of personalities, interests, and divides between members of a generation? Is generational research just pseudoscience? Enter W5’s Theme of the Month.

In June, W5ers got together virtually to share stories and insights about GENERATION spurred by Kathy Justice’s Gen Z series. Theme of the Month discussions begin with an open dialog on the topic and this meeting was no different. We started by talking about how our generation has impacted us from the media we consume, the way we interact with technology, and how interacting with different generations impacts our jobs.

One thing was made abundantly clear―there are a lot of perspectives about how to look at generational divides. Here are a few takeaways and observations from our discussion:

No Matter the Generation, We Are Shaped by The World Around Us

To truly understand how generations are divided, it is crucial to get to know them first. Our team created this graphic for our Twitter page explaining exactly where each generation falls, the age they are in 2021, and the events that shaped their worldviews. One piece of information that stands out is the spread of technology as we move to younger and younger generations. How does internet culture and the ubiquity of smartphones change the way we communicate? Some W5ers observed that younger generations are less likely to make small talk before a meeting, adding credence to the argument that younger generations might be a little more “in their own world” per se.

Generational Research Isn’t Always the Answer

What do seven-year-old Prince George and rapper Lil Pump have in common? Well, not much besides both being members of Gen Z. Thinking about generational divides this way admittedly makes them seem a little silly. In this study from BHH Labs, Harry Guild argues that individual members of a generation may have very little in common. Guild writes, “The truth is that these ‘generations’ are simply random collections of people who share no special connection beyond being born within two decades of each other.” For example, Millennials on either cusp of their generation are likely to have grown up with entirely different experiences on social media and American Baby Boomers on either cusp of their generation grew up in entirely different political eras.

Don’t Leave Gen X Behind

As Millennials and now Gen Z become the target of marketing attention, it’s no wonder that Gen X feels a little miffed. Often coined the “forgotten generation,” Gen X sometimes gets lost in the shuffle between two larger generations. And worse, some of the Generation studies about Gen X can be downright mean. The “Slacker Generation” isn’t made up of slackers at all. One W5er (who identifies as a Gen Xer) totally felt the strain. They shared this frankly titled article from Gizmodo: Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit. So, what is the best way to reach Gen X in the first place? Pay attention to them!  

For more of W5’s Theme of the Month topics:

CREATIVITY
RELATIONSHIPS
EMPATHY

We believe great research starts with asking questions and creating connections to understand different viewpoints and life experiences. What do generational differences look like for your team? Do you think they matter at all? Share your strategies with us in the comments below.

08
Jun

Gen Z’s Trajectory Continues to Evolve

Posted by: Kathy Justice in: Blog , Gen Z , market research , marketing , social networking No Comments on Gen Z’s Trajectory Continues to Evolve

While most generational research shines a bright light on Millennials (the generation in its prime spending years), Gen Z has recently gained more media attention due to the pandemic’s impact on their mental health and wellness. While all generations were negatively impacted, Gen Z reported a more significant decline in mental health and wellness than older adults (including Millennials, Xers, and Boomers).

According to the APA’s “Stress in America” report from March 2021, Gen Z adults were the most likely generation to say their mental health worsened as a result of the pandemic. This makes sense as Gen Z teens (age 13-17) and adults (age 18-23) faced overwhelming uncertainty about their education, career tracts, and ultimately their future during a foundational year of their life especially compared to more stable, older generations. Of course, this dip in mental health will play out in interesting ways post-pandemic, especially as Gen Z surpasses Millennials as the largest consumer population in the next five years.

As Quirk’s report “Gen Z: Work, wealth, and post-pandemic life”  indicates, Gen Z is the most educated generation as well as the most nimble and evasive. They care about diversity, Mother Earth, jobs with purpose and meaning, while fearing the system is set up for them to fail. All this is to say Gen Z may not march to the beat of the same drum as previous generations, but worthy of our time and interest. The same marketing rituals and tactics certainly won’t work for a generation seeking authenticity and a new vision for their lives―we must seek out new ways to share content and speak with this generation in meaningful ways.

W5 has significant experience conducting generational research with a variety of tools and techniques that explore Gen Z’s mindset, attitudes, and outlook. This case study highlight’s W5’s role in assisting a regional healthcare provider understand how Millennial and Gen Z parents utilize digital healthcare tools when booking appointments for their children to identify service improvements.

Case Study: Digital Strategies for Millennial and Gen Z Audiences

A regional healthcare provider planned a refresh of digital and technology services available to their patients, specifically targeting Millennial and Gen Z audiences. To inform strategic direction, primary research was needed to understand how consumers navigates the healthcare system and their decision-making process for seeking care.

APPROACH

W5 conducted a hybrid research approach to understand the needs of Millennial and Gen Z parents and their children’s healthcare journey. An initial quantitative survey explored needs and expectations around digital tools and key factors influencing their healthcare decisions. A follow-up round of focus group discussions provided additional context for their needs and in-depth understanding of how they make healthcare decisions and navigate care options.

RESULTS

The research provided a template for understanding which factors were most important to perceptions of quality care among Millennial and Gen Z parents and identified key touchpoints where the experience could be optimized. W5 made recommendations that guided the healthcare provider toward digital best practices with the greatest impact on the patient experience.

To learn more about how W5 can help you conduct generational research or do a deep dive on Gen Z, set up a call with our dedicated team.

To read more about W5’s perspective on conducting research with Gen Z consumers, check out our Gen Z series here:

  • In Part 1, we examine why Gen Z is of interest to the market research community and why it is important to consider how they engage with the world when designing research studies.
  • In Part 2, we explore what differentiates Gen Z from other generational groups and how technology has played a major role in influencing their world experiences and behaviors.
  • In Part 3, we identify best practices and key considerations for designing effective, engaging market research studies with Gen Z consumers.  
20
May

Tide: A Masterclass in Ad Development

Posted by: Martin Molloy in: advertising , branding , creativity , knowledge , market research , marketing , Media No Comments on Tide: A Masterclass in Ad Development

When in doubt, trust Ice-T and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

With over twenty years’ moderation experience, I’ve done plenty of qualitative research involving ad testing. The key is designing creative that catches attention, communicates its message clearly, and drives the audience to act. Often, ads are entertaining or informative but fail to live up to all the elements needed to convince consumers to actually do or buy something. Worse yet, they often confuse the viewer into wondering who or what is this for? What does this have to do with the product?

Tide has released a series of ads designed to not only drive sales but encourage consumers to live more sustainably. Their recent campaign (by Saatchi & Saatchi NY) featuring Ice-T and Stone Cold Steve Austin is successful on so many levels it’s almost a masterclass in how to turn the mundane (laundry) into something interesting and compelling.

First, it grabs your attention by leveraging the visibility of Ice-T and Steve Austin and combining it with humor. Then, it uses a wide array of celebrity cameos to drive home that using cold water to wash laundry is their recommended approach. It’s also clear the creators know their target demo: Gen X. The celebrities and sports stars all hail from the 1990s and appeal to both men and women. My favorite pairing features Mr. T and Mark Messier, the greatest sports leader to ever live. Don’t believe me? Check out his resume and career.

Beyond grabbing your attention, Tide hammers home key campaign messages that make them easy to remember:

  • This is a commercial for Tide detergent
  • Tide is more effective in cold water
  • Save money by washing in cold ($100 a year)
  • Help the environment by using less energy

We all know consumers sometimes make illogical, reflexive choices, so driving consideration and purchase is key. The genius behind this campaign is that it’s not in the clutter. Viewers will come away knowing what brand it’s representing, its product benefits, sustainability messages, and how Tide detergent can improve their lives while clearly and effectively communicating the message in an entertaining and artful way.

Interested in knowing how your campaigns stack up? W5 conducts ad testing that can lead to better marketing, more eye-catching campaigns, and even more sales. Set up a call with our team to get started!

#advertising #blog #knowledge #tide #market research #mrx #insight #w5

06
May

Building Inclusive Products Through Market Research Insights

Posted by: Sonja Hodgson in: advertising , Blog , knowledge , market research , marketing , product innovation , technology No Comments on Building Inclusive Products Through Market Research Insights

When your values infuse every aspect of your business, the world notices.

Unilever is launching a new deodorant product under the Degree brand geared toward those with upper limb differences and visual impairments. Degree Inclusive, while not yet in stores, is ramping up its marketing to spread the word: sweat and body odor are not exclusive to the able-bodied and Unilever is listening.

Degree has gone beyond inclusive marketing to develop an inclusive product design with features including Braille labeling, hooked lid with magnetic closure, and an easier-to-grip handle designed for those with limited arm mobility or without arms, all wrapped in a refillable and sustainable package.

While some may see this as a market-leading initiative, Veena Ramakrishnan from Falcon.io argues that representation in marketing has passed the point of trendsetting and should now be industry standard. Ramakrishnan further suggests that if companies want to succeed in their inclusive marketing, diversity and inclusion (D&I) should reflect their employee base. Unilever appears to be onboard, claiming they strive to have 5% of their workforce be people with disabilities by 2025, helping to counter their high unemployment and low employment opportunities—roughly 15% of the world’s population.

As brands develop a fresh focus on inclusive resources, W5 has a long history of working with healthcare and advocacy organizations to tailor products and resources aimed at those with specific accessibility needs, including:

  • Assisting a healthy living company develop resources for individuals with mental illness and their caregivers
  • Working with an advocacy group to understand the needs and challenges of disabled veterans to design programs ensuring resource access
  • Uncovering the needs of those with orthopedic injuries to offer better resources, including treatment and surgery options
  • Helping advocacy groups and Fortune 500s optimize resources and websites for senior citizens
  • Assisting healthcare networks and insurers to optimize messaging and highlight resources to better serve consumers with specific medical conditions

W5 understands representation matters and exploring the needs of every consumer is crucial. Our insights help you go deeper. Interested in learning what your audience wants from your brand? Set up a call with our team.

29
Apr

Hybrid Does It All: Using a Hybrid Approach to Solve Complex Research Challenges (Case Study)

Posted by: Martin Molloy in: branding , knowledge , market research , packaging , product innovation No Comments on Hybrid Does It All: Using a Hybrid Approach to Solve Complex Research Challenges (Case Study)

Designing and launching new products is never an easy or simple process but doing it in the midst of a pandemic creates new challenges in understanding consumer behavior and needs, gathering feedback, and implementing insights to get it right.

Hybrid approaches employing virtual qualitative with quantitative surveys help clients make decisions and take actions with more certainty in these uncertain times. This case study highlights W5’s role in assisting a CPG company develop and introduce a new convenience food product, delivering insights from flavors to brand to positioning and targeting.

CLIENT ASK

A beloved international CPG product brand and their advertising agency partnered with W5 to explore potential positioning strategies for a new branded product offering. A primary goal was to identify opportunities for positioning the product to optimize visibility and increase appeal among a set of well-established competitor offerings.

APPROACH

First, W5 conducted a custom online survey to identify the ideal target audience for the new product. W5 then utilized the identified target audience specifications (demographics, psychographics, etc.) to recruit participants for an in-depth Online Discussion to assess key category behaviors for consuming the product and assess initial reactions to product concepts. This combination of virtual ethnography and concept review helped make the insights actionable.

These discussions not only illuminated potential benefits and drawbacks to the product concept, but also key needs for aisle placement, packaging design, messaging, and related product positioning. To validate these learnings, W5 conducted a follow-up online survey with a larger cohort of target consumers to further test the most popular positioning strategies from the online discussions and identify a winner. 

RESULTS

Results revealed great interest in the new product as well as some potential gaps in the market the new product could address. The agile and iterative research design generated actionable learnings at each research stage, allowing the client and agency to ideate new solutions and adjust the concept and potential positioning strategies until a winner emerged.  

22
Apr

Hitting the Reset Button on Your Creativity

Posted by: Kathy Justice in: advertising , culture , knowledge , market research No Comments on Hitting the Reset Button on Your Creativity

Ahh, the ‘newness’ of spring is in the air and there’s a whisper of a promise of happier times. Yes, it feels there is truly an opportunity to hit reset, a chance to restore our mindset and energy, and pursue new and exciting ventures. But what happens when we feel lifeless and unmotivated? This past year has been difficult, and personally speaking, my well of creativity feels bone dry despite ideal circumstances for a complete refresh.

Andy J. Pizza, producer and host of the podcast “Creative Peptalk,” has a solution to this conundrum and it’s worth checking out, especially if you are in a creative field that requires mental stamina and new ways of thinking in daily work life. (Here’s looking at you brand planners, creative strategists, copy writers, research consultants, artists, journalists…and the list goes on).

In Episode 310, Pizza lists out a four-step approach to getting back in the groove when you feel paralyzed or “stuck.”

Pizza starts out by explaining a loss of motivation is not due to a lack of momentum, but rather direction. Essentially, when you feel you can’t move forward or continue with a creative project or task, the problem could be that you have lost your direction or focus. You have the will to keep going but can’t because you don’t know the next right step. Self-doubt creeps in and make it harder to tell if your next move will take you closer to your goal or further away. This is not a lack of momentum, but a lack of clarity.

So the next time you are feeling lost in a project or initiative, there are four steps recommended by Pizza to alleviate this issue:

  1. Stop and admit you are lost. This is key! There is no shame in admitting you’ve lost your path forward and admitting you are lost gives you permission to recalibrate.
  • Ask yourself, where have I been or better yet, where have ‘we’ been? Look at your creative endeavor and determine what you have done and what knowledge is already available on the subject. Bonus points for looking outside yourself or your industry for cultural inspiration. Syncing up with the collective can often provide a new perspective. What work have others done on this project/issue? Where does it sit in the context of culture, society, or history? What knowledge can be applied from others? Who are the torch bearers of the past you can look to for inspiration?
  • Next ask, where am I going next? What does success look like for this project/initiative? At this point, you will have a bit more perspective than when you started. You will begin to see a path emerge from your previous work and experiences that will serve as a guide point or inspiration for where you need to go. As Pizza states, “It might be a little fuzzy, but you can get a vague sense of a relationship between where you have been and where you want to go.”
  • Finally, ask yourself, what is getting in my way? This it the part where your creative mojo can truly kick into gear. Once you have defined where you’ve been/what you know and where you want to go next, you can determine what is preventing you from taking those next steps and problem solve until you find a new solution.

Of course this is a super simplified retelling of the advice Pizza presents, but perhaps it will get your juices flowing and re-set your productivity. If you’d like to hear more examples of this four-step process I highly recommend checking out Creative Peptalk, Episode 310.

Now it’s your turn to share―have you ever experienced a crisis of creativity? What are some things you do to move from paralysis to action?

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