SBM chapter 9

ethnographic and experiential methods

-Participant observation in their natural environment. -Extract and interpret the deep cultural meaning of events and activities. --->Beeper studies, customer visits (e.g., HP and P&G), mystery shoppers (e.g., Office Depot) -Disadvantages: Time consuming and expensive; Based on subjective interpretation leading to multiple POVs.

brand personality and values

Human characteristics or traits that consumers can attribute to a brand The big five- Brand personality scale used to measure:Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, Ruggedness

6 methods

free association projective techniques ZMET(zaltman metaphor elicitation technique) neural research methods brand personality and values ethnographic and experiential methods

brand relationships

in terms of brand resonance and offered possi- ble measures for each of the four key dimensions: behavioral loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community, and active engagement.

free association

in which subjects are asked what comes to mind when they think of the brand, without any more specific probe or cue than perhaps the associated product category - Marketers use free association tasks mainly to identify the range of possible brand associa- tions in consumers' minds, but free association may also provide some rough indication of the relative strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations. Answers to free-association questions help marketers clarify the range of possible associa- tions and assemble a brand profile.7 To better understand the favorability of associations, we can ask consumers follow-up questions about the favorability of associations they listed or, more generally, what they like best about the brand. Similarly, we can ask them follow-up questions about the uniqueness of associations they listed or, more generally, about what they find unique about the brand. Useful questions include the following: 1. What do you like best about the brand? What are its positive aspects or advantages? 2. What do you like least about the brand? What are its negative aspects or disadvantages? 3. What do you find unique about the brand? How is it different from other brands? -To elicit more structure and guidance, consumers can be asked further follow-up questions about what the brand means to them in terms of the classic journalism "who, what, when, where, why, and how" questions:

projective techniques

involve: completion and interpretation tasks, comparison tasks, and archetypes - diagnostic tools to uncover the true opinions and feelings of consumers when they are unwilling or otherwise unable to express themselves on these mat- ters.8 Marketers present consumers with an incomplete stimulus and ask them to complete it, or they give consumers an ambiguous stimulus and ask them to make sense of it. The idea is that in the process consumers will reveal some of their true beliefs and feelings. Thus, projective techniques can be especially useful when deeply rooted personal motivations or personally or socially sensitive subjects are at issue. --(ex: Nescafe instant coffee w/ two grocery lists)

Qualitative Research Methods

often identify possible brand associations and sources of brand equity. These are relatively unstructured measurement approaches that permit a range of both questions and answers and so can often be a useful first step in exploring consumer brand and product perceptions.

archetypes

one technique for eliciting deeply held consumer attitudes and feelings. -The pattern that emerges when we generalize these imprinting moments for the entire population is the _____, a fundamental psychological association, shared by the members of the culture, with a given cultural object. Different cultures have dramatically different archetypes for the same objects. In France, the archetype for cheese is "alive" because age is its most important trait. By contrast, the U.S. archetype for cheese is "dead"; it is wrapped in plastic ("a body-bag"), put in the refrigerator ("a morgue"), and pasteurized ("scientifically dead").

active engagement

the extent to which consumers are willing to invest their own personal resources, time, energy, money and so on...

neural research methods

Neuromarketing - Study of how the brain responds to marketing stimuli, including brandsResearch indicates that consumer buying decision is a unconscious habitual process (vs. the rational, conscious, information processing model).Example: Frito-Lay and NeuroFocus scanned the brains of a sample of consumers.After scanning the brains of a carefully chosen group of consumers, the NeuroFocus team discovered that the icky coating triggers an unusually powerful response in the brain: a sense of giddy subversion that consumers enjoy over the messiness of the product.

sense of community

One interesting concept that has been proposed with respect to community is social currency, developed by brand consultants Vivaldi Partners. They define social currency as "the extent to which people share the brand or information about the brand as part of their every- day social lives at work or at home."

Completion and interpretation tasks

Projective techniques involving incomplete or ambiguous stimuli to elicit consumer thoughts and feelings --ex: filling in bubbles of cartoons --> especially useful for assessing user and usage imagery for a brand.

quantitative research techniques

Qualitative research techniques ascertain consumer perceptions that are difficult to uncover. - typically employs various types of scale ques- tions from which researchers can draw numerical representations and summaries. -Disadvantages: Small sample size may not necessarily generalize to broader populations. Due to qualitative nature, data is open to varied interpretations. Different researchers examining the same results may draw different conclusions. -consists of: brand awareness, brand image, brand responses, brand relationships

brand awareness (recognition and recall)

Related to the strength of the brand in memory, as reflected by consumers' ability to identify various brand elements like the brand name, logo, symbol, character, packaging, and slogan under different conditions. ____ describes the likelihood that a brand will come to mind in different situations, and the ease with which it does so given different types of cues. --recognition: Brand recognition requires consumers to identify the brand under a variety of cir- cumstances and can rest on the identification of any of the brand elements. The most basic recogni- tion test gives consumers a set of individual items visually or orally and asks them whether they think they've previously seen or heard of these items. Brand recognition is especially important for packaging, and some marketing researchers have used creative means to assess the visibility of package design. --recall: To demonstrate brand recall, consumers must retrieve the actual brand element from memory when given some related probe or cue. Thus, brand recall is a more demanding memory task than brand recognition because consumers are not just given a brand element and asked to say whether they've seen it before.

attitudinal attachment

Some researchers like to characterize it in terms of brand love. One study proposed a brand love scale that consists of 10 items: (1) This is a wonderful brand; (2) This brand makes me feel good; (3) This brand is totally awesome; (4) I have neutral feelings about this brand (reverse-coded item); (5) This brand makes me very happy; (6) I love this brand; (7) I have no particular feelings about this brand (reverse-coded item); (8) This brand is a pure delight; (9) I am passionate about this brand; and (10) I am very attached to this brand. -One promising approach defines brand attachment in terms of two underlying constructs— brand-self connections and brand prominence— ---> 1. Brand-Self Connection a.Connected: "To what extent do you feel that you are personally connected to (Brand)?" b.Part of Who You Are: "To what extent is (Brand) part of you and who you are?" --> 2. Brand Prominence a.Automatic: "To what extent are your thoughts and feelings towards (Brand) often auto- matic, coming to mind seemingly on their own?" b.Naturally: "To what extent do your thoughts and feelings towards (Brand) come to you naturally and instantly?"

brand responses (purchase intentions and likelihood to recommend)

-The purpose of measuring more general, higher-level considerations is to find out how consum- ers combine all the more specific, lower-level considerations about the brand in their minds to form different types of brand responses and evaluations. --> purchase intentions: Another set of measures closely related to brand attitudes and consider- ation looks at purchase intentions44 and focus on the likelihood of buying the brand or of switch- ing to another brand. Research in psychology suggests that purchase intentions are most likely to be predictive of actual purchase when there is correspondence between the two in the following dimensions:45 •Action (buying for own use or to give as a gift) •Target (specific type of product and brand) •Context (in what type of store based on what prices and other conditions) •Time (within a week, month, or year) --> likelihood to recommend: Specifically, in a survey, customers are asked to rate their likelihood to recommend on a 0-10-point scale. there is only one customer question that really matters: "How likely is it that you would recommend this product or service to a friend or colleague?"

behavioral loyalty

To capture reported brand usage and behavioral loyalty, we could ask consumers several questions directly. Or we could ask them what percentage of their last pur- chases in the category went to the brand (past purchase history) and what percentage of their planned next purchases will go to the brand (intended future purchases). ---These types of questions can provide information about brand attitudes and usage for Duracell, including potential gaps with competitors and the names of other brands that might be in the consideration set at the time of purchase.

brand image (beliefs and multidimensional scaling)

As reflected by the associations that con- sumers hold for it. It is useful for marketers to make a distinction between lower-level consid- erations, related to consumer perceptions of specific performance and imagery attributes and benefits, and higher-level considerations related to overall judgments, feelings, and relationships. There is an obvious connection between the two levels, because consumers' overall responses and relationship with a brand typically depend on perceptions of specific attributes and benefits of that brand. --beliefs: descriptive thoughts that a person holds about something; Brand association beliefs are those specific attributes and benefits linked to the brand and its competitors. --multidimensional scaling: a procedure for determining the perceived relative images of a set of objects, such as prod- ucts or brands. MDS transforms consumer judgments of similarity or preference into distances represented in perceptual space. For example, if brands A and B are judged by respondents to be the most similar of a set of brands, the MDS algorithm will position brands A and B so that the distance between them in multidimensional space is smaller than the distance between any other two pairs of brands. Respondents may base their similarity between brands on any basis— tangible or intangible

Comparison Tasks

Consumers convey their impressions by comparing brands to: People, countries, animals, activities, fabrics, occupations, cars, magazines, vegetables, nationalities, or even other brands. - By examining the answers to probes, researchers may be better able to assemble a rich image for the brand, for example, identifying key brand personality associations. -ex: " "If Dannon yogurt were a car, which one would it be? If it were an animal, which one might it be? Looking at the people depicted in these pictures, which ones do you think would be most likely to eat Dannon yogurt?"

six facets of Fournier's brand relationship quality

- Interdependence: The degree to which the brand is ingrained in the consumer's daily course of living, both behaviorally (in terms of frequency, scope, and strength of interactions) and cognitively (in terms of longing for and preoccupation with anticipated brand interactions). Interdependence is often revealed through the presence of routinized behavioral rituals surrounding brand purchase and use, and through separation anxiety experienced during periods of product deprivation. At its extremes, interdependence becomes dependency and addiction. • Self-concept connection: The degree to which the brand delivers on important identity concerns, tasks, or themes, thereby expressing a significant part of the self-concept, both past (including nostalgic references and brand memories) and present, and personal as well as social. Grounding of the self provides feelings of comfort, connectedness, control, and security. In its extreme form, self-connection reflects integration of concepts of brand and self. • Commitment: Dedication to continued brand association and betterment of the relationship, despite circumstances foreseen and unforeseen. Commitment includes professed faithfulness and loyalty to the other, often formalized through stated pledges and publicized inten- tions. Commitment is not defined solely by sunk costs and irretrievable investments that pose barriers to exit. • Love/passion: Affinity toward and adoration of the brand, particularly with respect to other available alternatives. The intensity of the emotional bonds joining relationship partners may range from feelings of warmth, caring, and affection to those of true passion. Love includes the belief that the brand is irreplaceable and uniquely qualified as a relationship partner. • Intimacy: A sense of deep familiarity with and understanding of both the essence of the brand as a partner in the relationship and the nature of the consumer-brand relationship itself. Intimacy is revealed in the presence of a strong consumer-brand relationship culture, the sharing of little-known personal details of the self, and an elaborate brand memory containing significant experiences or associations. Intimacy is a two-dimensional concept: the consumer develops intimate knowledge of the brand, and also feels a sense of intimacy exhibited on the part of the brand toward the individual as a consumer. • Partner quality: Perceived partner quality involves a summary judgment of the caliber of the role enactments performed by the brand in its partnership role. Partner quality in- cludes three central components: (1) an empathic orientation toward the other (ability of the partner to make the other feel wanted, cared for, respected, noticed, and important; re- sponsiveness to needs); (2) a character of reliability, dependability, and predictability in the brand; and (3) trust or faith in the belief that the brand will adhere to established relationship rules and be held accountable for its actions.

Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET)

A research technique to draw out people's buried thoughts and feelings about products and brands by encouraging participants to think in terms of metaphors. -"a technique for eliciting interconnected con- structs that influence thought and behavior." The word construct refers to "an abstraction created by the researcher to capture common ideas, concepts, or themes expressed by customers." ---based on a belief that consumers often have subconscious motives for their purchasing behavior. - ZMET has been applied in a variety of different ways, including as a means to help under- stand consumers' images of brands, products, and companies. Marketers can employ ZMET for a variety of consumer-insight research topics. Zaltman lists several of these: ZMET is useful in understanding consumers' images of brands, products, companies, brand equity, product concepts and designs, product usage and purchase experiences, life experiences, consumption context, and attitudes toward business. -A ZMET study starts with a group of participants who are asked in advance to think about the research topic at hand and collect a set of images from their own sources (magazines, cata- logs, and family photo albums) that represent their thoughts and feelings about the research topic. The participants bring these images with them for a personal one-on-one two-hour interviewwith a study administrator, who uses advanced interview techniques to explore the images with the participant and reveal their deep ideas, archetypes, themes, and emotions through a "guided conversation." The interview consists of a series of steps, each with a specific purpose in mind: 1. Storytelling: Exploring individual visual metaphors 2. Expand the Frame: Expanding the metaphoric meaning of images 3. Sensory Metaphor: Eliciting metaphors about the research topic from each sensory modality 4. Vignette: Using the mind's eye to create a short story about the research topic 5. Digital Image: Integrating the images to create a visual summary of the research topic