Chapter 7: Advertising Research

7-4e Account Planning versus Advertising Research

Account planning assigns a specific planner who is knowledgeable about consumer research and consumer behavior on the agency team working to create advertising and choose media on behalf of clients. Account planning differs from advertising research in three ways:

Feelings and Emotions

Advertisers have always had a special interest in feelings and emotions. Research by business professor Michel Pham and others has shown that feelings have three distinct properties that create a very powerful influence over how consumers react to advertisements and the advertised goods and services: 1. Consumers monitor and access feelings very quickly-consumers often know how they feel before they know what they think; 2. there is much more agreement in how consumers feel about ads and brands than in what they think about them. 3. feelings are very good predictors of thoughts.

7-4 Stage Three: Results Research

At this stage, the ads are already out in the world, and the advertisers are trying to assess whether they are working. Here, it's important to note the difficulty of determining the exact connection between advertising and sales, in part because consumers are exposed to many IBP activities over time (and at the point of sale).

Attitude Change

Attitudes suggest where a brand stands in the consumer's mind. Attitudes can be influenced both by what people know and by how people feel about a brand. In this sense, attitude or preference is a summary evaluation that ties together the influences of many different factors. Common Sense tells us that attitudes would be worthwhile in assessing ads.

Resonance Tests

In a resonance test, the goal is to determine to what extent the message resonates or rings true with target audience members. The question becomes: Does this ad match consumers' own experiences? Does it produce an affinity reaction? Do consumers who view it say, "Yeah, that's right; I feel just like that"? Do consumers read the ad and make it their own? The method is pretty much the same as a communication test. Consumers see an ad in a group several times and then discuss it, prompted by questions like: How do you feel about this ad? How does it make you feel?

What Do They Remember?

It is assumed that if the consumer was exposed to the ad, something of that ad remains in the consumer's mind: cognitive residue, pieces of the ads mixed with the consumer's own thoughts and reactions. It might be a memory of the headline, the brand name, the joke in a TV spot, a stray piece of copy, a vague memory trace of an executional element in the ad, or just about anything else. So for decades advertisers have tried to quantify this cognitive residue, or the things left in consumers' minds from the ads. However, memory measures of ads (not brands) don't tend to predict actual sales very well. Why? Well, for one thing, consumers may remember all sorts of things in ads and not care for the advertised brand at all. Or they remember things that are completely irrelevant to the advertiser's intended message, or some of their thoughts actually interfere with associating the advertiser's brand name with the ad itself. Humorous ads are great examples of this. The consumer remembers what is funny but not the brand name—or worse yet, remembers the competitor's brand name instead. Now some companies are insisting on recall measures for branded entertainment.

7-4d Method: All-in-One Single-Source Data

Research firms are now able to engage in single-source research to document the behavior of individuals and households by tracking their behavior from the television screen to the checkout counter. Single-source data (Information provided from individual households about brand purchases, coupon use, and television advertising exposure by combining grocery store scanner data with TV-viewing data from monitoring devices attached to the households' televisions.) provide information from individual households about brand purchases, coupon use, and television advertising exposure by combining grocery store scanner data with TV-viewing data (and, increasingly, online search data). Single-source data helps agencies and advertisers assess the real impact of advertising and promotion on consumers' actual purchases and the competitive environment in which consumers make choices. This is not an inexpensive method of assessment, and it still remains difficult (if not impossible) to know exactly what specific aspects of advertising had what effects on consumers. One well-known supplier of this type of testing is IRI.

Quantitative Research

A form of systematic information gathering and analysis based on measures of quantities or numbers.

Currently, marketers conduct three types of research to support advertising and brand promotion activities:

1. Developmental advertising and promotion research (before ads are made); 2. Copy research (as the ads are being finished or are finished); and 3. Results-oriented research (after the ads are in the marketplace).

Communication Tests

A communication test simply seeks to discover whether a message is communicating something close to what the advertiser desired. Sometimes advertisers just want to know if audience members "get" the ad. In other words, do they generally understand it, get the joke, see the connection, or get the main point? Communication tests are usually done in a group setting, with data coming from a combination of questionnaires and group discussion. Members of the target audience are shown the ad, or some preliminary or rough version of it, possibly seeing it several times, and are then asked to discuss it. One reason communication tests are performed is to prevent communicating something completely wrong, something the creators of the ad are too close to see but that is entirely obvious to consumers. With more transnational or global advertising, an unexpected interpretation of the imagery might emerge as that ad is moved from country to country around the world. Another question research can answer is how often a message should be repeated to get the point across without the audience tuning out. These are all instances in which well-trained and experienced researchers are needed to draw a proper conclusion from the testing.

7-1b Concept Testing

A concept test seeks feedback designed to screen the quality of a new idea, using consumers as the judge and jury. Concept testing may be used to vet new ideas for specific advertisements or to assess new product concepts. Before a new product is launched, the advertiser should have a deep understanding of how it fits current needs and how much consumers are willing to pay. Concept tests of many kinds are commonly conducted in order to get quick feedback on new product or brand ideas.

In-depth Interviews

A form of qualitative research done with consumers that bring a deep understanding and are often used to supplement the findings from AIO research.

7-2d Commercial, Industry, and Nonprofit Sources

Because information has become such a critical resource in marketing and advertising decision-making, commercial data services have emerged to provide data of various types and to package existing data. Some firms specialize in data-gathering efforts at the household or neighborhood level, while others specialize in particular market segments or technologies. Forrester Research, for example, is known for its research of consumer use of tech products and digital media. Advertisers are interested in the firm's research about consumers' use of mobile devices for a variety of functions, as a foundation for preparing messages and selecting media for target markets. The NPD Group maintains a large, nationwide consumer panel of people who answer questions about purchasing, consumption, and lifestyle subjects—again, areas of great interest to advertisers and agencies. The Pew Center, a widely respected nonprofit public opinion survey center, is particularly good at tracking general consumer attitudes toward major social issues, media trends, and other key topics. Advertisers who want a broad understanding of consumer sentiment can visit the Pew Research Center's online resource collection for regularly updated insights. Industry groups also conduct or commission research for the benefit of members. The National Retail Federation, as another example, maintains links to research useful for retailers of all sizes.

Behavior Intent

Behavioral Intent is essentially what consumers say they intend to do. If, after exposure to Brand X's advertising, consumers' stated intent to purchase Brand X goes up, there is some reason to believe that the tested advertising had something to do with it. Of course, intentions aren't the same as actual actions, which is why intended behavior is not a great substitute for actual behavior. On a relative basis (say, percentage who intend to buy Pepsi versus percentage who intend to buy Coke, or at least who tell some researcher that), these measures can be meaningful and helpful, particularly if the changes are substantial.

Brand Knowledge

Brand Knowledge is a big step up from cognitive residue. To have brand knowledge (What a customer knows about a brand, which may take several forms such as a brand claim or a belief about the brand.) that could have come only from an ad is a much more meaningful measure of advertising effectiveness. This knowledge may take several forms. It could be a brand claim or a belief about the brand. For example, the consumer may believe that Brand X cleans twice as well as Brand Y. If Brand X's advertising and promotion activities have been stressing this very fact, then we may generally assume that the consumer has learned something from the promotion and advertising efforts and that brand knowledge has been created. But with the explosion in available information for consumers, it's becoming increasingly difficult to determine exactly where some piece of knowledge came from.

7-1f Method: Fieldwork/Long Interviews

Consumers live real lives, and their behavior as consumers is intertwined throughout their day-to-day activities. Their consumption practices are embedded (Consumption practices tightly connected to a context.); that is, they are tightly connected to their social context. Two methods of obtaining information about the specific details of consumer behavior are through fieldwork and in-depth interviews.

7-1a Design Thinking

Design thinking is a newer way of integrating research, product development, advertising, and brand promotion. The idea is to get marketers and advertisers to think like designers. Design thinking digs deeper to reveal what consumers really need and want, proceeding with an ongoing process of prototyping, testing, feedback, prototyping again, and communicating what the brand really does (or could do) for real consumers. Designers use a type of thought process that ignores assumptions and preconceived notions of a good or service and replaces it with a process where designers partner with users/potential users to develop the good or service from scratch. Why should a wallet look like existing wallets? Why should a laptop look like existing laptops? Maybe they shouldn't. Maybe there is a better way. Microsoft, for instance, used design thinking for the Microsoft Surface Pro, resulting in an innovative integration of both a tablet and a laptop in one device. In addition to Microsoft, companies including Apple, Target, Coca-Cola, Tide, and IBM are champions of design thinking. IBM is also using the methodology to differentiate itself as it develops branded digital experiences for its customers. Design thinking can help advertisers figure out what the brand really means (or could mean) to consumers and allows them to better create and shape brand meaning. Changing the "design" of liquid or powder laundry detergent to less messy detergent "pods" is another example of how design thinking can drive sustainable, effective branding.

7-1 Stage One: Developmental Advertising and IBP Research

Developmental advertising and promotion research is used to generate opportunities and messages. It helps creatives, account planners, digital strategists, and brand managers discern the target audience's identity, perceived needs, usage expectations, history, and context, among other things. Developmental research provides critical information—consumer insights—early in the process so creatives can apply what they learn when actually producing ads and branded promotions. Related to consumer insight generation is trendspotting—identifying new trends in the marketplace. For example, a top ad agency (J. Walter Thompson) has a director of trend forecasting to lead its trendspotting research. Some recent trends that JWT has identified include branding together, new gaming frontiers, live commerce, fin-fluencers (finance influencers), immunity wellness, ethical branding, micropreneurs (entrepreneurs at a small level), intersectional beauty, calmtainment, and delivery-based dining. In past years, they had top takeaways in augmented reality (such as Pokémon Go and branded social media selfie "masks"), machine learning, person to person payments, cryptocurrency, halal tourism (travel geared for Muslim travelers), cannabusiness (the legal marijuana industry), and retail naturalism (more natural, friendly retail environments). Trendspotting and consumer insight generation help marketers think big, using tools like the design thinking methodology.

7-4b Method: Direct Response

Direct response (Copy research method measuring actual behavior of consumers.) advertisements in print, the Internet, and broadcast media offer the audience the opportunity to place an inquiry or respond directly through a website, reply card, or toll-free phone number. These ads produce inquiry/direct response measures (A type of posttest message tracking in which a print or broadcast advertisement offers the audience the opportunity to place an inquiry or respond directly through a reply card or toll-free number.). These measures are quite straightforward in the sense that advertisements that generate a high number of inquiries or direct responses, compared to historical benchmarks, are deemed effective.

Qualitative Research

Entails research that has data that is descriptive and entails phenomena that are observed rather than measured.

Eye Tracking

Eye-tracking systems have been developed to monitor eye movements across print and online ads. With one such system, respondents wear a goggle-like device that records (on a computer system) pupil dilations, eye movements, and length of time each sector of an advertisement is viewed. Individual advertisers commission eye-tracking studies to answer questions like what part of an ad will attract attention, what elements hold attention, and for how long. Broader studies are helping advertisers understand the nuances of digital messages, such as how long an ad must be visible to attract attention on a computer screen cluttered with content. See Exhibit 7.16 for an example of eye-tracking in research; the green represents less visual attention and the red represents more visual attention.

Fieldwork

Fieldwork is conducted outside the agency (i.e., in the "field"), usually in the home or site of consumption. It is sometimes called a field study, or piece of research or data collection that was done not in a lab, but typically along with a company or organization and the data represents actual consumer or marketplace behaviors. It can be a qualitative or quantitative (i.e., numbers-based) approach. Its purpose is to learn from the experiences of the consumer, usually from direct observation, sampling, or conducting surveys at a sponsored event to assess its advertising effectiveness, or how effective a particular ad or marketing approach is in meeting its goal. While there may be less researcher control in the field, hosting surveys or experiments at live events, for example, provide a realness that studies "in the lab" can never duplicate.

Frame-by-Frame Tests

Frame-by-frame tests are typically used when the emotional component of an ad is key, although they may also be used to obtain thought listing as well. These tests typically work by getting consumers to turn dials (like/dislike) while viewing television commercials in a theater setting. The data from these dials are then collected, averaged, and later superimposed over the commercial for the researchers in the form of a line graph. The height of the line reflects the level of interest in the ad. The high points in the line represent periods of higher interest in the ad, and the dips show where the audience had less interest in a particular part of the ad. Whereas some research companies do ask consumers what they were thinking or feeling at certain points along the trace—and sometimes these responses are diagnostic—others do not. In those cases, what the trace line really does then is measure the levels of interest at each specific moment in the execution—it does not explain whether or why consumers' reactions were positive or negative. The downside of frame-by-frame tests is that they involve somewhat higher costs than other methods, and there are some validity concerns in that you are asking consumers to do something they do not normally do while watching television. But even with these issues, the method does have some fans. In general, assessment of feelings evoked by ads is becoming an increasingly important goal of the advertising industry.

Trendspotting

Identifying new trends in the marketplace.

Thought Listings

It is commonly assumed that advertising and promotions generate some thoughts during and following exposure. Copy research that tries to identify specific thoughts that were generated by an ad is referred to as thought listing (A type of pretest message research that tries to identify specific thoughts that may be generated by an advertisement. Also known as cognitive response analysis.) , or cognitive response analysis. These are tests of knowledge, cognitive impact, and to a lesser degree feelings and emotions. Thought-listing tests are either conducted in-house or obtained from a commercial-testing service. They are most often used with television ads, although they can be applied to all ads. Here the researcher is interested in the thoughts that an ad or promotion generates in the mind of the audience. This research is conducted by having individuals watch the commercial in groups and, as soon as it is over, asking them to write down all the thoughts that were in their minds while watching. Researchers then ask about these thoughts, probing for further explanation or amplification

Consumer Insights

Knowledge of how consumers think about, use, or otherwise view brands, good, or services within the context of their lives. These insights are typically derived through ethnographic methods.

7-4f Future of Advertising Research

None of the advertising research methods mentioned in this chapter is perfect, not even close. Advertisers sometimes think that consumers watch new television commercials the way they watch new, eagerly awaited feature films (or have other unrealistic ideas about the role of advertising in a consumer's life). Actually, most people multi-task, or do two or more things at once. In reality, we watch TV while we work, talk, eat, and study; we use it as a night-light or for background noise. We often switch our attention between screens from moment to moment, searching on a tablet computer while a TV program is on and simultaneously receiving a text message on the phone. This can make it hard to get and keep customers attention.

7-2a Netnography and Big Data

Often in secondary research, data points already exist or the research has already been done by another party. Secondary research is when the researcher does not collect the data, but acquires it from another source. In contrast, primary research is when the researcher designs their own study and/or collects their own original research. The lines between secondary research and primary research are blurring, especially as the Internet has revolutionized developmental research. Big Data is data in a very large dataset that researchers find patterns in using computer algorithms. Big Data is often analyzed by artificial intelligence, as these algorithms detect the patterns or trends, rather than the researcher. The downside is that Big Data tells researchers what consumers did in the past without knowing why the behavior happened. For instance, a child clicked on an ad because it looked like a video game. The online behavior is recorded as it happened, but it would be incorrect to assume that the ad was clicked on out of interest.

7-4c Method: Estimating Sales Derived from Advertising

Other advertisers really want to see evidence that the new ads will actually get people to do something: generally, to buy their product. It is, to some, the gold standard. But for reasons explained earlier, there are so many things that can affect sales that the use of actual sales as a measure of advertising effectiveness is considered inherently flawed, but not flawed enough not to be used. Here is a place where advertising and promotion are really different. In the case of the more easily and precisely tracked effects of promotions, some IBPs, and some sales data collected via the Internet, sales are the gold standard. That's because you can better isolate the effect of the promotion. In the case of media advertising, statistical models are employed to try to isolate the effect of advertising on sales. Research shows that in some industries, very sophisticated and fairly time-intensive mathematical modeling can isolate advertising effects over time, but these powerful models are underused in practice and require more time, data, and expertise than many companies have at their disposal. Results generally indicate that advertising has its greatest impact on sales early in the product life cycle, or when a new version or model or other innovation is made. After that, advertising loses steam. Sometimes a host of other variables that might also affect sales, from the weather to competing advertising, are factored into these mathematical models.

7-1c Audience Profiling

Perhaps the most important service provided by developmental advertising research is the profiling of target audiences. Creatives need to know as much as they can about the people who will see, hear, and interact with their branded communications. This research is done in a variety of ways, including lifestyle research, (Survey-based knowledge derived through questions about consumers' activities, interests, and opinions (AIO). It is used to help develop messages and target profiles of consumers.) also known as AIO (activities, interests, and opinions) research, which uses survey data from consumers who have answered questions about themselves. From the responses given to a wide variety of survey questions, advertisers can develop a meaningful profile of their targeted consumers, their motivations and needs, and their consumption patterns. For example, it may turn out that the target market for an automobile brand consists of male consumers, age 35 to 45, living in larger cities who have to deal with difficult parallel parking and parking in tight spots. As such, companies such as Volkswagen (VW) generally profile the target audience psychographically and use lifestyle research to generate ads such as the one in Exhibit 7.4, which focuses on the car's park-assist features.

Recall Tests

Recall tests, designed to determine how much, if anything, an audience member remembers of an ad, are among both the most commonly used tests in advertising and the most controversial. Their purpose is to assess the cognitive residue associated with ads. The basic idea is that if the ad is to work, it has to be remembered. Following on this premise is the further assumption that the ads best remembered are the ones most likely to work. If brand awareness is the goal, recall would be an appropriate way to measure whether advertising has accomplished that aim. Recall is commonly used for television advertising, recognition for print. Recognition simply means that the audience members indicate that they have seen an ad before (i.e., they recognize it), whereas recall requires that they retrieve the ad from memory. Digital ads and branded video tend to use both recall and recognition tests.

Recognition Tests

Recognition tests are the standard memory test for print ads and promotions. Rather than asking you if you recall something, they ask if you recognize an ad or something in an ad. This type of testing attempts to get a little more than evidence of exposure residue. Recognition tests ask magazine readers (and sometimes television viewers) whether they remember having seen particular advertisements and whether they can name the company sponsoring the ad. For print advertising, the actual advertisement is shown to respondents; and for television advertising, a script with accompanying photos is shown.

7-2b Internal Company Sources

Some of the most valuable data are available within a firm itself. Commonly available information within a company includes strategic marketing plans, research reports, customer service records, warranty registration cards, letters from customers, customer complaints, and various sales data (broken down by region, by customer type, or by product line). All of this information provides a wealth of insights relating to the proficiency of the company's advertising programs and, more generally, changing consumer tastes and preferences. When planning new advertising or IBP activities, advertisers should carefully examine the results of previous campaigns, as well, for lessons learned that can be applied to future efforts. In this era of big data, internal databases are particularly rich sources of details about individual buyers and buying trends that occur in the context of the advertiser's IBP activities.

Long Interview

The long interview (also called in-depth interview) is another qualitative method of accessing insights about the real lives of consumers and the way they think about the brand, the category, and how its consumption fits (or doesn't) into their lives. Long interviews usually last about an hour. They often are semi-structured, with an interview guide. A successful interview has the interviewee doing most of the talking, with the interviewer (researcher) listening and probing for further or deeper responses. The researcher then transcribes the interview data and constructs themes that emerge from multiple interviews. A disadvantage is the time it takes (mainly in transcribing, coding, and making themes); yet the crucial advantage is the depth of the insights about the phenomenon being studied.

7-3 Stage Two: Copy Research

The second major type of advertising and promotion research is known as copy research, or evaluative research. It is an old term that was created when ads were mostly text. Now it means research on the actual ads or promotional language, finished or unfinished. Copy research is used to judge or evaluate ads and promotions, usually right before or after the ad is finalized. Advertisers may be interested in normative test scores (Scores that are determined by testing an ad and then comparing the scores to those of previously tested, average commercials of its type.) to understand how well a particular ad scores against average commercials of its type that have been tested previously. Yet agencies also recognize the difficulty of assessing the intangible quality and emotional impact of creative advertising and IBP messages through quantitative scoring.

Physiological Assessment and Neuroscience

The technology of physiological assessment (The research interpretation of certain biological feedback generated from viewers who are exposed to an ad or IBP message, using brain imaging and other neuroscience techniques.) of advertising enables researchers to use brain imaging and other neuroscience techniques to measure consumers' reactions to advertising and IBP messages and media. For example, researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) both to see which parts of the brain "light up" during exposure to various stimuli, or during certain tasks, and to understand what is happening when they light up. As neuroscience develops, researchers expect to be able to help advertisers and agencies make informed decisions about the content and length of a commercial by tracking what happens in consumers' brains as they watch

Attitude Studies

The typical industry attitude study measures consumer attitudes after exposure to an ad. Surveys are a popular research tool for understanding attitudes. Essentially, people from the target market are recruited, and their attitudes toward the advertised brand as well as toward competitors' brands are noted. Ideally, there would be pre- and post-exposure attitude measurement so that one could see the change related to seeing the ad in question. Unfortunately, financial constraints mean that often only post-exposure measures are applied. True pre-post tests are becoming increasingly rare. To the extent that attitudes reflect something meaningful and something important, these tests may be very useful. Their validity is typically premised on a single ad exposure in an unnatural viewing environment. Many advertisers believe that commercials don't register their impact until after three or four exposures in a real environment; others believe the number is much higher. Still, a significant swing in attitude scores with a single exposure suggests that something is going on and that some of this effect might be expected when the ad reaches real consumers in the comfort of their homes. The bottom line is that attitude studies have proven not to been very predictive of actual behavior, even under the best of conditions—conditions that almost never exist in commercial advertising research.

7-4a Method: Tracking Studies

Tracking studies (Studies that document the apparent effect of advertising over time, assessing attitude change, knowledge, behavioral intent, and self-reported behavior. They are one of the most commonly used advertising and promotion research methods.) are one of the most commonly used advertising and promotion research methods. Basically, they "track" the apparent effect of advertising and branded entertainment over time, assessing attitude change, knowledge, behavioral intent, and self-reported behavior before, during, or after the launch of a campaign. This type of advertising research is almost always conducted with surveys. Even though the participants are susceptible to other influences (e.g., news stories and social media comments about the brand or category), tracking studies are fairly valuable tests because they occur over time and provide ongoing assessment rather than taking a one-time, one-shot approach. The method has been extended to tracking advertising within gaming, which presents new ethical issues given that most gamers are young. However, advertisers should be aware that sometimes attitudes shift a bit but translate into no noticeable increase in sales and no return on investment (ROI).

7-3a Evaluative Criteria and Methods

Traditionally, ads have been judged according to communication tests and tests of what people remember. Again, these "tests" are usually done right as the ad is being finished or is finished.

7-2c Government Sources

Various local, state, and federal government organizations in the United States collect and report data on factors of interest to advertising planners, such as population and housing trends, transportation, consumer spending, and recreational activities. The Census Bureau has a great website with access to numerous demographic tables and analyses. The American Community Survey (ACS) provides estimates of demographic, housing, social, and economic characteristics every year for states, cities, counties, metropolitan areas, and population groups. Demographic changes are key to so many advertising and branding opportunities, especially when combined with psychographics and lifestyle analysis. The Current Population Survey, a national survey conducted monthly since 1940, provides information on unemployment, occupation, income, and sources of income, as well as a rotating set of topics such as health, work schedules, school enrollment, fertility, households, immigration, and language. Population trends rapidly change, affecting consumer tastes, needs, and preferences. For European brands, Eurobarometer is a good source of survey data among European consumers. The International Social Survey Programme has data on feelings of consumers from dozens of nations on a variety of topics, including environmental issues (quite a find for companies trying to market "green products"). In short, even a small business owner can access large amounts of information for advertising planning purposes at little or no cost by looking for government sources.

Implicit Memory Measures

What we have been discussing up to this point are explicit memory measures, measures and procedures that require the research subject to recall the actual exposure. In contrast, implicit memory measures (Techniques used to obtain feedback that determines consumers' recognition of advertising, characterized by questions or tasks that do not explicitly make reference to the advertisement in question. The perceived advantage of this type of test is a more subconscious, unadulterated response.) do not refer to the ad or exposure but instead try to access memory by using tasks like word fragments: say, part of a brand name, like INTL for Intel. Subjects are asked to complete the brand name (which the researcher scores) along with other recollections. The idea is that this is a much more sensitive, less demanding (artificial), and perhaps more meaningful measure of advertising. It is being used occasionally in actual practice, but its intensive procedure and instrumentation make it more of an academic pursuit than an applied one. Some promising research indicates that implicit attitude measures can be very meaningful indicators of closely held attitudes rather than those reported to researchers

7-1e Projective Techniques

When combined with some quantitative data (such as consumers' online shopping data), the qualitative approach is especially helpful when seeking to access deep consumer insights. Projective techniques are another qualitative research method. Projective techniques (A type of developmental research designed to allow consumers to project thoughts and feelings (conscious or unconscious) in an indirect and unobtrusive way onto a theoretically neutral stimulus.) are designed to allow consumers to "project" their thoughts, but mostly their feelings (conscious or unconscious), onto a "blank" or neutral "surface," like an inkblot or benign painting or scene. It's like seeing zoo animals in clouds or faces in ice cubes. Projective techniques often consist of offering consumers fragments of pictures or words and asking them to complete the fragment. The most common projective techniques are association tests, dialogue balloons, story construction, and sentence or picture completion. As an example of a classic projective technique, consider interpreting inkblots as a psychologist (Rorschach) did. Exhibit 7.6 shows the Rorschach inkblot test; consumers interpret the ink, and it helps give insights about how the person thinks and interprets things. Note this specific projective technique is suited to help diagnose anxiety disorders or depression more so than to offer insights on specific brands. However, dialogue balloons are a projective technique well suited to brand research.