Author: Jeremy Braune

Jeremy specialises in delivering market research and consultancy programmes that enable organisations to maximise the impact of their brands, products and services, communications and customer experience delivery. His company, Brandspeak, has offices in London and Bristol and since 2004 it has been helping companies all over the UK and globally. Jeremy has also been a guest lecturer and speaker on London Business School's acclaimed MBA course, on the subject of Brands and Branding.

What is market segmentation?

We are all different, and that is a wonderful thing. Our differences are what make us interesting, and diversity brings richness and colour to every situation. However, we also all have similarities which make it possible to group us together: cat lovers, accountants, Londoners, redheads – the options are limitless. The anthropologist, Margaret Mead said, “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” Monty Python said something similar.

In the same way, your customers are all unique individuals. This makes it difficult to sell to them as, theoretically, because they are all different, you would need to tailor your approach every single time to have the best chance of making a sale. This is feasible if you are, for example, an architect, and you are designing a bespoke house for each customer. It becomes more challenging if you are selling baked beans and you need to sell many millions of tins to make a profit.

Market segmentation definition

Market segmentation (also called marketing segmentation) is the process of dividing up the customer (and prospective customer) base into groups that have common characteristics and are different from each other in some meaningful way. Market segmentation enables you to identify the most attractive customers to target and to develop a differentiated marketing strategy for each segment.

Benefits of market segmentation

Why do you need market segmentation? Segmenting the market will enable you not only to better understand your customers but also to decide which groups you can serve most effectively. You may decide to develop a different offer for each segment of the market or to disregard some segments entirely, because they would not be the most profitable, easy to reach, or aligned with your wider strategy.

Uncovering opportunities

Marketing segmentation can also help you to identify unmet needs within different customer segments and uncover opportunities to address new groups of customers. You can also use market segmentation research to better understand a topic or issue of importance, in social or political research, for example, and how that issue plays out amongst different groups of people.

Tailoring your marketing strategy

Once you have conducted your marketing segmentation research and chosen your target segments, you can tailor your marketing strategy and tactics for each segment. This can include having different approaches for any or all of the following:

Products
Pricing
Packaging
Positioning
Messaging
Advertising
Media
Sales channels

Types of market segmentation

There are four types of market segmentation: demographic, geographic, behavioural and psychographic.

Demographic market segmentation

This is a simple and logical way of dividing up the market. Factors such as age, gender, income, education and life stage all have an impact on how people buy products and respond to marketing messages and approaches. Examples of market segmentation using demographics include the following:

Segmentation by age: motor brands target younger customers with smaller, cheaper models and use messaging focused on how fun the car is to drive, whereas older customers are targeted with higher-end specifications and messages about comfort and luxury
Segmentation by income: holiday companies often have different brands for high-end luxury holidays, aimed at higher income travellers, and budget breaks for those with lower incomes.
Segmentation by life stage: financial services firms aim pensions at younger working adults and equity release schemes at older, retired people.

Geographic segmentation

Another simple and logical way of dividing the market – by region, country or continent, or by type of geography such as urban vs. rural.

Cultural segmentation

Consider the fast-food chain with restaurants in every country around the world. Cultural differences mean that the same beef burger that sells so well in western Europe and the US would be unlikely to sell at all in India, for example. McDonald’s use of geographic segmentation has led them to create a local version of the Big Mac for the Indian market, a chicken or veggie burger known as the Maharaja Mac which are now “some of the most sought-after burgers on the McDonald’s India menu.”

Geographical features in segmentation

As well as taking cultural issues into account, geographic segmentation can also be based around features such as weather or the physical geography of the region. People living in tropical regions probably don’t buy snow chains for their cars; those living in urban settings probably aren’t interested in tractors. This can optimally be achieved through an in-depth global market study targetted to your brand.

Geographic B2B segmentation

Geographic segmentation can be useful even when there are a lot of similarities between regions – B2B sales teams, for example, often create B2B segmentations by dividing customers up by territory, simply to make them easier to reach.

Behavioural segmentation

Behavioural segmentation splits customers according to how they act – and also how they act in relation to your product.

So, for example, you may want to split your customer base into light and heavy users of your product. It is likely that you will want to reward the heavy users for their regular use, potentially with loyalty bonuses. You will probably want to encourage the light users to become heavier users, perhaps by offering discounts or other incentives for bulk or repeat purchases.

You may also want to split your customers by how they interact with you. Do you have some customers who only interact with your brand online? And others who buy your product in stores or prefer to place orders by phone?

Online customer data can be invaluable in understanding how customers interact with your brand and use your products.

Psychographic segmentation

Psychographic segmentation divides people according to personality characteristics such as their opinions, attitudes, needs and preferences.

Price sensitivity

For example, rather than targeting customers according to income, a more nuanced and effective approach may be to understand whether they are price sensitive. This may or may not be related to their income level. You can then create a basic offering for price-sensitive customers and a feature-rich version for those who want quality at any price. Supermarket own brands are a great example of this type of segmentation in action.

Attitudes in segmentation

A chain of gyms may want to understand customers’ attitudes so that they can keep them motivated to use their membership – are they reluctant couch potatoes who need frequent nudges to work out, or are they eager fitness freaks who would benefit from finding out about any new gym classes or offers?

Motivations in segmentation

Or a charity may want to understand what motivates people to donate – are they driven by empathy with the cause, by knowing someone who would benefit from the help the charity offers, or by a general sense of altruism?

Psychographic segmentation research can uncover a wide variety of different ways to group and make sense of the customer base, sometimes in unexpected ways that can create new marketing opportunities.

A practical example of market segmentation

It is possible – desirable in fact – to combine some of these forms of segmentation. We conducted a segmentation for a protein shake manufacturer that combined elements of behaviour and attitudes. This enabled us to create a segmentation of five personas based on based on lifestyles, fitness regimes and consumption patterns. The new segmentation model has given our client the ability to develop and target marketing communications, promotions and new product development strategies with a degree of precision that wasn’t previously possible.

Contact us

If you want to better understand your market and develop a customer segmentation that enables you to uncover new opportunities, improve your communications and create competitive advantage, please get in touch with Jeremy@brandspeak.co.uk or contact us via enquiries@brandspeak.co.uk .

How to conduct market segmentation research

If you’ve read our previous blog – What is market segmentation Research? – you will be clear on the benefits of conducting this kind of important research. Congratulations. You are ready to take the next step and, fortunately, we are here to guide you.

Benefits of market segmentation

If you haven’t read the previous article or need a recap: market segmentation can help you uncover opportunities and unmet needs, learn more about your customer base and understand how a particular issue plays out amongst different groups of people. Once you have conducted a market segmentation, you can create a differentiated marketing strategy for each segment.

How to conduct market segmentation research

There are two main ways to conduct a market segmentation study: a priori segmentation and post-hoc segmentation.

What is a priori market segmentation?

A priori translates from the Latin as ‘from the former’, and relates to an argument or line of reasoning that is deductive, based on logic rather than observation or experience. However, in the context of market segmentation, it means grouping people according to predetermined factors.

For example, FMCG brands may find that grouping customers according to how often they use their products is the most meaningful way of addressing their needs. Someone who drinks Coke every day and at every meal is likely to have an entirely different relationship with the brand to someone who has one can a week as a treat.

Demographic differences such as age can also be helpful a priori methods of segmenting a market. For example, marketing children’s clothes to parents with toddlers requires one approach; the same brand appealing directly to teenagers will need a very different marketing strategy. Similarly, vitamins and health supplements are often explicitly targeted at specific age groups or life stages.

How to conduct a priori segmentation research

Most segmentation research uses quantitative surveys, which are usually carried out online nowadays. For some types of a priori segmentation, you don’t need to conduct a separate survey or to use any complex analysis. If the segmentation variable can be asked directly of the respondent, such as age, gender or even frequency of use, you can create segments from a simple crosstab of that variable, and you can use existing research such as brand tracking studies or customer satisfaction studies to create your segments.

However, you may want to conduct additional analysis to get a more detailed picture. For example, if you want to divide your customers up according to how loyal they are to your brand, you could use one simple measure of loyalty, such as the NPS. However, you may decide that it is a bit more complicated than that. You can then conduct a survey designed specifically to understand loyalty and use multivariate analysis techniques to create your segments.

What is post-hoc market segmentation?

Post hoc means ‘after the event’. In the context of market segmentation research, this means analysing research data to derive segments, without having decided on them in advance.

As an aside, not to be confused with post-hoc fallacy. Sometimes the term ‘post hoc’ is used as shorthand for ‘post hoc, ergo propter hoc,’ a Latin phrase meaning ‘after this, therefore because of this.’ The phrase expresses the logical fallacy of assuming that one thing caused another merely because the first thing preceded the other. For example, if the doorbell rings, and immediately afterwards, your microwave dinner pings, the fallacy would be to assume that the doorbell had caused your dinner to finish cooking. Not only is this ridiculous, but it also has nothing to do with market segmentation.

When to use post-hoc market segmentation

You would be more likely to use post-hoc market segmentation when grouping people according to their attitudes, to a particular product or category, their opinions about a particular issue or their motivations towards a particular behaviour. The resulting segments are typically more descriptive and richer than those created using a priori techniques.

For example, a supermarket chain may want to understand how to group customers in a more detailed and nuanced way, according to a variety of variables, not just how often they shop or how much they spend.

How to conduct post-hoc segmentation research

The first step is to design a questionnaire that will cover all the areas that will be useful in differentiating customer types, and in meeting your objective for the segmentation.

Exploratory qualitative research

We would always recommend starting with some qualitative research – focus groups or depth interviews – to guide questionnaire design. Using our supermarket example, we might suggest an initial qualitative stage, interviewing customers of different ages, family structures, incomes and genders. Having done so, we can be sure that the survey design hasn’t missed anything and uses language that will resonate with customers.

Analysis

Once the survey data is collected, we can conduct analysis to create your segments. We use techniques such as factor analysis and cluster analysis to determine how different variables relate to each other and how customers are grouped according to multiple dimensions.

The goal of the analysis is to create segments that contain people who are as similar as possible within each segment, and as different as possible to people in other segments, be it for a study of local markets or global market research. Segments also need to be useful – so they must be capable of being targeted in the real world, using demographic identifiers or other ways of finding segment members.

As such, segmentation is as much an art as it is a science. It is not unusual for the analysis to create several different options for how to divide the data. In such a case, you would look at how useful each option is, the relative size of the segments and the degree to which they all differ.

Number of segments

Most studies yield somewhere between four and eight segments, with five or six being ideal. Any less, and the segments are likely to be too big, with too many differences to make the exercise useful; any more and the segments might be too small and only slightly different from each other. Having more than eight segments, which all need separate marketing strategies, can also be unmanageable in a practical sense.

Sample size

It is critically important that the sample size for the survey is large enough to conduct the segmentation and to enable analysis within the segment. Best practice is to have segments of at least n= 200. If you have six segments, that is a minimum of 1,200 respondents – although you actually need more as segment sizes are likely to differ.

Naming the segments

Once you have derived your segments, it is important to name them so that you and your team can easily understand what they mean. Using the supermarket example, you might have a segment that always buys the own-brand budget items wherever possible and is very price sensitive. Rather than just calling them ‘segment one’ or describing them, if you call them ‘low-end budgeters’, it creates a mental picture. Similarly, you may have another segment that shops every day for a small amount of goods and likes to browse. These could be the ‘basket browsers’.

In summary

Market segmentation research ranges from simple analysis of existing data to more complex analysis requiring dedicated qualitative and survey research. Either way, a unique segmentation that aligns with your business objectives will help you to understand your customers and prospects, uncover more opportunities to serve your market and meet customers’ needs in a way that feels personal to each of them.

We are specialists in customer segmentation research and delivery in both B2B and consumer markets.

Introduction

Ad campaigns are costly – UK brands are forecast to spend £35.4bn on advertising in 2022 – so it’s crucial to understand how well they are performing. Most of us don’t have budgets in the billions; we need to make sure we maximise the return on our investment. For any campaign, it is essential to understand the following:

Have you got the media mix right?
Are you hitting your target audience?
Are your ads cutting through?
What messages do the audience take out?
What impact is this campaign having on your brand?

Ad Campaign measurement research answers all these questions and ensures you are getting the best value, not only from your ad spend but also from the work and effort that you, your team and your agencies have put into it. It can also pick up on when an ad is being poorly received and potentially damaging your brand.

So, if you want your campaign to be received with the joy and excitement afforded to the John Lewis Christmas ads and not with the embarrassment that Pepsi faced with the Kendall Jenner disaster, read on.

What is Ad campaign measurement research?

Ad campaign measurement research is also known as ad tracking or ad testing research. The goal is to track ads during the time that the campaign is live so that you can understand the impact it is having on the market. Ad tracking should be conducted across all the media channels where your ads appear, which can also help you to establish the effectiveness of one channel versus another.

Most advertising tracking research also uses a pre-campaign wave as a benchmark. This is particularly important when you are looking at the impact of the campaign on your brand – how can you know whether metrics such as brand awareness have changed if you don’t conduct research before it is launched?

Why conduct Ad campaign measurement research?

The overarching reason to conduct campaign measurement research is to understand the efficacy of your approach. Within this, there are a range of specific evaluation goals. You may want to assess how different creative executions within the same ad campaign are cutting through, to explore the mix of media channels and see which are most effective or to see whether you are reaching your desired target audience.

For example, if you are targeting young mums but find that the people who are most likely to remember seeing the ad are men in their 60s, who aren’t so likely to be buyers of the mother-and-baby yoga products you are selling, you know that there is a problem.

Alternatively, you may find that one execution is widely remembered but the messaging isn’t cutting through effectively, whereas another is communicating clearly but is less well remembered.

Once you have identified these types of issues, you can start to diagnose the problem. Are you on the right websites for young mums? Or is your messaging confusing? Is there an issue with relevance? What about images – does the ad with the dog do better than the one with the cat?

Over time you can start to build up a library of insight about what works and what doesn’t for your audiences and your brand, making future campaigns more likely to be successful.

Depending on the length and volume of your campaign, as well as using ad-tracking research to learn for future ad campaigns, you can also diagnose and fix underperformance while the campaign is live. In particular, if your advertising is largely digital, it is much easier to alter the content of ad executions or adjust the media while the ads are live.

How to conduct Ad campaign measurement research

Campaign measurement research is typically conducted via online surveys – the most cost-effective method for larger-scale quantitative research. The online medium offers many different options to provide your participants with stimulus materials that enable them to experience the ads that you are testing; you can ask survey respondents to play audio clips to simulate radio advertising, show them video clips of TV ads, or still images from magazine, outdoor or online advertising.

Before showing or playing the stimulus, you can ask unprompted questions about the brand and about advertising recall to see how well the ads are cutting through without the memory jog of seeing or hearing them.

You can choose whether to conduct the research purely about the campaign itself or to put ad tracking questions into a brand tracking study. In the latter case, you can conduct a more granular analysis, including metrics such as the NPS, to look at the relationship between the campaign and how it is received by target customers.

What is most important about your ad tracking methodology is that it must fit with your objectives for the campaign – you must be sampling the right audience, asking the right questions and timing the research correctly – ideally before and during the campaign, as discussed earlier. You can also conduct research after the campaign has finished to see how well it has been recalled and whether there has been a lasting impact on brand equity.

Five key considerations

Develop a clear definition of success. How will you know if the campaign has been successful unless you know what success looks like? The definition of success should be linked to your campaign objectives. If the campaign is intended to raise awareness of your brand or of a particular product or service, the measurement of success will be very different from a campaign intended to increase sales or promote a specific offer.
Avoid hothousing. By ‘hothousing’ we mean giving the survey participant an unrealistically intense exposure to your ad. In real life, people don’t pay very much attention to ads, but all surveys are artificial situations and your participants are inevitably directed to look at the ads in more detail than normal. There is a lot you can do with survey design to combat this and make the experience a little closer to real life, such as hiding the ad amongst other ads and content, using limited time exposure or using timed responses to target System 1 automatic responses.
Take media spend into account. A low-spend campaign is unlikely to perform as well as a high-spend campaign, regardless of how good the creative idea or execution. This is particularly important to remember as you start to build up a library of campaign research so you can learn for the future – if you don’t know the spend, you can’t effectively evaluate the performance and calibrate your benchmarks.
Consider ‘always on’ reporting. If your goal is to tweak the campaign while it is live, it is helpful to be able to access ‘always-on’ results via a dashboard of key metrics as the research unfolds. This is also helpful over the course of a longer campaign as you would hope that recall and positive impact would build over time as there are more opportunities to see the ad, and the messages are reinforced through repetition.
Look for a flexible approach, not a ‘black box’. There are advantages to standardising your ad-tracking research. In particular, the ability to compare one campaign with another is particularly valuable. However, you must be able to customise the research design to fit your objectives – timing, KPI metrics, success metrics, additional brand questions, target audience etc. A flexible approach to campaign measurement research will enable you to keep some standardised questions whilst ensuring that the survey design is right for that particular ad campaign.

A last word on Ad Campaign Measurement

Overall, we would always advise you to build in the research phase to the planning of any ad campaign. Too often, research is an afterthought but if measurement is built in at the beginning you will be in a strong position to maximise your investment and ensure your campaign is a success – whatever that success looks like. This can be especially important for measuring digital ad performance.

If your ad campaigns are not as successful as you hoped then it might be worth going back to the drawing board and rethinking your customer segmentation, or assessing the overall health of your brand via brand tracking. For more information or to talk to one of our ad tracking experts about your campaign measurement get in touch today.

What is Net Promoter Score?

The Net Promoter Score (or NPS) is now an almost ubiquitous measure of customer brand sentiment, often used in customer satisfaction and brand tracking studies.

It consists of one key question; ‘On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [BRAND X] to a friend or colleague?’ with the NPS score calculated by subtracting the percentage of people that scored 0 to 6 (Detractors) from those that scored 9 or 10 (Promoters). As a result, an NPS score can range from -100 to +100.

Advantages and disadvantages of Net Promoter Score

Across the research industry, NPS has many strong advocates and an equal number of opponents.

Disadvantages of Net Promoter Score

The question poses an unrealistic real-world scenario. People don’t often go around recommending brands to friends and colleagues. This argument is strengthened when considering brands in low-engagement sectors such as pensions, insurance, or even toothpaste. As a personal example, I’ve been asked by my GP Practice to give them an NPS rating after a recent visit. I ignored it as it felt at odds with reality.

The Detractors definition is too high. Is it fair to count someone who gives a brand a recommendation score of 6 out of 10 a ‘detractor’? If not, then the calculation and therefore the NPS score is erroneous.

It’s open to and suffers from abuse. There are numerous accounts of people being encouraged to give a higher score than they normally would. This is prevalent across many industries and is common in the hospitality and retail sectors, to name a few. The driving force behind this seems to be that frontline staff are sometimes measured against NPS score results, which encourages coercion.

As another personal example, after making a purchase in an electrical goods store, the sales assistant asked me to complete an NPS customer satisfaction survey. She then followed with a rhyme she (or her colleagues) had come up with; ‘an eight’s OK, but a nine would be fine’. I enjoyed the ingenuity but didn’t appreciate the coaxing to give a high score. Again, I ignored the survey.

It doesn’t pick up the views of the silent majority. Those that had neither a good nor poor customer experience and are less inclined to give any feedback. And if they did, they would have likely given a middle-ground score of 7 or 8 (named as Passives), diluting the percentage scores of Detractors and Promoters. Again, making the NPS score inaccurate.

It also dissuades people that can’t relate to the question and see it as a silly or pointless. Just like me in the two examples I gave earlier.

It’s too blunt a measure. It’s not wise to rely on one simple question as a barometer of brand health, considering all the nuance and subconscious relationships people have with brands.

Advantages of Net Promoter Score

Its simplicity is a strength. The fact that NPS is derived from one straightforward question offers the ability to distribute easily and widely, building a substantial and accessible data set quickly. It’s also easy to understand – it doesn’t take a statistician to explain how the score was derived or what it means.

It provides a universal and comparable measure of brand health. It allows us to provide a head-to-head comparison, either between competitor brands (for example, with a brand tracking study), or over time, in the case of an ongoing customer satisfaction study.

Relative comparability cancels out any calculation anomalies. As argued above, NPS is open to challenge in terms of how the calculation is run and the score derived. The counter argument to this is that even if you don’t agree with the absolute scores, the fact that the same perceived anomalies are consistent means that the relative comparison remains stable and is therefore a valid comparison.

Is Net Promoter Score Useful? – The Brandspeak position on NPS

As researchers we are by design and instinct, purists. We care deeply about asking the right questions in the right way and treating data with due reverence. As such, the opposing arguments might be a natural position for us to take.

That said, we’re also pragmatic and see the value of NPS. Accepting that the question itself acts as a fair proxy for brand sentiment, even if people wouldn’t actually ‘recommend the brand’ we do believe that respondents are able to make the cognitive leap between the literal question and the underlying sentiment.

We’re also on-board with the relative comparison argument. This is something we often bring into our analysis when comparing other data sets, whether that’s purchase frequency or money spent. We know that the absolute scores may not fully reflect reality, but it’s the relative differences we look for and trust.

We’re also glad of the simplicity and how that enables us to get across to our clients, a key metric easily and succinctly.

We will always make the call for NPS to be delivered free of coercion or bias. If frontline staff feel the need to try and influence the outcome, then we’d recommend disconnecting their performance from the measure. It might make for a stronger score, but becomes a self-defeating exercise, stripping away any real value that NPS can provide.

Summary – Where we net out.

We’re fully behind NPS but will always report the results in context, looking at the other data collected to understand what might be driving the score and what it means for the brand … and where a brand can take action to improve the score.

Introduction

A new product development (NPD) research programme is a pre-requisite for the successful development of new products and services. Within that programme, it is also essential that the most appropriate research approach is selected at each stage. In this article we consider this issue in detail, and specifically, whether it is more appropriate to use a sequential or monadic concept evaluation approach.

High rates of new product failure

The development of a new product or service concept is a hugely important and exciting time for any business.

However, there are several points within the new product development process when things can quickly go off track if the wrong decisions are made.

No wonder then, that according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, over 30,000 new, packaged consumer products are launched every year, and 4 out of 5 fail!

It’s easy to suppose that most of these failures are down to ‘hobbyists’ – Dragon’s Den-type individuals who develop new product ideas in their spare time.

However, the majority are actually launched by large companies. Some of the world’s best-known organisations, including Apple, Nintendo, Samsung, Coca Cola and Colgate have launched some absolute stinkers that had to be quickly withdrawn.

Apple’s Newton PDA. Launched 1992. Discontinued 1998

Built-in new product failure

New product launches frequently fail as a result of the individual or organisation opting to pursue a development process driven by gutfeel instead of rigour.

When this happens, it’s often because the new product development team is so convinced by its own new product vision that it fails to acknowledge the need to develop and test alternative concepts alongside it, often citing time and budgetary reasons.

Maximising the chance of new product success

Based on our experience of having helped to many successfully to market, we find that the chance of launch success is dramatically increased if the new product development team;

Doesn’t put all its faith in just one concept, but instead progresses with a number of concept candidates at the outset. These concepts may be different in kind, or different expressions of the same, big idea.

When this is the case, even if the concept favoured by the development team ends up being the one that is ultimately selected for launch, it will have benefited enormously from the learning provided by the other concepts along the way.

Includes market research at key stages of a stop / go, gated development process – if only to challenge internal preconceptions.

The benefits of a market research-led new product development process

A properly integrated programme of market research will ultimately enable the new product development team to identify:

The ‘must succeed with’ target audience(s)
The target audience needs, attitudes and behaviours that must be addressed
The concept’s commercial potential
The strengths and weaknesses of the preferred concept candidate, and the extent to which any weaknesses can be overcome
Key competitors, and their own, perceived strengths and weaknesses
The optimal price point for the new product or service
Potential sales volumes
Branding and packaging pre-requisites

Different types of new product development research

There are two main types of new product development research – qualitative and quantitative – and each has its place within the development process.

Qualitative research is more exploratory in nature and is typically used towards the beginning of the new product development process, to identify the ‘unknowns’ in relation to the target audience, and to generate initial hypotheses relating to the new concept(s) that can be substantiated through quantitative research.

It may involve interviews, focus groups, co-creation or ethnographic studies.

Quantitative research is typically used to map the market landscape, substantiate key findings from the qualitative research and identify the concept(s) with the greatest commercial potential.

It is most often undertaken in the form of surveys, which may be completed online or face-to-face, sometimes in the form of hall tests.

Concept Testing

There are 2 different approaches for concept testing:

Monadic
Sequential monadic

Both have different strengths and weaknesses, and it is important to be clear about these before deciding on which testing approach to take.

Scenario

Imagine a chocolate bar manufacturer wishes to test 4 new chocolate bar concepts, in order to identify the one with the greatest potential for launch.

Concept testing could be undertaken using either qualitative or quantitative research – or a combination of the two.

In addition, testing could be undertaken using either a monadic approach, or a sequential monadic one.

However, the results would provide very different levels of insight and understanding.

Monadic vs sequential monadic concept testing

To briefly summarise, In a Monadic test, each sample subset tests just one chocolate bar each, while in a sequential monadic test, either the whole sample tests all 4 chocolate bar varieties, or chocolate bar variety evaluation is split between different subsets.

Monadic concept testing

To recap, In the case of monadic testing, each member of the sample is exposed to just one of the new concepts – and a single set of common questions.

Of course, with 4 chocolate bars to test, this means that 4 matching samples (or ‘sets’ of research participants) are required.

The questions that are asked of each sample set in relation to each bar must be exactly the same – and asked in exactly the same way and order.

The test provides an absolute, rather than relative evaluation of each concept. As an outcome, comparable analysis of the data between the 4 sample sets can reliably determine overall preference, as well as provide rich diagnostic feedback on each.

Advantages of monadic concept testing

This is the purer, more realistic approach. After all, how often does a person eat more than one type of chocolate bar in one sitting!

Additionally, with only one bar being evaluated by each person:

There is no order bias
There is more time to deep-dive on the reactions to that bar – to find out why individual respondents have reacted as they have, how the concept can be improved, and so on.
There is less chance of respondent fatigue, that could lead to a lack of concentration, or ‘speeding’, whereby respondents start rushing their answers, in order to get to the end of the test

Disadvantages of monadic concept testing

A far larger, overall sample is required. In this example it would be 4 times larger for the monadic test than a sequential monadic approach, assuming that in the latter approach each respondent tests all 4 chocolate bars.

The monadic test is also likely to take longer to complete, because of the number of matching samples and testing sessions that are required.

Sequential monadic concept testing

In the case of the sequential monadic concept testing approach, either the whole respondent sample is exposed to all the concepts, or different subsets of the respondent sample are exposed to different subsets of the stimulus material.

In the case of our chocolate bar concept test, the approach would mean that either the whole sample tests all 4 chocolate bars, or the total sample is divided in two, and each subset tests two bars.

Advantages of Sequential Monadic Concept Testing

The approach would result in a relative, rather than absolute evaluation of each concept, enabling us to determine which bar is preferred.

And, because sequential monadic testing typically involves smaller sample sizes overall, this can make the approach both more cost effective and faster.

Disadvantages of sequential monadic concept testing

On the other hand, with 4 bars to test instead of just one, there is far less time to gain wider contextual insights in relation to each one.

Another issue is that sequential monadic testing can give rise to concerns about order bias and respondent desensitisation as a result of being exposed to more than one concept.

Concept testing – In summary

Don’t attempt to conduct new product development and concept evaluation on a shoestring budget. Essential steps (and insights) will be missed, and they will prove very costly in the long run
Don’t take shortcuts based on gut feel or belief in a particular concept – subjectivity is anathema to successful concept development
Bring your target audience into the development process as early as possible, to ensure you are developing something for which addresses real, unmet need
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – start with 2 or more concepts at the outset and let the process whittle them down
Typically, sequential monadic testing is best to screen early ideas and separate the good from the bad
Monadic testing is best for evaluating product performance and is best deployed later in the testing process and/or when more of a ‘scientific’ approach is required.
When evaluating concepts quantitatively, decide which testing approach is going to work best.

What is Brand Awareness?

Brand awareness is defined as the extent to which consumers are familiar with a particular brand, and the associations they have with it. This can of course be influenced by many factors, including advertising, word-of-mouth, social media and positive experiences with the brand.

Is brand awareness important?

Quite simply, the ability to build – and keep building – brand awareness is critical to your brand’s success.

It’s the first step in the purchase decision process – if consumers are not aware of your brand, they won’t be able to bring it to mind when they are thinking about making a category purchase.

Brand awareness not only drives consideration, it drives preference too. The more aware consumers are of your brand and the features and benefits of your product or service, the more likely they are to consider it when making a purchase choice.

Brand awareness also builds purchase loyalty. Once you have customers, it’s important to keep them coming back. It can also play a role in customer retention by keeping your brand top-of-mind.

How do you build brand awareness?

There are a number of different ways to build up consumer awareness of your brand, including advertising, public relations, social media, word-of-mouth and content marketing. By using a mix of these strategies, you can reach a wide audience and build all-important mental availability (the ability of the brand to come to mind at the critical moment of purchase).

Unsurprisingly, some of the most successful brands in the world boast extremely high levels of brand awareness. For example, names like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Microsoft are instantly recognisable by people all over the globe.

Likewise, luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Hermes enjoy widespread name recognition, even among those who may never have purchased their products.

How often should you measure brand awareness?

Brand awareness can be measured on an ad-hoc basis and in isolation. More common, however, is to incorporate brand awareness measurement into wider, on-going, brand tracking research that assesses the brand’s health across a number of different dimensions. When conducted annually, biannually, or more often a tracker enables the organisation to react to negative changes in brand health (including brand awareness) rapidly and decisively.

What are the most important Brand awareness metrics

There are a few different metrics that can be used:

Brand recall

This is one of the core brand awareness metrics and measures how easily consumers can remember a particular brand when they see or hear it. It is typically assessed at both unprompted and prompted levels.

Unprompted brand recall measures the consumer’s ability to spontaneously recall the brand, while prompted brand recall measures the consumer’s familiarity with the brand when given a list of options. Unprompted brand recall is considered a more accurate measure of absolute brand awareness because it reflects how well the consumer can recall the brand without any prompts.

However, both unprompted and prompted brand recall are important measures to track. Whilst unprompted brand recall gives you good indication of the extent to which your marketing efforts have been able to seed your brand in the consumer’s System 2, conscious mind, prompted recall can give you insights the other brands your consumers are familiar with in the category.

Brand recognition

Measures whether consumers can correctly identify a brand when presented with its logo or other visual cues (e.g. packaging)

Brand salience

According to research conducted by Byron Sharp and Jenni Romaniuk, brand salience is “a brand’s propensity to be noticed or come to mind in buying situations’. As such, it is similar to brand recall, except that it focuses exclusively on the moment of purchase.

Whilst a brand may have good levels of unprompted recall, if that recall doesn’t occur at a time when the consumer is in critical ‘buy’ mode, then it may of little benefit.

There is no one single way of measuring brand salience, but a number of quantitative and qualitative approaches are possible, so it’s best to speak to a brand research provider to identify the best approach for your brand.

Branded search volumes

These can be tracked using Google AdWords and other tools to see how often consumers are searching for your brand by name.

By tracking the number of searches for a particular brand, businesses can gauge the level of interest and familiarity that consumers have with their products or services. Additionally, branded search data can be used to identify trends and changes in consumer behaviour over time.

Branded name mentions

These are mentions of your brand on social media. It is important to measure them as part of a comprehensive brand awareness measurement strategy as it provides an indication of the extent to which your brand is being talked about on social media.

But the importance of measuring branded name mentions goes far beyond tracking brand awareness. It also enables the organisation to identify potential issues or negative sentiment early, so that steps to address them quickly can be taken.

Share of voice

This is a key metric to track when monitoring brand awareness. It measures the percentage of overall mentions that a brand has in a particular channel or channels.

For example, if Brand A has 10% of all mentions in a given channel, it has a 10% share of voice.

Share of voice can be tracked across multiple channels including social media, traditional media, and online forums.

It’s important to track share of voice because it provides insights into how visible a brand is relative to its competitors. If a brand has a low share of voice, it may be indicative of weak brand awareness. Conversely, a high share of voice may indicate strong brand awareness and underline the importance of that particular channel to the marketing strategy.

Share of impressions

This is a valuable metric for brand awareness monitoring.

The logic is simple: the more people who see your ads, the more likely they are to remember your brand. While this may be true in some cases, share of impressions is not a perfect brand awareness metric.

First, it only captures exposure to advertising, not other important touchpoints like word-of-mouth or direct experience with the product.

Second, it fails to account for the quality of the impression – someone who sees an ad once is not necessarily going to remember it any better than someone who sees it multiple times.

Finally, share of impressions does not take into account whether the ad was actually seen by the target audience.

For all these reasons, share of impressions should be just one of several metrics used to monitor brand awareness.

Conclusion

Having a high brand awareness means that consumers are familiar with your brand, and that they have strong association with it. It can be influenced by many subjective factors, and it’s really important for getting customers to make purchases and for building your business.

There are several key metrics to consider when measuring brand awareness. Whilst larger brands are likely to be monitoring many of the above awareness metrics as part of an ongoing brand tracking research programme, many smaller brands don’t have the bandwidth to conduct exhaustive research on an on-going basis.

For smaller brands, when thinking about how to measure brand awareness we would recommend focusing on the following, core metrics:

Unprompted and prompted brand recall – to determine overall levels of brand visibility
Brand salience – to understand that extent to which the brand can be recalled at the moment of purchase

You can learn more about brand metrics by reading the Brandspeak guide to brand tracking metrics where we provide an overview of 12 key metrics with example questions.

More Information

For more information about brand awareness and how to measure it, please contact Brandspeak at Enquiries@brandspeak.co.uk or on +44 (0) 203 858 0052

Introduction

To really understand advertising and how to measure its effectiveness, it’s first necessary to accept a basic truth: mostconsumers don’t give a stuff about brands and only pay scant attention to adverts.

Les Binet, Group Head of Effectiveness at adam&eveDDB (https://adamandeveddb.com), is an ad man who understands this only too well, and as a result sees the function of advertising as being very straightforward.

He says:

Advertising increases / maintains sales and margins

by

Slightly increasing the chance people will choose your brand

by

Making the brand easy to think of and easy to buy

and

Creating positive feelings and associations

via

Broad reach ads that people find interesting and enjoyable

and

Targeted activation they find relevant and useful

Of course, he’s right. The truth is, most adverts don’t even succeed in permeating the consumer’s consciousness.

The real role of advertising

Given these truisms, how should we view the role of advertising and how should we judge its effectiveness? The answer depends on the nature of the campaign and the channel(s) being used.

Instant fulfilment, digital advertising

For example, some digital ads are designed to drive instant fulfilment, which may require the consumer to click through to a website, call a freephone number or register for more detail.

This type of ad often has only 8-10 seconds to turn unawareness into action, during which time it must first grab the consumer’s attention, potentially in the middle of a lot of other ads looking to do the same.

Then, it needs to be able to convey its offer quickly and succinctly, with enough clarity, relevance, and impact to convince the consumer to act.

Moreover, because subsequent fulfilment requires conscious decision-making on the part of the consumer, the information conveyed must also be impactful enough to enable it to permeate the consumer’s System 2 (conscious) mind.

The digital ads that do this most successfully appear simple and straightforward. However, their construction is actually based on a very detailed understanding of the consumer, and the messages that are going to resonate the most.

Measuring digital advertising effectiveness

So, what about the effectiveness metrics for this form of digital advertising?

Bearing in mind its fleeting nature, post-launch measurement can be done in two ways; 1) by analysis of web analytics or 2) by viewer intercept feedback.

The former is well-established and will normally be conducted by your digital ad agency, and will include analysis of the following metrics:

Impressions served
Ad click-through rates
Page views
Average session duration / exit rate
Unique v returning web visitors
Conversion rate (i.e. the % of times your ad leads to a desired outcome)
Cost per conversion

Alternatively, A/B testing can be used, whereby two (or more) executions of the same ad are deployed with early monitoring to track which is performing better against the measures above. This approach will enable you to adopt the stronger execution for wider roll-out.

The latter is more focused on primary consumer feedback, whereby viewers are intercepted just after ad exposure and asked some simple, quick questions that shine a light on the impression the ad has made on them.

For example, was it:

Memorable
Engaging
Relevant
Do they remember the brand
Does it make them more likely to consider buying (if that’s the desired outcome of the advertising)

These are measures that are valuable and that cannot be picked up by analysing web analytics. From an advertising lifecycle perspective, this kind of research can also be run pre-launch to aid executional and campaign development.

Multi-channel advertising

For multi-channel campaigns, particularly those including TV, the challenge is entirely different, because their role is to increase the likelihood of the brand being spotted on-shelf, or coming to mind at the moment of purchase, at some point in the future.

In the case of FMCG products, that future point may be when the consumer is next doing the weekly shop. For bigger ticket items such as white goods or cars, it is likely to be much further into the future.

To enable some degree of brand recognition or recall, the campaign must succeed in increasing the brand’s mental availability – the extent to which it is able to come to mind at the moment of purchase. It does this by lodging brand ‘fragments’ in the consumer’s sub-conscious (System 1) memory.

For those fragments to stand a chance of being retained, even at a subconscious level, the campaign must succeed in conveying sufficient levels of brand salience (or relevance) to convince the hard-working and labyrinthine subconscious that there is something worth taking note of.

It does this through the creative way it communicates the brand’s proposition, its target audience, and its personality.

It is estimated that a consumer needs to be exposed to the same campaign 6-8 times before these fragments can ‘land’ to a sufficient degree.

The multi-channel advertising challenge

Of course, to even stand a chance of these fragments landing at all, the campaign must first succeed in attracting the consumer’s attention. From a standing start, TV / cinema ads have slightly longer than digital ads to do this, but not much!

The ad must then be capable of converting sufficient attention into sufficient engagement.

To do so it must:

establish the brand’s relevance to the target audience. Not just in terms of the product or service that is being offered, but by making the target audience feel that the advert is aimed at them, and that the brand understands them. Even a highly appropriate offer can be ignored if it seems it is being aimed at different target audience

As part of relevance, the ad also needs to communicate product/service features and benefits that suggest parity or (occasionally) competitive differentiation.

Ensure the core offer is This one is a no-brainer, but if the ad can’t be understood, then it is unlikely to have a positive impact
Help to make the brand’s name and logo, memorable and recognisable. If the brand name cannot be recalled at the critical moment, then the advertising is effectively working for the competition.

Similarly, if its packaging or appearance is not sufficiently memorable this increases the chance that a competitor’s pack is picked up instead

Making the brand feel accessible, in terms of its ease of purchase. Even if the campaign succeeds in delivering the above, it can still fail (at the last hurdle) if the purchase process appears unnecessarily challenging or long-winded.

Advertising effectiveness metrics

In order to assess the extent to which the campaign is successful in relation to these criteria, a number of different metrics are generally required. Pre-campaign levels must be benchmarked before the campaign is launched and monitored through the life of the campaign:

Brand recognition: to determine the extent to which the consumer can identify the brand – by its logo and packaging
Brand recall: to determine how easy it is for consumers to match the brand name to its advertising / content
Brand association: to identify what the consumer associates with the brand at both rational and emotional levels.
Brand relevance: to what extent does the ad succeed in convincing the consumer that the brand is relevant to them, in terms of its offer, its personality and its focus?
Message take-out: to determine the extent to which the key messages are landing, being correctly interpreted, and understood?
Brand memorability: If the ad succeeds in delivering all of the above in an impactful way, then it is far more likely to be memorable. If the ad fails to deliver against one or more of the above, then the brand is far less likely to be (correctly) recalled
Return on ad spend (ROAS) or econometrics: what kind of return can we expect from the campaign investment

Brandspeak’s brand ecosystem

Creative advertising is essential, in order to cut through the competitive noise. But ads that rely on creativity alone are highly unlikely to deliver the level of brand salience that is essential to create mental availability. This requires the campaign to be built on a degree of brand salience that affects a change in consumer behaviour or attitudes.

Brandspeak’s Brand Ecosystem is an approach to insight development that turns the conventional brand model on its head. Rather than testing advertising in isolation or evaluating the brand within a vacuum, we draw the connections between advertising, brand, and the impact they have on consumer behaviours and attitudes.

Only by doing this, can we truly understand the effectiveness of an advertising campaign; how it helps to build brand salience or create a shift in consumer behaviour and attitudes.

Contact Brandspeak

For more information how on to use market research to ensure your advertising campaign is maximising brand salience and mental availability, contact us at Brandspeak at enquiries@brandspeak.co.uk or by calling us on 0203 8580052.

Introduction

The use of online (as opposed to face-to-face), qualitative research for conducting focus groups has increased sharply over recent years.

But what is driving this trend and as a client, how do you decide whether online or face-to-face qual is right for your project?

In this article we explain the main reasons behind the growing popularity of online qual and contrast the strengths and weakness of both approaches.

Definitions

Before we start, it’s worth clarifying what we mean by face-to-face (f2f) and online qualitative research.

Face-to-face qualitative research

This term refers to any sort of synchronous (moderator and respondent interacting in real time), qualitative research that is conducted in person – meaning focus groups, but also mini groups and 1-2-1 interviews.

The term online qualitative research is used when those same, synchronous focus groups (or mini groups or 1-2-1 interviews) are conducted online instead, via desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile.

In addition to the above, online qual can be conducted asynchronously (when interaction between moderator and respondent doesn’t take place in real time). The best example of this form of qual is the online research community, where a group of c. 12 or more respondents are involved in a qualitative research study that lasts days, weeks or even months.

Why has online qual become so popular?

Just a couple of years ago, many qualitative research agencies and freelancers were still recommending f2f qual as the default, focus group option, without giving clients the choice of an online alternative.

This was often due to a combination of factors:

A lack of online qual experience on behalf of qualitative research providers
A concern by researchers that less tech-savvy consumers wouldn’t wish to take part online qual
A preference by clients for f2f groups
A general belief that online qual couldn’t deliver the same depth of research insight as f2f

However, as COVID forced millions of people to overcome their nervousness about online chatting with friends and family on video conference platforms like Teams and Zoom, so many of those concerns quickly evaporated.

As a result, it’s probably no exaggeration to say that the pandemic has accelerated the mainstream adoption of online qualitative research by at least 5 years.

Ultimately though, the question of whether f2f or online qual is most suitable needs to be addressed on a project-by-project basis. If you speak to an agency that offers both approaches you can be confident that their recommendation will be based on what is best for your project.

Online versus f2f qual – strengths and weaknesses

But what are the strengths and weaknesses of online versus f2f qual that the agency should be considering? We consider some of the most important ones below

Recruiting geographically dispersed respondents

For brands with relatively niche product offers, recruiting enough participants for just one f2f group can prove challenging.

In these instances, online qual can provide the perfect solution, because it enables consumers from across the country to take part in a single, online group.

And when it comes to mass market propositions, best practice is generally to undertake focus groups in two or more parts of the country so that contrasting, regional perspectives and behaviours can be identified and reconciled.

Again, by mixing respondents from different locations within an online focus group approach, geographical coverage can be more easily achieved, often within a smaller number of groups – and with a significant cost-saving.

Round One to online qual!

Making respondents feel relaxed at the outset

For respondents to contribute openly and honestly within a focus group, they first need to feel at ease. Whilst both online and f2f qual present challenges in this regard, there are usually more challenges for respondents to overcome in f2f qual.

For example, f2f groups often take place in the evening, to give respondents time to finish work and travel to the research venue. Getting there on time for say, a 6.15 pm start, can mean that they arrive feeling tired and stressed before the group has even begun!

Added to that, f2f groups are often conducted in hotel meeting rooms or purpose-built market research studios (with a 1-way mirrors behind which clients sit). These unfamiliar environments can be intimidating for respondents, who then take longer to warm to their task.

In online qual, on the other hand, respondents will often participate from home, meaning they are in a familiar environment and aren’t surrounded by strangers whose presence might otherwise be off-putting. As a result, they are more likely to be able to ‘hit the ground running’.

So online qual just about edges it in this round, because the respondents’ home environment acts as a built-in advantage.

However, in qualitative research one of the main jobs of the moderator is to help banish respondent nerves quickly – irrespective of the approach that is being used. In f2f qual, the best moderators are experts at this and have a wide variety of tried and trusted techniques for quickly putting respondents at ease.

Maintaining respondent focus and engagement throughout the focus group

Focus groups are tiring! As a result, it can be hard for respondents to maintain energy and concentration right up to the end of the session and the longer the session lasts, the more likely it is that some form of distraction will cause concentration to break.

Of course, distractions can occur whether the research is taking place f2f or online. However, for those taking part in online research from home, there are typically more things to distract the attention, from partners, babies, pets and dodgy internet connections, to ringing phones and deliveries arriving at the front door!

To minimise the possibility of such distractions seriously disrupting online focus groups, it’s important that the online respondents are asked at recruitment stage to ensure they take all possible steps to isolate themselves during the session itself.

During the group its otherwise up the moderator to maximise engagement. They do this by maintaining a suitable pace and using a combination of research tools, body language and eye contact.

Whilst moderators are typically very proficient at this, it is generally easier to do when the session is f2f, rather than online.

Round Three to f2f qual!

Reading body language and facial expressions

For a qualitative researcher, the ability to differentiate between what a respondent says and what they often mean is critical, so their ability to read a respondent’s facial expressions and body language in the moment can be key.

Whilst this can be achieved in online sessions it is much easier to do when face-to-face.

Round 4 to f2f qual!

Diluting group effect

One of the main criticisms levelled at f2f focus groups is that individual respondents can be influenced and / or intimidated by the personality and opinions of more forceful members of the group. Also, that they may find it difficult to express an opinion if it goes against the view of the majority.

In this instance, online qual has an advantage. The fact that respondents are physically removed from each other means that the potential for group effect is significantly reduced.

Of course, that is not to say that group effect is an inevitability in f2f groups. It is, again, one of the most basic jobs of the moderator to ‘manage’ the stronger respondent personalities, whilst also ensuring that the other respondents feel able to speak their minds.

Whilst group effect is not the f2f qual issue that some online qual practitioners make it out to be, the remote nature of online qual means that the online moderator usually has less to do in terms of managing respondent personalities.

Round 5 to online qual!

Researching samples and stimulus material

Advertising and new product development (npd) projects often require concepts to be explored qualitatively using:

Stimulus material (e.g., concept boards) that contains a combination of words and pictures
Product samples
Packaging mock-ups

On these occasions, online qual can present significant logistical challenges. For example:

Product samples that require testing may need to be sent out in advance of the actual focus group and be tested at-home before that group begins
When concept boards are being viewed online, screen size can be an issue, particularly if the respondent is using a tablet or a mobile phone

The ‘removed’ nature of online qual also makes it more difficult to explore subject matter with an emotional component.

On the other hand, online focus groups tend to work very well for the evaluation of more straightforward concept material.

Round 6 – f2f shades it!

Cost

For many clients, cost is not surprisingly the biggest consideration when selecting both research supplier and approach. In these instances, online qual typically beats f2f hands down.

This is because:

Recruitment and incentive costs tend to be slightly lower per head for online qual than for f2f
Online qual groups tend to include less respondents than f2f ones (4 or 6 instead of 8), so there is a per groupsaving
For online groups there is no need to hire a hotel meeting room (c. £300 per evening) or a studio in a market research viewing facility (c. £800 per evening)
Clients cannot physically attend online groups, meaning there is no need to lay out for travel and subsistence

Round 7 to online!

Conclusion

As this article shows, both online and f2f qualitative research have different strengths and weaknesses, meaning that each approach is particularly suited to certain types of qualitative research.

Very broadly, the more complex, detailed and nuanced the research, the greater the likelihood that research f2f qual is going to be required.

On the other hand, the more straightforward, the more it is likely to suitable for an online qual approach.

As online qual capability and tools continue to develop, so the opportunities for online qual will only grow. However, there will always be an important role for f2f qualitative research to play.

If you need support with a qualitative research project, please contact Brandspeak on 0203 8580052 or enquiries@brandspeak.co.uk.

Customer segmentation is a market research tool that divides a brand’s consumer base into different groups, with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of different types of customers.

Although it’s a popular market research tool for many brands, it runs the risk of becoming irrelevant if it is not updated regularly to reflect constantly changing consumer attitudes and behaviours.

In this article we discuss the potential pitfalls of traditional customer segmentation, and explain why a new kind of dynamic, ‘living’ segmentation is key to remaining one step ahead in today’s always-on world.

What Is Customer Segmentation?

Customer segmentation is the process of using data to divide your consumer base into different groups. There are four main types of segmentation for B2C brands, which are:

· Demographic: this segmentation model is based on commonly identifiable data such as age, sex and socio-economic status.

· Geographical: a form of market segmentation based on location; continent, country, city, town, or urban versus rural locations.

· Behavioural: this model is based on how the customer interacts with the brand – for example, by visiting the store or website, making a purchase or consuming the product.

· Attitudinal: a model based on what consumers think about the brands in question. It enables the organisation to target consumers based on what they think and feel.

The more sophisticated segmentation models will often take account of all of the above characteristics to provide a more insightful view of the customer base.

Although B2B market segmentation is less common, it is equally important for these types of companies to identify different customer groups. They may choose to segment customers or prospects by company size, company sector, company structure, purchasing habits, annual turnover, location and more.

What Is the Purpose of Market Segmentation?

A well-thought out customer segmentation model helps brands to better understand and target different types of consumers. For example, an airline may identify a consumer group of middle-aged professionals who are frequent fliers and are likely to appreciate fast-track boarding and a dedicated business lounge. A different consumer segment may be made up of budget travellers who only fly once per year and are looking for the best package deals.

Once these different groups have been identified, brand owners can use this data to inform overall marketing strategy and development. They can also create campaign-specific media buying and messaging that is tailored to each consumer segment and use the most appropriate channels to reach them.

How Is Customer Segmentation Carried Out?

Customer segmentation is best achieved with the help of a market research agency, who will begin by asking you what you already know about your consumer base. If necessary, the agency may carry out some initial qualitative research to identify the defining characteristics, needs and expectations, drivers and barriers of your key consumers.

Next the market research company will carry out a survey to analyse the relative importance of those individual insights, as well as identifying the demographic, geographic, behavioural and attitudinal data required to create detailed customer segments.

The Results: Customer Segment Personas and Golden Questions

Once the data has been analysed, brand owners will be presented with a number of different customer segment personas. These are a highly visual set of customer profiles that bring each segment to life and make it easy for brand owners and key stakeholders to understand the consumer types.

Customer segment personas can be presented in the form of pen portraits, cartoon videos or even by using actors to do segment skits. They are an effective method of presenting segmentation data in an accessible, engaging format that will resonate with key stakeholders.

At Brandspeak, we also provide brand owners with a short set of golden questions cherry-picked from the survey. These key questions allow brand owners to quickly identify which segment a new customer falls into, providing ongoing value after the completion of the segmentation research.

What Are the Potential Pitfalls of Traditional Customer Segmentation?

Although a customer segmentation has the potential to be a highly valuable market research tool, if it’s not approached correctly it will fail to provide useful insight. We’ve identified a few common pitfalls to avoid:

Poor-Quality Input = Poor-Quality Output

Before the segmentation begins, it’s crucial to recognise that the outcome will only be as good as the questioning included in the first place. This means that from the start the market research agency carrying out the work must have a clear understanding of key customer dynamics in order to create an effective survey. If the required understanding is not already available, the agency must carry out qualitative research first to get the insight they need.

Depreciation over Time

Brand owners must also be aware that the value of a traditional segmentation depreciates from day one – just like that of a brand-new car, which depreciates as soon as it’s being driven away from the dealership where you bought it.

Even when the customer segments have just been defined, they describe the characteristics of yesterday’s consumers.

This is important because consumer attitudes and behaviours are not static. In fact they are constantly changing, often in reaction to unpredictable external events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, which had a huge impact on all industries and aspects of life.

Slow Reaction to Changes in the Market

Brand owners must also be ready to react quickly to change – think about the rapid decline of Blockbuster, which failed to adapt into a new market of online streaming and cheap DVDs.

Although the depreciation of a customer segmentation should be a concern across all industries, the rate of depreciation varies. For example, in a fairly stable sector such as confectionery, the data is likely to remain relevant for longer than that of a fintech or across the social media landscape, where constant innovation and development can mean consumer insights become quickly outdated. Brands in this type of industry in particular must ensure that their segmentation is as up-to-the-minute as possible to enable them to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Dynamic Customer Segmentation Is the Solution

Revisiting a customer segmentation once every five years is no longer enough to survive in today’s always-on world. Instead, brand owners should consider spreading their investment over time, with smaller but more frequent updates that stay abreast of change.

In order to stay relevant, it’s critical for a brand’s segmentation to be optimised for today’s consumers – not yesterday’s. The segmentation process must be agile and flexible, and able to reflect the ever-changing attitudes and behaviours of key consumer groups.

This approach can be described as ‘dynamic’ or ‘living’ segmentation, which can be updated in near-to real-time with the most relevant data. New segments can be identified quickly – before your competitors – and highly accurate data can help you to predict the behaviour of consumers before it happens.

Dynamic Segmentation Requires Organisational Flexibility

However, dynamic segmentation is only one piece of the puzzle. For it to be a success, brand owners and organisations must also be prepared to become as agile and nimble as their segmentation.

This means recognising the value of dynamic segmentation and reacting more quickly to any changes in the data. Organisations must move away from the idea of a concrete, never-changing set of customer segments and towards a more fluid response to customer segments that can change rapidly.

By moving too slowly, brand owners run the risk of losing customers to a competitor with their finger more firmly on the pulse.

Socialisation and adoption of a new kind of dynamic segmentation will be key to getting buy-in throughout organisations, and an experienced market research agency will be able to help you achieve this.

Refresh Your Customer Segmentation with Brandspeak

In a post-Covid landscape where consumer attitudes and behaviours have changed dramatically since the start of the pandemic, now is the ideal time to revisit your customer segmentation.

As an experienced market research agency specialising in both qualitative and quantitative research, Brandspeak can help you to redefine existing segments, identify new ones and create a dynamic, future-proofed segmentation that continues to provide value. Whether you’re a B2C brand or a B2B business, we can help you get the insight you need.

Contact us now on +44 (0)203 858 0052 to arrange a call.

Market research is constantly evolving, with new tools and technology to help brand owners identify trends and gain a deeper understanding of the consumer experience.

But what about trends in the market research industry itself?

From agile research to artificial intelligence and more, we’ve highlighted some of the biggest market research trends set to define the industry in 2022 and beyond.

Read on to find out how you can use these new technologies and approaches to hone your brand’s market research strategy and get access to the insights you need.

1. Agile Research

In an ever-changing economic landscape that has been rocked by events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, it’s critical for market research providers to be able to identify up-to-the minute changes in consumer attitudes and behaviours.

Brand owners are beginning to look for instant, real-time responses and a speed of insight that allows them to react almost instantaneously to consumer sentiment.

To achieve this, agile research is key. This means conducting shorter, more frequent studies in less time to give an accurate indication of current attitudes.

Technology is central to agile research and enables market research companies to reach consumers remotely via mobile devices – an advantage that showed its value during the ongoing lockdowns of the previous two years.

Research suggests that up to 65% of surveys were completed on mobile devices in 2021, with benefits for both brand owners and participants.

Brand owners are able to gain quick responses that enable them to make incremental decisions and tweak their messaging, while participants benefit from convenient, accessible market research surveys that are quick and easy to complete.

2. The Rise of AI

Today brand owners and market research agencies have access to more data than ever before. As artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated, it is set to prove itself as a valuable tool for analysing huge quantities of both qualitative and quantitative data.

Artificial intelligence is defined as the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, in which they mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of humans.

In market research, one of its most exciting applications could be its ability to analyse huge volumes of qualitative written data in order to gain quantitative results.

For example, Google’s Natural Language API is able to quickly identify the structure and meaning of a text by identifying keywords, their frequency and how they are used. It can also provide a numerical sentiment score that indicates how positive or negative the text’s emotional sentiment is.

This type of analysis could help market research agencies to gain valuable quantitative results from qualitative surveys, without the need for human intervention.

Other possibilities for AI in market research include the use of virtual respondents that would be capable of responding to survey questions just like a human, or virtual interviewers that are able to interact with participants and analyse their emotions in a way that is less biased than their human counterparts.

3. A Focus on Empathy

At Brandspeak we’ve always believed that empathy is key to insightful qualitative research, but in the next few years this trend is set to gain pace.

This is partly due to Covid-19, an unprecedented global crisis which caused widespread uncertainty and prompted many brands to connect with their consumers on a deeper and more emotional level in times of crisis.

Although we have access to more consumer data than ever before, it’s critical to remember that these data points represent real human beings, with many different (and often contradictory) feelings, behaviours and desires.

It will also become increasingly important to focus on what consumers need rather than what they want. When brands focus solely on customer wants, their customer interactions tend to focus on increasing sales. But by trying to understand what consumers need, they will be able to create products and messaging that speaks to them on a deeper level.

Segmentation and an approach to market research that puts the customer rather than the brand at the centre – such as Brandspeak’s own customer-first model – will be key to achieving this goal.

4. DEI – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

It’s essential for brand owners to prioritise diversity, equity and inclusion when undertaking market research. This is beneficial for two main reasons; the first is that using a panel that is diverse and inclusive will be more representative of your customer base.

Secondly, surveys and research methods that are inclusive and take into account people of different genders, races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, abilities and disabilities and so on are likely to gain more insightful results than those which exclude people or make it difficult for them to participate.

In order to be more inclusive, brand owners and market research agencies should re-evaluate the way they ask demographic questions. Questions about demographics should be preceded with an explanation of why this type of data is being collected, and ideally should provide room for an open-ended answer. Leaving space for participants to define their own sexual orientation, for example, is more inclusive than a tick-box exercise with limited options.

A better understanding of previously under-represented groups could have huge benefits for brand owners. For example, the LGBTQ+ community is reported to have a spending power of over $1 trillion dollars, making it a highly valuable consumer demographic.

That said, brand owners and market research agencies must recognise the huge diversity within so-called minority groups – with many different attitudes, behaviours and preferences to take into account – rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

5. Social Listening

Today’s consumers spend almost 2.5 hours per day on social media. While many use it to communicate with friends, watch videos or scroll through Instagram, it’s also a popular way to share opinions about brands and products.

Social listening analyses what people are saying about a brand on social media to gain insight on the mood behind the data.

For example, searching for hashtags that relate to your brand name or product on Twitter may bring up tweets from users who are particularly happy – or unhappy – with your product.

Many brand owners are now using AI to analyse this type of data and provide an indication of the overall sentiment of consumers towards their brand or product, giving them the information they need to tweak marketing campaigns or products accordingly.

As consumer usage of social media continues to increase, social listening is becoming an increasingly popular tool for brands and market research agencies. Brand owners are able to gain real-time insight into consumer sentiment, enabling them to react quickly and avoid any potential PR crises.

Social listening is also a great way to collect more natural, informal responses by measuring consumer sentiment in their own environment, rather than under survey conditions.

6. DIY and DIY (Do It Together) Research

The increasing availability of smart research tools and platforms means that many brand owners are conducting their own research in-house (known as DIY research). Others are opting for DIT (do it together) research, which involves using these tools in collaboration with support and specialist services from market research providers.

While many see this shift as the democratisation of market research, it’s important not to lose sight of the value experienced market research agencies can provide.

Maintaining high data quality standards is critical to gaining useful information, and it’s likely that a professional market research company will be better equipped to provide more insightful and less biased results than research carried out in-house, often with a limited sample size and simplified research methodologies.

And in today’s data-driven world, the challenge is no longer acquiring enough data. Instead, the challenge is finding the right data and analysing it to gain valuable insight and inform business strategy.

Market research agencies are experts at asking the right questions to get the data businesses need – both qualitative and quantitative – and distilling it into actionable results.

Boost Your Market Research Strategy with Brandspeak

With years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research, Brandspeak is perfectly placed to help you supercharge your market research strategy in 2022 and beyond. To find out how we could help your brand, contact us now on +44 (0)203 858 0052.

Language, symbols and colour are all examples of visual signs that communicate meaning, and the study of these signs is called semiotics. From a green traffic light telling us it’s safe to go to a red one telling us to stop, these symbols help us to understand the world we live in.

Our interpretation of these signs is dependent upon a number of cultural factors – for example, in Western cultures the colour white symbolises purity and is traditionally worn by brides, whereas in China and some other Asian countries it represents death and is usually worn at funerals.

But what does all this mean for marketers?

The answer is simple: semiotics is an essential part of any marketer’s toolkit.

By understanding the effect of various languages, symbols and colours on consumers in different global markets, brand owners can create highly targeted marketing campaigns that get their message across, whilst avoiding the cultural pitfalls that could put the brand in to freefall.

In this article we’re going to explain why semiotics is a valuable part of any brand’s strategy, and how you can use it to understand your brand in a wider cultural context.

Using Semiotics in Marketing

Brands, products and semiotic cues don’t exist in a vacuum – instead, consumers interpret them in relation to the world they live in.

Usually these interpretations are unconscious, and the result of inherent cultural influences that have been strengthened by repetition (and often through advertising).

For example, in Western cultures pink is usually associated with girls, and blue for boys. Although these stereotypes are slowly changing, many brands use the colour pink to appeal to female consumers, with darker and more ‘masculine’ colours reserved for men.

Marketers can use semiotics to tap into consumers’ unconscious associations with signs and symbols, allowing them to:

Communicate a specific meaning about a brand or product
Improve brand messaging
Influence consumers’ subconscious decision-making
Adapt marketing campaigns to target specific cultures

By recognising the meaning of semiotic cues within certain cultures, marketers can create targeted campaigns that get results.

Semiotic Marketing Examples

Semiotics can be used to enhance all kinds of marketing communications, from advertising and web content to social media, branding and more. Let’s take a look at a few examples of semiotic cues in marketing to demonstrate what we mean.

Semiotic Colour

As we’ve already touched upon, colour is a key example of a semiotic cue. Research suggests that 90% of snap judgements are influenced by colour alone, meaning it’s crucial for marketers to understand how colours are interpreted by consumers globally.

For brands that operate on an international level, colour semiotics has an important role to play. Take McDonald’s, whose red and yellow colour scheme has long been synonymous with fast food in Western culture.

The colour red is known to trigger stimulation, appetite and hunger, while yellow is associated with happiness and friendliness. The two colours combined is a recipe for success, signifying a satisfying meal and a positive experience.

McDonald’s still uses its red and yellow colour scheme in its signage in the USA and in other countries including India and China, where red symbolises prosperity.

However, in the UK and Europe the company has switched to a dark green and yellow colour scheme to communicate its efforts to ‘go green’ and promote itself as a healthier, more sustainable choice.

Semiotic Words

Words are another form of semiotic cue that can be used to convey meaning, and they can be interpreted in many different ways. For example, for one person the word ‘home’ may conjure up an image of the physical house they live in, while for someone living in a foreign country it could make them think about their native country in general.

Marketers can use words and language to get a specific message across to consumers, but those marketing on an international scale must be aware of how meanings can change across different cultures and languages – often with unexpected implications.

Let’s take a look at an example from American Motors, who decided that Rebel was no longer a suitable name for a car they were selling during the civil unrest in 1970s USA. After performing extensive consumer research polls, they settled on the name ‘Matador’, which they had found brought to mind images of excitement, bravery and strength.

However, the marketing campaign didn’t go so well in Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico, where the word also translates as ‘killer’. The name was a particularly ill-advised choice in a nation which has an unusually high traffic fatality rate, and unsurprisingly consumers did not rush to buy the latest model.

This story demonstrates the importance of translating the message or idea you want to communicate, rather than using a direct translation or a one-size-fits-all approach that has little consideration for cultural or linguistic context.

Logos

With 75% of consumers stating that they recognise a brand by its logo, it’s clear that they are a key brand identifier that must be instantly recognisable. Think of your logo as a brand ambassador that should communicate what is at the essence of your brand.

Like the other semiotic cues we have discussed, what works in one culture may not work in another and logos may need to be tweaked according to context.

An amusing example comes from American software company RJ Metrics, whose geometric logo was received well in the US market and was designed to represent wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

However, when the rebrand was launched in the UK the company immediately received comments on Twitter that their dodecahedron-shaped logo looked like a pair of Y-fronts. It turns out that since this style of underwear is almost unheard of in the US but fairly common in the UK, the American team hadn’t been aware of the semiotic connotations of the logo across the pond.

The company went back to the drawing board and made a few alterations, changing the angle of the shape and making the lines thinner to remove the unfortunate association with Y-fronts.

Although this example is a little unusual, it’s a great way to demonstrate the subtleties of semiotics and the importance of in-depth consumer research for each market you are selling into.

Semiotics in Market Research

Not surprisingly, semiotics plays a significant role in market research.

As a matter of course, market research agencies need to be aware of the impact of the language, symbols and colours used by their clients in the development of new:

Brands and brand names
Packaging
Sales and marketing communications
Signage

This awareness is required not only to check that avoidable and costly marketing mistakes aren’t being made, but also to confirm that the client has actually identified the most powerful combination of language, symbols and colours on a case by case basis – to (for example) attract attention, create desire and turn customer interest into positive action.

Nowhere is the above more important than for brands that operate across international boundaries, where individual markets may have very different – and even opposing – cultural codes and benchmarks. Where this occurs, the semiotic combinations that perform well in one market can be irrelevant or even antagonistic in another.

As a market research agency, we recommend in such cases that the client uses the research to explore different combinations of visual signs, rather than just exploring just one combination of words, symbols and colours.

Nowhere is this approach more important than in the area of luxury goods market research.

Find Out How Semiotics Could Help Your Brand

Whether you’re a small brand or a global one, understanding semiotics is essential. It helps you place your brand in a wider cultural context and get the right message across – avoiding some of the marketing mishaps we’ve covered in this article.

At Brandspeak, we’re experts in semiotics and how it can be used as part of your brand strategy. Contact us now on +44 (0)203 858 0052 to learn how we can help.

After the Chancellor’s recent Budget announcement warned of challenging months ahead in the aftermath of the pandemic, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has predicted that millions of UK consumers will be worse off in 2022.

Spiralling costs, tax rises and inflation are all contributing factors, with Brexit and supply chain issues further exacerbating the problem.

Research by the Office for Budget Responsibility suggests that the cost of living could be set to rise at its fastest rate for 30 years – leaving many consumers feeling the squeeze.

All of this spells tough times for brand owners too, who must rethink their strategy in order to appeal to consumers in a climate of rising costs and widespread uncertainty.

However, all is not lost. In this article, we demonstrate how an agile, customer-first approach is the key to survival any downturn.

1. Understand Your Customers

As the economic climate changes, so do consumer motivations and behaviours. People who have previously been living comfortably may start to cut back on treats and luxuries, and those who are less well-off are likely to feel the strain the most.

In order to be aware of how their consumers are evolving, brand owners must review their segmentation models and decide whether they are still fit for purpose.

An article in the Harvard Business Review suggests that in times of economic difficulty, psychological segmentation may be a more effective tool than demographic segmentation.

Customers can be grouped into segments according to their emotional reaction to the economic environment.

For example, the ‘slam on the brakes’ segment feels the hardest-hit financially, and reduces all types of spending by eliminating, postponing, decreasing or substituting purchases.

At the other end of the spectrum is the ‘comfortably well-off’ segment, who feel financially secure and consume at near-normal levels, although they are likely to be more selective about their purchases.

To appeal to these consumer groups during difficult economic times, brand owners must use segmentation to gain a deeper understanding of their consumers and how they react to the need for belt-tightening.

For example, the ‘slam on the brakes’ segment is likely to be attracted by reduced prices or unbundled services, whereas the ‘comfortably well-off’ group will respond well to claims of great performance, reliability and value for money.

2. Don’t Cut Back on Advertising

In times of economic uncertainty, it can be tempting for brand owners to reduce their advertising spend in an attempt to cut costs.

However, research has found that companies that increase or maintain advertising spend during a recession experience higher sales growth throughout and after the recession than those that don’t. In fact, at the end of a five-year research period during the early 1980s recession researchers found that companies that kept up their advertising saw a sales increase of 256% over companies that made cuts in this area.

Although the UK is not currently in a recession, these insights are still valuable in today’s climate of economic uncertainty.

Brand owners should take advantage of the opportunity to increase brand knowledge where competitors might be cutting back, as consumers look for familiar brands they can trust.

Digital marketing is a particularly effective channel to communicate with consumers, with 46% of respondents saying that their smartphone use has increased since before the pandemic.

As consumers spend more time than ever online, brand owners must capitalise on this – for example, by advertising more aggressively on social media or creating great SEO content.

3. Position Your Brand as One That Can Be Trusted

During difficult times, consumers look for brands they can trust. Brand owners must tailor their messaging accordingly, reassuring consumers that they will weather out the storm together.

For example, during the pandemic in 2020 Ford introduced a ‘Built to Lend a Hand’ programme for its U.S. customers. The program offered eligible new car buyers up to six months of payment relief, and the marketing campaign focused on how the company has supported the country through difficult times, including during the war and in the face of natural disasters.

Aligning your brand with your consumers’ core values is another great way to build trust. During tough times and after a pandemic that saw people separated from their loved ones, family values are increasingly important.

With Christmas approaching too, messaging that focuses on bringing the family together will be more poignant than ever before. For example, this year’s Tesco advert focuses on celebrating the fact that families can be together this year (unlike last year) and puts a playful spin on it. The ad suggests that nothing will stop people having a great Christmas this year – even the possibility of Santa being quarantined.

By identifying consumers’ desire to pull out all the stops this Christmas to make up for last year, the advert appeals to consumers on a deeper level while bolstering their trust in the household name.

4. Adjust Price / Offering

Although consumers respond well to brands they trust during an economic downturn, many are ultimately motivated by price and will look elsewhere if your product is too expensive.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that prices need to be reduced, but revising your offering to suit your customers’ changing situation and budget is essential.

One effective strategy is downsizing package sizes to appeal to cash-strapped consumers. People who are feeling financially strained are more likely to focus on the absolute price rather than the cost per volume – meaning they will choose a packet of crisps that costs 80p over one with 50% more volume for £1.10, for example.

However, a different customer segment that buys items in bulk to reduce costs may be more responsive to an offer of a discount for buying several multipack bags of crisps at a time.

The key is to understand each of your customer segments and modify your pricing to suit their budgets.

Unbundling is another way to adjust price during tough times. Products that usually come as a package deal can be separated into different components so that customers can cherry-pick only the services they need.

For example, Sky customers are able to build their own package starting with basic TV channels, with the option to add sports, cinema and kids channels if required.

This kind of offering caters to those on a lower budget, with the option to easily add on extras at a later date.

5. Focus on Reliability and Performance

Just like consumers are looking for brands they trust in difficult times, they also want products that last.

Though the most financially stretched ‘slam on the brakes’ segment are still likely to be most motivated by low prices, those with a little more disposable income will be making more selective and considered purchases.

These consumers are increasingly looking for quality over quantity, so positioning your product as a durable, well-made item that will last for years to come may be key.

The trend for buying fewer, but more high-quality products has also been gaining traction due to consumer concerns about sustainability.

Many consumers are interested in buying less products but getting more value for money (particularly in the fashion industry, but the trend has been seen across the board), and focusing on the high quality and durability of your product is a great way to appeal to this growing segment.

Levi’s recent ‘Buy Better, Wear Longer’ campaign, which encourages customers to be more intentional about the products they buy and highlights the high quality and sustainability of their products, is an excellent example of this type of marketing in action.

6. Look After Loyal Customers

Although price-sensitive consumers are likely to be more interested in alternative brands and products during times of economic difficulty, by using the right tactics it’s possible to convince them to stay.

Loyalty programmes with exclusive member discounts and special offers are a great way to show your customers that you value them, and they can be the deciding factor in someone staying loyal to your brand.

Research showed that 58% of UK consumers stayed loyal to certain brands during the pandemic, feeling that they had received added value in return for loyalty.

Customers should be grouped into segments, with targeted promotions and rewards for each group – from big spenders and regular customers to those who purchase less frequently.

Do your research to find out what kind of loyalty rewards will resonate best with each segment, and tailor your marketing messaging accordingly. For example, regular customers might appreciate a discount on their most frequently-bought product, while those who purchase less frequently could be tempted by a 20% discount on their next purchase.

7. Do Market Research

Consumer behaviour and motivations are constantly evolving and are influenced by a wide range of variables including economic climate, disposable income, life stage, geographic location and more.

In order to keep their finger on the pulse, brand owners should constantly be monitoring their customer segments so that they can recognise changes in attitude and behaviour and tailor their marketing messaging accordingly.

During periods of economic uncertainty, monitoring tools like brand tracking are even more critical as consumer attitudes shift rapidly.

For example, consumers who are feeling financially strained may change their perception of products and the categories they fall into. New clothes or organic food may shift from essentials to treats, or consumers might swap going out for staying in at home.

Smart brand owners can use this insight to create messaging that speaks to their customers – for example. Department store Oliver Bonas recently wrote an article on its website called ‘Why Staying in Is the New Going Out’, which highlighted lots of products the store sells to make staying in more enjoyable – from comfy loungewear to books and plants.

By recognising these shifting perceptions, marketers gain a deeper understanding of their customers and adapt their marketing message to appeal to their new mindset.

A Customer-First Approach

Marketing during times of economic uncertainty has its challenges, but with the right tools and strategy you can make sure your brand stays at the forefront of consumers’ minds and continues to appeal to them.

Brandspeak offers a customer-focused marketing service that measures a wide range of metrics to give you an accurate, up-to-the minute profile of each customer segment. From psychological segmentation to demographics,brand tracking and more, our bespoke service allows you to gain a deep understanding of your dream customer and create winning marketing campaigns that get results.

To learn more about how Brandspeak could help your brand, contact us on +44 (0)203 858 0052.