Marketing Research
Q: On the brand-building aspect, Lenovo was one of the sponsors at the Olympics. Given the costs involved in this event,
what are some of the lessons learned that you think are useful to a CMO in general?
Answer:
The key question is, what are you trying to get out of it? How are you going to measure the return on that investment?
One of the big reasons for Lenovo stepping up to be the Olympic top sponsor globally was because the games were going
to be held in China. Had we not become the PC provider for the games, that would have left the door open for one of the
other players. But it also enabled us to put our brand out there and move it from a local brand to very much a global
brand.
Our primary objective at the Olympics was to broaden the top of the funnel: We want more people to know what Lenovo
is and see us as a company that builds the best-engineered PCs. Our secondary objective was to drive business during the
Games through promotional plays around the Olympics.
From an ROI point of view, I looked at targets that we set in countries around the world on improving our aided and
unaided awareness.
Deepak Advani (Chief strategy and marketing for IBM’s PC division from 2003 to 2005)
Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
What is the scope of marketing research?
What steps are involved in conducting good
marketing research?
What are the best metrics for measuring marketing
productivity?
When IBM and Lenovo started talking, Lenovo sold PCs primarily in China. It had become
the number one PC maker in China. Today one out of three PCs sold in China is a Lenovo.
At the time of the acquisition, the Lenovo brand was very well known; it was like IBM or
GE within China.
The company was really known or innovation in products as well as business processes.
Lenovo did a lot of different things on the technology side: the first Chinese-character
keyboard, one-button internet access. It was known as a leadership company that set the
pace for other companies, whether in financial transparency or promoting female
executives. Lenovo was also known for customer service. The top reason that people
repurchased Lenovo PCs was their ownership experience and service and support.
Would it be a good fit because the ThinkPad franchise that IBM had built up was known
for innovation and quality, backed up by IBM service and support???
We talked to over 4,000 customers in countries around the world.
We found — and this was consistent globally — three reasons why
people were buying the ThinkPad from IBM. One was quality. Second
was innovation. Third was service and support. Over 90% of the
customers said, “Hey, as long as you don’t mess up the quality or the
innovation or the service and support, we’ll keep buying from you. In
fact, we like the Chinese acquisition of the PC business because we
think you will be more efficient.”
The Scope of marketing research
Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer,
and public to the marketer through information—information used to
identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate,
refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance;
and improve understanding of marketing as a process.
-American Marketing Association
The Scope of marketing research
• Importance of marketing insights
– Generating insights (how and why we observe
certain effects in the marketplace)
-Makes me feel like a smart shopper
-Offers low prices
The Scope of marketing research
• Who Does Marketing Research?
ü Marketing departments in big firms
ü Everyone at small firms
ü Syndicated-service research firms
ü Custom marketing research firms
ü Specialty-line marketing research firms
Research conducted at small companies
Engage
students/profs.
Tap
employee
creativity
Tap partner
expertise
Use Internet
Check out
rivals
The Scope of marketing research
• Overcoming Barriers to the Use of Marketing
Research
– Many companies still fail to use it sufficiently or
correctly
The Marketing Research Process
Step 1
• Define the problem (broad, narrow)
• Define the decision alternatives
• Define the research objectives
• Exploratory vs. descriptive research
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
• Data sources
– Secondary data vs. primary data
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
• Research approaches
ü Observational research- ex. Ethnographic research
(why do people consume popcorns?)
ü Focus group research
ü Survey research
ü Behavioral research- ex. Experiments
NOTE…
MR: may fail to reveal as what consumers usually say may not truly represent what they
do
-Focused group: Expressing passion for top-end fashion (reality: buying mass apparels)
Observation can offer deeper insights (real)
COD emerged from consumer insights
Disruption due to monetization paved the way for wallets and digital payment eco..
Hotels – Staycations
Consumers express emotions differently (anger, frustration, fear, love, anxiety)Good routes to non/under consumed areas
Target emotions to drive behaviour
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
• Research instruments
Questionnaires
Qualitative measures
Technological devices
Questionnaire
Questionnaire
Qualitative measures:
relatively indirect & unstructured measurement
approaches
cm’s actions don’t match their answer to questions
*less guarded responses
Word
association
Laddering
Brand
personification
Projective
techniques
Visualization
Word association: Possible brand associations can be found; what does APPLE mean to you?
Projective techniques: Ask people to complete an Incomplete/ambiguous
stimuli
Subjects indicate what they believe is happening
Visualization: It requires people to prepare a collage from magazine photo/ drawings etc.
to depict their perceptions
Brand personification: “if the brand becomes alive as
a person, what would it be
like? Where would it live and what would it do, wear; Who would it talk to if it goes to a party?
A midwestern male who is hardworking and trustworthy
Laddering: Series of increasingly specific WHY ques to
Reveal consumers’ deeper motivations and goals
Why do you buy apple – they are very smart (attribute)
Why is it imp that it shall be smart- it indicates Apple is superior (functional benefit)
Why is superiority imp.? – it makes me classy (emotional benefit)
Why classy? – It builds my self-confidence (core value)
Why self-conf.???-----
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
• Technological devices
– Galvanometer
– Tachistoscope
– Eye-tracking
– Facial detection
– Skin sensors
– Brain wave scanners
– Audiometer
– GPS
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
• Sampling plan
– Sampling unit: Whom should we survey?
– Sample size: How many people should we survey?
– Sampling procedure: How should we choose the respondents?
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
• Contact methods
ü Mail
ü Telephone
ü Personal
ü Online
Online Research
• Advantages
– Inexpensive
– Expansive
– Fast
– Honest
– Thoughtful
– Versatile
• Disadvantages
– Small
– Skewed
– Excessive turnover
– Technological
problems
– Technological
inconsistencies
Step 3 to Step 6
Step 3: Collect the Information
Step 4: Analyze the Information
Step 5: Present the Findings
Step 6: Make the Decision
Good Marketing Research
Measuring Marketing Productivity
• Marketing metrics
• Marketing-mix
modeling
• Marketing
dashboards
Marketing metrics
• Measures that help marketers quantify, compare, and
interpret performance
MARKETING-MIX MODELING
• Analyzes data from a variety of sources, such
as retailer scanner data, company shipment
data, pricing, media, and promotion spending
data, to understand more precisely the
effects of specific marketing activities
Marketing Dashboards
• “A concise set of interconnected performance drivers
to be viewed in common throughout the
organization.”
ü Customer-performance scorecard
üStakeholder-performance scorecard
Example Of A Marketing Dashboard