by Michaela Mora

Posted on April 15, 2010

Brand tracking studies allow marketers to monitor the health of the brand and provide insights into the effectiveness of marketing programs implemented by the company.

WHAT SHOULD BE TRACKED?

Each brand faces different issues, which often required customized tracking surveys. Nonetheless, at Relevant Insights, we always recommend our clients to include measurements of awareness, usage, brand attitudes, perceptions, and purchase intent in brand tracking studies.

• Awareness: both recall and recognition measures should be collected. They are different indicators of the strength of the competition among brands in the minds of the consumers. A brand that first comes to mind in certain situations is more likely to be considered than one that is only recognized when it is prompted to the consumer.

• Usage: this can be measured through recency, frequency of usage, and total spending in the brand, and product category. These brand tracking measures, not only tell us about consumer shopping behavior and preferences, but also are indicators of market share and “share of wallet,” which is the amount of consumer spending a brand is capturing and has a direct impact on a company’s revenues and profits.

• Brand Attitudes and Perceptions: this is usually captured through questions related to brand image and associations that consumers develop as they experience the brand and are exposed to its positioning message through PR, advertising and promotional programs. Many brand associations are often beliefs about product-related attributes and benefits. However, brand associations also include non-product-related and symbolic benefits. Product and non-product associations, as well as those related to price and value are important sources of brand equity and should be part of brand tracking studies. Some brand associations are stronger than others, are more easily recalled and are enough appealing that they become an important factor in a consumer’s decision to buy a brand. Some brands may be perceived as unique, but without strong and favorable brand associations, uniqueness really doesn’t matter (Keller, Strategic Brand Management, 1998).

  Many times, attitudes towards a brand go beyond the product to include attitudes toward the company. We are all aware how Toyota’s image has been tarnished, not only by the car recall due to defective accelerator pedals in several car models, but more so by how the company failed to promptly notify car owners, ending up with a fine of $16 million imposed by the US government. A survey conducted by Consumer Reports in February 2010 reported that the number of Toyota owners who would buy another Toyota next time they are in the market for a new car has declined by 10 percentage points from a survey conducted in December 2009. Another before-and-after-the-recall study conducted by Lightspeed and Ad Age, also showed how the number of Toyota owners that consider the brand reliable has decreased significantly, indicating how fast a brand image can deteriorate when the company doesn’t react quickly enough.

• Purchase intent: measures of likelihood to buy a brand or switch to a competitor are also indicators of brand health and should be part of brand tracking studies, but these questions should be put in context regarding specific product or brand, reason for the purchase, time, channel, price and other relevant factors to the purchase decision, so they can be predictive of actual purchase behavior.

WHEN AND WHO TO TRACK?

Brand tracking studies usually involve collecting quantitative data from consumers on a regular basis. One way to do it is to continuously collect information, which allow us to control for unusual marketing activities, in the analysis, and provide a more representative picture of how the brand stands in consumers’ mind and against competitors. However, this type of brand tracking may not be feasible due to budget and resources constraints, and there are other ways to do it (monthly, quarterly, annually, etc.) that can be equally effective.

When determining the frequency of data collection in brand tracking studies, we recommend clients to consider:

• Frequency of product purchase: for example durable goods with long purchase cycles can be tracked less frequently.

• Marketing activity in the product category: a category where brands are constantly launching marketing programs and promotions should be monitor more often.

• Level of competition in product category: highly competitive product categories, where new products and competitors are constantly trying to break in, should be tracked regularly.

• Stability of brand associations: brands with an established image that don’t show appreciable changes over time, can afford a less frequent brand tracking.

Brand tracking studies are often conducted with current customers, but monitoring non-users of the brand can prove to be invaluable to the development of an acquisition and market penetration strategy in search for business growth.

HOW TO INTERPRET BRAND TRACKING MEASURES?

Given the comparative nature of brand tracking studies, brand tracking measures tend to stay the same over time. However, they should be revised from time to time to assess their reliability and sensibility. They may be stable over time and thus reflect stability of brand associations, but they can also be unable to capture important shifts in the market due to changes in sociodemographic trends, competitive landscape and economic macrotrends.

Another issue with brand tracking measures is defining what constitutes the desirable level of a particular metric. Is a 50% level awareness good enough? It depends. It is all relative to the product category and the competitive environment. In low involvement product categories and those with many competitors, it may be difficult to get very high levels of awareness and strong brand associations, so the benchmark for what it is a good level for a metric differs across industries and product categories.

Finally, each brand tracking study should be customized to capture the brand associations that contribute the most to brand equity and the marketing activities that are effective at strengthening it. The goal is to identify key drivers that have an impact on consumers’ brand choice and purchase behavior and develop marketing tactics that can lead to brand growth and sustainability.

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To learn more about our consumer data service visit Consumer Shopping Behavior Insights. To request consumer shopping behavior data and insights don’t hesitate to contact us.

by Michaela Mora

Posted on March 1, 2010

Last year PepsiCo received a lot of “buzz” thanks to a couple of marketing stumbles for two of its big brands, Tropicana and Gatorade. In both cases, the brands got makeovers that stripped their brand identity, for the sake of simplicity, and gave them a quite generic look. This resulted in confused consumers, which, in turn, hurt sales. In the case of Tropicana, after consumers’ protest, PepsiCo reinstated the old packaging with the familiar orange with the straw. But for Gatorade, now called “G,” PepsiCo continued ahead with the new packaging and label.

According to PepsiCo’s Americas Beverages chief Massimo d’Amore, who was interviewed by the WJS, in the case of Gatorade, certain level of confusion was expected, but that internal research indicated that “the ‘G’ campaign scores high in the coolness factor.”

For a while I wondered what type of research they did, who was the target sample and what metrics were used to measure success. Luck would have it that I had the chance this year to meet Jimmy Smith, the creator of the “G” TV commercials. He told me that the ads were targeting teenagers between 13 and 17 and they were looking to create buzz, which they did. I admit that “coolness” is likely to be an important driver in this market segment, but can misfire in other segments. I have proof in my own household. My husband, a fan of Gatorade and part of the 37.7% of consumers in the age group 35-44 who drink Gatorade monthly*, was certainly lost once the packaging changed. He thought that the new “G” packaging was one of Walmart’s store brands.

In July 2009, Beverage Digest estimated that Gatorade had lost a 4.5% share of the sports-drink market and its volume slipped 17.5% in the first six months of 2009 after the launch of the new packaging in January. It seems that the “coolness” factor may have worked against Gatorade’s brand equity.

So, if you ever get involved in a brand makeover or new packaging re-design make sure to do branding research that allows to measure the overall impact of the changes on the brand recognition and sales. The best approach to branding research combines both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Neither alone gives a solid answer, so I would suggest to consider following this research plan:

1. Define the problem. First, make sure it is an image problem and not a problem with the product or service. Does the brand need an updated look to attract new market segments? Does the brand elicit negative associations due to blunders from the past and need a fresh start? Does the brand need to be aligned with a new vision and mission for the company? The answers to these questions will define how much of a radical makeover your brand can afford without alienating customers.




2. Explore current brand perceptions, usage patterns, customer experience, and problem areas. This will give you a feel for the brand legacy and how much you can depart from it. Depending on your target market and budget, some of the data collection techniques you can use might include focus groups, in-depth interviews, or on-site research (ethnography).




3. Create several new brand concepts and test them. Use the results from the initial qualitative research to develop different branding concepts. Explore initial reactions to the concepts, fine-tune them, and test them again using qualitative techniques.




4. Follow-up with quantitative research. Use a large enough sample to select a winner and project the results to your target population. Define the screening criteria of your sample carefully. To certain market segments, some brand attributes may be more relevant than to others, so make sure all segments are represented to avoid biased results.

The combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques will give you in-depth insight and a solid foundation for decision making. Don’t be tempted to only run a couple of focus groups or an online survey and feel you know everything. Conducting branding research with the right approach will pay off and prevent you from making mistakes that will hurt your bottom line.

* SMRB – Summer 2009 Adult 6 Months (Feb 09 – Sept 09)

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To learn more about our consumer data service visit Consumer Shopping Behavior Insights. To request consumer shopping behavior data and insights don’t hesitate to contact us.