Doesn’t it seem like air travel has become more of a hassle recently compared to a few years (or a decade) back? Even leaving aside stricter security after 9/11 there appears to be more complaints about air travel these days. How much truth is there in these complaints? Let’s look at the possibilities, namely competition among carriers, new TSA rules and weather.
I come to you, as is the tradition, with glad tidings for the New Year.
I do this in the midst of a lot of doom and gloom talk about the industry and our future. At CASRO's annual meeting, Simon Chadwick talked about "Do it Yourself" (DIY) research continuing to grow with no end in sight. A recent LinkedIn thread asked if there was a better word for 'survey' that wouldn't carry the negative connotations. The MR Heretic calls their site "Market Research Deathwatch" with constant warnings about engaging respondents better or destroying our industry. Add in the worst couple years the industry has ever faced and purchasing departments increasingly viewing us as commodities and you have the makings of glad tidings indeed!
When you go out to buy something how much importance do you place on the brand name? Not only does this vary from person to person but also from category to category. Yet the vast majority of brand related research has focused on understanding the importance of brand within categories, not across. That may be understandable from a brand manager’s perspective because he is in charge of just that brand. But while a company may sell a single brand a consumer makes purchase decisions across a spectrum of categories. The importance she places on a brand in a particular category is therefore contextual. Understanding this issue of Brand Relevance in Category (BRiC) and its implications is what three researchers set out to do in a large scale multi-product, multi-country study. Here’s what they did.
Yes, I admit it. This is a self-serving post. But when compelling research crosses one’s eyes one is forced to write a blog post. In this case the compelling research comes from Natalie Mizik under the intriguing title of “The Theory and Practice of Myopic Management”. How can I pass that up? In this research Natalie sets out to show that myopic management (i.e. cutting marketing and R&D expenditure for short term gain) is financially bad for the firm in the long run. She proves her main point but also makes a couple more so let’s take a look at what she has cooked up.
For the past few weeks, there are two big debates raging in our office:
On the surface the only thing connecting them is that we are a choice focused market research company located just outside of Philly, but in reality they are both the same debates...namely, when is it time for the superstar to move on and allow a new star to take charge? In both cases, the answer will depend on your needs and your perspective...in other words, there is no answer that everyone will agree with.
Some variation of conjoint (discrete choice, adaptive, etc) has been with us now for nearly 40 years. It has proven to be a very effective means of understanding the consumer's thinking process...especially when it comes to developing new products. At the same time, it is not without its flaws.
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