CAPSTONE!

Hide and Seek

This week, Team Behr has focused on secondary research. Our final project will focus on primary research - i.e., surveys we conduct ourselves - but before we get started, we want to see what's already out there.

Our project poses an interesting challenge because there is no existing research on the specific segment we are targeting - which, as I've mentioned before, is basically a combination of two demographic groups. One of the groups has plenty of articles written on it, but a lot of the articles contain broad, sweeping statements about the entire group that are seemingly unsourced, and it can be difficult to sort out fact from conjecture. The other group is far less covered, and is sometimes lumped in with other groups that may or may not have the same needs. For both, the challenge is establishing accurate, factual information about the target.

So we are doing what we can, seeing what others have learned about how these two groups see the world, and attempting to piece it together into an understanding of our chosen segment.

Our research is also focusing on what our segment is saying about themselves; we are checking in on them via online forums. We're lurking on a forum suggested to us by Lisa at Behr - a forum dedicated to members of one of our demographic groups. When reading their posts, our intent is to discover what problems and needs they have that Behr might be able to solve.

Hopefully all of this research will help inform the quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews we plan to do next - our questions will be better if they are informed by an understanding of how this segment lives, works, and makes decisions (particularly about paint). Our next milestone is actually crafting those questions and finding some people to speak with in person, so more on that soon.

Outside the Bubble

Last week, Team Behr presented our project charter to our contact, Lisa. It was gratifying to hear how impressed she was with the work we've already done, and what we propose to do over the next few months.

 

Lisa seemed happy with our charter, but she felt the need to present it to her colleagues at the Behr innovation team. This makes total sense, but it also reminds me that we aren't working just for Lisa. We also have to meet the needs of dozens, maybe hundreds, of people at the client organization.

 

Our calls with Lisa take place in a bubble, where we discuss our progress and ask our questions with just her. Outside the bubble are all the people she has to answer to - not to mention Drew, who we must keep updated on our progress (and who we will meet for our first review meeting this coming week). 

 

Outside the bubble constitutes another source of ambiguity, and it's also been our first source of variability. Lisa wrote back and asked us to update the charter with an additional goal for the research - something that hasn't been a big focus in our conversations with her, but that is listed in one of our modules, and that one of her teammates thought should be included in the charter. (I'm making it sound like scope creep, but it's really not - just something we would probably have included in the final report anyway as part of the analysis, and now it's in the charter explicitly.)

 

Lisa is great, and our conversations with her have been going really well ... but we can't lose sight of the fact that we aren't the only ones with a stake in this project. This week has reminded me that we have to satisfy our client both inside and outside of the bubble.

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

This week, Team Behr worked on gaining some firsthand knowledge of our client's customers by doing some "secret shopping" at the client's store (The Home Depot) and a competitor's store. We also worked on pulling together some quotes so our contact, Lisa, can establish a budget.

As I wrote last week, we need to conduct market research on a very specific demographic group, and we've been asked not to use any Behr internal mailing lists. That means one of two things: trade organizations, or paying for responses. We have reached out to a trade group and may have some luck getting to survey their members, but otherwise, we're probably looking at several thousand dollars for a statistically significant survey.

Lisa has said she can give us a budget once we provide her with some pricing options, but I can't shake the feeling that she might not have bargained on a budget of thousands of dollars for "just a school project." This, of course, is nonsense of my own invention. There's no reason whatsoever that survey responses should be somehow less valuable when purchased by students, and Lisa certainly hasn't given us any indication that she thinks that's the case. And yet, I'm concerned that talk of a budget might put a strain on our cordial relationship.

It's always difficult to talk about money, isn't it?

But I suppose money is one of the unpleasant topics that a marketing manager must face in the real world. We provide a valuable service (that, if all goes well, will lead to the company making or saving millions of dollars), and we will require capital to do it. That's just how it goes, and so we might as well get used to having the discussion.

Still, I hope the trade organization comes through with their list. That'd be a win-win.

Ambiguity, or The Project Takes Shape

Team Behr had our initial call with our client earlier this week, and for all our nerves about "meeting" the client, I think it went pretty well! It turns out our contact, Lisa, was recently a student herself - she just graduated with her master's in marketing communications, so she is familiar with the student experience.

I won't go too far into the details of the Team Behr project, partly because of confidentiality and partly because that's not really the point of the blog, but I will say that the project is going to focus heavily on market research of a segment that Behr thinks could be fertile ground for growth. Our project will involve assessing three things: the size of the segment, their openness to the Behr brand, and any needs they have that Behr can address.

So here's where the "ambiguity" that is one of the hallmarks of marketing comes in. We know that members of this segment exist at the intersection of two demographic lines. What we don't know yet is the best way to find them:

• Should we begin with finding members of demographic group A and asking them if they are ALSO members of demographic group B? Or vice versa?
• Should we contact organizations representing one of the demographic groups and ask them to connect us to their members?
• Should we search social media to find people in our target for qualitative interviews?
• Should we create surveys that prescreen for members of our target segment, so we can ask them some deeper questions right away?

One place we know we can't begin is with Behr itself, because we have been asked to conduct our research in the general population rather than with Behr's existing customers. This project is focusing on acquisition rather than retention, so the team at Behr wants the opinions of people who hasn't necessarily had experience with the Behr brand.

Of course, this is just the first in what I'm sure will be a long series of questions over the course of this project. I can already see a few of them: "What about the budget?" "When do you want to see results?" And further down the line: "How will we determine if the segment size is significant enough to target?"

I have confidence that as we continue to work with Lisa, we will answer all these questions, one at a time. 

Closer and closer

I got so busy with the project that I forgot to do this blog this week! We're definitely on the right track, in line with what our client is trying to do. We had a meeting on Wednesday with the web strategy department in revamping their website to be more user-friendly and to draw more traffic. They've already started some of our suggestions and are implementing others. It feels good to know that we are in alignment with their vision concerning web strategy. I have been storyboarding ads for static ads, some more creative ones and some more traditional but in line with the insights we've come across. I am also trying to organize some event marketing ideas. I still need to complete customer profiles. I think I'd only be able to do ones based on my own interviews because each case is so different, so how people proceed with treatment is so vastly different. I've been honing our communications as well to create more unified strategies based on the target audiences. It's fun and intense trying to do that.

Moving Forward

Last week, I completed my qualitative interviews and had the opportunity to overlay the qualitative insights with competitive analysis insights. We've come up with a platform for which to complete the Big Picture and communications strategy. We've established how our client is currently positioning themselves and how we can alter it to reposition themselves with success. Now we've got the data for service penetration and the potential market, so our Big Picture is starting to come together. This should be a busy and fruitful week. Though we've come up with some basics for ads, I look forward to seeing what the Innovation class comes up with.

Just think positive!

I've still been transcribing my interviews, which is an arduous process, trying to get every detail right because even the tiniest stumbles can alter a meaning. The inclusion of crying or laughter are also important in identifying at what moments the "customer" feels an emotion. These emotional cues can be drivers for the potential communication. I had ideas going away from the interviews, but in transcribing them and reflecting on them I see quite a bit more potential. As the fireworks roar behind me, I reflect on our topic being depressing, yet my subjects have a positivity that I don't think I've ever had. They are determined to defeat cancer, and it makes me all the more involved and motivated, especially since they're loved ones, to make this message one that could help save lives. I'm eager to see what Christ's own interviews bring us, which should be starting this week. I'm also excited about the next step in creating a communication plan. We believe that we have a solid emotional appeal in line with our client's, but our approach may be different in how we target multiple segments at once. I hope they like what we have in store!

Proceed with caution

I think I've got some ideas for the campaign that could be effective in social media, which was my biggest concern. It might work; it might not. We'll have to discuss it as a team to see if it would be worthwhile to pursue and develop. We found our focus and our target. Now it's time to start forming a comprehensive strategy. I've still got a couple qualitative interviews to complete this week. Though I think we've come to an agreement on what to focus on, it doesn't hurt to complete more interviews to help make a more solid case for our strategy. It also helps me ladder questions a bit more, knowing the end goal. I might be surprised and gain a new direction, too, that would offer us multiple strategies. Whatever happens, I love the qualitative process.

Blog 3: Qualitative Musings

Though I've been busy with two other classes, I've been mulling over my qualitative interviews so far without having transcribed them yet. I think I've discovered a path we could go down that would be engaging for multiple segments. I'm excited to draw the idea out and share with the team to think about how we can effectively advertise this message with innovative consumer engagements. What mediums channels of communications can we com up with appropriate for the message, and what messages are appropriate for the channels of communications? This week, I'll be transcribing (complete with emotional cues) and conducting more interviews to be able to share with the team.

A Part of Your World

This past week has been a busy one. I toured Margaret Mary Health's oncology center with a focus on their breast cancer treatment. It was illuminating to see how an oncology center operates, from its diagnosis stages to its treatment stages. I wrote about my experience and an analysis in an effort to mull on my thoughts to get out any insights I might have had. In addition to some insights, I got the idea to try to lure rural area residents into the city, specifically our client, for their treatments after diagnosis, because the rural areas don't have access to as may resources. Living in the rural area myself, I just may be able to bridge that undeserved and undertargeted gap. No one markets to the rural population, unless it's for trucks and cheap beer. I've decided that a part of MY focus is on that segment for targeting. Through initial qualitative interviews, I've also come up with another target demographic that goes underserved in this field as well: the younger population.

While I aim not to launch new marketing initiatives with my team, I want to innovate the campaigns to include these segments. How can we make a campaign bold and creative enough to garner attention to multiple stages of breast cancer awareness at the same time as being geographically relevant and age relevant? Maybe we could differentiate ads from one geographic region to the next giving them different treatments while still keeping in line with the brand's campaign theme? It's still early to solidify any plans or any targets, as I'm still in the qualitative research phase.

It seems that one direction the department wanted us to take was social media. I was hesitant about that (and still am) because it's such a fleeting and oversaturated medium that it's hard to make anything stick, unless it happens to go viral. If we can think of a social media campaign, we might consider it. I am certainly up for the challenge, but it may not be a great medium to put our focus on, though basic social media outlets have recently worked for them during certain situations.

My goal this week is to finalize a charter for our project after learning what is expected of us and developing general guidelines of how to proceed. I also want to look more into the families of those who have or have had breast cancer. Look out, week, I'm here to tackle to you!