Our telecoms client was known as a brand for young people – the challenge was how to broaden their appeal without losing their youthful image? We identified that the client's brand was seen as playful and youthful... but it had a negative side: it was a brand that was irreverent, almost 'anti-adult'. There was a danger that, as their loyal target matured, this could play against the brand and drive their customers elsewhere. They identified a way to turn the 'brat on the block' into a positive. The opportunity was to develop more mature propositions around the need for innovation, progression and opening new horizons, combined with a passion for new communication technologies.
Our client, a manufacturer of floor cleaner and dishwashing liquid, had been focussing on how to improve their products, regularly launching new improved versions. But they were struggling to get emotional connections with their consumers. By understanding the role of the person running the home and what her needs were, our client was able to connect with her need to protect, to nurture and care – which gave a more emotionally driven reason to purchase.
Ice-cream is all about a choice of textures and flavours, right? Wrong - our client's challenge was to create a role for each product in a very broad portfolio, ensuring there was as little cannibalisation as possible. A needs-based segmentation helped give precise positions for brands against need – one for the 'experience of a sensory journey', one for 'precious me time' and one for 'celebrating a happy moment'. They knew where it would be more challenging to compete too because competitors had strong offers – and they also learned where competitors' weaknesses could be exploited. The research additionally identified white space opportunities in the 'controlled pleasure' area – something nice, but not quite as naughty as other ice creams in the portfolio.
Electronics is a highly competitive, rapidly evolving market, so companies need to be able to identify opportunities for innovation. Men shave to get rid of the hair on their face? Yes, but why? For some, it is clearly routine; others want to pamper themselves – and for others shaving is the way they create an identity. Positioning products against these different needs elevates 'functional' products to connect with something much more relevant and meaningful to people.
A pizza chain was looking to develop an ad campaign towards its core target from their attitudinal segmentation – the Eating Machines. The target were high volume eaters - they ate different types of pizza, they were 18 – 24 years old, but they were not eating at our client's restaurants as much as at competitors' establishments. How to attract them, what language to use, why were they so passionate about pizza? We conducted a 'JustWhy' study (needs based questions asked around a usage and attitude study) and found that the target saw themselves as 'pizza connoisseurs' – they ate so much, they saw themselves as experts; they knew and cared a lot about bases, ingredients and how the pizzas were prepared. So a connoisseur campaign was developed – which had a totally different tone to something aimed at an 'eating machine'.
"Our recent work with Synovate to gain a deep holistic understanding of consumers around the world and across our major household categories has provided deep insight that is being embedded in long term business plans. The combination of a disciplined approach, a dedicated, deeply committed team and great creative techniques uncovered new learnings that will continue to be used within our business over the years. The Censydiam framework was particularly helpful in clustering markets across the world by comparing the fundamental motivations of consumers and providing our organisation with a common language easily understood around the world. Synovate is a very worthy winner of our 2009 Partner of the Year award and are highly respected throughout the organisation."
— Client, Global Consumer Goods Manufacturer
Trovato points to Synovate Censydiam's model for understanding human motivation as "one of the most valuable tools coming from the traditional market research world, a model that's been used widely at Philips to help guide their business strategy."
— Federico Trovato, VP Consumer Market Intelligence, Philips Consumer Lifestyle
"This is by far the best presentation and report I have seen covering the consumer as well as the brand in that amount of depth and practicality. I honestly thought Censydiam is a theoretical model but today, you made it very close to our brand and to our consumer who we didn't know anything about. It is very clear what we shall do next. Thank you for a very well integrated piece of research."
— FMCG client
"I think that more and more we need from research agencies an "added consultancy value" where they are not just simple results suppliers, but our strategic partners. A correct and rigorous methodological approach and fieldwork reliability are, of course, still hygienic factors of a well executed piece of research. According to my experience, Synovate is able to fully satisfy both the hygienic and the consultancy factors, especially when their senior people are involved in a continuous relationship of trust and sharing from the Company.
— Luxury Italian fashion house, Canali
"We chose 'CCL' because we believe that putting consumption motivations at the centre of marketing strategies is the most effective way to manage our portfolio and to exploit the opportunities from the market...Synovate, through the 'CCL' motivational segmentation allowed us to better understand market dynamics from the consumer's viewpoint and a more effective management of our strategies, both on a local and global level."
— Alcoholic drinks manufacturer, Campari