Marketing legend and author of the recent book, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, Al Ries, states that brands go wrong when they attempt to go against what is in the psyche of the consumer. He’s quoted as saying, "clients always wanted me to say something that was different than what was in the consumer’s mind and we always said 'no, let’s run our advertising focusing on what people already believe in'." He has a point. The question is how?

 

MSNBC.com faced the same question after the launch of its revamped website at the end of 2003. Until that time, the company had been placing their stock on measuring online behaviour instead of brand equity. Mapping brand equity uncovers the strengths and weaknesses of a product or service within the mind of the consumer in comparison to competition within the market.

Eearly on

MSNBC.com, like other content providers, began regular user tracking studies after launching. Internally, they referred to this research as the Attitudes, Awareness and Usage Study (AAU). "We were basically taking an assessment of the news market and looking at news consumers," says MSNBC.com Vice President of Marketing and Communications Cherylynne Crowther.

 

"We wanted to see how people were using Internet news, what medium they turned to, and what types of news they liked everything from breaking news to health information and personal finance. We also looked at everything from radio and magazine to television, broadcast and cable. "

 

But the study, based on telephone-based surveying, or random digit dial (RDD), wasn’t enough. Explains Crowther, "We were at point where we were getting ready to field another AAU, but it felt as if we were not really learning anything that was going to be specific to our business in the long term. "

 

"We wanted to understand what our awareness was to get a better understanding of our representation and where we were in the market. In terms of ratings, we knew that we are one of the top two Internet news sites, and we've held that position for years. So we had that information, but still needed to know, even with those kinds of numbers, what our brand awareness was. So we began to look at brand equity."

Getting rid of their hangups

One of the first changes MSNBC.com made was to move from telephone to online surveys. There were a couple clear advantages. First, you are talking to people already within the Internet environment where they use our service. This was particularly important because RDD response rates had been dropping. Plus it made the survey more financially feasible moving forward.

 

More key, however, was the fact that the new measurement tool they were using The Momentum Engine gave them the ability to chart specific attributes of their brand. "We were able to drill down more into the consumer mindset and see which of our attributes resonated best with the consumer, and how this compared against other brands," she says. The new emphasis on brand equity also allowed MSNBC.com to apply these attributes to their overall growth strategy.

 

For example, research showed that the at work news segment was the most valuable segment for MSNBC.com, along  with Internet news in general. It also indicated that individuals who searched for news at work were concerned with reputation of a news source. In such, MSNBC.com knew that by partnering with reputable and established news outlets, it could increase its user base. It further provided insight into how their competitors fared and how well they in turn fared in specific attributes against each competitor.

"We scrub the results, meaning we remove overlaying attributes, breaking the information down to the most directly correlated," explains Synovate’s Fran Jones, who worked with Crowther on the project.

The online-based brand equity survey allowed them to see whether or not their revamp choices were the right ones. The survey showed that we are headed in the right direction. "We made some right decisions. So, you can say that it does validate our choices," says Crowther.

She adds, "Research sometimes is just confirming that you’re making the right decisions.  Managing your business, you want to have an understanding of what it is you need to do to deliver to the audience and what you need to improve upon."


Methodology

Telephone
An important consideration for telephone interviews, for either consumer or business-to-business, is that they shouldn’t last over 20 minutes. Also, reliable consumer telephone interviews in underdeveloped markets such as Vietnam and, particularly, in rural areas of China, India and Southeast Asian countries, are also not possible because of low telephone penetration levels.

Random door-to-door
In some countries, particularly Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, this is becoming harder and the results less representative because of security guards restricting entry to up-market housing estates. In Hong Kong, it is even becoming difficult to gain access to some of the less affluent estates.

Central location tests
In this particular instance, Singapore has always been expensive because of a lack of available facilities. If your client insists that you must do CLT in Singapore, be sure to warn them to book well ahead.

Focus groups
These can be done everywhere, depending on the target respondents and taking into consideration certain issues such as difficult respondents. Do not try to bring doctors, CEOs or frequent flyers together for group sessions use depth interviews instead. Other problems to consider are that traffic difficulties in Bangkok, Manila and Kuala Lumpor can affect starting times and turnout. Also, formal respondents in countries like Japan and Korea need lightening ups — erve drinks and use projective techniques.

Depth interviews
Tend to be difficult in markets where traffic is congested (Bangkok, Manila and Kuala Lumpur) as research executives need to take a lot of time out for each interview. Therefore, avoid in these markets if possible.

Ethnic and religious groups
In some countries there is a diversity of ethnic groups, something which needs to be considered in any sample composition (whether for qualitative or quantitative) and treated with due sensitivity. Malaysia and Singapore each have three groups (Chinese, Malay and Indian), which do not easily mix in groups (unless business or affluent groups).

 

In other countries, sample design is made more simple because the population is fairly homogeneous: Korea,  Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Thailand.

 

For the ethnically diverse countries, clients need to be made aware of the possible need for additional focus groups and segments, as well as additional translation.

Questionaires
Questionnaires are one of the more complex areas of regional research planning because they raise many issues:

• Language
• Subject matter
• Length
• Question phrasing

Language
When planning multicountry studies, it is good to be able to advise clients about the language requirements in each country.  This shows knowledge and helps to plan in terms of cost and timing.

 

For example, English can be used in several countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. However, clients need to be advised as to which groups of people are comfortable speaking English. Some may need to have the choice of both English and the local language (e.g. in the Philippines). Considerations include business, consumer, age and ethnic groups.

 

Care needs to be taken with Chinese language. Not all clients understand that written Chinese is slightly different in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.  Even the fonts required are different.

Subject matter
Not all subjects can be discussed easily in all markets. In Korea, for example, a recent attempt to question consumers on their total personal financial affairs was a near disaster. "If I tell you all those things, you will know everything about me," one potential respondent protested and declined to be interviewed.

 

Indeed any financial questioning in Korea (and Japan) needs to be broached gently.  Brash, undisguised efforts to know how much people earn and invest will not be fruitful. Therefore, don’t expect much from a short telephone interview to assess household income distribution.

 

In Singapore, political research is not allowed, nor is smoking research. In Thailand, beware of overtly sexual themes not suitable or anything referring to the monarchy or religion.

 

Be wary of taking questionnaires designed in affluent countries or Western markets and simply translating them for use in places like China. A recent questionnaire designed in the US and intended to be used in China asked people about their golfing habits and their length of car journey to work.

Length

A rule of thumb is to add 25% to the English language interview time a 20-minute questionnaire is likely to take at least 25 minute in local language. This has implications for methodology as the maximum length of a telephone interview in most markets is around 20 minutes.

Guidelines for face-to-face interviews are: 

• Door-to-door — up to 40 minutes
• CLT — up to 30 minutes
• Street intercept — up to 15 minutes
• Business — up to 30 minutes

Guidelines for telephone interviews are:

• Household — up to 25 minutes    (15 minutes in Korea)
• Business — up to 25 minutes     (10 minutes in Korea)
• Focus groups — up to 2.5 hours
• Depth interviews — up to 1 hour   

 

Questions and phrasing

Be aware of phrasing where Western statements may not be appropriate in Asia. For example, the description of oneself as impulsive or confident (for use in attitudinal questions) needs to be toned down in Hong Kong where these are considered to be negative or exaggerated. Be careful about politically sensitive issues, such as calling Taiwan a country in a questionnaire for mainland China.

Schedules

It is important to consider details of public and religious holidays around Asia when planning research in other countries. The last thing a potentially tricky regional study needs is unforeseen delays.
For major holidays, allow for at least a week before and after as people tend to go away for longer than the public holidays.