The Pitch: Keeping track of your brand

By CARL CATO-SYMONDS

Everyone loathes the knock on the door from a market researcher or the call just as you are tucking into dinner. While these forms of market research remain necessary for some categories, these days talking to the consumer at point of purchase is far more revealing.

This new approach to brand tracking is being driven by fickle consumers, complex brand portfolios and increasing brand competition.

Consumers are increasingly brand-savvy and unlikely to be blindly loyal to one or two brands in a given market. Different occasions, and even emotions at the time of purchase, are dictating brand choice.

As a result, brand preference needs to be identified in more defined ways in order to understand purchasing decisions.

This means interviewing people at point of purchase. It's about observing and interviewing. This approach is revealing because it captures the consumers' thought processes while they are in the zone.

We're not relying on retrospective recall - it is all about the now.

For us, that means sitting at the bus-stop not waiting for a bus but interviewing everyday people about a particular bus-stop advertisement.

The generic cut-through measures, such as measuring advertising over the phone, can be ineffective and often miss the point.

We spend considerable time in bars for business, not pleasure, assessing beer-purchasing choices for Lion Nathan. This offers insights into what drives brand loyalty within the beer category.

Before Panasonic introduces a new television to the market, we assist them by interviewing customers during the purchase process, which allows us to gain a thorough understanding of how they came to their buying decision.

Video is increasingly being used as an interview tool as it brings the consumer to life and fits our business objectives of providing clients with the big picture.

We set up interviews with people in their homes or a shopping centre and bring along a camera crew to record the interview. Video footage enables us to provide greater depth and clarity about brands by conveying what consumers think and feel in a real and holistic way.

The footage is relayed to clients when we present our research findings and make brand strategy recommendations.

Treating markets in a customised way is paramount. Tracking methods are designed for a given market and the marketing strategies and initiatives of each client.

Too many traditional monitors treat all markets the same way, and many researchers shoehorn each market into a box, adopting the same collection and measurement tools.

So, what's next for brand tracking? Technological enhancements will provide brand marketers with more opportunities to be out there - with the consumer.

Brand competition and fragmentation within media will continue to make advertising cut-through harder to achieve. Good brand advertising will become increasingly emotively engaging as marketers strive to portray their brands' personality and leave an impression in consumers' minds rather than just a story about functional benefits.

TV will continue to be less important as more marketers take a multi-pronged approach to target and reach consumers through billboard, sponsorship, radio, print, direct and below the line. These changes will make brand-health tracking even more critical - and exciting. But keeping your finger on the pulse of your brand is what it's all about.

* Carl Cato-Symonds is business partner of Auckland brand strategy company Big Picture and has 20 years of experience in marketing and brand strategy.

* The Pitch is a forum for those working in advertising, marketing, public relations and communications. We welcome lively and topical 500-word contributions.
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