Open Up A Secret World: Using Blogging For Market Research

This global study on women's handbags removed the interviewer from the information-gathering process. Women were invited to blog about certain topics with more depth and detail than in a traditional interview setting. Read this article to gain insights into this process and the results of the study.

The sound of one hand clapping...
Given the roots of our profession, it is natural that we rarely call into question the primacy of our part in the information-gathering process. The central construct of “the interview” assumes two key roles: that of the respondent and that of the interviewer. Most of our methodological toolbox is designed to facilitate interaction between these two roles in order to yield the insights we seek. Furthermore, the drama of this interaction can often be played out in a context that is unnatural to the respondent and which can have an unpredictable impact on our data. We ignore this basic Heisenbergian truth because, historically, we have had to. (Heisenberg was a physicist who noted that we cannot observe a phenomenon without having impact on it.)

But what if we find a way to remove ourselves from this process? What would be the sound of one hand clapping?

Our Bag
The answer, from a recent project, is data full of intimacy and emotional content and rich in insight.

We took part in a global study commissioned by Greet Sterenberg of wejane.com, an informal network of qualitative practitioners. This study, on women’s handbags and titled “Bag Stories,” was recently reported on at Esomar’s Annual Conference in Istanbul. From Shanghai to San Francisco, from Rio de Janeiro to Rome, 150 women from 17 cities talked about what was in their bags, their relationships to their bags and the different roles that bags played in their lives.

We posted topics for women to cover in three chunks, giving respondents two days to reply to each chunk. We reasoned that this would give women time to ruminate over each series of questions, allowing them to reply in more depth and detail than they might in a more traditional interview process. Importantly, it also gave them the opportunity to take and post photos to illustrate their bags and their contents.

All participants were “handbag enthusiasts,” and the only other key requirement was that they had access to a broadband connection and a digital camera. None had prior blogging experience. We created a simple video protocol that explained how to log on, how to post and, importantly, how to comment on other bloggers’ posts so that we could get some interaction between our participants. The video also included instructions on how to post photos.

The important point here is that our participants were not part of the blogosphere — they were just regular people who used simple blogging as a tool to express themselves. Our protocol also allowed us to ask questions, follow up on specific issues and probe on key points. Participants were each paid $150.

The Blog: A Modern Day Confessional

These blogs opened up a rich, protean world. What struck us most was the confessional nature of the blogs, the ease and pleasure women took in revealing the detailed contents of their bags, the stories behind certain objects and the rich, often complicated relationships they had with individual bags. Compared to our traditional process, these blogs provided an unmediated channel to intimate material in which, at least in this case, our bloggers felt safe to disclose.

Here are some quotes from these blogs and some of the photos that accompanied them.

Remembering that first bag
“My very first really incredibly special important purse I ever had was my red leather Betsey Johnson purse. My boyfriend gave it to me as a gift for my 19th birthday. It reminded me of my grandma’s Louis Vuitton purses. As a little girl, of course I had no idea what a Louis was, but I knew somehow that they were very important. Excuse my French, but I thought they were a bit ugly. I knew they were important because when it rained, my grandma would hide them so daintily under her coat or umbrella and make the maddest dash to a car I had ever seen.”

“My first bag was bought by my mother when I was about ten. We found it at Saks. It was white leather with a snakeskin texture embossed on it, and it had a gold bamboo handle. I would carry it now if I still had it. I am certain I did not need a handbag then; I was like the Queen. At ten, at most all I carried was a handkerchief. However, those were the days of niceties like spring coats and white gloves, and purses were carried to parties, too. I loved this bag so much I showed it to my friend Marguerite. The next week Marguerite invited me to her house and opened a drawer in which she had my white bag and an identical one next to it in black patent leather. That just wasn’t nice. I’d been one-upped in fifth grade, and I haven’t forgotten it. Friends don’t do that to friends, or at least they shouldn’t.”

On the role of the bag
“I think, in a sense, that each purse I get for myself brings me one step closer to who I am. I really do believe that purses, more than clothes, shoes or accessories, define your state of mind at that particular point in time. They are also such a fun way to let the world know what you are all about, without the effort of carefully choosing the perfect outfit for the day, which can sometimes be stressful.”

“Sort of like a security blanket. For example, I was with my best friend Ashley one night, visiting some old friends from high school. When we got there.... my very first boyfriend, whom I dated for two years, was over at my friend’s house. I grew sooo anxious to get outta there as fast as I could, and then I thought to myself... wait a sec, I’ve got my favorite purse in my hand, and nothing could go wrong.”

What the bag says about me
“The fact that my boyfriend saw me as sophisticated really touched me. In my favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Holly Golightly states ‘You can always tell what a man really thinks of you by the earrings he gives you.’ I felt this way the moment I opened that purse. It was nice rich red leather on the outside, and on the inside it was leopard print. I just love leopard print. If I could adorn my entire life with leopard print, I would.”

On my relationship to my bags
“Wow, I never really thought about our relationship. Hmmm. Well, I guess you could say the Balenciaga is ‘my sherpa bitch.’ She (yes, she is a girl) is always holding my ‘shit’ for me.”

“This bag knows me to the fullest extent. We have been caught up in many different pickles together and have made it out just fine! This bag would have many great things to say about me, if another bag asked. It would describe us as a team and tell that other purse how much I have taught it and shown it off.”

“I suppose I would think of this bag as being an escort and definitely a he. I feel it is support under my arm and feel confident with it going about my day-to-day business, whatever that entails. Whereas the embroidered one and the little creamy grossgrain one are like girlfriends that go out with me in the evenings and make me feel feminine and girly."

It is not that difficult or expensive to create respondent blogs using available sites and tools. A commitment should be made to managing participant questions, logging them on and, importantly, managing their posts, particularly if there are to be follow-up questions after each set of postings.

This tool is ideal when there is a strong emotional connection between an audience and the subject. It could be a product category, a brand or an activity. The process heightens the promise of revelation and insight, of storytelling, of the confessional intimacy that we found. Use it at the front end of a project to provide material for our more traditional process or as a way of getting to know people better before they come into a group. And in these harder times, this can be a cheaper and faster alternative to conventional methods.

The Global Bag
Our own findings were mirrored in the larger picture. Handbags provide a channel into the emotional lives of women and act as a medium for confession, expression and storytelling.

Bag ownership and usage practices clearly vary around the world. Italian women are more fetishistic about their bags, owning by far the most in this study. London women’s bags are heavy. Women in Shanghai, Moscow and Cape Town are more likely to use their bags to demonstrate social status and success, while bag owners in Stockholm, Amsterdam and Hamburg employ their bags to make themselves feel good as opposed to important. And don’t ever peep into a Chinese woman’s bag — it’s the epitome of bad manners.

Bags have gotten heavier (up 38% in the last five years) as the roles of women have expanded, and they are required to do duty as logistics and entertainment centers, beauty parlors, emergency kits, trash bins and secret places where dreams, talismans and memories are stored away. From the research, the authors distilled four basic roles a bag might fulfill for its owner.

• The bag as means of control. The “being prepared kit,” which helps to have control over things that will or might happen. A practical and multi-functional container. Making sure you have everything you might need at hand. The mobile tool kit needed to transform from serious businesswoman to caring mother to party animal.
• The bag as comfort zone. The “feelgood provider” that can make you look and feel good. Bags give and exude self-confidence and can give you an attitude. Some bags you simply enjoy having close to you. Bags can provide protection and comfort. And some bags are so gorgeous, they just make you feel happy.
• The bag to create your personal identity. Your bag can be the canvas for your self-portrait, helping you shape your individuality, identity and style. The bag connects with your feminine side, your maturity or your playfulness. It expresses your virtues and vices.
• The bag to convey a message about you. Your bag can serve as “impression manager,” telling others how you want to be seen. It is a social marker, signaling where you want to fit in and where to stand out. A bag can show that you are a proud citizen of your hometown. It can be the proof that you have “made it.” Or that you just don’t care about making a statement.

The other story
The other real story behind this project is not related to the bags. It is the way we all worked. With like-minded partners around the world, The BRS Group joined up with wejane.com’s community of professionals to explore a single topic, handbags. But it could have been something else and, we hope, will be. Small, stand-alone, highly professional research companies and individuals are able to act freely, quickly and with enormous power. These informal networks can be put together for single projects, single clients or as enduring business propositions. Working this way is fun and low cost and, importantly, it captures the imagination of clients.

This article was originally published in the Summer 2009 QRCA Views. For more information on the Global Study, go to www.wejane.com or www.globalbagstories.com.

This content was provided by BRS Group. Visit their website at www.brsgroup.com.