Complex Brand Questions Require Multi-Modal Market Research Approaches

The questions clients are asking market research firms to answer about their audiences seem to be more complex than ever. In the past, researchers could be pigeonholed into either the quantitative or qualitative fields, uncovering what consumers were doing and feeling in relative siloes and leaving the analysis up to the companies and brands that serve them. This approach doesn’t work well in our modern, fast-paced economy – an economy inhabited by an ever-more-complicated consumer.

Today’s landscape requires brands to develop a comprehensive, 360-degree view of what exactly their target customers are doing, feeling, and thinking. Market researchers are being asked to do more of that development, providing insights and strategy in addition to data. We’re helping clients to stitch more pieces together because we live in a reality where the questions themselves have become more complex. To do this well, we need to break open the silos and adopt a layered research strategy.

Implementing a multi-modal approach where insights from various methodologies complement and inform one another can provide a foundation for success. For example, a quantitative questionnaire can serve as the structural framework to help us understand what respondents are doing, while qualitative approaches add color to those responses, giving us the “why” behind the “what.” But consumers can – or will – only tell us so much about their past behavior and motivations.

We’ve found that adding a third layer based in neuroscience can deepen insights even further by uncovering what the conscious mind is unable to reveal – the things that people can’t actually tell us outright. Our preferred approach measures a key metric called “immersion”: a scientific measure of emotional connection and attention. It reveals what audiences truly love and predicts their future actions. It can help create a multidimensional picture of audiences.

We put this layered approach to the test in a recent study with Activision Blizzard. As a leader in the esports space, the company wanted a deeper understanding of this particular audience, specifically as it related to emotional response and ad effectiveness.

In order to gauge the audience’s emotional responses and brand perceptions, we used a trimodal research strategy that included:

• An online quantitative survey to provide a base of more traditional stated metrics surrounding respondent perceptions;
• A series of qualitative in-depth interviews to provide context and color to the findings; and
• Emotional response sessions using Immersion’s neuroscience platform to reveal advertising’s emotional impact at a physiological level.

This layered approach allowed us to provide rich, multi-faceted insights into Activision Blizzard’s esports audiences. Especially in this uncertain period, riddled with fear and anxiety, consumers can be more guarded with their thoughts, behaviors, and data. Understanding emotions and engagement remains vital and the right combination of methodologies helps us deliver these deeper insights and inform strategy.

Brands don’t just want a pretty narrative or a set of numbers to crunch themselves. They need all the data brought together in a cohesive story so they know what they are up against and where their opportunities lie. As digital transformation continues to march ahead, and COVID changes perceptions for decades to come, a comprehensive understanding of the evolving consumer mindset and journey requires a new and deeper approach to insights.