We filmed this at a recent AQR ethnography training event.

It’s 15mins of edited highlights featuring useful tips and rich examples, drawn from a jam-packed 3-hour* training session run by ethnography expert Siamack Salari (of EverydayLives) and semiotics expert Greg Rowlands (of Greg Rowlands Semiotics). Enjoy!

You can also find a brief writeup of the event here.

More AQR coverage here.

* In fact the training ran all day, the bit we didn’t show was the half-day devoted to worked examples with full delegate participation

And the winner of the Buyology giveaway is…Elizabeth Luke.

Elizabeth is a senior at the University of Southern California spending her final semester abroad at the University of Amsterdam. She is a communication major with an interest in persuasion and consumer behavior. She will be graduating magna cum laude in December 2008, and shortly after, she will begin her career as a research analyst for emerging consumer products at Nielsen BASES.

Elizabeth’s book is on the way, thanks again to Martin Lindstrom and publishers Random House.

Here are Martin’s responses to some of the questions you sent in (thanks for all the entries):

Q1. While your findings are quite interesting and counter-intuitive (controversy sells, sex doesn’t; product placement can be ineffective), most know that much of consumer behavior is borne from the subconscious. However, if this is so, how come market research, which often comes from conscious opinions from consumers, is so successful? If buyers are not fully aware of their true intentions, then how come we still get useful answers when we ask them directly? (Elizabeth Luke)

A1. I think the reason why market research is ’so successful’ is because, until today, there haven’t been any alternatives uncovering our subconscious mind. Think about it - most research today is only uncovering the conscious mind - this however is about to change and I think neuromarketing is likely to be the answer.

Q2. I would like to ask Martin’s reaction to the criticism the book has received (such as http://adage.com/print?article_id=132035). Is he confident that his conclusions stand up to scientific scrutiny, and how does he refute the allegations made about his methodology? (Simon Kendrick, commercial research consultant, ITV)

A2. There will always be critical voices when new methods are invented. Neuromarketing is far from the answer to everything - however it is (in my mind) a strong alternative to conventional research - and in particular a powerful tool in order to understand our subconscious mind. I’ve spent around $7 million creating the Buyology study - a 4 year long project involving 2,000 consumers and two of the most respected scientists in the world within the field of neuromarketing. Of course there will always be question marks if things could have been done better that said I’m very confident that no-one has developed similar studies at this high level at this scale. I’d like to stress that nothing is 100% correct in the world of science - this of course will always be the case with our work too. Finally - I do indeed work with a range of the largest anti-smoking organizations in the U.S. and across the world - this may be a good indication of that the results are solid enough to be used in order to improve our communication work.

Q3. I’ve heard it said that a brand can either position itself as good value or high quality, but it’s very hard to be both. Do you think this is true or is there an opportunity – particularly during a difficult economic time – for quality brands to also reposition themselves as value? (Max Willey, Associate Director, Continental Research)

A3. I think it is very dangerous ground and a strategy most companies should avoid. Sorry.

Q4. If everything I believe about buying is wrong, why do I ‘comfort’ buy? And what are your thoughts on shopping habits based on emotional responses? (Marie Greaves, Senior Project Manager, Lightspeed Research)

A4. Shopping habits are in 60% of cases driven by our subconscious mind - and thus “comfort” or habits or rituals - are often the main driver why we buy what we buy. What’s wrong is the way the advertising industry has (over the last couple of years) managed to capture the consumers - the communication has turned to rational and thus misses the opportunity to talk to our subconscious mind.

Here’s the original post… (more…)

 I think all the research industry should adopt a CFO, because what the CFO wants to know is not whether that ad. tested better than that ad., but does the whole program move us ahead in making brands more valuable in peoples’ lives and therefore dropping to the bottom line. (Alan C. Middleton)

ESOMAR’s 2008 Congress is nearly upon us and in this exclusive preCast, BrainJuicer Chief Juicer John Kearon chats with three of the keynotes about how cultural and technological changes are impacting peoples’ lives, and how the disciplines of marketing, branding and research need to adapt to keep pace with such change.

John is joined by former senior JWT executive Alan C. Middleton, popular anthropologist Grant McCracken, and design entrepreneur Richard Eisermann.

Listen to the podcast here

 STARRING 

• Alan C. Middleton, Assistant Prof. of Marketing and Executive Director, Executive Education Centre, Schulich School of Business, York University
• Grant McCracken, Anthropologist, Research Affiliate, MIT
• Richard Eisermann, Co-founder, Prospect
• John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer (host)

Listen to other podcasts in this series

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Common sense would probably tell you that stealing a bicycle using brute force in a high traffic area was nigh on impossible without being stopped or challenged. Well, think again. This video shows how easy it was for a guy to steal his own bike in busy NY using a bolt cutter, hacksaw and electric saw. And not just once but several times. He did this to try and understand how his bike kept getting stolen despite the fact that he secured it well. There’s a couple of funny bits towards the end: a police van drives right past him attempting the theft in plain sight, but intercepts the camera guy and cautions him not to stand in the car lane. Also, one person does eventually bother to intervene but there’s a twist that you really have to watch to believe. The result is a revelation not just for the guy himself but also for those manufacturing security chains and locks as it changes the assumptions they often work to.

via dvorak.org/blog

Series:MarketingTalk

The beauty of the internet for those keen to understand consumer needs and desires is that people naturally express these in social networks and other social media.

iWant is a simple, experimental tool we’ve built to mine this info from the twitter stream. Give it a spin if you dare

Series:AdTalk
Series:MarketingTalk

An insight is…A consumer truth that hasn’t previously been articulated…
(Sue Frost)

Who’d have believed you could devote two whole days of an event to talk about ‘insight‘? Well, fresh from some of the sessions, our little group convenes for a 12 min roundtable to nail what insights are, how they can be recognised, and what’s needed to raise the bar on insights delivery across the whole sector

 STARRING 

• Johannes Hartmann, VP Consumer & Market Insights, Unilever Foods
• Peter Laybourne, Chairman, Fathom International
• Sue Frost, Director, Big Green Door

Recorded @ ESOMAR Consumer Insights ‘07

ESOMAR was kind enough to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses

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Many clients don’t even realise there’s a problem
(Fred John)

 WIN ‘07  Recorded during a world leader meeting, our panel discusses ways to shift MR from a profession that uses closed, carefully controlled methods of data collection to one that cedes control and spends more time listening to people as they air views naturally, and so become more attuned to the new world of consumer self-expression and empowerment

 STARRING 

• C. Frederic John, Research Leader, MasterCard
• Frits Spangenberg, ESOMAR President and founder, Motivaction
• Larry Brownell, Executive Director, MRA
• Philip De Wulf, co-founder and partner, The Mission House

Recorded at the ESOMAR WIN ‘07 event

ESOMAR was kind enough to reimburse travel and accommodation expenses

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The assumption is that by-and-large, individuals make decisions on their own. My Herd point-of-view is that people influence each other, often without realising it

Mark Earls’ latest contribution to life, the universe and everything is gaining traction. His new book rethinks how people make decisions and discovers as a result that much of current research practice is fundamentally flawed in its assumptions and interpretation of consumer behaviour. Quite fitting for this self-styled ‘Contrarian’. The book provides psychology underpinning for many recent phenomena such as social networking, engagement, conversations, ethnography, blogging and predictive markets by showing how we act as groups and not individually. Part of our monthly column for ESOMAR’s Research World magazine

 STARRING 

• Mark Earls, author, Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature, Head Honcho, Herd Consulting

(more…)

 EXCLUSIVE  Mark Jones of Lastminute.com talks about evolving their B2B offering to allow partner brands to take advantage of their infrastructure and content relationships. Flemming Ostergaard talks about how it took LEGO’s worsening financial performance to wake them up to the importance of directly connecting with kids through ethnography. And Michael Spang talks about the challenges involved in regionalising the Kodak global corporate website to make it more relevant and useful

 STARRING 

• Mark Jones, MD, Lastminute.com
• Flemming Ostergaard, Director Global Innovation & Marketing, LEGO
• Michael Spang, Eastman Kodak

Recorded live at the Euro MR Event 2006

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