In-depth interviews | september

TV commercial – gorilla felled by a dress

Oliver Spitzer — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 07:52:43 +0000

TV commercial – gorilla felled by a dress

Objective

to analyse the advertising effect of a TV commercial and provide recommendations for the creative process.

Why

A commercial being run by a mail-order fashion retailer had come under fire in consumer surveys for its clichéd image of women. A thorough check of the commercial was carried out using heart-facts research.

How

At the most exciting moment in the commercial, the endorser interrupts the flow and steers attention towards a single detail – the dress being advertised. Although this scene was viewed very critically in the interviews, the emotion research revealed the crucial twist here: the endorser interrupts the flow because she is setting her own priorities and thus proving to be a strong personality and attractive role model.

What

Concrete learnings for company and agency as to what makes this commercial a success from a psychological point of view and measurable benchmarks for the production for further designs.

Depth psychology: we welcome contradictions

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:13:01 +0000

Depth psychology: we welcome contradictions

Objective

We want to drill down to the simple truths deep within people’s psyche, as these help us to explain consumer’s outward behaviour.

Why

Our behaviour is the result of an inner dialogue between our instinctive core, ‘Me’ and our outer, socialised shell ‘I’. The two entities ‘Me’ and ‘I’ describe the two hearts beating within us, which are virtually always in conflict with one another. This is also true for our decisions as consumers, where we are always seeking balance and calm.

How

Based on the psychodynamic ‘Me & I’ conflict model, we establish a structured understanding of people, markets and brands. Only those brands and products which can provide attractive answers to relevant conflicts can win through in the long run.

What

Our consumer insights describe a relevant mental conflict which is crying out for treatment. We frame these in insights in the form of stories as the most natural way of understanding the world and learning new things.

No story without drama.
No drama without tension.
No tension without conflict.
No added value without conflict resolution.

Fish – the alien on our plate

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:11:30 +0000

Fish – the alien on our plate

Objective

to come up with new stories for the positioning and product development of fish dishes.

Why

A supplier of food products wanted to gain a better understanding of how consumers approach and perceive fish as an everyday food, with a view to boosting the attractiveness of its range of deep-frozen fish.

How

In a multi-stage process, we visited the consumers at home, accompanied them as they prepared and ate fish dishes, and then conducted in-depth interviews.

What

We are a culture of meat eaters, not fish eaters. In eating meat, we incorporate into ourselves the strength of the animal, whereas our perception of fish tends to be one of slippery ‘aliens‘ that live underwater. Our client received essential insights into how to overcome psychological barriers towards fish and render the consumption of fish more attractive via better product presentation.

It’s a kids‘ world

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:10:09 +0000

It’s a kids‘ world

Objective

to generate insights into the best way for children’s and family brands to address their target group on TV.

How

We use a variety of methods to identify the daily conflicts lurking behind the façades of a supposedly intact family world. The ‘FBI’ method involves parallel interviewing of mother and child – this way we obtain two authentic angles on the same family and their conflicts. We get the test persons to depict the make-up of the family with the help of Schleich® animals; we can tell a lot about family relations and the test person’s role in the family from their choice of animals and the way the mums and kids assemble them in a family group.

Why

TV advertising for children’s and family products is faced with the challenge of appealing emotionally to both kids and the gatekeepers (mums and dads).

What

Parents find themselves caught in the 'Bermuda triangle of child-raising' consisting of control (fear of loss), ambition (highest quality expectations), and parental ego (time to oneself). Parents make demands on their children requiring more than they're prepared to invest in bringing up their offspring. The conflicts arising from this 'convenient parenting' provide the basis for successfully addressing both parents and children. This starting point makes it possible to position brands as conflict resolvers, and to select appropriate benefits and RTBs to design advertising media that get consumers on board by appealing to their psychological needs.

Psyche over tongue: indications of quality in coffee

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:09:22 +0000

Psyche over tongue: indications of quality in coffee

Objective

to identify factors that driver the perception of quality in coffee

How

Over 20 possible 'quality triggers' were generated in a multi-stage process involving in-depths and focus groups with end customers and trendsetters (online food bloggers): from the origin of the bean, to roasting and packaging, right down to the cultural rituals associated with drinking coffee. Emotion research was then conducted to prove which of the many possible options really do have an emotional effect and are credible for the brand.

Why

When consumers rate the quality of a coffee brand more highly in a blind test than with prior knowledge of the brand, it's clear that the communication side needs tweaking. Apparently, it isn't enough just to offer a good coffee. Which is why our client wondered: What drives the perception of quality?

What

The insights from the emotion research gave our client a basis on which to design a new quality concept, including the development of a new TV and out-of-home campaign, which was in turn again evaluated using heart.facts emotion research.

Men and women in traffic

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:06:05 +0000

Men and women in traffic

Objective

to explore gender differences when it comes to sharing means of transport

Why

A provider of 'shared transport services' asked september to find out whether the genders differed in their acceptance and usage of the company's international sharing offerings.

How

In single-sex focus groups and in-depths across various countries, we discovered that while sharing is of equal importance to younger men and women, each gender experiences completely different barriers to the concept.

What

We showed that ancient and supposedly long-forgotten gender differences play a major role in the usage of the latest sharing services. september provided insights that helped the client improve their communication by focusing on aspects such as cleanliness and insurance protection.

Vanity fair

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:03:35 +0000

Vanity fair

Objective

to create a knowledge base from which to develop a new in-house service for a national fitness chain.

Why

At first, the idea of establishing a brand new area for the fitness trainers to develop their skills seemed to slot smoothly into the concept of a premium fitness chain. However, it turned out that the insights required to get would-be trainers on board were lacking. And how would the new concept change the general public’s view of the brand?

How

A combination of in-depth interviews with (would-be) fitness trainers and an insight-based online survey provided valuable learnings and evaluations about a range of concepts.

What

The in-house platform will enter into operation in spring 2017 according to recommendations made by september. The target group communication addresses the implicit psychological motives that we managed to tease out of the would-be trainers.

Bringing together what belongs together

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:03:15 +0000

Bringing together what belongs together

Objective

to generate insights into how to fuse two staff recruitment brands under the umbrella of the market leader.

Why

Integrating newly acquired companies into the master brand is a tricky business, especially since it involves the merging of learned corporate cultures. This assignment called for a sensitive and discreet approach.

How

The september team conducted in-depth interviews among six stakeholder groups in all (staff, candidates and clients) to forecast how the planned fusion would pan out and to predict possible conflicts.

What

With the help of september, it was possible to identify potential conflicts and challenges in each group. The merger went smoothly thanks to our concrete recommendations for the overarching ‘narrative’ of the amalgamation and at the banding level. september continues to oversee the process.

The tariff of the future

Oliver Spitzer — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 15:50:49 +0000

The tariff of the future

Objective

to design innovative communication tariffs

Why

Our communications client required insights to design alternative communication tariffs for the future. Tariff-based research is challenging enough, but tariffs for the future call for a special approach.

How

The multi-stage, funnel-shaped process leads us from co-creation workshops (‘n-tables’) with extremely progressive ‘objective’ groups, to workshops involving our clients, right down to in-depth interviews in which the tariff ideas developed during the process as a whole are finally evaluated among broader groups of customers.

What

september has come up with a mental framework that reveals the drivers and barriers likely to influence how a communication tariff will be chosen in future. The recommended tariffs are in the process of being drafted.