Do we really need Research in Brand Communication?

Being part of the Advertising industry for over five years, I have come across various instances when we have gone to the consumer to ask her about what she needs, or she likes or would buy; frankly we go back to her asking the same question but because of the sheer size of our population, we are lucky, we don’t come across asking the same question to the same audience over and over again.

Operating in the business for so long and more importantly by just having lived in an Indian household for all our lives, we all have a perspective of the consumer, whether she is the housewife to whom we are selling detergent or the teen going we are selling the shampoo to, be it the father of two who we would want to sell the small car or the mechanic he goes to, to fix his car and get advise on which lubricant, tyre or battery to use. Do we really need to go out and find out more? Don’t we already know a lot about each of the above?

On the face of it, I feel we really don’t need any research. There are various reasons I say this…

General Knowledge: Like I have said above, most of the things we find out of research are not new news; they are either known by each of us or have been well documented over past researches.

Cover their A#*: A lot of times I believe research is used as a tool by the brand team to safeguard their positions, this need to safeguard comes from the lack of conviction in taking decisions that are straight from the gut. Once decisions are taken and a campaign is rolled out, the result is either positive or otherwise, incase it is the latter, research findings are used as a tool for passing on the onus of the decision.

Unnecessary Complications: Most often, the truth is extremely simple and exists right in front of us, but in our quest for the ‘so called’ ultimate truth, we end up complicating matters beyond comprehension. For e.g. hair oil has a simple purpose and is a tonic for the hair, but research brings in layers to beautiful hair like, if you have beautiful hair, you will be able to style them well, if you style them well people around you will notice you, if they notice you it will lead you to be successful, hence the final research recommendation is, by using a particular hair oil, you will be successful, how do we expect a consumer to comprehend this the way we have layered it, for her, its just a hair oil ad and the girl and the situation in the ad as appealing to her, so she tried it.

Lack of Truth: I sincerely believe, one can’t expect a consumer to speak her mind in front of an unknown person, be it groups, interviews or even questionnaires. The consumer may speak about a few things that she doesn’t like or like, but these are all motivated by the ulterior motive of appearing smart and intelligent in front of any audience. While there are newer methods like Ethnography that derive learnings by observing the consumer in her natural environment but we still need to be sensitive to the fact that if she knows that someone is observing, she will not be real, the actions/reactions will still be calculated

Having said all of the above, I also have a few thoughts on how research plays an important role in developing effective communication.

Spring Board: Research findings very often act as a tool to initiate the thinking on any plan. Verbatim by the consumer or reactions to situations could trigger fresh ideas that are firmly rooted in the consumer insight. These ideas could be in any respect, be it product, creative idea or the medium used, but it is a fire initiated by that one spark. Lalaitaji’s “Surf khareedne mein hee samajhdaari hai” I feel must have come from one such interaction with the consumer, where the discussion would have started from the choice of detergents to the final benefit of using a detergent that could offer what a housewife always wanted, hence it makes Surf the obvious choice.

Meet the Consumers: Interactions with consumers provides confidence in the mind of the brand custodian of the fact that he/she knows the consumer well. This confidence helps the brand custodian to think boldly and from the gut, without this confidence, innovations would have never happened.

Dynamic is in: The world changes everyday, there is a new innovation somewhere in the world every minute, how can the consumer and her demands remain the same? The consumer has become extremely dynamic along with the surrounding environment; research helps to keep us updated with the new trends and drivers, had it not been for this dynamism, a Surf Washomatic would’ve never been launched. Beyond the products, the medium, the language, the expectations all are evolving, keeping pace with these changes is paramount or we would end up marketing the wrong products and also gather the impression of being outdated.

While I believe there is merit in all of the above points, we need to come to some conclusion. So I believe that while research is important, it’s the methodology that needs to be appropriate.

Testing concepts and creative ideas with consumers in groups is futile, but knowing more about the needs, wants of the new age consumer through observation methods like ethnography is important. So while in the prior, the brand custodian has to go by the gut, learning of the latter will help him/her take those decisions with confidence.