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Projective Techniques for Advertising Research

Qualitative market research is often aimed at increasing understanding of consumers’ thoughts and feelings toward brands, products, concepts, advertising, social issues and other important topics. Projective techniques are indirect methods used in qualitative research. These techniques allow researchers to tap into consumers’ deep motivations, beliefs, attitudes and values. This is important because psychology has told us for a long time that much of what drives behavior can be emotional and irrational in nature. To some extent, these emotional drivers of behavior lie below conscious awareness.

They are very useful because people tend to have limited understanding of their own behavior; likewise, people often have difficulty articulating their motivations and desires. While direct questioning works well most of the time, sometimes market researchers want to investigate consumers’ deeper values and beliefs. In such cases, projective techniques are typically used in conjunction with direct questioning in qualitative research.

Below you will see some of the Projective Techniques in Advertising Research:

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The Sweet Spot

"The sweet spot is a place where a combination of factors results in a maximum response for a given amount of effort. " --Wikipedia

Also, Joe Pulizzi says: "Your sweet spot is the intersection between your customers’ pain points and where you have the most authority with your stories". This takes us back to one of the original questions: where can you be the leading expert in the world?"

This involves clearly knowing your mission, knowing the products or services you are pitching and intimately knowing your audiences. There’s no way to find your sweet spot without this exercise. It is crucial to any effective content strategy and especially important when creating targeted, "sweet spot" content that will resonate with your audience.

Discover the topics your target is interested and your expertise intersection and that will be your sweet spot. This area will define your content’s tone and message when talking directly with your target markets.

Which aspects of your product/s have the most customer appeal?

Do you have more than one target market?

What problems do you solve for them?

What value do you bring to their lives?

What makes you unique in the marketplace?

Investigate the reasons why your audience like you; what values do you share?

Knowing where and how your customers consume your content allows you to create content that will connect with the broadest segment of your audience.

Content needs to be sharable and accessible to have maximum impact.

Are they reading online, viewing video, or using mobile connections?

Create content that is compatible with audience consumption.

Continually post fresh content to keep customers engaged and talking with you.

Once you’ve defined your sweet spot, write it down. Make it part of your content strategy; include the description in your editorial calendar. Keep everyone producing content focused for consistent messaging and brand authenticity throughout your networks. Keep your content within the realm of your expertise to ensure credibility. Hit your Sweet Spot!

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The Benefit Ladder

The consumer benefits ladder is an effective tool for translating product features into functional benefits and emotional benefits. It forces you to stop talking about yourself, and start listening to your consumer. Instead of saying what you do, say what consumers get or how consumers will feel. This seems to be the simplest lesson great marketers do, and the rest of marketers miss out on.

The consumer benefits ladder helps turn your brand’s features into consumer benefits. You should stop talking about what your brand does and start talking about what your consumer gets. The four steps to building a consumer benefits ladder: 

Leverage all available research to define your ideal consumer target profile with need states, consumer  insights, and the consumer enemy.  

Brainstorm all possible brand features. Focus on those features you believe give your brand a competitive advantage.

Move up to the functional benefits by putting yourself in the shoes of the consumer. For each feature on your list, ask, “So, what do I get from that?” Challenge yourself to come up with better benefits by asking the question up until you move into a richer zone.

Then move up to the emotional benefits. Look at each functional benefit and ask, “So, how does that make me feel?” As you did in step 3, keep asking the question until you see a more in-depth emotional space you can win with and own.

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The Use of Archetypes in Advertising

Archetypes, as defined by Carl Jung, are "a universal and recurring image, pattern, or motif representing a typical human experience." Thus they are thoughtful representations of human characteristics that essentially describe universal human motivations. In advertising, archetypes have been used to help define brands and present them to consumers in a meaningful way.

Archetypal images are characters that represent deeply fundamental human needs and desires, and have often been used by the advertising industry to subtly persuade consumers to purchase their products or services. Although the names vary, advertisers use 12 archetypes to drive purchasing decisions. To be effective, advertisers must thoroughly research the motivators likely to be shared by its desired demographic.

Below you will find the archetypes some important brands base their campaigns on to reach their audience:

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Reverse Engineering Technique

There are many processes you can follow when creating an Ad campaign. You can sit down with your team and brainstorm concepts and strategies. You can adapt a campaign that worked well for you in the past. Or you could reverse engineer a campaign that’s been successful for your competitor.

Advertisers fundamentally work in one direction. They formulate an advertising concept with an ad that suitably matches the content of the desired landing page. They then aim to fill in the missing pieces between the chosen ad and a completed sale (landing pages, sales collateral, lead magnets and others).

From there, the focus shifts towards ways in which things can be improved. For instance, if an ad has received a poor click-through rate, an advertiser may look to amend the ad copy in order to boost its desirability to the user, or alternatively if there aren’t enough people signing up to an email list, then the lead magnets may be altered.

However, by reversing your advertising process, you will avoid spending time on developing methods that ‘may’ catch the customer’s eye, as you will start by analyzing what customers are already responding to on your competitors. With your current customers having already given you a shed-load of information on what encourages them to convert, it can certainly be considered as beneficial to use that data to re-engineer your advertising strategy to engage fully with your audience. It will ensure that resources are utilized most effectively and could give an important foothold in the competitive marketplace.

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Value Preposition

A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered. It’s the primary reason a prospect should buy from your client. It should convince consumers that this product or service is better than others on the market. It is the reason why the consumers should buy your product rather than its competitors. This proposition can lead to a competitive advantage when consumers pick that particular product or service over other competitors because they perceive greater value.

The phrase “value proposition” (VP) is credited to Michael Lanning and Edward Michaels, who first used the term in a 1988 staff paper for the consulting firm McKinsey and co. In the paper, which was entitled “a business is a value delivery system”, the authors define value proposition as “a clear, simple statement of the benefits, both tangible and intangible, that the company will provide, along with the approximate price it will charge each customer segment for those benefits”. In a modern, clear cut definition, Labeaux defines a value proposition as a statement that clearly identifies what benefits a customer will receive by purchasing a particular product or service from a specific vendor.

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The Importance of Branding Yourself

Your unique identity sets you apart from the competition and contributes to the overall success of you and your company. So, branding yourself means to develop a unique professional identity and coherent message that sets you apart from others.

Your brand is not only a tagline or a logo. It's a combination of your interests, beliefs, values, talents, skills - and everything else that makes you unique. This combination will be expressed in your works and therefore will make your audience remind of you.

In the Advertising World, "apples" will always recall Leo Burnett agency. At Seneca, "Left+Right" will always makes us recall the Creative Advertising program. The remarkable yellow "M" will always symbolizes Mc Donald's.

Building and marketing a personal brand is all about generating momentum and then sustaining it over a long period of time. Once you get the ball rolling, then keep it rolling. It's a lot easier to keep the momentum going than it is to start all over again from scratch.

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What does Pink Floyd and Macintosh have in common?

Of course Apple 1984 TV commercial directed by legendary Ridley Scott deserves all the credit for its great innovative visual language, soundtrack, message and brand positioning. However, just like the cliche “Nothing is new under the sun”, since the very first time I saw that TV commercial it reminded me the remarkable Pink Floyd’s video clip “Another Brick in the Wall” produced by Canadian Bob Ezrin (1979). BTW, if you like Rock n’ Roll you should get to know about this progressive rock band formed in London in 1965. Classic!

Well, just like the Apple commercial, Pink Floyd’s song speaks out against oppression, challenges injustice and doesn't conform to trends, and thrives off of making waves. Besides the quite similar rebel message, the visual concept of both TV spots has a lot in common too.

Below you will find both of them. Check them out and draw your own conclusions. They are two real pieces of Art! Fabulous!

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Simplicity - Less is More

The idea for this campaign is pretty simple. That’s probably what makes is so impressive. Basically, there were 3 images created showing packages being passed from one apartment or flat to another by handing it across. The appearance of maps of the continent on the buildings is what gives the entire image context. This “neighbors” Fedex advertising Campaign by DDB Brazil in 2010 shows that “Less is more” is a  phrase we are all to familiar with as creatives but very rarely do we actually get to see the concept at work.

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Same concept 11 years later

One simple idea of colored bouncing balls coming from everywhere in the streets of San Francisco. Created out of Fallon/London, and directed by MJZ's Nicolai Fuglsig, the commercial launched the new Sony Bravia LCD TV in 2017.

Eleven (11) years later,  in 2018, Apple floods the streets with jumpsuit-clad runners to promote iPhone XR. One clever touch caught by MacRumors: just before a group of purple-clad runners sprints from the back of a van, there’s a quick view of its license plate, which reads‘I-XR0941’ — a reference to the iPhone XR the ad is promoting, as well as the 9:41 AM time that Apple uses in all its stock iPhone imagery. As the video nears the end, a town square fills with a rainbow of runners, creating streams of colors flowing in various directions. The ad comes to a close with the tagline, ‘Make Room for Color’ showing across the sea of people and then on an iPhone XR screen.

Both would have the same incredible impact without the excellent choice of their soundtracks. Apple has "Come Along" by Cosmo Sheldrake and Sony has "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez.

Enjoy them!!

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Rethinking Values

Can companies rethink and re-position its values along the years? Yes, they can. More than that, if the market ask it for they should do it. 

In 2002, IKEA told consumers they were crazy to feel sorry for a lamp. 

The commercial below shows a woman who takes her old lamp out and puts it on the street, leaving it in the rain. However, the world has changed and IKEA was criticized for that. They were griped about how one should reuse, recycle or just avoid replacing because it was just fine.

By the end, a Swedish actor comes and says  

“ Many of you feel bad for this lamp. That is because you're crazy. It has no feelings! And the new one is much better”.

Times have changed. Consumers now tend to attach to brands which stand for important causes especially when regarding the future of the world. 

So, this year IKEA Canada has remade the commercial and the new one preaches exactly the opposite philosophy. It represents a strategic shift towards recognizing that recycling and reuse is a good thing. Besides, IKEA has launched an internet platform called “Beautiful Possibilities” with a number of initiatives aimed at recycling, reuse and even resale.

IKEA now says we are not crazy to feel happy for a lamp in a way to stimulate the reuse of furniture and avoid the great amount of garbage discarded on the planet.

Both fabulous commercials prove that rethinking values is absolutely possible when done with cleverness and creativity.

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Perception in Advertisement

Perception in advertising relates to a consumer's impression of a particular product or service that may not be rooted in truth. For example, a soda commercial using a thin movie star drinking the product may skew consumer perception of the brand and what they may look like after drinking it. This perception through advertising works to encourage more demand for the product. Unlike a product's true characteristics, that may be defined by research and statistics, the perception of a product can be impressionable and more ephemeral.

Why is that important?  Without perception in advertising, businesses may find it harder to make their products appeal to consumers. Advertising often works by appealing to consumer tastes, desires, fantasies and wants. Perception can be an important tool in advertising to make consumers feel like they can be a certain person, look a certain way or feel a certain feeling when using a specific product. For example, a beer commercial set on a sunny, tropical beach may make you feel that you can relax and unwind if you drink the beer. 

Skol Beer Brazil (2012) commercial below is a typical example of that.

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POST Method

It is a useful acronym which outlines the approach you should take when thinking about developing strategies to reach your target market.

P is for People: Who are you trying to reach? Who’s your audience? Where do they hang out? What’s the best way to reach them?

O is for Objectives: What exactly are you trying to achieve? Increase in sales? Brand repositioning? Better customer service? And how will you measure your success?

S is for Strategy: How will relationships with your customers change? What will be expected of you as a company? How will you handle negative comments?

T is for Technology: So now you know who, why and how, you should have a good idea of what to use. Wikis? Facebook? Twitter? Flickr?

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PRIZM5

PRIZM5 segments capture current demographics, lifestyles, consumer behaviours and settlement patterns in Canada. PRIZM5 is the latest release of the pioneering segmentation system from Environics Analytics that classifies Canada’s neighbourhoods into 68 unique lifestyle types. Continuing with methodology that integrates geographic, demographic and psychographic data, PRIZM5 incorporates the latest authoritative data from nearly a dozen demographic, marketing and media sources to help you better analyze and understand your customers and markets.

Source: https://www.environicsanalytics.com/en-ca/data/segmentation/prizm5

PRIZM5 Spectra was developed for the consumer packaged goods industry to highlight five key lifestages and eight urbanity/diversity groups. Like PRIZM5, this segmentation system classifies Canada’s neighbourhoods into 68 unique lifestyle types. Built with geographic, demographic and psychographic data, PRIZM5 Spectra incorporates the latest authoritative data from nearly a dozen demographic, marketing and media sources to help you better analyze and understand your shoppers, customers and markets. The system’s five lifestages are Younger Singles and Couples, Startup Families, Established Families, Older Couples and Singles, and Mature Couples and Singles.

If you wish to find your area segmentation, there is an online test available where you enter your Canadian Postal Code and have your neighborhood segmented. 

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VALS Survey and Profiles

Good marketing is inspired by good insights. Good insights about customers come from more than just product or service category or brand behavior—and from more than just demographics. VALS is a proprietary psychometric method that measures these and other predictive attitudes—in conjunction with behaviors and demographics—for developing countrywide typologies such as US VALS. It has 3 self-orientation parts: Principle, Status & Action and classifies people in 8 basic lifestyle groups as seen in the image below.

Each country includes people who are more or less impulsive or more or less deliberate, preferring the familiar to the novel; the same is true for other characteristics such as adherence to traditional values, me-first, and reliance on self. These attitudes connect to a broad range of behaviors such as brand preferences, the adoption of new products, and leadership qualities.

Source: https://slideplayer.com/slide/7085336/ 

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Conditioning: Classical & Operant

According to Wikipedia, both “classical conditioning and operant conditioning are processes that lead to learning. Classical conditioning pairs two stimuli, while operant conditioning pairs behavior and response. ... Also, classical conditioning always works with involuntary responses, while operant conditioning works with voluntary behaviors”.

In advertisement, classical conditioning makes consumers respond to a stimulus in a particular, unconscious way – for example, by salivating when they see a picture of delicious food.  That is why food chain super star is always their own speciality.

In operant conditioning, advertisers try to change consumers' behavior by using rewards or punishment. For example, by giving consumers money back after buying a particular product. The reward acts to reinforce the behavior, making the consumer more likely to continue buying the product. For example, coupons are a form of operant conditioning. Consumers use coupons to buy a product for money off, then continue to buy the product even when the coupons are no longer available, because they become conditioned to buying the product. Free offers are another form of operant conditioning.

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

It is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. Why is this theory important for the advertisement market? Because when you know the level of your target market in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, you can quickly determine what your prospects want, seek, and desire. However, when you aren’t sure about where your target market might be on the hierarchy, your marketing efforts become ineffective.

It isn’t a perfect customer profile which provides you with all you need, but it does allow you to quickly determine which group of people might be good prospects and which message they need to hear. What needs are they working for fulfilling? Think about the anxieties, fears and concerns those unfulfilled needs create for them. How could you present your product or service as the best solution, both in terms of meeting a need and reducing pressure?

In this sense Mallow's theory would help a lot.