BEIJING, Sept. 18 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Perhaps no corporate discipline needs more nimbleness and ability to change than marketing. And nowhere is this ability challenged more than in the consumer markets of China. Both local and international brands, challenged by combination of technological innovation, new media channels and dynamic information, are often stymied by on the task of making the best judgment from a deluge of intelligence and analysis. However, if the decision makers have a clear definition of the issues and a broader perspective, this “fishing in the flood” can also be rewarding and meaningful, according to Ashok Sethi, Regional Methodology Director of TNS in the in the Fifth China Branding Roundtable held in Beijing on September 18th.
In Ashok’s opinion, currently, the torturous and tortuous process of a market research project can not meet the requirements of contemporary and future marketing decision making, where time is of the essence and many factors and forces influence consumer decision making. While emphasizing the key data which is relevant -- consumer behaviour and consumer attitude, this senior TNS analyst stressed that the traditional data collection is inexorably moving towards its own demise, and new tools and techniques should be employed to harness the naturally occurring and user generated data.
“Undoubtedly, consumer behavior is better observed than asked and recalled behavior suffers from the problems of memory, selective perception and admission bias. The marketers also need to look at the area of user- generated attitudes. Today, in blogs and bulletin boards, consumers are writing about what they like, why they like it, their attitudes, and their aspirations. What marketers need is an ability to capture those and unravel the insights concealed among them,” Mr. Sethi said.
So, to avoid being drowned in the flood of information, and harness the sea of information, will be less challenging if marketers pay attention to “Five guidelines” as suggested below.
Firstly, one needs a clear definition of the issue that one is trying to address. Without a clear issue and in fact also certain hypotheses, it will be a futile exercise.
Secondly, it requires new tools and techniques, which can deal with far more complex data. The new information is not only neatly arranged databases from market surveys, but unstructured video feeds, and consumer comments. Image recognition, neuro-linguistic programming, sophisticated clustering algorithms and other such techniques need to be applied to extract meaning from the data.
Thirdly one needs to take a slightly broader perspective, and monitor not only the behavior and trends in the specific product category, but also the movements and trends in general -- e.g. trends in fashion, entertainment, leisure habits and values -- providing companies with a holistic picture of the consumer and the way her concerns and focus are moving with time.
Fourthly, it implies that the insight providers and insight users work much more closely as partners than the current practice of buying research and data as a commodity, often routed through procurement departments on a cost linked to amount of data, rather than the value of insights provided.
Lastly it will mean that data is meta-analyzed not just analyzed -- putting relevant fragments and evidence from different sources and fitting them in like a jig-saw puzzle to create the whole picture to facilitate decision making.
Organized by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the China Branding Roundtable is designed to help marketers assess the potential impact of a host of interrelated factors on brands, from social media to marketing R&D, and gain direct insights into the shifts taking place in China’s brandscape. Mr. Ashok Sethi, Regional Director of TNS in China, participated with two other guests on how to get more accurate, timely and in-depth insights from market analyses and intelligence.
About TNS
TNS is a global market information and insight group.
Its strategic goal is to be recognized as the global leader in delivering value-added information and insights that help its clients make more effective business decisions.
TNS delivers innovative thinking and excellent service across a network of 80 countries. Working in partnership with clients, TNS provides high-quality information, analysis and insight that improve understanding of consumer behavior.
TNS is the world’s leading provider of customized services, combining sector knowledge with expertise in the areas of Product Development & Innovation, Brand & Communications, Stakeholder Management, Retail & Shopper and Customer Intelligence. TNS is a major supplier of consumer panel, media intelligence and audience measurement services.
In 1992 TNS became one of the first international market research agencies to start operations in China. In recent years, TNS has grown substantially and established itself as one of the most successful and reputed market research and consulting agencies in China, with 150 professional researchers and more than 300 employees in three full service offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
TNS is the sixth sense of business(TM).
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