Let’s start with the main point of this here post. Product testing in focus groups is almost inevitably a sham. And frankly, you can watch this viral piece from Microsoft and you’ll see it play out almost frame by frame.
First, you recruit some consumers off a panel that is owned by the facility or market research firm. These consumers have given themselves up to the facilities and admitted that they are willing to come in and sell themselves and their opinions by the hour. Unlike isolated recruiting where you get “regular folks” here you get focus group folks pretending to be regular folk.
They start a group by disparaging the existing product, especially if they are recruited as rejectors or have an inbuilt dislike for the brand/product.
Then, wait for it, they are presented with an alternative. All the sudden they LOVE the alternative. It’s new, fresh, innovative! Clients wet themselves, moderator gets complimented for doing such a nice job, respondent gets 125 bucks and moves on to the next group knowing that they will be invited back because they just made everyone very happy. That person gets a little gold star in the database and makes more money in the future.
See, and that’s the rub, they have a built in reward for pleasing those people who have invited them to come.
The only real way that I have found to break through this routine (and it is a routine) is to ask respondents what they would pay for said product. When they name a price say, “great, I have a few of them back here let me get one for you!” That is generally greeted with a lot of silence and then excuses because it’s not part of the routine. You’ve called their bluff and now you can get down to the real facts about the product and how they correspond with someone’s pocketbook.
Suburban Mom: Did you look in the phone book for a place to eat…
Suburban Dad: There isn’t a Chili’s or TGI Friday’s…
Suburban Mom: What about Applebee’s?
Suburban Dad: I didn’t look under the A’s
Me: (I’m not sure I’m a Hawaii kind of guy…and how freakin’ long has it been since I looked in a phone book for a place to eat?)
In a land where television is often directed to the lowest common denominator, I miss The Wire. Ok, I just said that for street cred. I actually never caught it when it was on TV but I’m consuming the DVDs like a thirsty man in the desert. I have to say that the season 4 opening is the most layered, insightful start to a season that I’ve ever seen. I feel like I’m loving Greta Garbo a few decades past the prime, knowing that there is an end and wanting to see every moment but not wanting to read the epitaph.
(and since YouTube (GOOGLE) is doing some Evil these days, copyrights be damned)
Another busy day here at headquarters but wanted to make a precient comment about Obama and his impressive use of new media. Over on his website they are live streaming his speech in Berlin (or at the moment, a lot of photographers taking pictures of people waiting for his speech in Berlin.) For once I feel like we have a candidate who is living in the same world I am and appreciates the power of technology to democratize not just information but democracy itself.
Faithful readers, I appreciate you coming back day after day to see that I haven’t posted anything new. It’s endearing and I’ll buy you a drink next time we meet. Work seems to be on overdrive these last few weeks and it’s killing my inspiration.
Which brings me to the strange intersection of working and blogging. I’ve been slammed with client work and learning all sorts of interesting things about the brands and categories that I’ve been working in. Of course I’ve also signed the necessary NDAs which make writing about those things punishable by death.
So while I’m learning all sorts of fascinating things that I’d love to share with you, I can’t. And frankly I’m heads down to the point that I’m not scanning the world as much as I’d like for the other new things that are happening around me. I’m sure this happens to other consultants but I also think that it diminishes the very value that consultants can provide — the outside perspective of the world doesn’t revolve around the clients products/services/experiences.
So I’m going to make an active effort to be a better blogger and consultant and get back to the scanning and sideways view of the world. Until then, hang in there.
With Barak Obama and the Democratic National Committee selecting Invesco Field as the host of the Democratic National Convention, Invesco just hit the jackpot. Granted, they might not want to be seen as political, but they’re certain to be mentioned thousands of times over the next couple months and featured prominently in the actual coverage of the event earning them a windfall of free publicity.
The loser, of course, is the Pepsi Center which was all game to get the coverage themselves. It’s a shame that Pepsi moved away from the “Taste of a New Generation” since it would have seemed so appropriate.
The Seattle SuperSonics have received permission (read: cash) to move to Oklahoma City. Fortunately, they will leave the name SuperSonics in Seattle where it belongs.
I’m always confused when teams move and take their names to a new locale where they make absolutely no sense. Yes, I’m talking about you Los Angeles Lakers and you the Utah Jazz. See, Jazz made sense when you were a New Orleans based team. When you moved to Utah you might have taken on a name like the Desert Bats, the Sister Wives or the 3% Beers. Something with a little local significance.
Naming helps bring customers to you and helps you form a relationship. The New England Patriots and the NY Yankees come to mind. They make sense and stir up a little subliminal emotional connection. So here’s my two cents and to hoping that as more teams move they take the opportunity to rename themselves and create new brands. It’s tough to leave a brand and history behind but it’s a basketball team and you have a big arena; it’s not like the grocery store or the web where folks are going to forget what you do and how you do it.
SwissMiss points us over to Girl Effect, a non-profit committed to helping women fully participate in their societies and affect economic change. A great cause but also a great site and short video. Looks like Keynote to me and just another reminder that I need to spend a weekend understanding how to fully use that program. Video here…
For all those all-important decisions when you just can’t make up your mind, ‘I can’t decide’ offers an answer. Not always a good answer but an answer nonetheless. And frankly, if you look at a result and say, ‘well that’s stupid,’ you have an answer already, don’t you?
check it out for at least a few minutes of entertainment: I can’t decide
