A*I/R Product spotlight

Revealing the innate consumer preferences that guide media use and product purchase

Recently, much has been made of the possible contributions neuroscience can make to market research. One core premise is that thinking processes are what differentiate people and become the common denominator in defining a host of behaviors.

But can we harness this 'brain science' without the off-putting use of electrodes or eyeball and respiration monitors? And what can this data contribute to perhaps the most central commercial research objective today – gaining an improved return on brand objective with our advertising dollars? How do we find that combination of who we are and our media preferences that can drive success in the media-brand connection?

For years this complexity of consumer receptivity and response to media has driven marketers to the point of despair as they seek to identify:

• target customers
• the right media mix to reach those customers
• the appropriate content, words, music,
• visuals to tailor the right message and
• the most effective tailored message to the target segment

Knowledge Networks was seeking to fill this research void in way that would not be obtrusive to a survey respondent. The result is a singularly insightful and respondent-friendly new capability that does not require data fusion to accomplish its goal.

Working with innate behavioral profile preferences, developed by Xyte, Inc, Knowledge Networks has captured these preferences for a subset of KnowledgePanel®, such that we can now tell you why a portion of the population will respond to a specific communication approach and specific medium/media genre placement. and we can tell you "who" will and "why" they will.

Going beyond traditional demographics, Xyte's profiles, married with the representative custom survey capability of KnowledgePanel®, bring a new tool to measure what motivates consumers and how to speak to them in their "brain language" when building advertising and a communication plan with a brand outcome in mind.

Licensing Xyting People Assessment™, which is used to qualify people into behavioral sets, Knowledge Networks can now assist marketers in search of a deeper understanding of return on objective or investment, finding the points where brands, media, and consumer preferences intersect – and affect one another.

What we found and how this works.

Let's start with a view of what is innate in our behavior. Most of us enjoy watching television and movies, yet we don't all enjoy watching the same types of programs. We also don't all buy the same products nor like the same ads. In fact we sometimes "just know" we don't like the ad or, while flipping the TV channels, that we will like the program and put down the remote. We look at a magazine cover and just reach for it,or not.l We don't stop to consciously think about our choice;we just make it.

These decisions reflect the innate preferences inside each of us, and they do affect our media choices, our reaction to advertising –and, consequently, the success of advertising efforts. Now these innate preferences are revealed and can be acted upon by marketers if we as researchers simply take the time to discover the connection between these preferences and consumer action. This can be done through a combination of persistent information about innate behavior plus custom survey research based upon your brand building objective.

The XYTE segments are indeed persistent, not changing for a person once classified, and are determined through a short online survey.

It looks like this:

Profit Customer Segmentation Demographic Quantification Behavioral Preference Qualification Age Gender Income Education Race Identify "Who" & "Why" Media preferences Tailor communications Buying habits Copyright © Xyte, Inc.

A 'profit customer' is simply the population target you want to communicate with – they can be brand switchers, competitors' buyers or any other brand target. From this approach we can still know the demographics for each person on the population of interest who may be your profit customer; but now Xyte's technology, applied to KnowledgePanel, can measure, understand, and predict human behavior so we can tailor brand building, from communications and media planning, based upon how we innately think and behave.

The size of each group in the U.S. population aged 18+ has been captured and is shown below.

Estimated Number of Individuals Per Profile U.S. Population Initiate 15.6 M Perform 14.1 M Classify 13.8 M Reliable 25.8 M Operate 6.5 M Practical 13.1 M Implement 10.4 M Organize 35.1 M Perceive 16.2 M Compose 6.6 M Verbal 10.5 M Clarify 6.2 M Plan 8.1 M Theory 7.4 M Analyze 9.1 M Conceptual 17.7 M Copyright © Xyte, Inc.

We know that each group has a different orientation -- short- or long-term views—as well as different communication preferences – comfort or functional words. We also know the genres they like:

Attracted and Engaged in Comedy Initiate 10 Perform 15 Classify 12 Reliable 16 Operate 5 Practical 3 Implement 9 Organize 11 Perceive 4 Compose 8 Verbal 2 Clarify 1 Plan 14 Theory 6 Analyze 13 Conceptual 7 Copyright © Xyte, Inc.

Yet where does your brand objective play in this persistent knowledge of a person you are trying to communicate with? Well, we can simply identify your "profit customer of interest" and take the following custom research steps:

• Survey the panel respondent about the brand of interest and competition
• Identify the dynamics that drive future profitability of customers
• Likeability or preference
• Frequency of purchase or usage
• Events or circumstances that push value of customer forward
• Passion about product
• Future purchase intent
  

We can then integrate the above with medium/media and genre, program preferences and create the profiles you need to develop your action plan. The result will be marketing strategy and tactics that are pre-tailored to reach and speak to your most important customers, in a way that will resonate with them at a deep and immutable level.

Acting on the Intersection of Consumers + Media + Message + Brand Unsurpassed interdisciplinary Marketing and Media Research Expertise Unparalleled nationally representative KnowledgePanel® Established Crossplatform Single Source Media Measurement Tracking Program and Brand Link Breakthrough neuroscience techniques provide upstream identification of innate behavioral tendencies Allows targeted consumer populations to be segmented via patterns of predictability in media, messaging and purchase KnowledgePanel® identifiers provide unprecedented linkage in custom brand and product research Execute the Bulls Eye through Accurate Communication and Media Targeting

To learn more about targeting your most valued customers through innate profiling, contact Kim Ficarra or (908) 497-8052.