In a former life I made a living doing research… at the library and with
a 2400-baud modem, pre-Internet. (I've written this bit before.)
All these years later and somewhat
ironically, I am not a big believer in research when it comes to
marketing and advertising (particularly things like consumer focus groups, surveys and the like).
OK, so now I’ve made myself a pariah to a lot of agencies that love
to do consumer research on their clients' behalf for the money it brings in and the time it takes,
which allows agencies to talk and meet and talk some more about potential strategies
without ever implementing a plan.
Why the wait? Once implemented, there’s a chance of failure: the longer you can stall
before you place your bet, the longer you can sit at the table and
pretend to be a player.
I'm from a direct response background... there's no pretending... trust
your instincts, take a stand, move forward, adjust to circumstances...
and leave most research to the posers!
BUT THEN AGAIN...
There is a lot of very clever research going on, particularly among big box stores where there's fierce competition between Wal-Mart and Target and Costco and Sam's Club and... well, the list goes on and on.
You'll love this bit or research -- I did. Listening to the radio (NPR) and an interview with the author of
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
a guy by the name of Charles Duhigg.
The interview was excellent and makes me want to buy the book. For example, did you know that Febreeze was a failure until P&G made one change. Get the book to find out what that was -- it has to do with people's habits (of course). And the point was that had P&G actually asked consumers, they would not have told the 'truth' because they don't recognize their own habits.
But here's the research bit. It seems that Target can accurately predict not only if a woman is pregnant but also her due date within two weeks! And they can do this oftentimes before the woman herself knows she's with child.
What? How?
It seems that some smart cookie at Target noticed how a woman's buying habits change when she's pregnant, before the woman knows she's with child. The giveaway? When a woman of child-bearing years (of course) begins to buy unscented body lotions and creams, there's a good chance she's pregnant! Then, when she starts buying Q-tips and cotton balls, Target knows roughly how far along she is and voila they have a due date. Then the coupons start rolling in, appropriate to the trimester.
That's either brilliant or they're all going to one of Dante's special levels of hell.
It seems there's research... then there's RESEARCH! You gotta love it.
