Boosting Your Bottom Line Through Insights and Strategy

Brand Awareness and Brand Equity studies reveal which consumers know your brand and what they know about it. We have never seen a situation in which consumers who are familiar with a brand know nearly as much about it as management thinks they do. Every aspect of product and brand communications matters. It’s not just what you say, often how you say it is just as if not more important.

We have also had the privilege of conducting brand equity studies conducted with the purpose of valuing brands for purchase. In this context “equity” refers to the value of the company as opposed to the perceived value of the brand to the consumer. Potential investors or acquirers often seek definitive answers as to a brand’s awareness (how many people are aware of it), market share (how many people buy it), installed base (how many people own it) and how many people are likely to buy it in the near future. All of these are factors in the calculation of the worth of a company.

• What impressions do consumers have of my brand?
• Does my brand matter, or do consumers just buy my products?

• Do my ads motivate consumers to buy my products?
• Do my ads appeal to my target consumers?
• How do consumers interpret my ads?

When we evaluate an advertising campaign we first seek to identify whether the message is heard through the clutter of advertising that hits everyone. If the consumer hears the message, the next question is do they understand the message. If they understand the message, do they believe it? If they believe it, is it undermined by a competitive message that says the same thing but either better or louder or both? Finally, does the message matter…does it motivate purchase? We have communications test mechanisms to evaluate all types of advertising regardless of their objectives.

• How do I position a new product?
• How do I differentiate a new product?
• What is product positioning?

Positioning is a marketing concept that addresses the innate consumer need to organize and understand the array of competitive products they face when making a purchase decision. Whether it is done consciously or subconsciously, we always want the best item to fit our needs and the best item for the money. The marketer can successfully position their products by understanding consumer needs and communicating product benefits to directly address those needs. The product with the best positioning is the product that fills a consumer need AND best communicates that positioning. We can help you with every aspect of this process from identifying consumer needs to identifying the most relevant product attributes to testing the communication of those attributes. And we can help the marketer to further fit product to needs by optimizing the price of the product.

• How do I price my products?
• Is there a way to figure out the optimum price for a product?
• What is the role of price and discount when pricing products?

Pricing is a science unto itself. We offer a great deal of experience and a number of technical tools to aid you in identifying optimum price-points. Conjoint analysis and discrete choice analysis are statistical tools that do an excellent job of approximating the choices consumers make when making real purchase decisions. Most predictive when coupled with detailed descriptions of the final products, these techniques are used to simulate market shares for both new products and new sub-brands, under various competitive pricing conditions. We help our clients to minimize cannibalization of their current offerings and maximize competitive impact.

• How can I get my product to stand out on the shelf?
• How important is package design to the sale?
• How do I know I have the right package design?

For some products, packaging is the first thing a consumer notices when shopping. Packaging can be eye-catching or informational. It can reinforce key selling points or contribute to overall brand and product positioning. We start with the objectives for the packaging and through a packaging study, seek to understand how well different packages deliver on the package design objectives and ultimately sell the product.