Academy Week started off with an incredible speaker, Ralph Blessing, EVP of GfK Group. GfK is a very large market research firm (#4 worldwide).
Ralph talked about how you can have the best strategic marketing platforms in the world and still miss an insight.
What would you do if all of your focus group research told you that your customers were trying to cut back on their sugar intake?
You would take out the sugar, right? And, you’d scream it from the rooftops!
But, what if you then saw a decline in sales? How could this be?
Because sometimes customers don’t know what they don’t know. And in this case, it’s that sometimes when you take out sugar, the product no longer tastes good. And that is still very important!
We also had a very interactive portion to our time with Ralph.
After learning about four key customer motivators: wellness, safety, gratification, and convenience, we developed a new product using these motivators.
It was a quick service restaurant (think “fast food”). And we spent a ton of time developing potential benefits and ranking them based on which ones would resonate most with customers.
While fun to brainstorm, it is certainly not an easy task.
In the end, we came up with a new Mediterranean/tapas bar where people can spend less than $10 and get service in less than 10 minutes.
Is this the greatest idea? Who knows? But it’s certainly good enough to get me in the mood for lunch!
Mike Hardman
About Me
- Mike Hardman
- Originally from the Washington, DC area I am a proud member of the Consumer Marketing Academy. I have a background in marketing strategy consulting and a Master's in Communications from Syracuse University. I am excited to call B-town my home until May 2011.......