“Concept Talk” - Concept Development Blog with The Concept Queen

The rush to get a new product or service developed and into the market, sometimes puts a project team under both time and financial pressure. As such, often a team feels they can cut a few corners and take their concepts from idea directly to quant. Sure, you save some time and maybe some money in the the short-term budget by skipping qualitative, but in the long run, a concept might under perform NOT because it is a bad “idea” but because it hasn’t been vetted before testing. A round of qualitative can help prevent some of these typical shortcomings in a marketing concept.

Not having consumer/customer language - We often forget that our target audience doesn’t spend as much time “over thinking” the product or service as much as a typical brand manager. Oftentimes, the customer h a somewhat uncomplicated reason for delighting in an offering. Unfortunately, clients can get stuck in the “manufacturer-speak” when writing concepts. The language in the concept might convince management you’ve got something great to offer, but concepts laden with “insider language” are often nixed by potential buyers for not speaking to them in a relevant and personal way.

Polarizing name choice - The name that you and your team might think is “cute” or “transparent” just might not be. This is an area that is often overlooked by marketers and managers. In some cases, the offering has a code name during development that takes on a life of its own. Suddenly a name that meant “everything” to the insider becomes the name/version of the concept that is tested for a “go/no go” market decision. Similarly, the team may spend so much time on development of the offering that the name never gets sorted out. Names can be very polarizing. The last thing you want to find out in your quant test is that the name diminished your purchase intent so you haven’t gotten a fair read on your product/service.

Logic doesn’t tie together- The marketer and R&D specialist understand all the inner workings of a product or service. They are close to the development process and have probably spent more waking hours thinking about it than virtually anyone on the planet. Unfortunately, what becomes common sense to the “insider” may not be quite so obvious to the target audience. A round of qualitative provides an objective review that can ensure that the concept isn’t confusing and the reasons to believe actually are believable and payoffs the promised benefit(s).

Too technical - Generally, a concept needs to communicate the ‘big idea” for the buyer, regardless if the end user is a consumer, a doctor, a CEO, etc. As knowledge experts, the tendency is to want to showcase how smart we are, rather than simply communicating the compelling idea. A good example might be Intel - there is a lot of engineering to make a high quality, high performance computer chip, but as an end-buyer we’ve been educated that Intel stands for quality. As such, telling a buyer that a computer has ‘Intel inside” is what they need to know to help them feel confident their PC will work well. It is the K.I.S.S theory - “Keep It Simple Silly” that a round of qualitative can help to sort out.

Single-minded - A client favorite is to tell a potential buyer everything that a product or service can potentially offer. While a concept like this will test well in quant because it will offer “something for everyone,” it will become impossible to deliver one selling idea that will satisfy all those who loved the concept. A round a qualitative helps to ensure that only one idea is communicated, so delivering it will not be impossible. In qualitative, if the question of “what is the main idea?” gets many unique answers, you can be pretty sure no one will know what main idea is really driving the win.

So don’t be short-cited and think the near-term budget considerations are more important than a final check to ensure optimized concepts. A little money spent on qual, might avert a costly mistake down the line.
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Sometimes a “best of both worlds” strategy can give your concept development efforts a boost. Gain qualitative insight “locally” with in-person research and “nationally” using online

Recently, I’ve been seeing more and more research opportunities that can easily leverage the power of online, asynchronous bulletin boards. Ironically, some clients still have some resistance primarily because they believe something is “lost” when one walks away from an in-person engagement. Let’s focus on the many ways your concept development efforts might be augmented with online research.

Broader Sample of Participants - The Online Bulletin Board allows you to get a much more diverse sample than a 2 or 3 city study. Virtually, anyone can participate in the board as long as they have a computer with an Internet connection. Studies can have respondents from across the U.S. or the world (assuming a common language is available).

No Participant Time Pressure - Online Bulletin Boards are an asynchronous meaning individuals can participate at any time of the day, which is most convenient for them. It does not require someone to drive to a facility at a specific time to participate. In addition, this gives the moderator the luxury of recruiting participant across multiple time zones for the same group.

Circumvents Incidence Challenges - Online can be particularly helpful when a client needs a specific target who is difficult to find. Online opens up the possibility of a broad cross-section of people across geographic barriers thus widening the pool of respondents. In addition, if a client has a list of buyers or an 1800# that captures emails, they can recruit using this “pre-screened” list for those individuals who have had experience with the product or service.

Saves Time - The time to set up and conduct a research project is shortened by using online technology. 20/20 Research pulled some numbers together and found that on average an asynchronous bulletin board saves about 1/3 of the time compared to the traditional groups (based on 2 groups in 4 cities). This is largely driven by not needing the spend time finding facilities in multiple cities, being able to conduct the research simultaneously with several boards, and not waiting for transcriptions (because you get one instantly when the board completes).

Saves Money - While the combined cost for recruiting, incentives and moderating is fundamentally the same as a typical in-person research project; many of the incremental costs just don’t exist. In an online venue, you don’t need to pay for recordings or respondent/client food (which we all know can really add up!). In addition, the travel budget drops to zero - no planes, trains, automobiles, or hotels - for both the moderator and the clients.

So, your big takeaway should be that you should consider adding online research to your next research plan. And remember, not every project is the right fit for this methodology. Consider taking small steps, such as a hybrid study with both in-person plus online research, to see just how your business might benefit.

T’was the day before research
When all through the brand
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even the main (wo)man.

The screener was finished,
The recruit had begun.
With hopes of finding insights
Which were second to none.

The team was excited,
And snug in their choice,
When picking a consultant,
There was just one name voiced.

The moderator had written
A great discussion guide.
The brand team was confident,
That she’s on their side.

When out in the focus room
There arose such a clatter
Clients sprang up from their chairs
To see what was the matter.

Away to the mirror,
They flew like a flash
Tossed the M&Ms aside,
So they landed – crash!

In the room, all were seated,
Energy buzzed from inside.
Giving the client a sense,
They were in for a ride.

When what to their
Wondering eyes should appear
But, eight excited respondents
Though, there were no reindeer.

With a charismatic moderator
So quick, lively, and free
They knew just in on moment
It was Martha Guidry.

More rapid than lightening
Through the guide she did blaze
It was so efficient and fun,
Clients’ eyes whirled in a haze

Now, Concepts! Now, Copy!
Now, Insights and Benefits!
On Packaging! On Logos!
On Products and Tasting!

From the top of the guide,
To the end of all groups,
She gathered great learning
As if jumping through hoops.

And then in a twinkling,
From the room, clients did hear
The knowledge they needed,
So they had nothing to fear.

She was dressed kind of funky,
From her head to her toes.
Where she got the cool earrings,
No one really does know.

A bundle of techniques,
She has in her back pocket.
She was gathering all the learning
As if launching a rocket.

Her eyes how they twinkled,
Her attitude so merry.
The respondents were helpful.
The discussion did carry.

She makes moderating look easy,
Like some magical elf
I laughed when I pretend,
I could moderate myself

A wink of her eye and
A twist of her head,
Soon gave me to know,
I had nothing to dread.

She listened to each word
And went straight to her work
And filled clients with knowledge,
Then turned with a jerk.

And laying a finger,
Aside of my chin.
I knew having Martha moderate
Was always a WIN!.

She sprang from her chair,
To the team gave a snap.
The debrief was astounding
Then called it a wrap.

But I heard her exclaim,
Ere she drove out of sight.
Think The Rite Concept,
Get your qualitative RIGHT!

@The Rite Concept 2009

You can not believe the number of times I see marketing concepts written by a marketer or R&D specialist while sitting in their office or cube at work. So, in a very David Letterman approach, I present the top 10 reasons you shouldn’t do it. Here you go:

10. Too many “cooks” in the kitchen – When writing concepts in the office, generally everyone wants input into the approach of concept. This could be a boss, a more senior manager, a colleague on your business, and even the ad agency. It is very difficult to keep the concept single-minded when multiple minds want to edit.

9. Too long because think everything must be in the concept - #10 generally leads to this challenge. Each person with oversight into the concept often has his own take on what is important and relevant. As a result, an “organic” concept is created which has something for everyone (in the office), and means nothing to the consumer.

8. Brings nothing new to the consumer – Writing concepts in the vacuum of the office doesn’t bring new insight from the consumer. One never knows if something in the marketplace has changed unless the current pulse of the consumer is taken. One could argue that the car industry did this. While Japan was creating fuel-efficient, smaller cars the American car industry overbuilt gas guzzling SUV’s and Trucks – and look where we are today!

7. Negative – The desire to make the product or service benefit sound like a huge “hero” a tendency to identify/set up the insight in a very negative manner. Examples might include: “I really don’t like it when…” or “It makes me so frustrated when…” You can easily tell where these are going and consumers generally don’t want to be reminded of bad news.

6. Doesn’t have appropriate consumer insight – Sometimes the marketer has really great ideas about the benefit offered to the consumer for a new product positioning. Unfortunately, a compelling benefit link in with the wrong insight can make the entire concept tank. This is really why you never want to flesh out the concept before any quantitative test. It is too expensive to blow it just because you selected the wrong approach to enter the consumer’s mind.

5. Not objective – As an employee, one has “inside knowledge” on what the hot buttons are for the company. As such, a tendency exists to want to showcase that area to please those in charge. Unfortunately, what is important to the company may not be important to your consumer. You really need a gut check.

4. Not believable – Often too much “techno-speak” gets written into the concept, which makes the concept completely unbelievable. This is particularly true because the “cube writers” are very close to the product or service. They try so hard to convince themselves that they can lose the simplicity of a well-written concept and the product/service loses its credibility.

3. Is illogical and/or confusing – Too many details can be included because the writer “knows too much” so he believes he must put all the support into a reason to believe. Since more is not definitely better when it comes to concept writing this just isn’t effective. Unless the product is extremely high tech, most don’t demand a lot of information just what is essential for believability.

2. Not written in consumer’s language – When companies write the concept, the language sounds more like a company than a person. It is very difficult to relate to one’s target audience talking “manufacturer’s speech”.

1. It doesn’t reflect your consumer’s wants and needs – And the worst of them all, you’ve created an offering that the consumer doesn’t see a need to have and you’ve wasted a lot of time and energy on a “flushed” idea.

The solution: Work with a concept development expert (like me! I know shameless self-promotion) who can teach and coach your team AND work with your target audience to build a smarter concept.

Effective concept writing is an art. Some are good at it, while others just can’t do it. With my clients, I often work through an integrated concept development process that includes research, analysis, ideation, and writing, but other times I just help clients with writing the “actual” concept. This could be for a preliminary concept screen or polishing the apple before a round of research.

As a brand management trained concept writer, I can provide an objective eye, marketing know how and writing skills (not copywriting skills). As a result, I can write a concept about anything because I understand both the required structure and the consumer voice. Some may question whether this is possible. Trust me, it is. I’ve written concepts on paint, pizza, tax services, chicken, flavoring agents, sandwiches, herbicides, and pharmaceuticals (to name a few). And yes, they all work.

Have you considered hiring an outsider to provide this critical skill? Maybe you should if:
1) your concepts aren’t testing well
2) your concepts all sound the same or
3) you have many parties feeding information into the effort.

Think about it. Your time may have come.

Don’t forget your are also a “Consumer” in addition to your day job. So when you are evaluating the concepts you’ve written, put on that hat as an objective screen: Would I say that? Would I think that? Would I want that? Would I even consider purchasing that?

When comparing concepts in a quantitative screener, make sure they are written in a comparable style with the same layout. Otherwise the copywriter might be “winning” the screening process, rather than the idea.

Creating and writing winning marketing positioning concepts can be done in a variety of ways; however, I am a firm believing that you need to have input from your consumer/customer through out the process to ensure you have the voice of the consumer captured in the spirit of the idea. As such, I believe the idea of writing concepts in a cubicle just doesn’t work. You need to be with the consumer and have periodic touch points to keep you on track. Although I often do this with in-person qualitative, I’ve also found that using and online bulletin board (OLBB) can be equally effective and offer some distinct advantages over more traditional qualitative. Let’s take a look:

Provides a more demographically diverse sample - Generally, we have buyers of products and services in a wide spectrum of locations. This could be as simple as a few regions in the U.S. or markets around the world. Either way, the OLBB can help link these consumers together in the same discussion allowing for the ability to compare and contrast experiences and wants/needs with a broader scope. Of course, these must be done in the same language and have like-minded habits for recruiting purposes, but imagine the richness of understanding how a person in the UK thinks about a concept compared to someone in Australia or the U.S. Typing responses allows for a “blinded accent” as well as 24-hour feedback.

Creates the unique ability to learn and build with the SAME consumer – An OLBB is typically structured for multiple days. I’ll typically run an OLBB session for 3-5 consecutive days which provides the opportunity to start with the basic learning about habits and practices and develop a full concept as they participate over time. The huge benefit to the client team is that they know immediately when they veer off course because the iterative nature of the concept building process will quickly reveal the problems and the clients already know how the earlier ideas played with the consumer. Additionally, the client is already “warmed up” by days 2-5, so the rehashing of baseline learning is not necessary so that all the time can be spent of augmenting the concept effort.

Allows nearly constant real-time collaboration with clients – And finally, the client can be involved very closely in the process. He is virtually a typed message away allowing for strong communication between the moderator/consultant and the client at virtually anytime. The client simply logs in a few times a day to catch up on the new learning. This is particularly helpful when you have some key client constituencies who can’t leave the office for a week to attend working sessions for the concept effort. The consultant can leverage their knowledge through a scheduled conference call at the end of each day in addition to their comments throughout the process.

So as you start your new concept development work, be aware the OLBB is another approach that might work for you. If you can answer check any box any to the questions below, it might be your best choice:

 You have a demographically diverse consumer base
 You desire to hear from the some consumer in more “longitudinal” way
 You have a key client team members whose input is critical, but their schedule won’t permit in-person participation.

Good luck and don’t hesitate to call me with any questions.

The July 30th AMA Marketing News kicked off a new Backpage concept “How I Did It” and featured The Rite Concept as the lead story. Click below to see the actual article.

Guidry Feature Article