Multi-Cultural Hispanic

Case Study – Fast Moving
Consumer Products
Understanding Hispanic Values

Challenge: A large, FMCG company needed a deeper, real-life understanding of their Hispanic “core value” consumers.

Methodology: Year-long, Longitudinal Qualitative Panels were established in Chicago and Miami; participants were engaged in ethnographies (cooking, shopping, parties and family events), diaries, kids’ parties, in-depth interviewing and focus groups.

Strategic Insight: The insights developed over the year gave direction to Hispanic growth initiatives through a comprehensive understanding of the lives of the consumers.

• It also delivered key, strategic category- and brand-relevant insights to guide in-market activity and continued the client’s industry-leading ability to talk with Hispanic consumers where they live, shop and play.

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Multi-Cultural Hispanic

Case Study – Financial
Identifying Unmet Needs
to Develop New Products

Challenge: A major issuer of credit cards wanted to understand unmet or underserved needs and wants of (potential) credit card customers. Armed with this information, they needed an ideation session to generate new product offerings appealing to the Hispanic consumer.

Methodology: IMG conducted ethnographic, in-home interviews in Chicago and Los Angeles. Respondents were interviewed at Retail, the ATM, and assessing credit cards. We then produced a video report from the filmed interviews, and facilitated an on-site ideation session using the film as the “raw data.”

Strategic Insight: Representatives from new product development, channel development, brand and marketing were able to generate new product ideas that met the underserved needs of the consumers, and brand and marketing connected with their emotions.

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Multi-Cultural Hispanic

Case Study – Beverages
Radio Campaign for Upscale Brand

Challenge: A major distributor of alcoholic beverages wanted to assess reactions of respondents to a proposed series of style-oriented radio programs sponsored by one of their upscale high image brands.

Methodology: IMG conducted a series of focus groups and on-premise interviewing in bars/clubs. The Moderator used Storytelling as the main projective technique (the respondents act as Creative Directors to describe how the ad was developed and any modifications they would make to strengthen it).

Strategic Insight: We determined that by effectively tying the brand to the in-vogue, hip-hop lifestyle in a subtle, non-pandering manner, the program series had a strong potential to reinforce the brand’s chic, high status image for club-going, 25-35 trendsetters who establish taste standards for their peers.

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Multi-Cultural Hispanic

Case Study – Personal Care
Assessing Spanish-language TV Commercials

Challenge: A personal care products company needed to identify which of several proposed new Spanish-language TV commercials for their male cosmetic product should replace their current commercial.

Methodology: A full-scale MDR copytest was implemented to assess the new commercials relative to the current spot the older Hispanic male target.

Strategic Insight: The study revealed that the romantic scenario and appropriate accompanying music contained in one of the spots, resonated with the target and conveyed a “regained youth” benefit in a positive manner.

• The spot generated uplifting and favorable overall feelings within the target, outperforming the current spot.
• While one of the other ads also successfully conveyed a regained youth benefit to amplify product efficacy, the scenario depicted was polarizing, generating some negative reaction that countered its entertainment value as seen in the low level of favorable feelings generated among Hispanic males.

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Multi-Cultural Hispanic

Case Study – Baby Care
Communicating the Global Strategy Among US Hispanics and Latin Americans

Challenge: The baby diaper division of a package goods company needed to determine how to best communicate the global strategy among US Hispanics and consumers in Latin America.

Methodology: Focus groups and IDI’s were conducted among moms with babies in key US Hispanic markets and in Mexico City (key market in Latin America).

Strategic Insight: The study revealed that US Hispanic consumers’ perceptions of disposable diapers is very different from that of consumers in Mexico, where cloth diapers are still in use today among some lower SES consumers.

• The research findings allowed the client to take a step back and refine the global strategy in a way that resonated with both US and Latin American Spanish-speaking consumers.

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Multi-Cultural Hispanic

Case Study – Beverages
Choosing Celebrity Endorsers for
Hispanic Consumers

Challenge: The marketing department of a major spirits company needed to test potential celebrity endorsers among Hispanic males to gauge relevance across a series of attributes.

Methodology: A series of focus groups was conducted in key Hispanic markets in the US with the upscale, trendy target audience. The Moderator used Perceptual Mapping to identify the best celebrity fit (brand attributes were identified and listed on a grid, then respondents mapped each celebrity to define fit with the brand’s equity elements).

Strategic Insight: The research identified two potential celebrities, one of whom was a Hispanic woman while the other was non-Hispanic. While both performed well, there were subtle differences in reaction that made the Hispanic celebrity a poor choice despite respondents’ positive reaction.

• In the end, the results showed that personal relevance was more important than ethnicity when choosing a celebrity for an advertising campaign.

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General Market

Case study – Retail
Revamping the Shopping Experience

Challenge: A large supermarket chain known for its Southern roots embarked upon a program to revamp and upgrade their stores and marketing.

Methodology: Three, 12-month Longitudinal Qualitative Panels were established in Miami-Dade and Broward County, Florida. Anglo, Hispanic, African American and West Indian participants engaged in shopping ethnographies, in-depth interviewing and focus groups over the course of the year.

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General Market

Case Study – Personal Care
Assessing New Product Features and Messaging

Challenge: A package goods company wished to extend its portfolio of high-end personal care products for woman, while having a competitive advantage over other women’s brands and men’s products.

Methodology: Focus groups were conducted among female users and non-users of various brands. Moderator utilized word association and perceptual mapping to better understand which features were most liked from several product concepts, along with what messaging best described what they liked.

Strategic Insight: We were able to determine the most appealing concept, along with what particular features were considered differentiators. As a group, respondents were able to build a superior concept and the language to support it.

• The research findings allowed the product team to refine key aspects of the various concepts to create a more differentiated product.

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General Market

Case Study – Retail
Customizing Retail Display and POP

Challenge: A major consumer ISP needed to assess a new retail display & POP for their products and services.

Methodology: We implemented an ethnographic and on-site survey methodology; traditional ethnography detailed consumer interaction with the new retail display and sales staff, and a follow-up interview with purchases helped refine the findings.

Strategic Insight: We uncovered interesting patterns of shopper interaction that led to subtle changes in the POP display and sales staff interaction with the shoppers, helping to increase sales. The study also revealed that there was some missing information and the offer details were not prominent enough, leading to some confusion.

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General Market

Case Study – Financial Services
Assessing Credit Card Acceptance in the
Print Media Industry

Challenge: Traditionally, newspapers receive advertisement payments in the form of checks, not credit card. A major credit card issuer wished to better understand this behavior, along with what key levers could be used to increase the use of credit cards for payment.

Methodology: Initially, members of the Newspaper Association of America were interviewed, to better understand the space and whom to target. Subsequently, IDI’s were conducted with Chief Financial Officers or Comptrollers for national newspapers.

Strategic Insight: The study revealed the particular behaviors and business models driving the use of checks as payment, uncovering specific changes that would be needed to increase credit card use. Ad agencies were seen as a specific target for credit, since they are traditionally slower to pay.

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General Market

Case Study – Resorts
Understanding Barriers to Purchasing

Challenge: A high-end resort community with 10% inventory remaining needed to determine where prospects were in the purchase cycle, and whether or not current direct response mechanisms were effective.

Methodology: A series of IDI’s was conducted via telephone with prospects who had either responded to the advertising or had visited the resort community.

Strategic Insight: We found that respondents were favorably impressed by the exclusiveness and high-end amenities of the resort. The advertising was deemed effective in reaching the intended target. However the study revealed that outside factors, mainly the current interest rates, were slowing down the purchase cycle for many respondents.

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International

Case Study – Financial
Developing a Web Site for
Affluent Customers

Challenge: An international credit card company wanted to test a website concept designed exclusively for its most profitable customers.

Methodology: We recruited the customers to an upscale restaurant in Mexico City, and conducted mini-focus groups over lunch and dinner. The Moderator used Collage Building to have the respondents illustrate the ideal value proposition vs. the current perception; then they identified the gaps between the two.

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International

Case Study – Beverages
Assessing Packaging for Global Launch
of a Premium Tequila

Challenge: The marketing department of a major spirits company needed to assess new packaging designs and positioning for a premium brand of tequila in Mexico, the US and Europe.

Methodology: A series of focus groups was conducted in key markets – including Mexico City, US Hispanic and General Market consumers in Los Angeles and New York, and London and Madrid with the upscale, trendy target audience. The Moderator used Personification, which allowed respondents to first articulate the brand essence and then match each packaging design to the brand most likely to portray the brand equity as slightly more premium.

Strategic Insight: The research identified two strong packaging options, which updated the brand image while not alienating the core consumer in Mexico and the US Hispanic market. The new positioning, however, needed to be re-written in order to conform to the market’s perception of a premium tequila.

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International

Case study – FMCG
Understanding Shopping Behaviors
of Low-Income Brazilians

Challenge: A large, FMCG company wanted a values-driven understanding of how low-income consumers shop and feed their families in Brazil.

Methodology: A total of ten, day-long in-depth, in-home interviews and ethnographic shopping trips were conducted with low-income families in the favelas outside of São Paulo, Brazil.

• Every aspect of the interview was filmed in digital video. The video was edited into a 35-minute research documentary featuring segments on their values, shopping habits, product purchases and brand loyalty, B-brands, and family and daily life.

Strategic Insight: Using the video as a stimulus, IMG conducted an ideation session with the client’s marketing, new product and channel development staff to generate innovative ways to serve the market

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International

Case study – Global Image for Service Company
Understanding the Impact of Sub-Brands
on a Master Brand

Challenge: A large, global company wanted to understand the impact of adding national sub-branding to their master brand, across six countries in an extremely short period of time.

Methodology: A total of 32 focus groups and 19 hour-long in-depth interviews were conducted with customers in the US, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, and Australia by partnering with regional moderators. Projective drawing techniques and using powerful images to illicit metaphors were used to help maintain integrity across the language and cultural differences.

• The focus groups and interviews were filmed in digital video and allowed he project’s international moderators to view and understand the previous findings and maintain research consistency across the markets.

Strategic Insight: The team was able to establish the major and secondary expectations set for certain brands in each market, showing that certain pairs of brands worked better for meeting expectations of the master brand.

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International

Case Study – International Airline
Implementing an International Communications Campaign

Challenge: In the past, the airline had not advertised in Latin American markets. Before launching its campaign, it wanted to assess the messaging platform and TV spots.

Methodology: Two maxi-group sessions were conducted in Latin America in three markets: Mexico City, Bogota and Buenos Aires.  Each session lasted 1.5 hours (45 minutes of closed-end questions employing Parker keypads followed by a 45-minute group). This study consisted of a total base of 150+ respondents (25 to 30 respondents per session).

Strategic Insight: The study revealed that the overall messaging was appealing, but specific actions of the characters in the TV spot were detractors, and they felt key benefits were not being portrayed. In addition, the language accents were called into question.

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