Pictures Speak Louder Than Words

Brand managers are faced with a wide array of business challenges: What are the needs of my consumers? How can I better position my brand? How can I optimize my portfolio? Where can I find new growth opportunities?

Quantitative research has relied heavily on stated responses using often long and repetitive lists of attributes. While there is still room for this kind of measurement, it is not always effective at capturing more automatic responses. Research should capture less conscious needs and motivations as well as the mental shortcuts people use when making brand decisions. As the industry increasingly recognizes the importance of capturing these more automatic drivers in the brand decision process, we are continuing to develop new approaches to how we interview respondents and formulate questions.

 

Leveraging Visual Metaphors

We have developed a new visual metaphor elicitation technique to capture less deliberative decision-making.
Our metaphor elicitation approach connects us to consumers through visual images and natural conversations, instead of closed-ended (and often excessively long) attribute ratings questions. Using this approach, we ask respondents to react to a set of pictures, with each picture implying a range of specific values or emotional benefits.

 

How it Works

Using a device agnostic survey, respondents first scroll through the set of pictures using an interface which looks a lot like an Instagram feed. First, we ask respondents to select up to five pictures to helps them express how they feel about a product in a given situation. For instance, we may ask them to select five pictures that express what they expect from having a snack in front of the TV or going on a family holiday. Next, we ask respondents to explain what these pictures represent for them. In total, these two questions typically take less than 2 minutes to complete.

 

Positive vs. Negative Pictures

We approach visual metaphors from two directions – positive and negative – depending on the business challenge.

If the business challenge is to optimize the brand portfolio or brand positioning, fulfill consumers’ current and known needs, or find white space opportunities – in other words, to uncover out what people want from a brand – we use a collection of pictures (200 in total) that imply positive feelings (e.g., pictures of a baby, flowers, the Northern Lights). (See Figure 2.)

 

Negative Pictures

If the business challenge is to learn how to meet unmet needs or barriers – in other words, to uncover what people find frustrating and challenging and are not getting out of current brands – we use a collection of pictures that imply negative feelings (e.g., pictures of yawning, time pressure, chains).

 

How We Chose the Pictures

For both the positive and negative set of pictures, we used a systematic approach, starting from a broad list of different values and benefits. This list was inspired by existing value scales, developed by the likes of Milton Rokeach, Steven Reiss, and Shalom H. Schwartz. We then enriched this list with values from our own needs and motivations research experience. Because of this depth, our metaphor elicitation approach generates more granular insights than traditional approaches where we use attributes.

Once our list of values was complete, we worked with an international panel of experts and semioticians to select pictures to represent each of the values on this list. The bank of pictures can be used across the globe – with studies already conducted in 20 markets across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East.

 

Structuring Unstructured Data

So, how do we analyze the open-ended data we collect about what the pictures represent to respondents?

First, we translate the data into the base language (usually English) using an automated process. We then leverage text analytics to extract key themes (the main verbal constructs people associate with each picture). Next, we review the key themes from the text analytics in conjunction with the visuals themselves and make any adjustments. Finally, we conduct a factor analysis and cross the factors with segments, target groups, or occasions. Armed with this information, we are able to define platforms for the client.

 

Metaphor Elicitation in Action

Metaphor elicitation is useful in helping brand managers address a wide variety of business and research questions, including segmentation, brand portfolio optimization, brand positioning, white space identification, and uncovering unmet needs to drive innovation.

A recent example of metaphor elicitation in action is a study we conducted with the objective of getting a deeper understanding of women in the Asian beauty market. Our focus was on women in China, Japan, and Korea as they influence beauty consumers across the rest of Asia and around the world. To capture the diversity and the commonalities across beauty consumers in these three countries, we used metaphor elicitation to conduct a segmentation analysis. Our overarching question was: What is the experience of being a woman today in China, in Japan, in Korea – the aspirations, motivations, struggles, and triumphs?

Our metaphor elicitation approach grouped women into six consumer segments. We found each of these segments, in greater and lesser proportions, across China, Japan, and Korea. Figure 1 illustrates just one of the segment profiles that was created using our metaphor elicitation approach. Based on just two survey questions (Which five pictures express what you are looking for in a product? and What kind of feelings, moods and emotional experiences do those pictures represent?), we were able to:

• Develop platforms
• Identify values
• Uncover the rich and real language that consumers use when talking about the category

 

Uncovering Human Motivations with Metaphor Elicitation

Metaphor elicitation can be added to a variety of studies, including usage and attitude, brand equity, segmentation, innovation, and customer experience studies. With every application, metaphor elicitation adds the dimension of capturing more implicit, spontaneous responses.

Specifically, metaphor elicitation:

• Uses a projective technique to capture people’s responses, thereby helping them to avoid over-rationalization and provide more intuitive input
• Generates a deeper, more granular understanding of emotional benefits
• Provides very rich data – both verbal and visual – that reflects how consumers really think and feel about products and brands