Stop hiding behind research and go out and meet the public, says Y&R global planner
Agencies and brands need to step back from research and focus groups and go out to meet real consumers, face to face where they live, the global planning director of Y&R has warned.
Agencies need to “get naked” with consumers
Sandy Thompson told the audience at Mumbrella 360 that as much as brands believed they were being “authentic with consumers” their lack of understanding of people beyond the data researchers served up was creating a gap that could only be filled by getting out and meeting people face to face.
“All this knowledge is fantastic but it gives us a false sense that we know who our customers are,” Thompson said.
“When you have too many choices you are fearful you won’t make the right choice.”
https://youtu.be/fQPhHM7YW6k
She urged businesses to “get naked” and go beyond and look at the people around them who their influencers were to get a better picture of what they wanted.
Thompson said the industry needed to change its mindset about how it viewed and talked to people.
“One of my biggest pet peeves is that we call consumers ‘targets’,” she said. “How does it feel to be called a ‘target’?”
She said agencies could start the process by the simple act of looking up from their screens and observing the world around them, then going to places agency staff often feared to tread.
But she also counselled that clients needed to be taken along for the ride or risk relying on research to chart their course.
“Aligning the corporate culture is one of the biggest barriers,” she said.
“You need to take clients and put them face to face with consumers. It’s no sense hearing it (their story) from me; they need to hear it from the the consumer.”
Thompson said starting the process was simple and that agencies needed to treat it like dating, where the first date was uncomfortable but by the third date people were ready for a relationship.
“Where do you start? Look up. We spend too much time looking down,” she added.
“If you want to understand how a lion hunts you don’t got to the zoo, you go to the jungle. It will liberate you and take you to a different level.”
The go to the jungle not the zoo, get out there to understand the consumer has been the mantra for many years. Haven’t we since realised that there are far better ways to understand consumers than get out there and meet the people. I havent seen the founders of Google, or the executives of Nike, or the legendary founder of Apple go out there and meet the people – they just get on and do their job.
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Yawn…if Ad Agency staff got up out of their crumbling Ivory Towers and actually looked around and paid attention to one thing that “consumers”, “targets”, “people” and “humans” are actually doing (rather than pretending to know them) . And that thing is not engaging with “traditional advertising” because they are too busy looking at their mobile device or laptop to bother with print or commercial TV. That is the “Naked” truth.
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This was Saatchi and saatchis research point of view ‘x – ploring ‘ circa early 2000’s. I know, because I was there and sandy was too. Same message 12 years ago. At least she’s consistent
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My favourite speaker at Mumbrella this week. This applies at media level too. Encourage people to step away from the computers and have them engage more in 2 way conversations – be it phone or in person.. I think some call it “the art of communication”…
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We could always back our own instincts, like (I think) we once did.
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