Interesting links about Marketing Research

This post is dedicated to give a wide range of links to some great discussions and reports related to Marketing Research. I would be updating the list as and when I come across some good information online. This would serve as a fruitful database for reference :)

1)Web Chatter About Tiger Woods Begins to Shift Back Towards Golf - Nielsen Brand Association Map

2) GenNow parents saving for children’s education- IMRB

3) Purse string power - Indian Housewife behaviour - IMRB

4) Recessionary impact on shopping behavior - Nielsen

5) Ogilvy study on Modern Chinese Mothers

6) JWT- Brand lessons from Recession 2009

7) AdAge - Web Tracking - Emerging Research Tool

8) Social Listening - for new product development - Nielsen

8) Point-of-Purchase Observations & Interview techniques (CIM)

10) Innovative Quali techniques

11) MR Blog links - Interesting read

12) Online panel tips

Understanding "Niche" Marketing

Niche marketing is servicing a portion of a unique market,
or a unique portion of a common market, not already served.

Here, Unique Market can be in terms of a unique segment (based on demography, geography, psychography) - the product is not meant for the masses at all. But, because the market is considerably huge in size (i.e., total no. of customers), the nicher serves only a portion of this largely sized unique market.
Eg: The "luxury designer wear" market has a unique audience - so it is a unique market. But this market is huge and spreads throughout the world. As a nicher, I can open a small boutique in Ahmedabad and say, "I will design kurtas and designer sarees for Gujju women in Ahmedabad."
Since news channels are generally targeted to the masses, a nicher in this category can offer something unique to cater to specific needs of a smaller segment. Eg: a channel on Fashion news.

For the second part - Unique portion of a common market - an example can be Johnson & Johnson Baby soap that targets the 'baby' segment in the common soap market (which is mass).

For niche - 2 or more companies can offer the same products (eg: boutique) - but the individual customers should not be common between them. Eg: "A Gujju boutique with Bandhni designs" will still remain niche if another boutique "A modern khadi cloth design" opens in the city. But if another "Gujju Bandhini boutique" opens in the neighborhood- they dilute each other's "niche"status - and start competing with each other for "market leadership" again!

As can be seen in the above cartoon from www.CartoonStock.com, The first salesman has carved a niche for himself in the "garments" market as a "tie-seller". But the second salesman has entered the "tie" market as a nicher by catering specifically to the smaller segment within it - those who do not know how to tie a tie! Basically, both of them are niche players. But the customer segment of Salesman 2 would be a subset of the customer segment of Salesman 1.
Both of them are not competitors because one is offering a product and the other is offering a related service.

The basic purpose of 'carving a niche for yourself' is to get rid of competition.

The final point is that the status of being NICHE is not permanent, it is rather relative to the presence or absence of direct competitors.

MY JOURNEY WITH MAGGI 2-MINUTE NOODLES

Mummy! Bhook Lagi!
Bas Do Minute!
Maggi! Maggi! Maggi!

My oldest memories with Maggi dates back to 1994-95, when I was studying in 1st Std.
My sister (who was in 3rd STD) and I would come back home from school at 4pm everyday – throw our bags on the couch and shout “MUMMY! BHOOK LAGI HAI!”
Our Mom knew what we wanted. She would take 2+1 minutes to serve us with Maggi. The extra 1 minute, to add her “mustard tadka” to add flavour. It’s the same tadka that she adds to Dal for dinner.

This scene was shown exactly in the same way in their TV and print ads those days. Instant gratification was the key! My sister and I wanted it. In the ad, the mom would quickly break the noodle cake into two equal halves and put it in the boiling water. When my sister and I used to peep into the kitchen and look at our mom doing the exact same gesture, we would be instantly reminded of the ad, and especially the loud crunch noise that accompanied the breaking of the noodle cake.

We would try to imitate everything in the ad- especially the slurping in of the single strand of noodle by making our lips round. Even though it was a noisy way to eat, we enjoyed it thoroughly! I still remember, we had a set of 2-toothed forks instead of the typical 3-toothed ones shown in the ad. There was only one 3-toothed fork in our house and my sister and I used to fight for it daily because we wanted to eat in the same style as the little girl in the ad.
6 units of the Maggi 4-in-1 pack was a part of my mom’s monthly grocery list. When I asked my mom why she made Maggi for us every day, she would say, “Tum logon ko itni bhook lagti thi, jaldi jaldi ban jaata tha”. Maggi was equally loved by mothers because it was quick to make. And ofcourse, we kids loved it because it was “Mmmmmm… TASTY!!” The tagline was perfect “Fast to Cook. Good to Eat”

My mom is a housewife. She was always at home when we came back from school. Maggi knew this and hence it made ads that touched our lives! The mom in the ads during 80’s and 90’s were housewives wearing sarees. They were just like my mom and I could very well identify with the little kids who would relish the noodles. The extra mustard tadka to the dish made my mom feel assured that she has contributed something to her daughters’ meal. Moms in those days had a need to put in all efforts into cooking, even if they use shortcuts to cook- they did not want to feel guilty about not doing anything special for their kids. This is also shown in Maggi ads where the mom cuts and adds vegetables to the dish.

As I grew older and entered primary school (5th Std), I had already learnt how to cook Maggi noodles. It was the first thing that I learnt to cook! I remember, once the Nestle team had visited our school and had a quiz competition. They were giving away maggi noodle single packs as free goodies. All of us made sure that we went back home and opened that very pack , cook it and eat it on the same day. We thought that the Maggi guys are directly giving it to us, it must be “special” maggi from the ad girl’s kitchen

But when I was in 6th Std, Maggi changed! It had a different texture and taste. I didn’t like the new taste and missed the old one. We started buying packs of other brands and tried to develop a taste for it. But nothing was like the old Maggi. We stopped eating noodles after a few months as we became fed up of other brands as well.

After a few months, I saw ads saying “YOUR FAVOURITE IS BACK”. But I was so horrified by the yucky new taste that I decided not to buy Maggi again. I thought they would have mixed both the tastes and made it more horrible. But luckily, I got to taste it at a friend’s house. I was so overjoyed with the taste that I asked for 1 more helping. That day, I went back home and told my sister, “Our Maggi is really back!” We bought the packs and started restarted our maggi relationship.

When I started college, Maggi had gradually transformed in its message. It was already popular among kids in the household. Now, they wanted to expand to other members of the family- the grandparents, father, and mother. As a teenage girl, I was growing health conscious. And there was a general wave of health consciousness all over the place. Maggi noticed this trend, and changed itself into “Taste Bhi. Health Bhi.” The new Dal-Atta noodles ads showcased Calcium and Protein components. These ads also showed grandfather and father eating the noodles. Maggi had now become a healthy family meal.

The mothers in the ads were looking more modern and were working women. The “Mania” ad did not show the mom as a housewife. The teenage boy comes from the shop with the noodle pack and cooks it himself. I could identify with the teenage boy this time, who was casual but yet independent. He cooked what we wanted, which was also healthy (rice).

Maggi has grown along with me, the ads have grown along with me. They seem to follow my life and show it the exact way on TV! Today, I sit and remember my good ol’ days with Maggi. They have captured that as well. The current campaign of Maggi is about “Remembering your good ol’ days with Maggi”. It has recently launched “MAIN AUR MERI MAGGI” campaign in commensuration of 25 years of Maggi in India.

This new campaign is interactive. Maggi is now cashing in on the memories people have with it. Licking waali Maggi.... Hostel waali Maggi.... Camping waali Maggi... Recently, there has been a slow decline in people’s connection with Maggi. This is because the departmental stores and supermarkets are stacked with 10 different brands of noodles. Maggi wants to remind everybody about the beautiful memories and relationship that everybody shares with the brand. All the new ads are now giving everybody another reason to love the brand.



Maggi will always be an iconic brand. It has now become more of a generic name for a dish – like “panipuri”. There is also an orkut community on “Maggi Lovers”. A brand that is so well-knit in our lives, it becomes impossible to imagine our life without it.

Some of Maggi’s old and new ads can be seen here:
http://www.maggi.in/merimaggitvc.aspx

My Print Ads for Education Times

The Importance of Education

Education is important.
The ads depict the importance of education in a person's life. Education purveys a fecund frame of mind to people. It widens the horizon of their imagination. They become truly free to make the right decisions. Confidence becomes concomitant with education.






It is difficult to imagine a life without education. The entire basis on one's personality is the education that one possesses. It is salutary for the mental well being of every person. It is panacea when used in the right way.

Life in 4000 A.D.

Future world painting by Fred Freeman (1906-1988)

Hi! I’m Tanvi Gupta, a student of Level X of the “Edu-Circuit” school located on the Earth. Today, I’m going to tell you about my day…

I woke up at 7:50 A.M S.E.T. (Standard Earth Time) when the biological alarm clock connected to my brain set off and automatically secreted anti-soporific agents in my body. After getting up, I walked into my new “Clean-o-matic” machine that helped me get ready for school. The new machine has all the settings customized for me- the electronic toothbrush, my tooth paste flavor, temperature of water, my favorite soap, automatic hair-dresser and also my school uniform (completely ironed).

I got ready by 7:52 A.M. S.E.T and had my favorite breakfast, a couple of “sandwich pills” that provide me instant satisfaction & nutrition of 2 sandwiches in a single gulp! I stuck my “nano-book” behind my ears and was ready for school. My grandmother tells me that when her mother used to go to school, they actually used to take huge books that were double the size of our palm! Oh my God! Its so hard to believe that! Our ancestors were really very primitive…..

Anyways, at sharp 7:54 A.M. S.E.T. I entered the “teleporter” that instantly transmitted me to school. As I entered the lobby, the electronic records automatically got updated with my attendance for the day. Our school is one of the most famous schools in the “Milky-Andro” Galaxy belt. That’s the reason we have many alien students enrolling every year. I reached my classroom at 7:55 A.M. and saw that the class was already full. The first row was occupied by the “Zilchos” from planet “Zilch”, the invisible planet from our neighbouring galaxy Andromeda. They look similar to humans but with the absence of a nose. They use their palms to smell. So they make sure that their hands are kept clean always!

The second row was occupied by the “Ezhiopians” from “Ezhiopia” which is the seventy eighth moon of planet “Zoogoooo”. They are very different because they consume food through their skin which is porous. So, you better be careful the next time you shake hands with or hug an ezhiopian! But jokes apart, they are very friendly and helpful by nature. The last three rows were occupied by earthlings, moonlings and marsians. Actually, all of us from the Solar system are quite united in the class. In our history lessons we learnt that many years ago there was a geo-bio-racial discrimination between people from earth and mars due to the red colouration of martians. But now, we have crossed all inter-planetary racial barriers. But we still need to overcome the inter-galaxial boundaries…

We had our Cosmography class at 8:00 A.M. S.E.T. Our class teacher “Tutor #2435” was the latest model of the techno-tutor series of robots with the highest level of artificial intelligence and advanced cognitive abilities. She* entered the class from under the desk and greeted us all. Then she started giving us the codes of the various sources of information about the various planets which were fed into our nano books. The nano books are equipped with the latest technology and all the information automatically gets neurotransmitted into our brains! But this process is done at a steady pace to ensure permanent settlement in the grey cells. I have heard another shocking fact from my granny that our ancestors used to write in books using an instrument called pen that had a coloured fluid inside. How is it possible when there are zero-gravity classrooms? The fluid ink will not be able to flow down at all!

*( the Intergalaxial Institute of Gender Balancing – IIGB, has passed a legislation that the robots have to be addressed with a female pronoun because of the fall in the percentage of female organisms in the galaxy)

Anyways, the classes continued as usual. I had a couple of meal pills for lunch. Post-lunch, I felt quite heavy. I guess I had a pill too much. I had a hydro-pill to quench my thirst. The hydro pill is equivalent to water of the ancient days. As you know, earth is the only planet that had water content. But everything dried up centuries ago. The hydro pill is synthetic compact water generated in the laboratory. We have learnt to adapt without real water through evolution over the past few centuries!

The last class for the day was Language, at 3:00 P.M S.E.T. We all had selected the language of our choice. I had selected “Ezhiopian” language because I find it very interesting to learn inter-galaxial languages. And it would also be useful for my future because I’m planning to move to Ezhiopia for my further studies. They do not use the mouth or vocal chords to communicate. Instead, this language uses claps, snaps and sneezes! Its an amazing adventure to learn such languages!

School was done for the day at 4:00 P.M. S.E.T. I teleported home by 4:05 P.M. Now, it was time to visit my favourite place on earth – The Forestarium! It is the most beautiful scene that I have ever seen. It is a pre-historic piece of land that has been conserved and showcased. It contains a bunch of around 25 huge green and brown pole-like structures called “Trees”! These vegetative organisms have become extinct centuries ago! But we are lucky enough to be able to witness atleast a bunch of these today.

My mom also gave me a pleasant news that our cousins are coming to visit us from the Moon. I love my cousins a lot. We all have grown up together. But last year, they had to shift to the moon because the population on the Mesosphere of the earth has also surpassed the limit. Last century, the population on the earth’s crust, troposphere and stratosphere had reached its peak. Each layer of the Earth’s atmosphere is being utilized one by one to build zero-gravity apartments every year! The Moon is also almost full! ;)

Today was an eventful day…

Anyways, its bed-time for me now…

I need to switch off my brain and keep it for charging. Need to use it tomorrow in class!

Good night (in case you have a period called “night” in your planet)

Visual Thinking - the best way to learn

Visual Thinking is something that has always purveyed strength to my concentration levels. From among the 5 senses, the sense of vision is the most important one for me. Since childhood, I have always been attracted to visual content that textual or audio. Even if one reads through a text, the mind creates various kinds of images with circles and arrows, dynamic transactions between people, objects, shapes, colors, etc... The simple black and white text on paper turns into a beautiful, colorful collage of characters in our mind.

The canvas for this amazing piece of art resides in our right brain. The right brain is known to be the link to experience "Nirvana". It does not confine your consciousness to the "real" world. It creates or enters into a new world that has no boundaries, no definitions. A person who is comfortable using her right brain more often, turns out to be among the creative lot!

But visual thinking generally comes naturally to us. If I tell you that I have a friend called "Bob", you may instantly create a rough image of that person in your mind. Maybe that person has a round or oval head! This can be clearly explained using the famous "Bouba-Kiki" effect.
I have 2 creatures with me. One is named "Bouba" and the other is named "Kiki". I have the pictures of both of them (not necessarily in the same order). Can you tell me which one is Bouba and which one is Kiki?

Generally, a majority of people will name the spiky pointed creature as "Kiki" and the rounded blob-like creature as "Bouba". This is the power of visual thinking that is innate within us.

Visual thinking helps a student to grasp concepts faster and to retain them as well. The Effective Elaboration that takes place within a person's mind after learning is an outcome of visual thinking. If you hear the word "Circle", the image of a circle will come in your mind. The 'database' of our mind is a zillion times larger and faster than any of the fasted computers or search engines in the universe!

A large part of this database lies within our genes. This means that we are born with a lot of images in our mind. That explains the "Psychic Unity of Mankind".

My Print Ad for Nokia Goes Green

Nokia went green with the launch of biodegrabale, eco-friendly handsets. It wanted to play a role in painting the city green. But this could be possible solely by the participation of consumers. One of the most effective means to reach consumers and to make them aware of the new colour of Nokia is through a print campaign. Hence, the Thinking Tigress pounced on the idea of a "greener planet" to be used for the ad.

The three hands create a subtle gesture of the 3 R's of conservation of the environment - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. These are the hands of the spirit of the earth- "Gaia". Nokia has purveyed her the power to enrich the earth and revive its verdant beauty. The contrivances that Nokia has provided to Gaia are the bio-degradable handsets. She has emphatically accepted these tools and holds them in her hands.

The man's iris reflects a fresh green colour. This has been further emphasized by keeping the rest of his face desaturated. He has just opened his window and peeped outside. The panorama is lush green because of the alliance of Nokia with Gaia. Furthermore, the logo of Nokia has also been given a green leafy plume - a souvenir from Gaia.

Gaia- Supreme Goddess of the Earth (Greek Mythology)