My Blog

How many children in your focus group?

01/08/2012 11:06:00

Believe me when I tell you that there is huge difference in the quality of insight from a children's group in inverse proportion to the number!

Let's remember why we are running a focus group as opposed to any of these options:

sending out product with a questionnaire to complete
running a Hall test
putting questions on an Omnibus survey
asking kids in a store

What we want and need from a focus group is insight. This means we want them to have time to listen to each other, understand what has been said, decide what they think and respond. This process cannot be managed if everyone is talking at once even if your client listening thinks what a great time everyone's having and what a popular moderator they have.

The children are there for one reason only. For them it could well be about the money. Children know that if they are promised money they have to do something to earn it. In this case they have to pay attention, answer questions and make sensible comments.Naturally I assure them at the beginning of the discussion that there are no right or wrong answers but children do not believe this. They live in a world of right and wrong answers and the huge accompanying embarrassment when their answer is wrong. Therefore building rapport and trust in the group is essential and this is much faster if you:

recruit pairs of friends
recruit from the same year group even if different schools
limit the group size to 3 or 4 pairs at recruitment on the basis that you will lose one pair due to illness etc

Spending time in the early crucial minutes after arrival to get your group in rapport (I use NLP techniques for this) will ensure that they work well together and stay 'on task'.

Clients often think that the more children in the group, the more they will represent their age group but this is not the case. Like hens, a pecking order quickly establishes itself and the children lower down the pecking order will become mute. The ones at the top will vie for the moderator's attention and the discussion will deteriorate into chaos.

Instead, recruit your group for maximum rapport and this will result in maximum insight. I can assure you that as few as four children in rapport and relaxed, trusting the moderator and each other will yield more insight than 10 children.

If you'd like to know more about Kids Brands Europe visit my website here. You can call me on 01628 660618 or email judy@kids-brands.com to discuss your Market Research project.

Should you recruit stay at home dads to mums' groups?

12/29/2011 10:02:00

Whether as a client-side Consumer Insight Manager on Baby Food for Numico's Global Marketing Team or as Kids Brands Europe working for clients in Children's TV, it has always been a dilemma; do we include stay at home dads in our mums' groups?

I have many friends who are 'stay at home dads' and do a fantastic job. Yes, certainly they are responsible for what goes in the lunch box, what children watch on TV, what they eat for tea and what toys and magazines are purchased. These factors would lead one to insist that dads be included in any market research being conducted on kids products or services.

The question is rather, do we research them separately in focus groups for stay at home dads to ensure their views are considered as an important part of the market or do we just pop a few into each mums group?

I am afraid to say that in my experience neither of these two options really work well.

Adding a few into mums groups means that they tend to clam up partly because men and women communicate differently in groups. Men tend to talk in turn but not necessarily responding to what the other has said. Each comment just sits there in space which isn't really the idea of a discussion group. Women respond to each other but all talk at once which men find quite scary.

Separate groups are hard to justify especially in today's economic climate and given the global nature of markets, often clients can only afford to have 4 per country making it difficult to add an extra 25% to the cost by adding another group of stay at home dads.

So what is the answer? What do you do?

Judy Bartkowiak runs Kids Brands Europe and can be contacted on 0044 1628 660618 or email judy@kids-brands.com

Top 10 Tips for doing focus groups with kids

12/09/2011 14:55:00

Provided by Judy Bartkowiak, owner of Kids Brands Europe, a market research company specialising in researching with mums, children and teenagers, and author of ‘Learn Market Research in a Week’ to be published by Hodder in April 2012.

1. Recruit children in pairs of friends so they feel safe and relaxed. Recruit 8 for 6, more is chaos.

2. Stick to just one or two school years max. Children will be intimidated by those from higher school years.

3. Do not combine Year 6 and Year 7s. Children in secondary school are quite different from the top year in Primary.

4. Children love to feel that their opinion matters so stress that what they say will make a difference.

5. Children under 6yrs will prefer if mums are with them so recruit mum + child even if you will be talking to the child.

6. Do not provide sugary snacks or drinks unless you want to peel them off the ceiling. Opt for sandwiches or currant buns.

7. Throw your list of questions out of the window. You need a topic guide and be ready to go with the flow.

8. Video the group because their expressions will be more illuminating than what they say.

9. You are not their friend, you are there to do a job, like their teacher, so be firm if they need it.

10. They are very tired after school so do your kids groups on a Saturday or during the holidays.

Writing your Market Research Brief

11/15/2011 10:52:00

When commissioning a Market Research Survey it is important to give your agency as much information as possible. It may be tempting to hold back on some of the political issues, diverging corporate views and other contentious issues but unless the agency is fully in the picture, they cannot do the best job for you. The agency should be working ‘with you’ rather than ‘for you’ as part of your Marketing team. Give the agency the following information as a minimum.

What has triggered the decision to conduct this research?

Why is it being done now?

What is the hypothesis that they want to test?

What level of accuracy do you need e.g. is it insight or figures?

What decisions will be made based on the research?

Markets in which you want to research

Profile of consumers / purchasers

Budget and Timing

Whilst you may be reluctant to give the agency an idea of budget in the belief that they’ll spend the maximum for you, this is counterproductive. Quantitative Research is significantly more expensive then Qualitative so if your research objectives indicate Quantitative e.g. you have mentioned Brand awareness, they will have to do this quantitatively. You will therefore get a high quote when perhaps Brand Awareness was not a key objective.

It is also important to send them samples of the product and competitive product, as this will enable the agency to get a better picture of the market for the product and your brand position in it.

Background information they should also have would include:

Company brand and product portfolio

Corporate ethos

Brand history and past research findings

Detailed information about your consumers and purchasers e.g. what is there about this product that appeals to them and why

Brand personality

Channels of distribution

Pricing

Competitive scene

Once the agency has been selected, costs and timing agreed, there would be a detailed briefing meeting to fully brief the agency on the project. You should insist that the moderator or researcher conducting the project be at this meeting. Important aspects to cover at the briefing meeting are:

Recruitment criteria (sample)

Stimuli (products or product concepts)

It is not possible to provide a DVD of the groups after the research unless this has been agreed at recruitment due to data protection laws protecting the confidentiality of the respondents so this should be clarified at the briefing and appropriate forms prepared for them to sign.

The agency will invoice you on commission usually 50% of the value of the contract, as they will immediately begin working on your project. The agency will keep you informed on progress and you can attend fieldwork and encourage your team to do so too. Increasingly clients are involved in the focus groups and will be asked at the end whether they have any specific questions not already covered.

For Quantitative surveys there will probably be several drafts of the questionnaire for each market and sometimes this can result in mistakes and typos being missed as client teams concentrate on content. It is therefore important that the agency pilot (test it out on a small sample first) the questionnaire before fieldwork starts to ensure that any mistakes are picked up.

Before the first day of fieldwork, whether Qualitative or Quantitative it is your responsibility to ensure your team is fully briefed on what is taking place and given the opportunity to add any issues they feel have been omitted from the checklist agreed between you and the agency.

It is essential in multi country projects that you decide who will project manage. This is an additional cost and tends to be incurred when the company commissioning the research does not have a Research Manager. To ensure consistency of methodology and analysis and therefore usability of the end research, a project manager needs to ensure the needs of all markets are considered, that terminology is correct, language versions of discussion guide/checklist / questionnaires are correct, competitive products and pricing is correct in each market and that samples and stimuli are distributed in time for fieldwork. Ideally the project manager should visit each market to watch at least the first group in each set or hall day. Nowadays this is facilitated by web streaming which is available in most viewing facilities and enables the team to watch the groups live online and ask questions which are then relayed to the moderator.

Clients often feel that having attended a few groups or hall days they know what the findings are. However, an experienced Researcher will be able to effectively feed what they hear and see through a filter of experience and interpret the findings based on this.

The output from research should be

Debrief to the team with PowerPoint presentation (bullet points possibly also with some video clips)

Full report (usually also PowerPoint) shortly afterwards

Lastly, check that your Market Research Agency is a member of the MRS – Market Research Society – or ESOMAR as this ensures that they are complying with quality and legal requirements and that they are professionally qualified.

You can learn more about Market Research by reading 'Screts of Success in Brand Licensing' in which there is a chapter on Market Research . Buy it here

WHAT IS BRAND LICENSING?

07/31/2011 08:50:00

4. WHAT IS BRAND LICENSING?

Once you’ve built a strong brand you will want to extend the range of products you sell to increase your share of the market in that category or move into other associated categories where you have production capability, trusted suppliers and distribution channels already established.

Customers already trust you in this product category so not only will they want to buy from you for convenience but also because your expertise is assumed in this area.

Extending the brand into new product categories is called Brand Extension and usually refers to the extension into new product categories where the manufacturer doesn’t already have production facilities set up or distribution and category expertise. In this case the manufacturer licenses the brand out to another manufacturer with those capabilities and expertise. This is called Brand Licensing.

The promise between brand and consumer is sacrosanct and needs to be kept through constant reinforcement which strengthens the brand and allows it to stretch into these new areas.

This is the most widely used way to extend brands nowadays because it allows a brand to achieve new product introductions without the expense of the manufacturing costs.

It is essential to understand the essence of your brand in order to discover Brand Fit. Brand fit is the extent to which the new product is consistent with the brand image. The better the fit, the more consumers will carry forward the attributes of the brand into the new product area. In a worst case scenario, a poor fit can damage the brand image and reduce the value of the brand.

Licensing is essentially the practice of leasing a legally protected property (such as a trademarked or copyrighted name, logo, likeness, character, phrase or design) to another party in conjunction with a product, service or promotion.

It is based on a contractual agreement between the owner of the property (or its agent) known as the licensor; and a licensee – normally a manufacturer or retailer. It grants the licensee permission to use the property subject to specific terms and conditions, which may include the purpose of use, a defined territory and a defined time period. In exchange for this usage, the licensor receives financial remuneration - normally in the form of a guaranteed fee and/or royalty on a percentage of sales.

Most agreements are set out in a licensing agreement.

PROPERTY SECTORS

Television and movie licensing: Television programmes or series; movies etc
Sports licensing: Individual clubs; championships etc
Event licensing: Sporting events; Film or music events; calendar dates e.g. Millennium etc
Art and Design licensing: Photographs; paintings; designs etc
Food and Drink licensing: Food retail outlet promotions; on pack promotions; individual products or ranges etc
Personality licensing: Individuals, dead or alive, in all fields from Sport, Music, Film to Science.
Institutional licensing: Museums; galleries; tourist attractions; charitable organisations; Cities or regions etc
Corporate brand licensing: Individual corporations or organisations
Music licensing: Individual artists or bands; club nights etc
Fashion brand licensing: Fashion or designer labels etc
Magazine brand licensing: Lifestyle and specialist magazines etc

NLP in Qualitative Research

05/12/2011 09:41:00

As an NLP Master Practitioner and kids specialist I have been using NLP techniques in my focus groups for many years. I want to share these ideas with you and urge you to employ them too.

The map is not the territory

A key NLP pillar is that how the world looks to us is not the same as it is for our focus group respondents. Whilst we appear at the venue armed with briefcase, armfuls of stimulus material that has been painstakingly prepared and our ubiquitous laptop, our respondents live a very different life. They have usually had to make arrangements for childcare that they hope will be sufficient and they have possibly had to leave notes for various family members, text messages and even a meal. Their heads are full of the things they have to juggle and they are (if they are virgin respondents) probably worried that they look OK and will be able to answer the questions. They don’t know anyone there and wonder what the other respondents will be like and hope it isn’t someone they avoid at the school gate.

Imagine you are that person sitting in the group. How could you put their mind at rest and reassure them that whatever they say will be of value. We usually have a set patter covering this and the things we need to tell them to comply with the MRS Code of Conduct but next time you go through it just take it slower because respondents are hearing it for the first time and are unfamiliar with the process (we hope!).

We show them material, DVDs, pilot episodes, commercials, NPD concepts and although we explain that these are unfinished and elements can be changed and will be, as a result of what they suggest, for them this is all new and unfamiliar territory. You could show them a pack of some household product and get them talking about what they would change, talk about colours, style, font, strap line and so on just to demonstrate what you are looking for before showing them your research materials.

VAK

They are not used to being filmed and I have yet to find a viewing facility that really does look like a normal respondent’s home, principally because there is a huge one way mirror and the room is completely sterile. They will behave differently and say things they wouldn’t normally say. This is not a normal situation, let’s face it. They want to please you and if they like you, give you the feedback they think you are looking for. The only way to encourage them to be really honest and genuinely helpful to the project is to observe whether they are speaking from their own experience or their imagined experience. You can do this by watching their eyes.

If their eyes look to your left they are constructing images rather than recalling them from their own experience.

The VAK on the diagram refers to whether they focus on what they see (visual), what they hear (auditory) or what they feel (kinaesthetic). Ideally you’ll have a mix of all three in the group so to strengthen rapport, reflect their choice of words back to the group and then translate them into the other preferences. Here’s an example,

Respondent (visual) “I love the way the mother is looking at the baby on the front of the pack, she really looks as if she loves her baby”

Moderator “You love the way she is looking at her baby? How do the rest of you feel? (kinaesthetic) what would you say (auditory) what do you think of the image (repeat visual because that is the focus of the question)

Visual respondents will be particularly good at working with visual material and enjoy being creative in the group, making collages and drawing.

Auditory respondents will enjoy the discussion, exchanging views.

Kinaesthetic respondents will enjoy the ambiance and doing set tasks – they’ll be the first to jump out of their chair to group brands on the floor or sticking pictures on a board.

Work to their strengths by having a good selection of tasks or if the project specifically requires a visual strength, recruit on that basis.

Be aware too of your own VAK. Do you say, “I can see what you’re saying” (V), “I hear what you’re saying” (A) or “I can grasp what you’re saying”(K)? Use a variety of VAK in your topic guide to engage with the entire group.

Rapport

As Qualitative researchers we are expected to ‘perform’ in front of clients by running a smooth and professional focus group comprising 8 respondents who don’t know each other , convened somewhere unfamiliar and using language and concepts that are mostly unfamiliar. Therefore it is extremely important to establish rapport quickly at the beginning and build it during the session so that by the end of two hours, respondents feel they can share their feelings about the project and you will meet your brief. NLP gives us some great techniques for building rapport.

The first is matching and mirroring. We can match respondents’ appearance by dressing much like them rather than arriving straight from a meeting in a business suit. We can match their language patterns as already described and we can match body language by sitting like them. If they are sitting back, you sit back.

Secondly, we can match their tone of voice. Visual people speak very quickly and with a higher pitch compared to the slower and slightly lower toned auditory respondent so match respondent pace and tone for increased rapport.

Thirdly we can observe their Meta programmes which is the way information is processed. Some respondents will be big chunk and find detail harder to grasp just as small chunk find concepts rather alien. Others might want to match and agree with everyone, others want to disagree (mismatch). Some are ‘away from’ and focus on what they don’t want whereas others are ‘towards’ and talk about what they do want. Some like options and can cope with several different concepts but others are ‘procedure’ and want to choose one and get the job done. Being aware of the difference will help you understand the group dynamics and you can alter the way you ask the questions to suit the way your respondents process it.

We can obtain richer feedback from our groups by challenging deletions, distortions and generalisations. Deletions are when someone uses a comparative adjective but deletes the context such as ‘that’s much better’ or ‘I like that one more’; we need to challenge the deletion by asking ‘better than what, in what way better?

Distortion is caused when we assume what respondents mean when they say something. It can be tempting to make assumptions when we’ve already done 6 groups of an 8 group project and heard similar phrases yet it is more respectful to reflect your summary back to them first before presenting it to the group as a whole for discussion. Respondents sometimes do this to each other as well, so step in and do a comprehension check.

Generalisations are when respondents claim that they ‘always do……’ or ‘never buy……’ challenge this by reflecting the generalisation back to them emphasising the generalisation. For example, ‘you never use Tesco’s own brand?’ You might well find that the exceptions are more revealing, for example “well, I do if they are on offer 2 for 1 or if it’s for the kids”.

Using Metaphors and Clean Language

Using Clean Language is when we show respect for our respondents by reflecting their own words back to them rather than using the words printed in our topic or discussion guides that have been agreed with clients. When we present a topic, listen for how respondents refer to it and the language they use as described earlier in the VAK and rapport sections. You can dig deeper however by using clean language like this.

Respondent - “I really like the way the way the cooking instructions on the pack are laid out”

Moderator – “You really like the way the cooking instructions on the pack are laid out?”

Respondent – “Yes they make it look quite easy”

Moderator – “They make it look quite easy? Easy like what?”

Respondent – “Easy like I could really imagine myself cooking that for the kids. Maybe they could even do it themselves, yes that would be good.”

Moderator – “You say that would be good, good like what?”

Respondent – “Good like learning to cook so they can look after themselves when they leave home. Perhaps they could have other products in the range that teenagers would like such as…………”

Asking respondents to liken their feelings about a product, pack, concept or service to something else that is part of their everyday experience enables them to engage more deeply with the research and imagine how it will fit into their own life.

To summarise, although we have a huge amount to cover in a short time, our respondents are our data source on which clients will ultimately, albeit via our interpretation and analysis, make very important decisions. We owe it to our clients to apply whatever tools and techniques we have in our armoury to create a trusting and effective group experience in which to develop and explore our brief.

Judy Bartkowiak

(MA Int. Marketing, Post Grad Dip. Market Research, NLP Master Practitioner)

Judy Bartkowiak was trained in Qualitative Research by Bill Schlackman and Wendy Gordon of Q-Search and then set up Plastow Research and more recently Kids Brands Europe specialising in working with children and parents for clients in the Toy and TV Industry. She has worked clientside for Mars, J & J Medical, Kodak and Numico as Consumer Insight Manager on Baby Food (Cow &Gate) in Amsterdam.

Judy now works as an NLP Life Coach and writer doing occasional Research Projects in the children’s’ market. She is the author of Teach Yourself: Be a happier parent with NLP published by Hodder Education and a number of books on NLP for parents, children, pregnancy and birth, workplace and teachers. These are available on her website www.nlpkids.com

Qualitative or Quantitative Research? - which do you need?

12/15/2010 17:05:00

There are two types of Market Research, Qualitative and Quantitative.

Qualitative Research comprises

Focus groups

Individual / Paired / Trio depth interviews

Accompanied shopping

In home ethnography studies

Main objectives of Qualitative Research is to gain understanding of

Your brand or property

Your consumer and / or purchaser

The relationship between the two

Main use of Qualitative Research is to identify

New product opportunities in your existing market

New markets for existing products

New markets for new products

How to leverage your competitive strengths to gain market share with existing products in your existing market

Quantitative Research involves questionnaires which are administered in the street or using a High Street venue (Hall test) to a large sample (c350-500) in order to provide statistically valid data

Main objectives of Quantitative Research is to gain competitive knowledge of

Brand Awareness

Brand usage

Purchasing behaviour

Concept testing

Product testing

Main uses are to enable you to make informed decisions based on a statistically valid sample regarding ‘ the 4 P’s’

Product

- which products to launch

- to whom (age , gender, country / region)

- how product should be positioned (described) to gain competitive advantage

Price

- what price point

Place

- which channel eg stores, internet etc

- which shops

Promotion

- promotional and advertising message to use

- media to select

Write your post here.

Back to work!

10/05/2010 10:33:00

This is an update for those of you who know Kids Brands Europe - and there are many of you out there who do!

I took a break from Market Research in 2008 because I wanted to write. I did some Open University courses in Creative Writing, Advanced Creative writing and Children's Literature and I became a full time writer, copywriter, ghost writer, children's writer - you name it, I wrote it!

I suppose I had a dream of becoming a famous and excellent writer and indeed I have written a book that will be published in January by Hodder. It is a Teach Yourself book - Be a happier parent with NLP. I have a number of other NLP books that I want to have published and I am writing them as we speak.

However, although I am working as an NLP coach specialising in working with kids, teens and parents www.nlp-solutions.com I do miss the focus groups I ran for so many years. They were such fun and I enjoyed the connection I have with kids which started when I was a teacher even before I had my own adorable four children.

I have done the occasional research project but now plan to do far more. As an incentive to those of you who haven't used me for a while I am offering you a reduced price of £1,000 per children's/teens focus group on a four group project based in the UK between now and Christmas.

Call me now 01628 660618 or email judy@childrensfocusgroups.com