When Things Get Complicated
Sometimes our clients come to us with pre-formed hypotheses to test and sometimes they come equipped with questions they need answered. Either way, things in the world of market research are often complicated.
One of our greatest specialties is helping our clients work through that maze and find marketing research solutions that provide actionable results, as we did for this particular client.
The Problem
In this case study, our client was the parent company to many sub-brands, all serving the digital technology market. Management at the parent company felt it was necessary to condense sub-brands to improve the cohesion and performance of the overall brand. At the same time, managers and employees of the sub-brands were resistant to these changes because they felt their name connection was very strong (some brands actually defined some segments), and worried that losing sub-brands would harm both the overall brand and the identity of the sub-brand.
With such an emotional debate that had to yield the best result for their business, the client turned to Actionable Research for objective, third-party, scientifically-backed input.
The Consultative Solution
To best meet the needs of the client, a strategy meeting was held with internal company representatives to discuss their overall goals and objectives. Armed with greater clarity regarding the specific needs and intentions for the research results, Actionable consultants were able to design a study that asked respondents to provide valuable consumer insights into which brands were most essential to the overall brand.
In addition to developing questions that addressed the relevance of the sub-brands within their individual markets, we were also able to look at how well the sub-brands tied to and assisted the value of the main brand, helping our client make their difficult decisions regarding the reduction of brands in use. The study was designed to test name connection, familiarity, usage, product recognition, unaided recall and performance among the parent brand, the sub-brands, and their competitors.
Actionable Results
As expected, the proliferation of the sub-brands had watered down the equity of the parent brand itself. Within individual product markets, some of the sub-brands were such industry standards that they held their own next to the parent, while others competed with the parent for name recognition.
With multiple products within the same market, some of the sub-brands were competing with each other. The study identified multiple areas of market crossover, which pointed towards logical product mergers, the resulting composites retaining the identity of those with the greatest brand equity.
As a result of the study, Actionable Research was able to provide the client with specific recommendations about which brands were essential, and which could be consolidated without losing market share or brand identity.
Having scientific proof that some sub-brands were major contributors, while others were not, helped the parent brand make the tough calls in a fair and effective manner.
Learn More
We’re proud of the work we do here at Actionable and how it benefits our clients. To learn more, view our Resources Page or call our researchers today at (949) 453-7911.
