A consumer-centric marketing framework, explained in real work terms – Part 4: Consumers insights act as the seeds of ideas for new product ideas

This series is an attempt at reexamining general marketing frameworks by linking them
with consumer outlooks and behavior. Marketing frameworks like STP and 4P are relatively simple, and not that much about them is hard to understand, although they are often
found hard to leverage in real work.
Understanding consumer outlooks and behavior is the role of marketing research. We hope that linking marketing frameworks and marketing research in a consumer-centric way will
increase the effectiveness of readers’ marketing activities, and thereby deliver greater
value to consumers.

In Part 3, we introduced how a bird’s-eye view of consumer needs can be obtained even
when the one consumer has multiple needs based on a framework called “Occasion Map”.
In Part 4, we will explain about a framework called the “Iceberg Model”.　

1. Consumers may not discuss what they take for granted

Lots of people have probably seen an iceberg picture like in Fig.1. It represents the fact that what we are currently aware of is caused by many things we are not aware of. From an idea generation perspective, for example, instead of developing orange-flavored carbonated
water because consumers say they want orange-flavored carbonated water, development
should start from thinking about the reason/factors that caused them to think they want
orange-flavored carbonated water, and commencing development based on that. If the
reason they want it is that they “want to feel invigorated the moment they take a sip of it
when they are thirsty”, “lime-flavored mineral water” may offer them a better product
experience. In this way, we can create new ideas by gaining a deeper understanding
through WHY-WHY-WHY even down to areas consumers normally aren’t conscious of.

Fig.1

In typical qualitative research (such as depth interviews and group interviews),
participants are often asked to come to an interview room to talk with a researcher. In this sort of research, participants talk about matters they are aware of, in an effort to discover
insights through the moderator’s interviewing skills.
For example, in a study on food products, they might ask “What did you do upon getting up this morning?”,
and receive a response like “I washed my face, changed my clothes, and had yoghurt for
breakfast.”
This might be followed by a dialogue like:
Moderator: Why do you eat yoghurt for breakfast?
Participant: Because I didn’t have time before I left the house, so wanted something
quick to eat.
Moderator: There are probably other things that would also be quick to eat, so why did you choose yoghurt?
Participant: I’ve been busy recently, and have been concerned about my skin chapping
Moderator: Why do you eat yoghurt when your skin chaps?
Participant: Because it doesn’t chap as much when my gut health is good.
The moderator here is repeatedly following a WHY-WHY-WHY line of thought based on the
participant’s response “I had yoghurt” in order to draw out consumer insights regarding
yoghurt.
From the converse perspective, identifying insights is difficult with these kinds of typical
qualitative surveys unless the participants mention them verbally. Even if the participant
actually “drinks a glass of water upon waking up”, they may not mention it verbally if this
behavior is habitual, or if they deem it irrelevant to food products.

2. Discovering the seeds for new values from consumer habits

While I expect that those of you reading this article are involved in marketing-related work or research, all of us are also consumers. We only have 24 hours in the day, and use a large number of products and services in our hectic daily lives.

Fig.2 is a model for consumer-centric innovation using fabric softener as an example.

Fig.2

When consumers are asked about their fabric softener-related needs and points they deem important at purchase, they typically offer responses like “Softens clothes”, “Smells nice”,
and “Deodorizes” (the area denoted in red). These can be considered benefits already
offered by existing products, or similar to them. Consumers use a large number of products and services in their hectic daily lives, so have extremely limited time to think about fabric softener. While there are probably plenty of creative people among them, it’s rare for them to spontaneously come up with unprecedented product ideas through a study.

Businesses struggle to continue operating unless they generate new value in an ongoing
manner. Observing the behavior of consumers is one way to identify seeds and insights for
ideas that will generate new value.

In everyday life, consumers sometimes act semi-unconsciously to resolve issues, despite
rarely spontaneously verbalizing what they are doing. In  the model in Fig.2, these include
slapping/hitting the wrinkles out of laundry when hanging it out to dry, stretching the
sleeves slightly when putting them on, and pulling the area　around the neck after putting them on. If these actions are performed to resolve an issue, new value can be offered by
identifying the issue and developing products/services to resolve that issue. To take this
outlook a step further, if we can redefine the value fabric softener offers, we can generate
new product ideas based on that definition.

3. Finding value with WHY-WHY-WHY

Let’s take a look at an example of how to move through WHY-WHY-WHY using the insight
consumers “pull sleeves when hanging out the laundry” as an example.

The first WHY is simply considering “why do they pull the sleeves?”. Upon thinking that they are concerned about their clothes bunching up when laundered, one answer to WHY is
“because they want to stretch their bunched-up sleeves out”.
The second WHY is considering “what is the issue with having bunched-up sleeves?”.
Anyone would dislike having bunched-up sleeves, but we need to verbalize this.
For example, some people might think “The issue here is, if your sleeves are bunched up,
it makes it harder to button your cuffs”.
The third WHY is considering “what is the issue with it being harder to button your cuffs?”.
For example, you might feel that “if you overdo it when buttoning your sleeves, it might
feel taut and unpleasant to wear”.
Let’s also take a look at “slapping/hitting the wrinkles out of laundry when
hanging it to dry” and “pulling the area around the neck after putting them on”
via WHY-WHY-WHY in Fig.3.

Fig.3

On examining this table, some commonalities are observed across the board regarding
when wearing clothes, along with unpleasant feel and emotions like dislike. If we consider eliminating negative sensations when clothes are worn a value, fabric softener may be able to be redefined as “something that makes clothes comfortable to wear”.

When generating product ideas from here, we consider what fabric softener could do to
further increase “comfort” based on its redefined values. The scope of ideas expands when we consider the factors that contribute to people finding clothes “comfortable”: not just
their feel on the skin and appearance, but warmth, humidity, breeze/wind, and light.

Thinking about WHY-WHY-WHY in this way makes generating new ideas possible. Naturally, WHY-WHY-WHY can also be evoked through home visit studies etc. In either case, the basis of WHY-WHY-WHY is insight from behavioral observation. While new ideas do not always go on to become hit products, no hit products come into existence without being sparked by
these ideas. In order to gain a large number of insights and generate a large number of
ideas, it is more important to be interested in consumers themselves, than the products
and services provided to them.

4. Summary

It’s rare for consumers participating in ordinary surveys to offer lots of new product ideas.
Ideas are deemed to be generated by businesses and developers. The starting point with
new ideas is businesses and developers being interested in consumers and obtaining
insights from them. By noticing behavior consumers are unaware of, and use
methodologies like WHY-WHY- WHY to discover insights, these may be converted into ideas.

*) Survey results are sizably influenced by survey design and analysis methodology.
If you are interested in the insight exploration introduced in this article, please contact us
through our website, or via your sales representative.

Reproduction and Quotation

◆This report is copyrighted by INTAGE Inc.
Please check the following prohibitions and precautions, and specify the source when
reproducing or quoting this report.
“Source: INTAGE “Knowledge Gallery” article published MM/DD/YYYY article”

◆The following are prohibited:
・Alteration of this article in full or in part
・Sale or publication of this article in full or in part
・Uses that are against public order and morality, and uses connected with illegal activities
・Reproducing or quoting panel data* for the purpose of advertising or promoting companies, products, or services
*Panel data include: SRI+, SCI, SLI, Kitchen Diary, Car-kit, MAT-kit, Media Gauge, i-SSP, etc.

◆Other precautions:
・INTAGE Inc. shall not be liable for any trouble, loss, or damage caused by the use of this report
・These usage rules do not restrict the use of quotations or other uses permitted under the Copyright Act of Japan

◆For inquiries about reproduction and quotation, click here