industry thoughts from Clarteza

At a certain point of my life I realized that I don’t fit in! I’m sure some of you have felt that way too. After working at big companies for over a decade I realized there might be something I do that’s not conforming to “the rules”. At big companies, I always tried to fix everything, find new solutions, create new departments, and eliminate inefficiencies (and yes this is my pet peeve!). Most importantly, I believed that some rules are meant to be broken. At heart, I was an entrepreneur, but … Continue Reading

In our recent post on qual vs. quant research, we touched on one of the critical issues facing market researchers today, the question of how we use, store and re-use data we obtain from the investments we make in research and information.  The amount of data available to us continues to grow in magnitude and scope.  We have qual data, quant data, syndicated data, social media data, competitive intelligence data, all coming at us all the time in … Continue Reading

Both quantitative and qualitative research data play important roles in understanding consumers, developing and designing products, and creating effective marketing strategies and executions. Quantitative research provides a wealth of broad-based data on market sizes, demographics, and user preferences and helps us understand differences between groups of people, products and usage occasions.  But, quantitative research can also lead to an over-reliance upon numbers, leading researchers to analyze percentages and statistical significances, rather than people.  Qualitative research, on the other hand, can sometimes lead to biases based on the opinions of a small set of people, at a certain place or time.  … Continue Reading

“Why Then Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?” – Shakespeare

These days, it feels like the discourse between the Marketer and the Consumer has become something like a Shakespearean sonnet on steroids:  No longer is the Consumer being poetically wooed in a 60 second commercial, She is being craftily urged with texts, video billboards and in-store TV offers each shorter than an iambic tetrameter for “brevity is the soul of wit” says Shakespeare.  Despite all the attention, nay, the beloved Consumer seems rather disinterested as She has to manage Her smart phone, home phone, blog, email, Facebook page, … Continue Reading

Picture yourself at a cocktail party filled with near-strangers.  What is the best way to start a conversation with someone you don’t know well?  Ask them about themselves.  Why? Because people are most connected to their own life experiences and therefore most likely to be engaged in a topic in which they play a central role.  Truth be told – people love to talk about themselves.

This is not only a great tip for the most socially-awkward among us, but it also has important implications for marketers dealing with the challenges and opportunities that social media presents.  It is this very … Continue Reading

We read a lot of press about the information overload and time-pressed nature of consumer lives.  They are inundated with information from more sources, on more screens, more of the time.  The average consumer is exposed to thousands of advertisements per day, smartphones keep them from ever turning off and tuning out, and they live in a society in which there is often simply not enough hours in the day.  As the consumer environment has changed, marketers have adapted by investing more funds in the clutter, to ensure their brands are seen across all screens, across all formats, and across … Continue Reading