Customers’ Conversations

People that don’t work in marketing probably think that they have pretty brand free lives. They don’t talk about brand onions, or essence or what brands would look like if they were people. They also don’t study every TV ad they see or read all the copy on the ads on their way to work. However, a new research initiative from Arnold Worldwide is attempting to find out just how central brands really are, and in the one place they’ve so far been unable to measure; people’s conversations.

There’s nothing all that clever or scientific about what Arnold are trying to do. They are just using a diary system that broadcast mediums have used for so long. However, participants are now asked to write down conversations that they have that reference products or brands.100 people per day are being interviewed as part of the process and so far 18,000 have been seen by Keller Fay Group, the researchers hired by Arnold.

So far they’ve found that people discuss brands about 12 times per day:

“The most discussed brands are media and entertainment products like movies, TV shows and publications. But many people also discuss food products, travel brands and stores. Target, K-Mart, Sears, J. C. Penney, Gap, Victoria’s Secret and Wal-Mart rank among the retailers most frequently mentioned.”

“People most often say positive things about personal care and household products. The most often criticized are financial services firms and telecommunications companies.” said Keller Fay.

via New York Times