OPINION19 July 2010

Future predictions

As the World Cup blog comes to an end we look at new ways to predict research findings (via an octopus) and how allowing respondents to go off topic can lead to unexpected insights.

In my last blog I mentioned Paul ‘the oracle’ Octopus.  His amazing predictions of the outcomes of World Cup games continued for both the third and fourth place playoff, as well as the final, giving him a complete success rate for predictions. 

It got me thinking about whether we could use this miracle worker in the realm of market research. Lets face it; Paul would probably give a more sensible answer than some of the respondents we deal with. Paul, tell me, which of these creative routes will increase brand awareness the most? Whether he can work on more than two items at once is, as yet, unknown, but it could be worth a try.

What’s all this got to do with our World Cup researchers? Well, as people across the world commented on Paul-mania, our forum created their own thread investigating his worldwide fame. Sure, they digressed from the real purpose of the project – but that is the point: they took the forums in their own directions, and ultimately took some ownership of the entire project. With some careful prompting, much in the same way you would in a group, the conversation can be steered, but our project took on a life of its own. 

Rather than us prompting people to tell us what interested them about the World Cup and how they were interacting with it, our respondents took over the responsibility. We had forums started on the topics ranging from the Jabulani ball, whether they offer ear plugs in stadiums to combat the Vuvuzela, the difficulties of watching day games across time zones and the top adverts around the globe, to name but a few.  Some of this is fascinating stuff, some of it is jibber jabber (for the kids reading this – go watch the A-Team movie), but the point is, it’s all respondent gold, created by themselves.

Within the normal group discussion we are limited in our time, and digressing off topic is more often than not a luxury that can’t be afforded.  The online forum, running over a number of weeks, enables a level of freedom to be developed in discussions and posts to uncover further insights. Yes, topics are posted by the team aiming to draw out detail in certain areas, but the creation of those off topic contributions can also bring in so much further (unexpected) insight. Being able to extend our time with respondents, whether face-to-face or online, helps increase our learning and understanding of consumer actions and reactions. It might not be ideal for all research types, but it certainly has a role to play.

And with that, it’s back to the day job. Thank you all for reading my World Cup blog, and to our respondents, thank you for taking part.  Congratulations to Spain on winning the trophy. Until next time…

@RESEARCH LIVE

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