Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Market Research versus Brand Research

Many of my clients are confused over the two, and when to use these services. There are numerous Market Research firms out there that offer market research services that guide and inform clients to make the best decisions. Most of the time, solutions are not provided; recommendations, at most.

Brand Research is more specialised and focused – mainly, qualitative measures to achieve the desired depth, and it is the understanding of how tribes (or potential ones) perceive brands. The Brand Strategist will then use these insights to craft brand-positioning strategies. In this case, the Brand Strategist comes out with a solution for the client. Action-ability is the essence of brand research; it is engineered for a solution.

Be it a Brand Book or even a Design Brief to architect a new brand experience, the brand researcher needs to have an exploratory mindset when designing the research study; and later on for formulating recommendations. As such, a brand researcher needs to engage his exploratory and integrative mindset more than a typical market researcher who analyzes and reports findings. If we argue about who provides more value, it really depends on what a client is really after: to inform or to invent?


Please leave your comments, if any. Thank you Enrico for your editorial inputs. Much appreciated.

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