Let’s consider the following example. A cigarette major wants to come up with a mild version of an existing brand. It wants to target the variety at women smokers. Obviously, the company does a strategic research on the product that it wishes to launch, the kind of buzz that it may create in the target audience et al. It is only after it has tested the waters that it comes up with a limited edition pack of the mild variety. Being arm-ed with relevant information gives a company the edge which otherwise becomes difficult in a cluttered market. As Saumya Chattopadhyay, Head, Strategic Planning, Rediffusion Y&R says, “The world of business has always been a competitive one. Like they say, it’s a dog-eat-dog world. Now with technology driving the market and the world shrinking fast, the marketplace is even more dynamic and brutal.”
Consumers have access to a sea of products; hence most product messages do not even make a dent on the customer’s mind. Hence, as Chattopadhyay points out, effective marketing calls for compelling messages based on a clear understanding of the business and compelling marketing strategies. A company’s marketing strategy becomes clear only when it conducts strategic re-search.
There are certain things to be kept in mind while you are initiating research. There’s the research manager, a research agency and the findings and decisions are scripted for evaluation. The process is indeed a very critical one. Before one can initiate research there has to be a brief. And the brief must address certain critical questions like how the market was a decade ago and how it will take shape in the next few years. Take for instance, the mobile phone market in India. “If research had been undertaken a decade ago, I am sure no one would have understood that the market would be like this — the way prices have crashed, technology has grown, at that point it would have been difficult for any telecom major to predict what the market situation would be a decade from then,” says Chattopadhyay. So while it may be difficult to predict in a brief, it is still pertinent that a brief be written before undergoing strategic re-search. Say a tobacco major wants to consider the growth of the cigar market. For a tobacco company, it is important to look at how the premium cigar market has grown, what kind of investment was put in and so on.
The next important stage of research is the cost. Let’s say you decide between two sales promotions — one that would cost `10 lakh and the other that would cost `14 lakh. A company will not be able to arrive at a decision till there is a brief. As A. Seksaria, Planning Associate, Rediffusion Y&R, explains, “Strategic research is a kind of investment decision that companies take. If there is insufficient knowledge to take decisions, there must be a hunger. Say, for instance, a company wants to buy another company and realises it does not have enough information on it then there would be an urgent need to conduct strategic research.”
Now comes the question of a research brief and what its requirements will be. The research brief must be unambiguous, i.e. it should mean the same to all concerned. This is particularly important if you plan to use an external market research organisation to do the research for you or if you plan to appoint another staff member within your firm to take responsibility for the research. In addition, the degree of accuracy expected in terms of the results should be specified in the brief. As the research will probably be a basis for decision-making, benchmarks need to be established against which results can be measured.
And finally, let’s consider the example of a soft drink company that wants to launch either of two flavours — blueberry or mango. Can it do so in an already cluttered market? Should it do so? This then in short explains the importance of strategic research.
The writer is a well known industry watcher