Biz-Community (Cape Town)
Jannie Hofmeyr
13 August 2007
opinion
Government and business stand to benefit from a qualitative research project that offers glimpse into hearts and souls of South Africans.
What do South Africans really want? What do they really think and feel? What do they need in order to improve the quality of their lives? The answers to these questions have relevance for government and for business. Both need research tools that will help them direct their resources in the right direction - whether those are policy initiatives, product developments, or communications.
One of the challenges that both government and business face is outdated segmentation approaches. The widely used LSM measure, for instance, is so strongly associated with income that one might as well use 'income' instead. Conventional segmentations can also be quite shallow and difficult to replicate.
It is for this reason that the launch of a new marketing study earlier this year holds out such potential. The study - carried out by a small local research company, the Consumer Insight Agency (c.i.a.) hands the microphone to the people and makes them real in a way that has not happened in South Africa before.
Called the NOW project (because it is offering up a snapshot of what people are thinking and feeling in the here and now), the research is presented as a set of qualitative studies that explore 12 South African archetypes - each one instantly recognisable. Together they capture a set of experiences that make up typical and important groupings in South Africa.
The voices of the people are captured on small hand-held video recorders. It's an innovative qualitative technique that was pioneered and perfected in South Africa by the c.i.a. ten years ago. To this day the technique remains among a handful in the world that is really able to get beneath the surface of markets.
The NOW project is therefore the crystallisation of ten years of learning. There is no research agency in South Africa that has spent so much time talking to South Africans at grass root level and it is this that has been made explicit. The project takes the experiences of these ten years and combines them with a realistic set of thinking tools to give them a conceptual structure that enables more people to benefit from their insights.
While the ideas are not necessarily new, this is the first time they have been married to a strong bases of empirical research - which is informing the model from the ground up.
The result is a paradigm shift in the way we look at South Africans, not only because the study allows us closer to our object than ever before, but because it shows the reality of the shifting social landscape. The 12 archetypes identified by the c.i.a. are not fixed and in fact, are likely to change. According to Wendy Cochrane, Director of the c.i.a, the study, by definition, has to be renewed every couple of years and they fully expect the categories could shift as society shifts. This allows us to let reality constantly inform the way we look at things rather than reverting to stereotypes and deciding upfront how things will be which closes down the possibility of change.
The implications for business and marketers is profound, Brands become most relevant when they lock into the things that people care about. It doesn't have to be complicated. Brands succeed best when they offer not only a practical solution to a problem or a need but that they reach people on an emotional level. This research will enable marketers to identify what their markets are really thinking. This is a significant opportunity to stay in touch with markets - even while remaining behind a desk.
But the real power of this study lies in its potential for social and political relevance. In a country dominated by social change and seemingly insurmountable obstacles such as the limitation of the tax base in dealing with enormity of urbanisation and the supply of health and other basic services, additional information and insights to aid with decision-making cannot be overvalued.
Government needs to be able to recognise what is happening on the ground and channel limited resources accordingly.
While our government fortunately recognises that resources do need to go to the poor, they are not always able seemingly to know how to channel these resources on the micro level. The NOW project has the capacity to make a contribution by giving clarity to South African realities that might bring self-knowledge and assist government in more sensible policy formulation.
For the average South African it could also help to conscientise us and show us the realities we face. In many instances the pre-occupation among the wealthier segments with class and discernment is contributing to the very problems that they are afraid of (i.e. violent crime and social instability).
This research gives us all insight into the lives of our fellow South Africans. It provides a view that is not provided in any other domain or by any classical approach to segmentation and it may lead to South Africans adopting a broader vision that will help all of us move forward.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jannie Hofmeyr is Global Head of Innovation for Synovate, the world's seventh largest qualitative research agency. For more information on the NOW project see www.nowproject.co.za.
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