The Case for Market ResearchStartup Bootcamp Osaka

Dominic Carter
29 November 20191

Aims of this session

Intro to Dom and Carter Group
Understand why we do market research
Learn about the broad process and main approaches we use
The role of culture as a driver of insight2Pleased to meet you!

Late

1990’sWorking &living in Japan

3SinceToday

Leading an independentmarket research agency

Still going and growing ;)

2003

2019

A Snapshot of The Carter Group
Japan Expertise, Creative Thinking, Safe Hands

4

Full-service consumer
insights-driven marketing
consultancy

Long establishedindependent agency inJapan (since 1989)

Experience covers
Japan & APAC markets

Multicultural team ofanalysts and marketing
consultants

Offices in Tokyo, Osaka &Singapore - core team of
70 & field force of 100

Offering a unique balance of

thinking & creativity

Areas we work in
ACTIVATION
Fuel the Future
workshops

Active & passive
tracking

Thinking & Creativity

Quantitative

MEASUREMENT
5Market mapping &trend watching

Experiential &ethnographic research

Qualitative

EXPLORATION

Steve Jobs could not have put it better“You‘ve got to start with thecustomer experience and work backtoward the technology – not theother way around.”May 1997, World Wide Developers Conference6In a nutshell

In market research we are deploying
methodologies and systems to ensure thatdecisions are made with reference to thecustomer- whose co-operation business always
needs

7

The 4 P’s
PRICEPRODUCTTarget market

PROMOTION

8PLACEJapan boasts some of the most advanced
and discerning customers in the world.
Their market behavior can be hard to understand and predict

9Market Research
provides a map on
surmounting thetop strategic hurdles
any new businessneeds to meet inJapan10

#1 TRUST
Firm belief in thereliability, truth, orability of someone orsomething

11

#2 TURNING YOURDIFFERENCES
To your advantage

12

#3 RESETTING
THE AGENDA
Prompting areappraisal of current
alternatives

13

Why bypass market research?

14

Slows
thingsdown

Lots ofprocesses$$$

Fear oflosing
control

Contradicts
somepowerfulpeopleMakes youthink
differently

Know itall alreadyBut research can be a great help to those open to receiving it

Seeing the businessenvironment in new ways

15

Seeing opportunities thatyou may never havethought of beforeSparking ideas

And sometimes, research helps to avoid disasters!

16

What we should expect from good market research

17

IDEAS

INSIGHTS

Beyond those we cangenerate on our own

We can’t access ourselves

Insights drive break-through planning

What is an insight?
Simply:The meaning of information“Insight is always retrospectively selfevident”- Stan Sthanunathan, Global Head of Research, Unilever18

How to achieve good insights

Market context

19

New information

Our own experienceWhen starting from scratch, a staged approach is needed for building insight

120

23

STAGE 1
Hello!
New challenge

STAGE 2
Exploringin depth

Starting from nothing
and getting to a bird’s
eye view

Learning about issues,drivers and decision
making4
STAGE 3
Applying thelearning

Potential strategic
directions

STAGE 4
Identifying an optimal
strategyStress testing/ validating

When starting from scratch, a staged approach is needed for building insight

1
STAGE 1
Hello!
New challenge

Cultural Analysis/
Secondary research

21

The Cultural ‘Zeits-cape’

GETTING TO SQUARE ONE
requires a good understanding
the societal life drivers of yourbuyer

23

Why is it important?

24

Consumers are constantly being shaped by the outside world, theculture of the time, and the meanings it creates.

Fashion, Art and music

World Events

Brands and comms

Geo-Political and cultural forces

Celebrities

Technology change

Popular Culture

Societal pressures

LifestyleEnvironments

TrendsMedia messaging

Icons

Religion and beliefs

Cultural Analysis: Understanding context

CULTURAL ICONSAND BELIEFS

TRENDS AND
POPULARCULTUREGEOPOLITICAL AND
CULTURAL INFLUENCES

CONSUMER
INTERPRETATION
AND RESPONSE
SOCIETAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL

CONSUMER/CUSTOMERBEHAVIOUR
OUT
BRANDS
AND COMMSCONSUMER
INTERPRETATION
AND RESPONSEFASHION,MEDIA, ART,ARCHITECTURE

25

MEDIA AND WORLDEVENTSRELIGION AND
BELIEFSYSTEMSObservation

Immersingyourselfin themarket.

26

Go out and spy on yourpotential customers!

Secondary Research

Secondary Research(also known as ‘desk research’)
Based on facts, figures and findings
prepared by other people.

27

At the end of the day…

Secondary researchseldom answers yourquestions directly
Rather, it’s very useful to give you afeel for the market and to spark yourearly hypotheses

31

When starting from scratch, a staged approach is needed for building insight

1

2
STAGE 1
Hello!
New challenge

Cultural Analysis/
Secondary research

33

STAGE 2Exploringin depth

Qualitative researchWhat is exploratory research?

Exploration is needed when you need toknow in detail how a certain category orindustry works

34

Exploratory research usuallyconsists of qualitative methodsof inquiry

Qualitative research§Talking and listening to people in a semistructured manner§

Usually the discussion is controlled using
a discussion guide and the process isrecorded for later reference§

Can be one-on-one, or in a group
discussion

37Use Qualitative research to explore

How buyers make decisions in your category
Surface what’s important to them
The basic rational and emotional reactions people have to thecategory and your ideas
How buyers position your offer among alternatives

38

Comparing the main qualitative methodologies

One on one depth Interviews

Focus Groups§§§

1 to 1Can be held anywhere
Easier to recruit and organize§§§

6-8 participants + a moderator
Needs a venue
Harder to recruit and organize (esp. for B2B)§

Cover issues in depth such as detailed purchasejourneys
Can be used for cover confidential or sensitive
information
Idiosyncratic to the person being interviewed§

Cover issues less deeply but can surface
a wider range of views
Group dynamic adds value
The group tends to provide more widely acceptedor generalizable views
Better for reviewing concepts

§
§§
§
§

Great for detailed understanding

39

Great for consolidated understanding

Let’s look at digital

The digital environment for consumers iscontinuously seeing new products/ services

40

Many services and communication in everyday
life are becoming highly dependent on digital
Many services and communicationin everyday
tools.
life are becoming highly dependent on digital
tools.

And yet…

§Consumers do not adapt or easilychange their current behaviors§

They only choose the product/
service that makes their life easier or
better41

Our approach is...
to uncover the truth
about consumer’s
experience and needs intheir day-to-day life inorder to reveal
opportunities

42

The steps to get there: Ethnography

We start from OBSERVING
To understand consumers experience in theirdaily life
To nail down their REAL pain points andopportunities

Ethnography
One-on-one interview
on-siteObserve and understandcurrent consumer experience
How, when, where digitalproducts are used andperceived in their real life
Identify the issues on-hand inreal life situations

43

The steps to get there: Stop & Think Session

We feedback our learning through STOP &THINK Sessions§ To share the learning from ethnography
with the client team/ stakeholders§ To identify or re-identify the specificissues from the current consumer
experience§ To align with opportunity areas for new/improved product development

44

Stop & Think Session
with Client teamThe session will be customized
for the clients’ needs
It can be arranged as a simple
debriefing session
it can also be a workshop forbrainstorming ideas foropportunities

The steps to get there: Content and usability

We test a prototype for USABILITY among target
consumers
To see the product usability to meet consumer
needs - solving the identified issues
Key areas for evaluation:
ü Functionality
ü Efficiency
ü Desirability (Look & Feel)ü Labeling
45Usability Test
One-on-one facility
interview
Monitor the prototype in use
Identify the “mistakes” and“confusions”
Provide patterns ofconsumer behavior andexpectations

When starting from scratch, a staged approach is needed for building insight

12
STAGE 1
Hello!
New challenge

Cultural Analysis/
Secondary research

46

3
STAGE 2
Exploringin depth

Qualitative research

STAGE 3
Applying thelearning

Qualitative analysis

KaizenFace-to-faceresearch

Product
Improvement

New & Improved
Product Experience

Usability

49

Stop&ThinkCase Study
Helping a streaming sports platform to succeed in Japan
Gaining receptivity

Foundational qualitative work highlighted the desirability of partneringwith an appropriate local partner to facilitate and accelerate trial

Sign upIn-store and in-home ethnography showed how to adapt the process
to Japanese preferences e.g. adding confirmation pages, intermediate
emails etc.

Look and feelHome page is extremely important – needs to ‘look’ Japanese. E.g. as aresult of testing, black was changed to white on the website (black wasseen as suspicious)

Credibility and trust

Users wanted a clear, visible and easy path to unsubscribing, whichbuilds trust for a foreign, unknown brandIn order to address barriers to their strategy, significant changes were put into effect in the client’s approach to the market
that have ensured a successful launch in Japan50

B2B App Usability Test51

Engaging the Team for SuccessA series of ‘Stop and Think’ sessions andworkshops provides the process, people andenvironment to stimulate thinking based on
research insights… to get the team out of the everyday
assumptions, and really stretch thinking
to create ideas for growth52

When starting from scratch, a staged approach is needed for building insight

12
STAGE 1
Hello!
New challenge

Cultural Analysis/
Secondary research

53

3
STAGE 2
Exploringin depth

Qualitative research

4
STAGE 3
Applying thelearning

Qualitative analysis

STAGE 4
Identifying an optimalstrategy

Quantitative/ qualitative
research and analysis

Measurement research§Once we have a handle on the range of
opinions in a category and a feel for theoverall category dynamics we might wantto put some sizes and probabilities onthose§Sound measurement is useful to gaining
credibility for our plans

54Quantitative research§

Quantitative research uses surveys tomeasure market characteristics,
attitudes and behaviours§

A questionnaire is the instrument we
use at this stage§

Questionnaires should usually not be
used for exploratory purposes55

Use quantitative research toCalibrate
market size

56

Establish facts
about the market

Measure relative strengthof perceptionsShow
relationships

Predict
outcomes

Qualitative or Quantitative?

vsThe decision as to whether to approach a research project using qual or quantshould be driven by whether you are building theories(generally qual) or testing them (generally quant)It can also be driven by the available pool of respondents you cantalk tobefore

57

Every category and every situation is different, however qual usuallycomes earlier than quantCulture andmarket research58As researchers, our questions andanswers are always influenced byculture

62

The experiment: ‘What do you see in this picture?’

Can we even trust
what we observe?

Source: The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research

63

The experiment: ‘What do you see in this picture?’

We perfectly replicated the results with a similar
picture in our own team in Tokyo

Australians + Japanesewho lived in Australia
commented on the fish and what
they were doing

64

Japanese colleagues described
the field and/ or the relationships
in that sceneDifferent thoughts, different meanings

66§

Japan provides a constant challenge
to westerners’ ability to observe andanalyze§

In quantitative research, we can’teven assume that scales mean thesame thing§

Qualitative interpretation also has its
challenges as people don’t always saywhat they mean

Question
everything
Create spacefor doubt

71

The job of the researchers§

We can’t instantly fix a profound case of cultural misfit, oran inability to adapt§

We can map the oppositions and identify the productive
paradoxes§

Workshop the resolution§

Looking for innovative, disruptive opportunities that
appreciate we are the same, but we are different

85Thank you forlistening!

94