Three Case Studies About Consumer Behavior

CORD BLOOD CASE STUDY

Industry Category: Health Care
Product Category: Umbilical Cord Blood Storage
Demographic: Mothers of newborn infants

Background:

Banking Umbilical Cord Blood has emerged as a service for parents looking to preserve their baby’s precious stem cells for future use against serious illness. Although the benefit was rational and explicit, the marketer could not understand why the mothers (and fathers) were not purchasing the service as the logical research predicted.

Challenge:

There were two challenges put before us.

First, the agency and client were in possession of extensive data on why mothers would not be receptive to the idea of banking umbilical cord blood. We needed to validate the findings of that data.

Secondly, the agency and client needed to understand how to connect to this very emotionalized and sensitive group of women in a trusting way so they could share their deepest perceptions about life and motherhood.

Approach:

Create an atmosphere of trust, love, and existential understanding and connect with the subjects. Utilize this connection to allow the subjects an opportunity to travel within themselves and tap their subconscious feelings and perceptions in a safe, non-threatening way.

Insights and Results:

The outpouring of verbal and coded information from the subjects disproved all of the previously collected data and findings. The imaging work was especially helpful in showing that the relationship between mother and the unborn child was not about how she cared for her child. It was about the perceptions the mothers had of themselves as biological nurturers and protectors intertwined with their beliefs of the future.

By eliciting their deepest perceptions about life, motherhood, and their connection to the child, we uncovered invaluable insights that exist only in the subconscious. It made them available to the team in order to re-position their pitch to the clients and ultimately win the business.

HEART MEDICATION CASE STUDY

Industry Category: Health and Wellness
Product Type: Pharmaceutical/Heart Medication
Demographic: Men who have experienced a recent heart attack

Background:

Male heart attack victims are difficult to reach due to the dept of the psychological defenses they employ to guard against fear and anxiety of future cardio events. They are typically emotionally non-communicative and sometimes unaware of their feelings. In short, they are afraid and in a self-imposed isolation burdened with high levels of stress.

Challenge:

A pharmaceutical company manufacturing heart medication needed an answer to the question:

“How can we understand the depths of the physical, spiritual, and emotional pain of men who have suffered a heart attack in the last 2 years?”

Ultimately, they want to reach them, connect with them, and offer help. The ad agency contacted us to assist them in garnering the account.

Approach:

Create a deep, relaxed, trance state and connect the subject’s conscious and sub-conscious minds all while preserving a feeling of safety around this very sensitive area. Utilize this connection to further explore the emotions, bodily sensations, and perceptions of pain and hope the men are feeling.

Insights and Results:

The men were able to openly share their deepest fears, hopes, and even stories of their heart attacks and tales of the afterlife. One shared his account of having died twice and going through an out-of-body experience that uncovered some common points of shared pain, suffering, and other spiritual phenomena. Another commented that he “hadn’t relaxed in the two years following his event until he went through this experience.”

The specific information we found dealt with the structure, forms, colors, and perceptions necessary to trigger the “Neuro Target” of their demographic.

The results: the ad agency won the business!

DIAMOND JEWELRY CASE STUDY

Industry Category: High Consideration Luxury Items

Product: Diamond Jewelry

Demographic: Unmarried Men in a heterosexual relationship

Background:

The motivation and feelings that drive a man to buy diamond jewelry for the love of his life are a mystery to marketers and women alike! It is one of the most important purchasing decisions a man can make.

Challenge:

The agency wanted to understand the dynamics of how and why men purchase diamond jewelry for their partner and, most importantly, what psychological associations they have to diamonds.

Approach:

Create an environment that answers some concrete questions, and delves deeper to get to the underlying, sometimes unknown, perspective of the target demographic.

Insights and Results:

As expected, we were able to reveal the concrete associations men had with diamonds. Unexpectedly, we also found that these men all shared the same perspective relative to their loved one. They revealed imagery that explained a somewhat detached aerial viewpoint in relationship to their partner. This opened the door to understanding complex feelings about life, existence, intimacy, fear, and love. When these hidden perceptions were integrated with data gathered regarding purchase patterns, the agency was able to design and carry out a campaign that significantly increased sales for their client.