The Buzz

The challenge: Public sector client: The client wanted to know if adding a café to their existing offering would increase customer footfall and frequency of visits. The client, was an employer offering support for people with learning difficulties.

The research: Qualitative and quantitative research (with both client and competitor’s consumers) and consultancy relating to the operating environment, including shop floor.

Our experience told us a café would be desirable and easily generate a profit for the cost of operation change, but was not motivational enough to increase footfall. We therefore suggested the development of a calendar of ‘promotional events’ that would attract new customers.

The client pitched for the additional money for the café and developed a calendar of activities as part of the implementation. The client also made our suggested changes to their customer journeys.

The challenge: FMCG/global pharma brand: OTC product wanted to provide a one stop solution for Athletes foot, the new product was a premium solution, and they wanted to test the product appeal, marketing, and price point, the latter prove contentious.

The research: We were invited to help our client understand key messages in research that had previously been conducted . Initially, we identified flaws in the research process. The research had provided data on appeal and marketing messages but the price point research was limited in a variety of ways, and the research said launch at a far lower price than desirable. The product was extremely effective offering, and wanted to be launched at a premium.

Our clientside experience meant we also considered the work in a wider context and we could see that which was not evaluated within the research process – that the research had not factored in economies of scale in production.

We recommended launching the product at a higher price point (a worthy premium for a highly effective product) and to use marketing tools if sales were not as expected. This meant the product had to sell far fewer units to make the same profit as the initial quantitative research reported.

The client took our advice and the product launched at a premium within several European markets and eventually more globally, providing significant additional profits over time.