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Associative Techniques

Participants are asked to respond to the stimulus with the first thing that comes to their mind. The basic premise behind association tasks is that thoughts immediately brought to mind by the presentation of the stimulus are captured in the most unadulterated manner. The answers provide the researcher with a variety of "consumer vocabulary” associated with brands or products. This allows the researcher to discover the more spontaneous emotions associated to brands and their imagery.

There are a few classical forms and a few variations which have been introduced by various practitioners of qualitative research over time.

Classical forms include- Word association, user imagery, brand personification and obituary.

Variations include- World view technique, Magic shelf, Mind walk, Scent stations, Bring an item, Creating families, Category sculpting, Looking glass, Party exercise, Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, Planetarium, Planets  (and guided fantasy), House building, Timescape, Time machine, Kelly’s Traids, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Sequential recycling, Withdrawl technique.

 

Word association: Any topic related words/ sentences that indicate attributes of importance are explored. A list is also prepared in advance and bounced off consumers. The consumers are free to say whether that attribute matches well, somewhat or not at all. Alternatively, the words and brands could be sprawled in front of consumers and they are free to match the words with the brands.  This reveals associations with the subject being discussed at a spontaneous level.

 

User imagery:  This involves some quick exercises to draw out consumers' perceptions of particular brands as compared to the people who use them. The image of the brand is often distinct from that of the user. We use X & Y technique also to understand the perceived image of the user in contrast to the non user of the brand/ product/ service. It is also used as a technique by us to understand the relevance of a particular piece of communication. 

 

Brand personification and brand obituary:  Within qualitative research, brand personification is probably the one that most immediately springs to mind when considering projective techniques. It is certainly one of the most fun (for clients and moderators as well as respondents) but can also be one of the most insightful. Like all projective techniques, however, it has to be used properly and in the right context. Our moderators are made wary of making any assumptions regarding what is a ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ brand association. Furthermore, all associations and personifications need to be ‘researched’ in terms of what they mean for the brand in terms of how it displays those personalities and characteristics.

Taking this ‘full-circle’, we can also conclude with a brand obituary – respondents are asked to write the obituary assuming the brand had ‘died’, referencing the things it would be remembered for, who it would be missed by and why.

 

World view technique:  We take the participants on a ‘guided tour’ to an unknown destination, characterized by the brand being tested, the topology and the climate and other variables being decided by the respondent which signify his/her perceptions about the brand. Going further the technique requires the respondents to describe the kind of people who inhabit that place as well.  The stark differences as well as similarities and the way the brands hold in the consumers’ eyes can be easily brought to light using this technique. The respondent is accorded a plain, wide canvas to paint on with his imagination, unlike in a personification exercise wherein he/she is restricted to just one personality.

 

Magic shelf:  Participants are asked to imagine themselves shopping in a store where brands can read the thoughts of customers and know why customers buy or do not buy them.

 

Mind walk: This technique is useful in exploring new avenues of communicating an important product benefit. Respondents are directed to imagine a time when they had a positive experience with a particular product. They are asked to capture the feeling they had and hold it for a moment. The situation that they described will be allowed to dissipate while the feeling will be maintained so that they can imagine a different, unique occasion when the same emotion was present. This exercise works well in eliciting themes that could be developed in terms of product positioning and advertising strategies.

 

Scent-stations:  This is the technique brought into use by us when scent and aroma are a key characteristic of the product. The sensing of aroma is registered in the temporal lobe of the brain which is the seat of primitive memory. A potent and highly productive way of eliciting early memories associated with a particular subject is to stimulate it through its scent.

The aroma of unidentified product is used as a catalyst to guide them to an early memory connected to their first use of it. Then it is observed how the brand name of the product alters their memories and feelings. The results can help marketers understand a product's emotional heritage, both positive and negative.

 

Bring an item: This doubles up as both a pre-task as well as a projective technique. At the point of recruitment, respondents are asked to bring to the group an item that they associate with or that makes them think of the brand in question. They are given a creative licence! Not only does it act as a great warm up to the group – setting the precedent for a creative session – but it also reveals a whole host of emotional attachments to the brand.

 

Creating families:  We ask participants to imagine that the different brands are a family of some kind. They can be past, present or future and not necessarily from the same biological family. Using a family analogy, this technique is used to uncover relationships between the target category/ brand and other categories/ brands.

 

Category sculpting- A technique which is used by us to obtain impressions of brand images and their relative space within a category. In this exercise, an entire category of brands is considered as a mega- family. Each brand within the family is personified and assigned a role with specific character traits.  

 

Looking glass: This is a form of guided imagery in which respondents are asked to close their eyes, relax and imagine an "Alice in Wonderland" like mirror which permits them to step through to a broadened reality. On the other side of the mirror, we guide them towards doors which can be marked with brand or corporate names, product benefits, short strategy statements or positioning differences. This technique takes pressure off the respondents because they do not have to come up with a rational or "right" response. People tend to forget themselves in their involvement with the process, allowing them to be more creative in their inner thoughts and feelings. This flexible tool is particularly useful in understanding differences in consumer perceptions. It has been used effectively by us in problem detection, understanding of brand imagery and creative development.

 

Party exercise:  We ask participants how the subject (brand in most cases) would be like if it were organizing a party or if it were invited to a party. This is done to understand how the brand exists in its wider landscape. It is an interesting way of using personification for understanding brand perceptions.

 

Plutchik’s Wheel of emotions- Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions in 1980 which consisted of 8 basic emotions and 8 advanced emotions each composed of 2 basic ones.

These emotions are shown to the respondents through a diagram. They are then asked to point out the emotions they associated with the stimulus post being exposed to it. They are either marked on the diagram or an observer makes notes of them.

 

Planetarium: Participants are asked to imagine brands as planets of the solar system revolving around an ideal brand/the sun. The technique helps to reveal the market position of brands against one another.

 

Planets (and guided fantasy): The ‘planets’ projective technique involves quiet-time on the part of the respondents. They are asked to close their eyes whilst the moderator guides them on an imaginary journey through space. From leaving earth in their space capsule, all the way to returning again at the end of the expedition, they are asked to think deeply about the experiences and emotions associated with a visit to ‘planet brand x’. During the course of this ‘guided fantasy’ they can visit other brand/planets and compare and contrast the environments. This delivers much deeper insight and more colourful descriptions of the customer relationship and/or experience.

 

House building:  In this technique we ask the respondents in a group discussion to think and tell us the role of each element in a house. Once a group consensus is achieved on the role of each element of the house it forms the basis of the technique. The participants are then asked to build a house for the brand using the brand’s different aspects/ elements. This enables the researcher to get a deeper understanding of the role each brand/product attribute plays in creating an overall perception for the brand.  This technique is typically used for brand equity/brand architecture studies.

 

Timescape: It is a technique that we use in new product ideation sessions to help establish future needs and wants. Participants are invited aboard a time machine that's set 3, 5, 10 or even 25 years in the future. When they step out into their town, they are asked to fully explore their environment in terms of differences they observe. These differences are utilized to develop a wish list of possible product innovations that would be relevant for that future time.

 

Time machine: This is again a technique that is used to stimulate creative and ‘future thinking’ within the focus group environment. As an example, respondents are asked to think back into a time in the past with respect to a subject, then talk briefly about the current scenario before brainstorming about what they think the future holds with respect to the same subject. The insight does not necessarily come from taking what the respondents say literally, but by exploring the reasons for and implications of their ‘vision of the future’.

 

Kelly’s triads: The participants are asked to take the 3 brands and compare and contrast by grouping two together and then comparing it against the third. The rotation is then swapped around until every type of grouping has been explored. It is used to understand fine differences and similarities amongst similar appearing options/ brands. There are other types of sorting exercises as well which help uncover the important category parameters and how brands are grouped with respect to these.

 

Neuro-linguistic programming- Neuro-linguistic programming describes the fundamental dynamics between mind (neuro) and language (linguistic) and how their interplay affects our body and behavior (programming). Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) studies the structure of how humans think and experience the world. The 5 senses are involved in forming the complete picture of the feelings for the brand.

 

Withdrawal techniques: This technique is based on the principal that one realises the true value of something only when it is taken away from him/ her. Withdrawal techniques allow us to better understand consumer relationships with brands and products by taking them away from them! This can be done hypothetically within focus groups asking them to imagine life without... However, fantastic insights can be generated by making the ‘withdrawal’ a reality. In this technique product loyalists or brand advocates might be recruited and incentivised to spend a period of time living without that brand or product and asked to record the experience. The outputs from this can be quite dramatic and it truly allows us a window into their relationship with brands and products and the role they play in their wider lives.

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