Warc, 2 June 2014
LOS ANGELES: Dannon, the dairy giant, has greatly enhanced
its knowledge of health-and-wellness shoppers in America by drawing on the
insights generated by a "tribe" of consumers interested in this
subject.
Olesya Govorun, senior manager/strategy and insights at the
Dannon Company, discussed this topic at the Future of Consumer Intelligence
(FOCI) conference organised by the Institute for International Research (IIR).
"We created a 'tribe' – a 'healthy-minded community' of
93 active shoppers," she told delegates. (For more, including how Dannon
secured the interest of its retail partners, read Warc's exclusive report:
Dannon's "tribe" provides a new model for shopper insights.)
Members of this group took part in a four-week exercise that
involved providing stories and photos covering the typical in-store experience.
They delivered similar feedback on a selection of fun and
engaging tasks which Dannon set them in order to yield a holistic picture of
the health-food universe.
Alongside asking participants to document their own behavior
in stores, they commented on the choices and habits of their peers who were
involved in the study.
Incorporating this element into the market-research mix
helped Dannon – an affiliate of Paris-based Groupe Danone – reduce the
traditional problems that individuals have in describing their own preferences
and actions.
"This was the most unexpectedly productive piece of the
journey. People had a lot of vivid reactions to other people's
experiences," said Govorun.
General discussions between its "tribe" members
also provided valuable information about their attitudes concerning the dairy
category as a whole.
While many consumers had positive associations between dairy
and physical or mental wellbeing – ranging from nutrition benefits to happy
childhood memories – the point of purchase left a more negative impression.
"Dairy, for the shopper, is very functional, very cold.
If you actually do shop for dairy, [the shopping environment] is physically
cold. It's an uninviting space and it lacks that emotional connection to our
consumers."
Such learnings enabled Dannon to reframe its understanding
of the in-store experience, and thus set the company on the path to taking
practical steps to improving it.
Data sourced from Warc
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