Focus Areas
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Brand and Product Development
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Brand and Product Development Research
From soft drinks to footwear to lawnmowers, many well known companies rely on our expertise in using research to support decisions on new product development and brand building. In addition to being market researchers, our key staff has product development and marketing management experience and is familiar with leading product development methodologies like Stage Gate™.
Clients often use StandPoint as a “virtual” member of the brand management team. When appropriate, we use a consultative approach and meet with a client’s management and key decision makers, presenting our findings and recommendations. We give clients our fact-based “standpoint” on business decisions.
Research Tools:
Brand NavigationSM
Brand Navigation is Standpoint’s proprietary research method. It provides a detailed and methodical approach to product development and branding in 5 phases: Discovery, Characterization, Validation / Benchmarking, Execution and Tracking.
Brand Navigation is an ideal service for clients launching new products, rejuvenating stale brands and creating brand extensions. Clients also use this method to better understand where a brand is currently situated in the market and to understand how it is viewed by stakeholders.
1. Brand “Discovery”
This initial phase focuses on gathering information and data. We seek to investigate and report as much information about the client’s brand as possible. We conduct focus groups, in-depth interviews, site visits and observational research in many forms. We have visited vineyards to watch workers use a client’s pruning tool, attended motorcycle rallies to see how client’s footwear and apparel is worn and dined at client’s restaurants with actual patrons, all to thoroughly examine all stakeholders in the product space (end-users, retailers and distributors.) These efforts enable us to examine how each stakeholder interacts with the brand and its products.
2. Characterization
In this phase, we use research to identify the commonalities among all stakeholders in the value chain. We then take a deeper look at these commonalities to understand how these consumers differ from consumers of other brands. Using unique exercises and interviewing techniques, we help internal teams (sales, marketing, and product development) to articulate and describe the brand. We examine the “stretch-ability” of the brand and explore opportunities for brand extensions, when appropriate. This phase also reconciles the competitive intelligence and completes the SWOT analysis for the client product and key competitor’s products.
3. Validation / Benchmark
This phase validates the findings and tests the hypotheses by conducting survey work. We profile and “personify” the client’s customer segments, quantify their existence in the marketplace, and determine to what degree segments are over or under served. We also analyze the creative marketing platform by measuring key visual mnemonics, and tangible / intangible brand attributes.
4. Execution
In this phase, the client’s product or advertisement is launched. At this or earlier stages, we may work with the client’s product development team and/or marketing/advertising agency to ensure that the research findings are being implemented in the final product or advertisement.
5. Tracking and ROI
This phase is where we conduct research to measure progress and track results. Clients will benefit from repeating these tracking studies on a regular basis to measure the ROI of their marketing and advertising efforts. Research is an investment. To maximize ROI on research and marketing initiatives, it is recommended that clients continue to measure brand awareness, utilization, stretch-ability and strength of brand association. Tracking studies provide metrics to illustrate whether marketing dollars are being effectively spent. The frequency of tracking studies is dependent on marketing spend, however we recommend that clients conduct a brand tracker on an annual basis.
