I've done hundreds of qualitative interviews. Consumers, executives, front-line employees, industry experts. Here's the one thing I've learned: people don't think about brands the way marketers think they do.
What marketers assume
- People compare brands on feature matrices
- Brand perception follows from marketing messages
- Rational benefits drive purchase decisions
What actually happens
- People use brands as identity shorthand: "I'm the kind of person who buys this"
- Brand perception comes from experience, not advertising
- Emotion drives the decision. Logic justifies it after
The method
I talk to 50 strangers per project. Not focus groups. One-on-one conversations. No script. A few provocations and then I listen.
The best insights come around minute 35. After they've exhausted the rehearsed answers and start saying what they actually think.
Surveys tell you what people claim. Interviews tell you what people believe. Strategy needs both. But if I had to choose one, I'd choose the conversations.