"You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
Bob Dylan
The sentiment is more fitting today than when recorded in 1965. We all know the bad things that have happened recently, and we share that uncomfortable feeling that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. The real question is, what are you and your brand going to do about it?
How have recent events affected your customers’ perspectives on your brand(s)?
How will a most-unpredictable future change what exists snow?
How should you pivot to protect your brand from the winds of change?
If you're unsure what to do, Plannerzone can help.
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
Thomas Edison
We didn’t invent remote qualitative research, but we quickly saw its value for certain specific cases. Our first remote project was an online chat study for AOL around 2000. Next, we led text-based focus groups testing ETFs for the American Stock Exchange (truly an awful experience since one of the participants was drunk).
"I like you because you join in on my weirdness."
Anonymous Pinterest User
We spent a lot of time exploring ways to use the digital lifestyle as a tool for understanding the consumer experience. One of our first stops was the use of Pinterest to create digital murals describing the human experience.
"There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share."
Steve Ballmer
The advent of the iPhone started to change the way people felt about making themselves “public” through photos, movies, and Facetime. It wasn’t long before Skype and Google Hangout emerged. We quickly developed approaches that allowed us to use these tools to create highly customized, digital, video ethnographies that would take us in the world of people like your customers without ever leaving home. Plannerzone leveraged nearly all the digital assets available, both commercial and public, to supplement in-person studies or serve stand-alone research efforts. Clients for digital work included Aflac, Fidelity, New York Life, Bacardi, New York Times, The Ad Council, Randstad, Guardian, Seattle Opera, Ameriprise, Hasbro. By 2017 30% of our work was remote online studies.
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Firesign Theater
Creating that safe personal environment is hard enough when done in person.
It is even more challenging when done remotely—where the fourth wall imposed by technology creates a barrier to personal interaction.
How do you get someone to tell you their deepest darkest secrets online or over the phone? By making that person feel that, at least for that moment, they are the most important person in the world and, that their personal story is important, worth telling, and that you are their to listen.
"Show some emotion..."
Joan Armatrading
The answer is simple: You need to get inside the hearts and minds of your customers.
The only way to get to the why behind someone’s actions is to have a profoundly empathetic conversation with that person. A conversation that makes it safe for that person to tell their personal story, complete with all the emotion they feel.
"In a world of brand advocates, we are people advocates."
Earl Wilcox
Several years ago, Plannerzone adopted this motto. The words are still valid today.
My job is to help you understand the desires, the feelings, the values, the hopes, and the fears that cause real people in the real world to do the things they do.
Whether online, on the phone, or a commercial platform, I can guide you on a journey into the hearts and minds of your customers and give you the insight needed to chart a new course for your brand.