Pre-testing ads is not divisive, it’s a no-brainer
Mark RitsonAgencies will complain pre-testing snuffs out the creative spark, but in reality it helps brands identify the best-performing ads and makes them even better.
Mark Ritson – Market Research
Badly designed surveys don’t promote sustainability, they harm it
Mark RitsonBrands love reported data that shows people care about sustainable consumption, but these spurious findings just hold back real behaviour change.
Synthetic data is suddenly making very real ripples
Mark RitsonReady for the era of synthetic data? The implications for strategy and execution could be significant if marketers are willing to look long term.
It may be tainted, but don’t underestimate the power of brand love
Mark RitsonAlthough the concept of ‘brand love’ was overused and went out of fashion, it remains an insightful way to consider consumers’ attitudes towards brands.
If you don’t invest 5% of your budget in research, you don’t know what you’re doing
Mark RitsonThe BBC’s decision to invest heavily in research should be celebrated by us all and noted by marketers. Investing 5% of your budget in market research is not superfluous, it’s key to understanding customers, serving them better and growing your business.
To win the biggest legal battle in marketing, Google must show who its competition really is
Mark RitsonGoogle might have an 80% share of the search market, but as the investigation by the US Department of Justice will no doubt show there are now many more ways people find information online.
Seven reasons why TV’s doubters are wrong
Mark RitsonOfcom’s latest data yet again shows why TV should be at the top of most big brands’ media plans, yet some marketers insist on ignoring the facts. Here are the answers to their most common quibbles.
Ethnography beats focus groups hands-down, but they still serve a purpose
Mark RitsonFocus groups are a bone of contention, as a Twitter debate featuring Professor Byron Sharp this week showed, but while they are flawed, they are still a quick and cheap route to useful insights.
The first rule of marketing is you are not the customer
Mark RitsonA new report confirms media agency staff are nothing like the consumers they serve, but the bigger question is whether they and marketers are market-orientated enough to know this and let customer insight guide them.
10 reasons why Superbrands 2018 is a worthless list
Mark RitsonSuperbrands’ bogus methodology regularly turns up inexplicable and nonsensical ‘findings’. Here are my top 10 aberrations from this year’s Superbrands Consumer Top 20 ranking.
There’s a new weapon in the targeting armoury
Mark RitsonPsychographic segmentation has been out of favour for a while despite its obvious usefulness, but combining it with behavioural and addressable data creates a potent mix that could make targeting supremely effective.
Your customers may well be stupid, but they’re still yours
Mark RitsonEven if we smack our heads in frustration when consumers make stupid choices, there’s nothing worse than a marketer who wastes money ‘educating’ a market. Customers’ perceptions must become your reality.
Mark Ritson: New Bond film Spectre is a triumph of customer focus
Mark RitsonMarketers can learn from the approach of Spectre director Sam Mendes – make time for the market, don’t rely on quant data and experience what your customers experience.
Mark Ritson: CoolBrands’ bananas methodology is a stain on modern branding
Mark RitsonOnce again CoolBrands has released its list of the ‘coolest brands’ in the UK and once again marketers should hang their heads in shame – and once again our branding correspondent loses the plot.
Mark Ritson: No amount of data and surveys can tell you more about a brand than the founder
Mark RitsonIn an age of big data and real-time marketing it’s important for brand managers to remember that the best insights usually come from one person – the brand’s founder.