When Mark Wolf joined Castrol North America in 1998, he faced several challenges. As the company's first in-house research director, Wolf was charged with assembling a new research team, increasing Castrol's market share in the declining motor oil category, and demonstrating the value of a focused research effort to his new employers. Today, after a year of segmentation studies, focus groups, tracking reports, and the launch of a new ad campaign, it looks like Wolf may have accomplished his goals. Castrol is a semifinalist for the 2001 ARF David Ogilvy Research Award, which recognizes the advertising industry's most effective research efforts. Says Wolf: "The real reward is knowing that we're making better business decisions from my work."
The ability to make better decisions is the point of all research, but a little recognition is nice as well. Castrol and the other eight semifinalists - three in each category: service, retail, and media; durables and business-to-business; and packaged goods - are examples of how exemplary research can improve the advertising process while pumping up performance in the marketplace. Of the record number of entries received this year, the nine semifinalists represent road maps of how to successfully integrate research into the ad-making process, says Jim Spaeth, president of the Advertising Research Foundation.
Each semifinalist was charged with proving to Ogilvy judges (a panel of researchers, academics, and advertising executives) that market research was central to the shaping of an ad campaign's overall strategy, the developing and testing of creative executions, and the guiding of media buys. And, perhaps most importantly, that this research delivered where it counts: the bottom line. Sales increased, market shares grew, and brands were enhanced. "These campaigns were home runs, and market research was there every step of the way," Spaeth says.
But the Ogilvys don't just provide recognition for this year's batch of semifinalists; they acknowledge the critical role research can play in any winning ad campaign. In fact, the award is named after advertising legend David Ogilvy because, while he was famous for his creative work and the agencies he ran, he was always a champion of research. "Ogilvy actually got his start as a researcher, and he always remembered that understanding consumers and how they would react to creative material was crucial to the ad process," says William Cook, senior vice president of research and standards at the ARF. Some creative types don't look kindly at research folk, says Cook. "They think we're going to chop their baby in half," he says, referring to the role research plays in eliminating or refining creative ideas. "But they should really think of us as washing the baby's hair."
For Brian Maynard, director of integrated marketing at KitchenAid Home Appliances, "Market research, at its best, expands opportunities for a company." Maynard should know. KitchenAid, one of this year's semifinalists, recently announced the introduction of a new licensed textiles line, including place mats and table linens. Why? Turns out that research showed this was a good expansion opportunity for the appliance maker - something that senior management might have had difficulty seeing if not for some insightful research, says Maynard.
Maynard isn't the only one singing the praises of data. In our information-age, in which brand managers are ever more accountable, market research offers the ability to deliver return on investment. "Through research, we learned how to educate, register the brand, and even entertain people, without being overly technical or complex," says Chris Robinson, director of marketing communications for OnStar, another of this year's semifinalists.
Looking to the future of market research, who better to ask than these semifinalists? All nine are profiled in this special section dedicated to recognizing research's top honor.
Several of those featured see technology and new techniques changing the research business. "People are so busy, they barely have time to breathe. The ease of the Internet is going to provide more solutions for us on that front," says Mary Carroll of Kraft. Yet, as the number of ways to reach consumers increases - everything from shrink-wrapped buses to interactive TV - measuring the value and effectiveness of these new media will be a continuing challenge. A challenge that may be easier to surmount with thorough market research.
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